Hi All, 

 

            Please send this message out to the Alabama Associated Press
Broadcasters Association (particularly the faculty advisers) membership
and/or post it on the website. 

1. I know Birmingham ABC 33/40 Chief Meteorologist James Spann was
willing to speak for free and on short notice at the annual conference
last Saturday.  However, please don't have James Spann use AAPBA to
spread false and dangerous information.  Don't let him use AAPBA to ever
again publicly and without censure bully and mock a faculty adviser (as
he did me) with a doctorate and cross media reporting/editing experience
which Spann himself said several times is, "a lot harder" than what he
does and we are "much smarter" than him to be able to do it.

James Spann has a right to think that global warming is not man-made.
He does NOT have the right to lie to young journalists as he did at the
AAPBA sole session for students.  He lied when he said, "The vast
majority of scientists believe that global warming in natural."  If
Spann said that on air he should be fired.  He also shouldn't be
permitted to use the station's logo on his blog to lie to your audience.

Perhaps Spann's information is just more than 15 years old.  These days
EVERY major scientific organization, such as the 2006 Federal Climate
Change Science Program, the U.S. National Research Council, the American
Geophysical Union, American Association for the Advancement of Science,
the U.S. National Academy of Science, the Joint Science Academies of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the most reputable
peer-reviewed body of climate-change scientists in history), and the
American Meteorological Society to name a few say that most of the
global warming, "over the last 50 years is attributable to human
activities."

In fact the only dissenting organization is the American Association of
Petroleum Geologists and gosh I wonder why?  

2. Also, the non-profit organization Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
(FAIR) has an article (hyperlinked below) about how the "superficial
balance" in media coverage of presenting "both sides" as if they were
both viable and equally valid, supported and reasonable.  There are
still lunatics who believe that African Americans men and women of every
race are intellectually inferior to white men but no reputable news
organization today interviews one of these lunatics along side one
person who says "It ain't so" and decides that's balanced coverage. 

On his blog, using the station's logo, Spann equates the opinion of the
"TV weather men (he) knows" with that of most of the world's finest
research scientists.

 It's not a matter of any of us being "passionate" about our opinions.
It's about reporting the truth (The vast majority of scientists say the
evidence is irrefutable that humans are causing global warming.) in a
fair and accurate manner.  It's about our ethics as journalists.  

 

Below are two of many links of interest.  Thanks for taking action on
this matter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1978

 

 

 

We sometimes have problems with our server rejecting incoming email. If
your reply to this email is returned to you, PLEASE call me at the
number below.   Apologies...We are working on it. Sincerely,

 

Rev. Dr. E-K. Daufin, Professor

Department of Communications

Alabama State University

915 South Jackson St.

Montgomery, AL 36101-0271

334.229.6885

Thank you in advance for your 

Scholarly & Creative Activity Referrals - 

Lectures, Performances, Workshops, Consultation Related Info:
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