Response by Digital Editor of Irish Farmers Journal to Climate FAQ #14
date:Thu, Oct 15, 2015 at 4:37 PM
subject:Farmers Journal coverage of climate change
Hi Cara,
Many thanks for the publicity and increased traffic to the Farmers Journal’s website today through your public comments on our article "Scholar says CO2 emissions have a beneficial effect on crops”.
As you rightly point out, Indur Goklany's position is undermined by his qualification as an electrical engineer, which we included in the story. However, he has also represented the US administration, including at the IPCC, and we don’t believe that denying the existence of such positions in climate change discussions is an efficient way of combating them.
We also steered well clear of his climate change denial position, sticking with his statements – always clearly attributed to him – that CO2 emissions may have a fertilising effect on crop yields.
It is sad to see that instead of countering the arguments of Indur Golkany, you chose to make personal public attacks against Amy Fitzgibbon, the journalist who wrote the story under my supervision. The only possible explanation for your disingenuous comments that “the journalist makes no effort to interview a relevant expert in the field of plant physiology or crop production” would be that you didn’t read the full story, including the line: “Plant scientist Professor Arnold Bloom said ‘Food quality is declining under the rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide that we are experiencing’”, and other references to established climate change science.
I’m afraid your comments about “shoddy, sensationalist journalism” can only apply to your own writing, when you twist the content of our story by seemingly referring to Amy in the sentence “with a stroke of the pen, a journalist can undo it all by telling farmer’s “This climate change business will be great for crop production”, then inviting members of the public to troll her personal Twitter account.
I’m finding comfort in your public statements in support of fair and balanced writing, which make me certain that you will devote proportional amounts of space and energy on your blog and on social media to discuss the countless articles published by the Farmers Journal on the reality of climate change and the challenges facing Irish agriculture in tackling this issue.
I’m including a few recent links below to help you get started:
http://www.farmersjournal.ie/feeding-the-future-through-climate-smart-agriculture-190565/
http://www.farmersjournal.ie/weekly-podcast-enda-kenny-climate-change-innovation-arena-and-social-farming-189927/
http://www.farmersjournal.ie/navigating-the-climate-change-challenge-189592/
http://www.farmersjournal.ie/ireland-cannot-expect-a-free-ride-on-climate-change-o-driscoll-189547/
http://www.farmersjournal.ie/ireland-can-become-a-global-leader-in-climate-smart-agriculture-186475/
http://www.farmersjournal.ie/eu-in-balancing-act-on-climate-change-policy-184798/
http://www.farmersjournal.ie/climate-action-low-carbon-and-irish-agriculture-181260/
Best regards,
Thomas Hubert
Digital Editor
Irish Farmers Journal
subject:Farmers Journal coverage of climate change
Hi Cara,
Many thanks for the publicity and increased traffic to the Farmers Journal’s website today through your public comments on our article "Scholar says CO2 emissions have a beneficial effect on crops”.
As you rightly point out, Indur Goklany's position is undermined by his qualification as an electrical engineer, which we included in the story. However, he has also represented the US administration, including at the IPCC, and we don’t believe that denying the existence of such positions in climate change discussions is an efficient way of combating them.
We also steered well clear of his climate change denial position, sticking with his statements – always clearly attributed to him – that CO2 emissions may have a fertilising effect on crop yields.
It is sad to see that instead of countering the arguments of Indur Golkany, you chose to make personal public attacks against Amy Fitzgibbon, the journalist who wrote the story under my supervision. The only possible explanation for your disingenuous comments that “the journalist makes no effort to interview a relevant expert in the field of plant physiology or crop production” would be that you didn’t read the full story, including the line: “Plant scientist Professor Arnold Bloom said ‘Food quality is declining under the rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide that we are experiencing’”, and other references to established climate change science.
I’m afraid your comments about “shoddy, sensationalist journalism” can only apply to your own writing, when you twist the content of our story by seemingly referring to Amy in the sentence “with a stroke of the pen, a journalist can undo it all by telling farmer’s “This climate change business will be great for crop production”, then inviting members of the public to troll her personal Twitter account.
I’m finding comfort in your public statements in support of fair and balanced writing, which make me certain that you will devote proportional amounts of space and energy on your blog and on social media to discuss the countless articles published by the Farmers Journal on the reality of climate change and the challenges facing Irish agriculture in tackling this issue.
