Topic: Accuracy in Media
A Sept. 4 Accuracy in Media "AIM Report" by Roger Aronoff, attacking yet again the Newsweek article on global warming deniers, repeats and expands his previous citing of Marc Morano's bogus statistics about funding of global warming deniers vs. supporters:
Senate staffer Marc Morano, a long-time conservative journalist and activist, points out that while those skeptical of the man-made global warming theory have received some $19 million, the forces favored by Newsweek have taken in closer to $50 billion, much of it from American taxpayers and channeled through federal and global agencies. This figure, of course, doesn't include the dollar value of all of the media coverage in support of the theory.
That's $50 billion versus $19 million.
But as we've detailed, Morano's $50 billion number is not suppored by a detailed breakdown and is almost certainly overinflated by counting the entire budgets of organizations toward that number, even if only a portion of the budget went for global warming purposes, and including tangental items as alternative fuel research. Morano's $19 million number is, in fact, only a single statistic -- money ExxonMobil has given to conservative groups -- and ignores the entirety of conservative denier activism (and does not include AIM's budget).
Aronoff previously cited Morano's bogus stats in an Aug. 10 AIM column.
In both articles, Aronoff wrote that the Newsweek article shows that "The facts have taken a back seat to propaganda." By embracing Morano's dubious numbers, Aronoff has certainly proven that he is even more eager than Newsweek to put propaganda before facts.
