Canadian climate scientists “being muzzled”

Oh for fuck’s sake, I’ve had just about enough of Little Bush in office in Canada. The news apparently broke a few days ago that Canadian climate scientists are being silenced by the government.

A dramatic reduction in Canadian media coverage of climate change science issues is the result of the Harper government introducing new rules in 2007 to control interviews by Environment Canada scientists with journalists, says a newly released federal document.

“Scientists have noticed a major reduction in the number of requests, particularly from high profile media, who often have same-day deadlines,” said the Environment Canada document.

“Media coverage of climate change science, our most high-profile issue, has been reduced by over 80 per cent.”

The Environment Canada analysis noted that four prominent scientists, who regularly spoke for the government on climate change science issues, appeared in only 12 newspaper clippings in the first nine months of 2008, compared with 99 clippings over the same period in 2007.

“There is a widespread perception among Canadian media that our scientists have been ‘muzzled’ by the media relations policy,” said the Environment Canada document. “Media coverage of this perception, which originated with a Canwest story in February 2008, is continuing, with at least 47 articles in Canadian newspapers to date.”

Climate Progress draws the same parallel that immediately struck me: this is almost identical to the Bush administration’s anti-science tactics.

Don’t like reality? Make it a political issue!

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Canadian climate scientists “being muzzled”
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5 thoughts on “Canadian climate scientists “being muzzled”

  1. 1

    You’re joking, right?
    The media muzzled? By the Canadian government? You lefties kill me! First this government is so totally ineffective and incompetent that it can’t find its ass with both hands, then it knows how to muzzle the media this effectively? Sheesh!!

    Look, the media only follows a story for just so long. Then it moves on to more recent issues. The public got tired of the same-old/same-old guilt trip being shoved down our throats by by the vegan tree huggers and Lib/Left crowd. The general interest in that story died. The media is right on top of any breaking news about “climate change” (You’d have to actually read a newspaper or watch a newscast to know that though). But since no idiot Liberal “Great Leader” is, at present, proposing another 7% tax on petroleum products, maybe this issue is not able to garner the interest that would warrant more media attention.

  2. 2

    Yes, the “memory hole” is a convenient thing for people that have a vested interest in people staying ignorant of the facts. And the facts, in this case, include an empirically verifiable reduction in information being metered out by scientists associated with Environment Canada. And if you’d read the linked article, the dots are really easy to connect. Whether you think global warming is a “leftie conspiracy” or whatever, the science says otherwise. The evidence says otherwise. And reality, as is often the case, does not give a shit that you’re personally offended by the people pointing at the evidence.

  3. 3

    I assume that by putting “air quotes” around the word climate change that you don’t believe it to be real, or that it is at the very least non-anthropogenic. You righties kill me, and seem determined to kill us all.

    If you read the article Jason is referring to, it concerns rules imposed by the government. Yet you want to hold firm to the allegation that this is just a case of the media losing interest in climate change?
    I am no conspiracy theorist, but I can tell you that the Harper government has done a better job than most of controlling the flow of information to the public. Jason did not say the media was being muzzled. The article clearly states that the scientists, government employees all, were being muzzled in an attempt to control the flow of information to the media. Too subtle a difference for you?

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