I’m including a few recent links below to help you get started:
http://www.farmersjournal.ie/feeding-the-future-through-climate-smart-agriculture-190565/
http://www.farmersjournal.ie/weekly-podcast-enda-kenny-climate-change-innovation-arena-and-social-farming-189927/
http://www.farmersjournal.ie/navigating-the-climate-change-challenge-189592/
http://www.farmersjournal.ie/ireland-cannot-expect-a-free-ride-on-climate-change-o-driscoll-189547/
http://www.farmersjournal.ie/ireland-can-become-a-global-leader-in-climate-smart-agriculture-186475/
http://www.farmersjournal.ie/eu-in-balancing-act-on-climate-change-policy-184798/
http://www.farmersjournal.ie/climate-action-low-carbon-and-irish-agriculture-181260/
Best regards,
Thomas Hubert
Digital Editor
Irish Farmers Journal
Reply by Cara Augustenborg
Thu, Oct 15, 2015 at 5:58 PM
subject:Re: Farmers Journal coverage of climate change
Dear Thomas and Amy,
Thanks for your response to my blog, and I'm glad to raise awareness of this article. You are not the first publication in the world to cover this report, but you are the first Irish publication to my knowledge, and therefore I felt compelled to address the inaccuracies because I have no tolerance for journalism that tries to further the confusion and doubt of the climate denial agenda.
Indur Goklany has no peer-reviewed publications in climate science (only policy) so it makes no difference who he represented in the past, the point is that he does not have the demonstrated expertise to comment on the impact of CO2 emissions on plants. Even if you steered clear of his overall view (though actually you probably should have came right out and said he's a well-known climate denier), he doesn't even have the scientific background to discuss fertilizing effect of crop yields.
There is no personal attack on Amy. She wrote a story, which you approved of, which was scientifically incorrect and biased. You should not have let it go to print in its present form. Reference to Prof. Arnold Bloom is a tiny mention at the bottom and the headline gives all credit to Goklany's report and completely contradicts Bloom's work. If you'd chosen an accurate headline such as "Plant scientist says food quality declining under rising CO2 emissions" I wouldn't have had to blog about it. I'd be interested to know if Amy actually contacted Prof. Bloom for a direct reaction to Goklany's report as the article gives the impression that Bloom was not actually interviewed for this piece.
I'm sure Amy is a great journalist and I understand that you're trying to support her by criticizing my own writing and sending me this email. I'm not a professional journalist - I write a blog and do not have to aspire to the same high standard of writing as professionals such as yourselves. I'm sorry Amy felt trolled by my blog and the resulting reaction on Twitter, but I simply cannot tolerate headlines that give our leadership further reason for climate inaction. I just feel the climate situation is too critical now to let these things go.
As an aside, if Amy does not want direct feedback on her work, she should probably not link her article to her Twitter account.
My only hope is that the Farmers Journal and you may learn a lesson from my little blog and the surprisingly strong reaction it has garnered that the public have no tolerance for these sensationalist headlines either. I am always delighted to tweet and blog on good climate related journalism and have cited the Farmers Journal in many previous posts. This is just one instance that I could not stay silent on.
Many thanks for your email.
Very Best,
Cara
subject:Re: Farmers Journal coverage of climate change
Dear Thomas and Amy,
Thanks for your response to my blog, and I'm glad to raise awareness of this article. You are not the first publication in the world to cover this report, but you are the first Irish publication to my knowledge, and therefore I felt compelled to address the inaccuracies because I have no tolerance for journalism that tries to further the confusion and doubt of the climate denial agenda.
Indur Goklany has no peer-reviewed publications in climate science (only policy) so it makes no difference who he represented in the past, the point is that he does not have the demonstrated expertise to comment on the impact of CO2 emissions on plants. Even if you steered clear of his overall view (though actually you probably should have came right out and said he's a well-known climate denier), he doesn't even have the scientific background to discuss fertilizing effect of crop yields.
There is no personal attack on Amy. She wrote a story, which you approved of, which was scientifically incorrect and biased. You should not have let it go to print in its present form. Reference to Prof. Arnold Bloom is a tiny mention at the bottom and the headline gives all credit to Goklany's report and completely contradicts Bloom's work. If you'd chosen an accurate headline such as "Plant scientist says food quality declining under rising CO2 emissions" I wouldn't have had to blog about it. I'd be interested to know if Amy actually contacted Prof. Bloom for a direct reaction to Goklany's report as the article gives the impression that Bloom was not actually interviewed for this piece.
I'm sure Amy is a great journalist and I understand that you're trying to support her by criticizing my own writing and sending me this email. I'm not a professional journalist - I write a blog and do not have to aspire to the same high standard of writing as professionals such as yourselves. I'm sorry Amy felt trolled by my blog and the resulting reaction on Twitter, but I simply cannot tolerate headlines that give our leadership further reason for climate inaction. I just feel the climate situation is too critical now to let these things go.
As an aside, if Amy does not want direct feedback on her work, she should probably not link her article to her Twitter account.
My only hope is that the Farmers Journal and you may learn a lesson from my little blog and the surprisingly strong reaction it has garnered that the public have no tolerance for these sensationalist headlines either. I am always delighted to tweet and blog on good climate related journalism and have cited the Farmers Journal in many previous posts. This is just one instance that I could not stay silent on.
Many thanks for your email.
Very Best,
Cara
