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Viewers of Channel Nine's 60 Minutes on Sunday night 17th May 2009 were treated to one of the
most deceptive and misleading stories imaginable as the producers let their
global warming evangelism overcome journalistic integrity in a beat up of the
Maldives supposed journey to the bottom of the ocean.
Against a back-drop of the Maldives, reporter Liz Hayes exclaims "If ever you needed proof that global
warming exists, it's right here. The Maldives is drowning". Very dramatic. So
what proof did Hayes offer?
The camera shifts to Hayes standing waist-deep in water lamenting
"For me, this is quite a sight. I visited eight years ago, and I walked
right here, on what was then dry, hot sand". From her previous comments the
implication is clear - sea levels at the Maldives have risen by over one metre
in eight years.
This is deceptive scare-mongering in the extreme. The most likely reason for
the change is normal sand erosion due to tides and storms.
Hayes introduces Australian scientist and fervent advocate of the global
warming hypothesis, Charles Veron who continues the scare-mongering.
"We're in for a change in climate like we've never imagined before,"
alarmist Charlie says. "We're
going to be witnessing whole cities being destroyed through the sea level
rise".
That's right - whole cities destroyed. Alarmist Charlie did not say which
cities.
Unfortunately for producer Stephen Rice and reporter Hayes their deception
was exposed by alarmist Charlie in the chat session after the show.
A number of participants were eager to know why such dramatic sea level
rises were not evident in the rest of the world. Alarmist Charlie ducked around
the questions until finally when asked what scientific measuring device was used to determine the sea
level is rising in the Maldives, Veron made this amazing admission, "There is no
specific measurable sea level rise in the Maldives".
That's right, no measurable sea level rise.
But hang on, wasn't that what the whole program was about? Maldives is about
to be the new Atlantis.
After this shattering blow to their credibility, 60 Minutes should stick to
their stock-in-trade of providing light entertainment in the form of fluffy
interviews with Hollywood movie stars.
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