Washington Post must correct George Will’s erroneous column
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Nick Berning, 202-222-0748
David Hirsch, 202-783-7400
Friends of the Earth Calls on Washington Post to Correct George Wills Erroneous Global Warming Column
Thousands of activists write Post ombudsman asking for correction; Feb. 15 column contained several inaccuracies
WASHINGTON, D.C.The firestorm over a recent inaccurate Washington Post column by George Will intensified today as the Post was pressured by thousands of activists and the leaders of national environmental and watchdog organizations to publish corrections.
There is an overwhelming scientific consensus that global warming is real and caused by human activity, said Friends of the Earth President Dr. Brent Blackwelder. Unfortunately, willfully ignorant conservative elites are in denial about this reality. It’s one thing to hear the likes of Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly play fast and loose with the truth, but it’s something else all together when its done by a respected journalistic institution like the Washington Post. Post editors should do the responsible thing and correct the errors in this column.
The February 15 column, Dark Green Doomsayers, inaccurately portrayed the position of the U.N. World Meteorological Association, falsely indicating that WMA data does not support the existence of global warming. The column also misleadingly conflated global and Arctic sea ice, and it implied that in the 1970s, there was substantial alarm about a global cooling crisis, which is not true. (For more about these inaccuracies, see a report from the Center for American Progress Action Fund.) This is not the first time that the Post has published such anti-science views.
Resources:
Online action form from Friends of the Earth: http://action.foe.org/t/8815/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=610
Letter sent to Post ombudsman by CEOs of Friends of the Earth, the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters and Media Matters: http://mediamatters.org/static/pdf/wapo-letter-20090224.pdf
Center for American Progress Action Fund report: http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/matteroffact.pdf
Media Matters on Wills column: http://mediamatters.org/items/200902220008
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Friends of the Earth (www.foe.org) is the U.S. voice of the worlds largest grassroots environmental network, with member groups in 77 countries. Since 1969, Friends of the Earth has fought to create a more healthy, just world.