Educating the German Public

...an ever daunting task for the German media, as James Taranto explains in this article, which is based on a New York Times report:

Grounded by Global Warmism
Visiting London may get harder in the years ahead because of the new Conservative-led government's odd priorities, the New York Times reports:

In a bold if lonely environmental stand, Britain's coalition government has set out to curb the growth of what has been called "binge flying" by refusing to build new runways around London to accommodate more planes. (...)

It's hard to imagine Margaret Thatcher doing something like this. Meanwhile, The Daily Caller reports that Deutsche Welle, Germany's publicly funded broadcast network, held a "Global Media Forum" last week:

According to the conference website, this year's event drew some 1500 participants from 95 countries. The topic: "The Heat is On: Climate Change and the Media." . . .

One workshop, however, sparked particular controversy. Its title: "How to professionally deal with climate skepticism"--or as its German title translates: how to deal with "skeptics." As the description of the workshop makes clear, "deal with" here is a euphemism. "Let both sides make their point and let the audience sort out what is true" is the traditional "mantra" of journalism, the organizers admit. "But with climate change, things are not so easy," the text continues. "Falling back on a 'neutral' journalistic position can mean playing into the hands of the skeptics at the expense of the basis of life."

Yet while German journalists may be abandoning professional standards in favor of propaganda (emphasis added), the Times notes that Frankfurt International Airport has "recently been expanded" and will pick up some of the traffic Heathrow is forgoing.

German journalists "abandoning professional standards in favor of propaganda"?

Hey, what professional standards?

Comments

[German In Name Only]

Dealing with AGW deniers requires to take into account that the German language has no word for something that absurd. Skepticism is not quite the appropriate term, since it is loaded by other, more well-known forms of denial coming under the same euphemism to pursue the interests of the Arab throne. When the Saudis adopted the talking points of the AGW deniers in Copenhagen, this was not the first instance of denial of something they chose to follow. So caution against the temptation of moral equivalence is well advised.

As the WSJ notes correctly, the FRA/LHR row is not just some conflict along the political aisle but a schism between mainland conservatives and island conservatives. For some reason the latter seem to realize quicker that development is all about saturation. At some point a country is fully developed, and to continue growth will result in its destruction. In the first mentioned perspective however space appears to be unlimited, so who cares if airport expansion goes on until it requires to pave the ECB? Pharmacy sales per capita are going through the roof!

The key to the resolution of the kerfuffle is qualitative tax reform. Instead of just reassessing the amounts of taxation, taxes which create the wrong incentives need to be replaced with such ones that create the right incentives. Merkels unilateral proposal of a locusts tax has just been an opener to this debate, an airline tax is a much better idea to raise the same money with more desirable economic effects. Or more precisely an end to the global tax break for aviation, which currently subsidises the business so much that it can seduce ailing export nations to accumulate the infrastructure as a sort of feeding tube meant to prolong a failed business model.

[svetov]

My impression is that the global warming theme is dying a slow death in the German media, as it is in the U.S. and U.K. media. The recent e-mail scandals of those politicized environmental scientists did a lot of damage for the Good Cause. They lied and suppressed and censored in an overt manner, and it was exposed. I think the fervor for the Save the Earth church will die a slow death. And hopefully, in our lifetime.

[German In Name Only]

@svetov - Your speculation that the email burglary happened without the involvement of any hostile government might be wrong, and if so we all fail badly. My speculation that we cannot leave AGW to those beyond our lifetime might be wrong, and if so we all succeed slower. On the other hand, if you are right we win nothing, but if I am right we win everything. A decision tree of this kind does not require transcendental associations to find the best choice.

[German In Name Only]

Apropos professional standards - it turns out in this case the British in fact have the better arguments - the money quote:

The imperative to maximise economic growth, jobs and productivity is paramount for decision-makers. We live in a political culture in which it is difficult for anyone to question the efficiency of these arguments even where the costs generated in other areas are high.

A motivating factor in choosing to undertake this analysis was the way in which governments have repeatedly talked about the economic benefits of airport expansion. However, the official appraisal conducted by DfT failed to even examine the potential impact of the new runway on jobs and productivity or to explore what the detrimental effects not building it would be.

