National Legal and Policy Center Denounces 60 Minutes Global Warming Special as 'Unilateral' and 'Misleading'

National Legal and Policy Center Denounces 60 Minutes Global Warming Special as 'Unilateral' and 'Misleading'

WASHINGTON, March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Kenneth Boehm, Chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center, denounced the February 19th 60 Minutes Special, "Dire Predictions on Global Warming" as "unilateral" and "misleading." In a letter to Louis J. Briskman, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the CBS Corporation, Chairman Ken Boehm questioned the show's motivation for allowing such a piece to air.

Correspondent Scott Pelley defended his reporting by saying that there was virtually no disagreement in the science community on this issue. "It would be irresponsible of us to go find some scientist somewhere who is not thought of as being eminent in the field and put him on television with these other guys to cast doubt on what they're saying."

Boehm points to Dr. Chris Landsea, NOAA Research Meteorologist, Dr. William Gray, the world's foremost hurricane expert, and Dr. Richard S. Lindzen, MIT Climatologist "who are very well respected in their fields and believe the weather we are experiencing is part of natural cycles and is not due to global warming." None of these men has accepted a dime from energy companies.

Boehm also revealed that Dr. Bob Corell who was featured as being "among the world's top authorities on climate change," is actually a PhD. engineer and is not a scientist at all. Far from being accustomed to providing unbiased opinions, Dr. Corell is an "affiliate" with The Washington Advisory Group, a Washington, DC-based consulting firm, which is owned by LECG Corporation -- a business that specializes in providing expert witnesses to "inform judges, juries, regulators, and legislators."

Boehm asks the General Counsel, "Wouldn't viewers be better served, and perhaps less deceived, if they had been told they were hearing one man's opinion, not altogether different from Chicken Little's announcement that 'the sky is falling?'"

Sixty Minutes damaged their reputation for objectively reporting facts by not only showing viewers one side of the debate but more importantly by lending credence to a person whose opinion is neither unbiased nor authoritative.

NLPC promotes a single standard of ethics in public life through research, education and legal action.

Source: National Legal and Policy Center

CONTACT: Ken Boehm of National Legal and Policy Center, +1-703-237-1970,
kboehm@nlpc.org

Web site: http://www.nlpc.org/

-------
Profile: intent