IT’S A NEWSPAPER, NOT A MIRROR….I’m really tired of this kind of thing. Here is Anne Applebaum’s sneering column today about the latest IPCC report on global warming:
“Worse than we thought.” The headline in the British Guardian newspaper on Saturday was almost gloating about the bad news. The tone of the article that followed was no different….Among the coastal cities threatened by the higher ocean levels caused by melting ice caps, the paper noted — not without a degree of satisfaction — are London, New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
“Almost gloating”? I defy you to read either the headline or the Guardian’s brief report (here) and find even a hint of gloating. Sure, the news they’re reporting is dismal, but that’s because the IPCC report was pretty dismal and they’re reporting what the IPCC report actually said. As for the melting ice caps, the Guardian summarizes the likely consequences of a 4 degree rise in global temperature at the end of the piece. Here’s the full paragraph on flooding:
Sea levels rise by up to 59cm. Bangladesh and Vietnam worst hit, along with coastal cities such as London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Calcutta and Karachi. 1.8m people at risk from coastal flooding in Britain alone.
This was reported “not without a degree of satisfaction”? She must be kidding. That’s as telegraphic a style as you’re ever likely to see in a modern newspaper. I recommend that in the future Applebaum leave the faux psychoanalysis to Charles Krauthammer. It suits him better.
