murdoch hires brilliant environmental journalist
‘Matthew Warren returns to The Australian as environment writer, having spent the past 12 years working in environmental policy and strategy, both in Australia and overseas. He has advised industry and governments on a range of technical and strategic environmental policy issues, from recycling to climate change, and will provide a fresh insight into this complex public debate.
The Australian’s editor-in-chief, Chris Mitchell, and editor, Michael Stutchbury, said Thomas and Warren’s appointments were proof the paper continued to attract the cream of the nation’s journalistic talent.
That is The Australian announcing its new enviromental writer.
Something a bit odd about the description of Matthew Warren. “Returning” means he has been a journalist before. He has no significant, relevant scientific qualifications, or they would have been reported. But somehow, from this combination, he has enough status to “advise[d] industry and governments on a range of technical and strategic environmental policy issues,…”
He must be on the internet, surely. I think he is probably the Matthew Warren described as the Director External Affairs for the NSW Minerals Council, who is cited as the media contact for an article entitled “ACTIVISTS RESORT TO POINTLESS MEDIA STUNT IN NEWCASTLE AS REAL ENVIRONMENTALISTS FIND SOLUTIONS TO CLIMATE CHANGE”.
If so, he is a PR hack for the minerals industry in NSW. Which The Australian describes as “the cream of the nation’s journalistic talent.” Advising “industry and governments” around a “complex public debate”.
Bullshit. Spreading the degradation of The Australian beyond the op-ed pages.
UPDATE: Crikey has tracked Warren down, and confirms this story is correct.
‘It’s wrong to say that the NSWMC’s perspective is “where I come from”, Warren told Crikey this morning, as it represents only two years of a 20-year career and it “doesn’t define who I am or what I stand for”.
“My main bias is for the environment”, says Warren, “and to suggest anything else is silly”. Warren left journalism to work in the environmental field as an adviser – “out of passion” – and he’s taken up the appointment with The Oz “out of growing frustration about the quality of the public environment debate in the media”. It’s a “very important, very complex” issue, says Warren.”
Hard to see how Warren is going to improve “the quality of public environment debate in the media.” Particularly when his employer simply lies in public about his qualifications.
August 6th, 2006 at 12:20 pm
Given that the Orstralian has become completely unreadable, I salute your intestinal fortitude in chasing down yet another eg of their right-wing mendacity. You’re a better man than I, Gunga Din.
August 6th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
Thanks for this, David.
I’m sure the RWDBs will be all over Terry Lane’s embarrassing mistake with the MacBeth thing, while this kind of mendacity (thanks Shiralee, that was the word I needed), will go unremarked.
August 7th, 2006 at 10:15 pm
The Australian’s War on Science
In January Chris Mitchell, editor in chief of The Australian, was named one of the “dirty dozen”, the twelve people who have done the most to mislead Australians about climate change: As an illustration of how news values now take…
September 7th, 2006 at 10:26 am
[...] The headline of the report was “Science tempers fears on climate change”, and the limited grain of truth in the story derives from the fact that the draft IPCC report to be released next year tightens the bounds of estimates of the sensitivity of climate to a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Obviously, if the bounds are tightened, the lower bound rises and the upper bound falls but the Oz (intentional scare quotes) “environment reporter”, former coal industry Matthew Warren flack ignores the increased lower bound almost completely and misreports the sensitivity estimate as a projection of 20th century warming. To add insult to injury, the Oz described this misleading leak of a report widely distributed under embargo (I’m among thousands invited to review it) as (intentional scare quotes) “exclusive to the Australian”, though this now seems to have disappeared from the website. [...]
June 24th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Dear sir madam
i’m 35 Eritrean & live in the capital Asmara i wonder how i can get a college & fund to study Enviromentak jouirnalism through distance education ?
waiting your reply
Dawit belay