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posted by cmn32480 on Sunday June 11 2017, @06:36PM   Printer-friendly
from the just-look-at-the-comments-below dept.

NASA chief scientist weighs in

Americans are "under siege" from disinformation designed to confuse the public about the threat of climate change, Nasa's former chief scientist has said.

Speaking to the Guardian, Ellen Stofan, who left the US space agency in December, said that a constant barrage of half-truths had left many Americans oblivious to the potentially dire consequences of continued carbon emissions, despite the science being unequivocal.

"We are under siege by fake information that's being put forward by people who have a profit motive," she said, citing oil and coal companies as culprits. "Fake news is so harmful because once people take on a concept it's very hard to dislodge it."

During the past six months, the US science community has woken up to this threat, according to Stofan, and responded by ratcheting up efforts to communicate with the public at the grassroots level as well as in the mainstream press.

"The harder part is this active disinformation campaign," she said before her appearance at Cheltenham Science Festival this week. "I'm always wondering if these people honestly believe the nonsense they put forward. When they say 'It could be volcanoes' or 'the climate always changes'... to obfuscate and to confuse people, it frankly makes me angry."

Stofan added that while "fake news" is frequently characterised as a problem in the right-leaning media, she saw evidence of an "erosion of people's ability to scrutinise information" across the political spectrum. "All of us have a responsibility," she said. "There's this attitude of 'I read it on the internet therefore it must be true'."

No editorial comment included.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @06:55PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @06:55PM (#523893)

    Fake news pointed out those other evil Fake news supported by alternative facts.

    But be assured, I can now announce: Reality is over. You can relax!

  • (Score: 2, Touché) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday June 11 2017, @08:44PM (1 child)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday June 11 2017, @08:44PM (#523923) Homepage

    i.e. "We admit that we have lost control over the narrative."

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @10:02PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 11 2017, @10:02PM (#523981)

      I love how things you disagree with are a narrative, and literal fake news and conspiracies get pushed as truth.