Meanwhile in Germany, Frau Merkel remains in the Babylonian captivity of the lobbyist greenwashers who put together the Kyoto fraud, wasting her scarce budget for an airport expansion which only generates further cost for removal and renaturation.

[George Murphy]

Have not posted here in a long time.

There was a big international global warming forum in Germany that took place in October 2008. The highest ranking U.S. representative was a Massachusetts state senator, James Marzilli. Although Senator Marzilli has excellent global warming credentials, is known locally in Massachusetts as the "Pervert in the Prius."

Marzilli was arrested two years ago in Lowell, MA, for lude and lascivious sexual conduct. Marzilli, who represents an upscale town in U.S. Representative Barny Frank's district, would visit working class areas of Boston, dress himself up as a "bum," (ein Penner for our German speakers). Marzilli is accused of sitting down on park benches next to poor immigrant women and of making lude sexual comments to these same women. In one instance, he was accused of sexual assault.

During the time of this global warming forum in Germany, Marzilli was out on bail. His lawyers told the court that Marzilli was "a sick man," and that he was voluntarily entering into Rehabilitation Clinic. Apparently, Marzilli, who never surrendered his pass port, ended up at this forum in Germany.

The allegations of sexual assault are still winding their way through the Massachusetts criminal justice system.

I wonder if the German press knew that as a minimum, there was a bail jumper attending one of their precious global warming forums. But the German press would have good company. The Boston Globe missed this story!

[German In Name Only]

@George Murphy - This may indeed be less CO2-intensive than hiking the Governor Sanford trail, but I am quite sure if I was a woman on a park bench that wouldn´t matter to me.

[Sammer]

svetov - well said. I too feel this whole debate has been way too politicized and manipulated for all the wrong reasons. Today runways bad, tomorrow heating - what's next, moen faucets ? Their stated objectives are good but their methods have grown tiresome and I suspect the public is growing weary quite fast.

[GringoTex]

For those Germans who fear that the Amis ignore them (tongue in cheek,for those who cannot detect humor in an electronic format), here is Kid Barack Vs Hurricane Angela. The spend versus austerity approaches of Obama versus Merkel are discussed. Merkel comes off rather well.

[Derteilzeitberliner.wordpress.com]

Sorry for being off-topic but I can't find where to email you to submit material:

Noch mehr anti-amerikanismus in ARD:

http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/fremdefreunde100.html

Quote:

"Die USA sind nicht gerade dafür bekannt, die Leselust zu fördern - im Gegenteil. Es grassiert eher eine Leseunlust und sogar ein Hass auf Intellektuelle. Wer die ungarische Hauptstadt benennen kann, gilt da schon fast als nobelpreisverdächtig. Doch es gibt Zeichen der Hoffnung - oder besser: einer neuen Lesefreude. Denn seit Beginn der Obama-Regentschaft haben politische Bücher Hochkunjunktur."

*facepalm*

Grüssen aus Kanada

[GringoTex]

Grüssen aus Kanada/ Derteilzeitberliner.wordpress.com:

Thanks for the quote and the link. That reminds me of Sir Paul McCartney at the White House

Later, after the TV cameras had left, he expressed appreciation for the Library of Congress and added a zinger: "After the last eight years, it's great to have a president who knows what a library is."

I guess that means that President Bush never talked with his librarian wife.

[German In Name Only]

@GringoTex - Obviously the author is unaware of the turning point in German-Chinese relations. The current export boom is the result of a stability guarantee for the euro decided upon by the yuan economy in the context of the political fallout of the Dubai hotel incident (hence the suspect was only released recently). Due to this Rainer Brüderle currently is enjoying a free ride into economic wonderland, with such neat attractions as worshipping a Magic Quadrangle in a Chinese temple in a business school in Oestrich-Winkel waiting for his future minder to show up and instruct him what to do when the next bubble which we cannot afford to burst is threatening to do just that. And listening to the useless aircraft noise until he is ripe for a vacation. It is really that tiresome - rational arguments have been worked out against unsustainable technologies, but these people try to continue to behave as if the law of cause and effect was not for them.

[Pat]

There are no professional standards i can think of.

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[nicoleesparza]

If any of you so called educated liberals done any real dd, you would realize they have both the private and public option. Some of you libs are slow, so I will break it down for u!
Teeth Brilliant

[Gaco]

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