Extract from The Guardian
Broadcaster and his station, 2GB, ruled to have breached rules in
2013 with comments made about a leaked IPCC report and subsequent
inadequate apology
Radio station 2GB and its outspoken breakfast host Alan Jones breached broadcasting rules over statements made by Jones about climate change in 2013, the media watchdog has ruled.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority found that Jones had not taken enough care to make accurate statements about a leaked Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, while an attempted correction by the radio host was “not adequate and appropriate in all the circumstances and so did not cure the breach.”
In September 2013, Jones told his listeners: “What has been leaked tells us the report will admit that its computer drastically overestimated rising temperatures and over the past 60 years the world in fact has been warming at half the rate claimed in the previous IPCC report in 2007.”
Jones said the IPCC had “got it wrong by about 100%” and that the report showed the UN body doesn’t know what to do now that its “former theories of climate change have been disproven”.
Jones, who has long challenged the mainstream scientific view of climate change despite having no scientific background, subsequently offered an on-air correction of sorts which concluded with “basically the temperatures have all but stopped rising.”
Following two complaints about Jones’s comments, Acma launched an investigation – only for Harbour Radio, owner of the Sydney radio station, to challenge the watchdog’s authority. The federal court subsequently ruled that Acma had the right to investigate Jones.
In its ruling, Acma states 2GB broke the commercial radio code because it did not make “reasonable efforts to ensure that factual material was reasonably supportable as being accurate.”
Acma noted the rate of warming identified in the 2013 IPCC report – of 0.12C per decade over the past 60 years – was “very close” to the 0.13C per decade warming noted in the 2007 IPCC report.
Acma said Jones had sourced his information from the Australian but that a “range of credible material threw doubt on the original article” in the newspaper. The Weekend Australian and the Daily Telegraph both published corrections to this reporting before Jones’ show.
The watchdog added that the attempted clarification was “confusing” and therefore wasn’t sufficient.
2GB was contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority found that Jones had not taken enough care to make accurate statements about a leaked Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, while an attempted correction by the radio host was “not adequate and appropriate in all the circumstances and so did not cure the breach.”
In September 2013, Jones told his listeners: “What has been leaked tells us the report will admit that its computer drastically overestimated rising temperatures and over the past 60 years the world in fact has been warming at half the rate claimed in the previous IPCC report in 2007.”
Jones said the IPCC had “got it wrong by about 100%” and that the report showed the UN body doesn’t know what to do now that its “former theories of climate change have been disproven”.
Jones, who has long challenged the mainstream scientific view of climate change despite having no scientific background, subsequently offered an on-air correction of sorts which concluded with “basically the temperatures have all but stopped rising.”
Following two complaints about Jones’s comments, Acma launched an investigation – only for Harbour Radio, owner of the Sydney radio station, to challenge the watchdog’s authority. The federal court subsequently ruled that Acma had the right to investigate Jones.
In its ruling, Acma states 2GB broke the commercial radio code because it did not make “reasonable efforts to ensure that factual material was reasonably supportable as being accurate.”
Acma noted the rate of warming identified in the 2013 IPCC report – of 0.12C per decade over the past 60 years – was “very close” to the 0.13C per decade warming noted in the 2007 IPCC report.
Acma said Jones had sourced his information from the Australian but that a “range of credible material threw doubt on the original article” in the newspaper. The Weekend Australian and the Daily Telegraph both published corrections to this reporting before Jones’ show.
The watchdog added that the attempted clarification was “confusing” and therefore wasn’t sufficient.
2GB was contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.
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