Over at Columbia Journalism Review, Curtis Brainard offers his take on Friday's theatrics by filmmaker Philim McAleer.
The SEJ member's attempt to hog the mic at Al Gore's keynote speech, and his spin on the incident afterwards, demonstrate his healthy degree of self-interest, as well as skill with slicing and dicing the facts to suit his ends:
Conservative blogs are already trying to cast the event as proof that environmental journalists are nothing but "homers" and treehuggers who won't challenge their sources or report critically on environmental issues. Those assessments are shortsighted and wrong. (Full disclosure: I'm a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, but so is McAleer.)...Such egotistical stunts are, of course, not uncommon during Q&A sessions at conferences, panels, and speeches. Given McAleer's upcoming film, however, this seems like an especially obvious ploy to gain publicity. In a video documenting the event, he claimed that he was asking Gore "tough" questions that environmental journalists wouldn't.
But the fact that "An Inconvenient Truth" contains inaccuracies is nothing new. The errors are minor and the film is broadly accurate; well-respected scientists and other critics have been saying as much since it debuted. The British High Court was absolutely right that teachers should present additional information to provide context, especially where political matters are concerned. That should be true of any subject.
Read the rest at Columbia Journalism Review >
