Thread by @leahstokes

This week, @CBCNews decided to reprint a garbage article from @CanadianPress. It's a completely uncritical repackaging of the oil and gas industry’s talking points and an attack on the #ClimateStrike. Shame on the @CBC! Let's call them out in a THREAD! 🧵
cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…

@CBCNews @CanadianPress @CBC More than a quarter (!) of Montreal’s population turned out to #ClimateStrike on Friday. But clearly the @CanadianPress couldn’t find a single striker or scientist to comment. I mean, it was only 1 IN 4 MONTREALERS that they could have spoken with... 2/
narcity.com/news/ca/canada…

@CBCNews @CanadianPress @CBC The article claims that “activists who want to stop new pipelines aren't considering the negative impact on Indigenous communities who are counting on oil and gas development to improve their lives.” And that fossil fuels are the solution to indigenous injustice.

Yeah, NO.

@CBCNews @CanadianPress @CBC Yes, some indigenous communities in Canada support oil development and the TransMountain pipeline. But many others do not. Maybe the @CBCnews article could have, umm, discussed that?

Alas, industry talking points took up all available space! 4/
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

@CBCNews @CanadianPress @CBC Next, the article repeats the kind of right-wing conspiracy theories we’ve seen against Greta Thunberg, claiming "Young people taking part in the climate change strike are being manipulated and misled by radical environmentalists.”

Yeah, NO. 5/

@CBCNews @CanadianPress @CBC The young strikers are smart. They are reading @IPCC_CH reports. They see the consequences of having warmed the planet 1C. And they are terrified of what 1.5C or more would bring. These radical people even include… young conservatives! Because they too will be alive in 2050. 6/

@CBCNews @CanadianPress @CBC @IPCC_CH Finally, the article closes with some hopeful thoughts from the CEO of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada. “Yeah, maybe someday we might deal with this whole climate catastrophe thing. But like, not anytime soon. Y’all young people, calm down.”

@CBCNews @CanadianPress @CBC @IPCC_CH Meanwhile what do actual scientists say about keeping warming to 1.5C or below? They say we can't build any new fossil fuel infrastructure.

The Canadian oil sands are fundamentally incompatible with climate stability. 8/
nature.com/articles/s4158…

@CBCNews @CanadianPress @CBC @IPCC_CH Let’s use this disgraceful reporting as a learning opportunity about decades of media complicity in climate denial + delay. Lots of peer reviewed research shows just that!

Here’s a classic from @boykoff + @JulesBoykoff that every journalist should know!
sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

@CBCNews @CanadianPress @CBC @IPCC_CH @boykoff @JulesBoykoff And here’s one of my favorite articles, by @J_Farrell, which shows that the exact language used in denial documents ended up in the news media.

If only we all had the same power as the fossil fuel industry to amplify our messages far and wide! 11/
nature.com/articles/nclim…

@CBCNews @CanadianPress @CBC @IPCC_CH @boykoff @JulesBoykoff @J_Farrell Articles like this show that Canada is a petro-state: a country economically dependent on oil. This can erode political institutions, including the media.

But, don’t just take it from me! Here’s Thomas Homer-Dixon saying the same thing in the @nytimes.
nytimes.com/2013/04/01/opi…

@CBCNews @CanadianPress @CBC @IPCC_CH @boykoff @JulesBoykoff @J_Farrell @nytimes Now, it’s not all bad news! Some parts of @CBCnews are recognizing that the new face of climate denial is climate delay. Here’s @mmildenberger saying just that in some good @CBCNews coverage from this week. 13/
cbc.ca/news/technolog…

@CBCNews @CanadianPress @CBC @IPCC_CH @boykoff @JulesBoykoff @J_Farrell @nytimes @mmildenberger But this article is terrible. The only people quoted are fossil fuel industry hacks. The article has no byline, and therefore no accountability for the writer. Keeping it classy, @CanadianPress, @CBCNews, @CBC.

Dear Canadian media: stop promoting climate delay. DO BETTER! /FIN

@CBCNews @CanadianPress @CBC @IPCC_CH @boykoff @JulesBoykoff @J_Farrell @nytimes @mmildenberger PS: Hat tip to @katesversion for bringing this terrible article to my attention. And special thanks to an unnamed CBC journalist who decided to defend this crap, and thereby inspired this thread! Can't think of a better way to spend my Sunday...

#cdnpoli