The move follows a series of apologies and censures for failing to challenge climate sceptics during interviews, including Nigel Lawson. I won’t go on the BBC if it supplies climate change deniers as ‘balance’ | Rupert Read Read moreThe briefing note, obtained by the website Carbon Brief, was sent on Thursday by Fran Unsworth, the BBC’s director of news and current affairs. It includes a statement of BBC editorial policy that begins: “Climate change has been a difficult subject for the BBC, and we get coverage of it wrong too often.”It then states: “Manmade climate change exists: If the science proves it we should report it.” In the section warning on false balance it says: “To achieve impartiality, you do not need to include outright deniers of climate change in BBC coverage, in the same way you would not have someone denying that Manchester United won 2-0 last Saturday. The briefing note does not completely rule out including climate sceptics in BBC coverage: “There are occasions where contrarians and sceptics should be included. In the past, too many inaccurate statements made about climate science have not been effectively challenged by the interviewer.”In August, 57 prominent environmentalists, including Jonathon Porritt and Caroline Lucas, wrote to the Guardian declaring: “We will no longer debate those who deny that human-caused climate change is real.

Source: The Guardian September 07, 2018 13:02 UTC