An open letter to a Stuff News “journalist”.

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Joanne Naish,

Joanne Naish

Your article associating the Canterbury flooding with climate change is a complete reversal of one of the core principles of journalism. The people expect you to hold the powerful to account, not to do propaganda for them. Comments on just some of the misleading items in your lazy inaccurate fact free article. Your “reporting” in red italics.

“Many Cantabrians forced to flee their homes amid a deluge of rain all said the same thing: they had never seen rivers rise this high, or this fast before.”

An absurd claim. Check your history of floods in NZ, it is easily proven as false.

“With the world facing inevitable climate change, scientists say heat waves, droughts, storms, wildfires, and warming oceans will get progressively worse.”

More misleading garbage. Many scientists dispute this claim. Read Michael Shellenberger or Bjorn Lomborg.

“Victoria University climate change expert James Renwick”

If you were doing your job properly you’d be telling us about all the false predictions govt grant funded “scientists” like Mr Renwick have made in the past.

“We are already witnessing localised impacts, including widespread coral bleaching on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.”

Not true many scientists dispute this claim and the university associated with this alarmist nonsense is presently being investigated for scientific fraud on this very issue.

“one thing is for certain: as it gets warmer the air will hold more moisture and the more wet weather there will be.”

This is a theory based on computer modelling and yet to be proven empirically.

“The good news is that if we cut emissions now, the predicted increase in severe weather events will not happen.”

Vile scaremongering nonsense. NZ could revert to the stone age tomorrow and there would not be the slightest change in global temperatures or weather events ever.

“Glaciers and ice caps will continue to melt even if we drastically reduce emissions now, because they take many years to respond to climate change.”

Glacier melt is a common event and not tied to CO2 in the atmosphere. Many scientists say ice levels at the poles and elsewhere are nothing to be concerned about. Do your research.

“Climate change will result in between 20 and 60 per cent more frequent and stronger atmospheric rivers.”

Another flawed prediction in line with so many others.

Such lazy inaccurate journalism. If ever reality returned to the craft of journalism you’d be sacked for this article. As it is, it is a craft (like science and academia) so corrupted by political activism today, you’ll probably get an award.

Regards

The Redbaiter

5 comments

  • sharrylou
    June 3, 2021 5:50 am

    Great dissection of yet another lies-ridden article by yet another uneducated, amateur marxist propagandist. I haven’t followed NZ media for a few years now, its just so dominated by crap like this. Thank heavens for Blogs such as you. I just wonder – do such idiots (and there are many) read it?

    Liked by 1 person

  • Hans
    June 3, 2021 7:40 am

    As a local kayaker in the otago area, specifically the Taieri river I’ve noticed how stupidity has caused most of our flooding problems.
    30 years ago you could kayak the Taieri river most times in the spring and autumn. River was at a good level for many days or weeks after a good rain.
    Now after a rain we get flooding almost immediately after a slightly heavy down pour, then almost like magic the water disappears in a few days.
    Problem is we have drained many wet lands and marsh areas that act like a sponge slowly releasing and absorbing water over the season. The river level is either in flood or low for many years now through mismanagement and ignorance.
    Obviously this is not the only cause of river level fluctuations but it is in my view the reason we have these extreme river events when the weather is not that extreme.

    Liked by 1 person

  • Salacious Crumb
    June 3, 2021 2:26 pm

    You make a bold assumption Baity; that the average Stuff journalist has reading and comprehension skills beyond that of a 6 year old. Much easier to cut’n’ paste from social media and regurgitate someone else’s woke views.

    Liked by 1 person