A debate begging for more light

Scientists sceptical of climate change are silenced and consensus is feigned, says Miranda Devine.

A CONTROVERSIAL climate change advertisement made by Dr Tim Flannery for a solar company finally made its official debut yesterday on Adelaide television after a much-publicised “censorship” row. In the ad, Flannery, the director of the South Australian Museum and popular author of The Weather Makers, declares: “Climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity today. But there is something you can do about it.”

That “something” is to buy solar panels from the Solar Shop, an Adelaide company with the motto “We’re doing Kyoto anyway”. The company donated a modest sum to Flannery’s museum in return for his self-scripted services, its marketing consultant, Leonard Lee, said yesterday. The Solar Shop might have remained in obscurity if not for a decision on Friday by Free TV, the industry body representing commercial free-to-air television, to pull the ad, on legal advice.

With the South Australian election on March 18 and the Greens campaigning on solar energy, Free TV believed the ad could be political. Lack of proof for Flannery’s assertion that climate change was humanity’s “greatest threat” might breach trade practices legislation, so Free TV requested the words be changed to “one of” humanity’s greatest threats.

The Greens screamed about “inexcusable censorship” and the Solar Shop got free plugs on every weekend news bulletin. On Monday, Free TV reversed its decision. It was a marketing dream for the Solar Shop and a textbook example of the sort of intimidation and media boosterism that enables exaggerated green fear-mongering to run unchallenged.

Sydney Morning Herald