NBC Adds to Storm of Climate Change Stories
Network emphasized controversial new
study without even a discouraging word.
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By Dan Gainor
September 19, 2005
    Political
and scientific circles are still reeling from Katrina’s impact as
left-wing climate change advocates try to link the hurricane with
global warming.
    A new study,
published in the journal Science, made the connection even though
many other climatologists disagree. The September 18 NBC “Nightly
News” was the latest media outlet to cover it. Anchor John
Seigenthaler gave the impression of opening a balanced report with
the comment “hurricanes and global warming, is there a connection?”
    However,
Chief Science Correspondent Robert Bazell made it clear that he
agreed with the controversial study. He said that “scientists say
one storm cannot prove anything about climate change.” However,
Bazell followed that quickly with a “but,” emphasizing the study’s
conclusion about “a worrisome trend.”
    That “trend”
claimed an increase in severe storms in the last 20 years compared
with the 20 years before that period. Bazell took it at face value
and didn’t even include an opposing view. Such views were easy to
find. The Washington Post first found Gerry Bell, “the lead seasonal
hurricane forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.” According to Bell, the hurricane trend is cyclical.
“‘It’s not linked to global warming or anything like that,’ Bell
said. ‘This is normal climate variability. It’s just that this trend
lasts for decades.’”
    Bazell
reinforced the points of the study by scaring viewers with the
“sobering question” about what happens if the temperature rise in
the oceans grows to several degrees. “A big question is how much is
the warming of the ocean and the increased risk for killer storms
caused by human activity?” he said.
    The “killer
storm” theory was completely discounted by Florida State University
meteorology and oceanography professor James O’Brien. The Post said
“his survey of government data of Atlantic storms between 1850 and
2005 shows that ‘there’s no indication of an increase in
intensity.’”
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