Opinion: How scientists should combat shoddy reporting on climate change

Nature : Writing in today’s issue of Nature, tropical forest expert Simon Lewis of the University of Leeds in the UK exhorts his fellow climate scientists to be more assertive in rebutting inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise bad reporting on climate change. Lewis begins his opinion piece as follows:

When science hits the news, researchers often moan about the quality of the coverage. A sharp reminder of the issue rolls round this month—the anniversary of the global media frenzy over the release of e-mails from climate researchers at the University of East Anglia, UK. So what should scientists do when reporting quality falls off a cliff? Earlier this year, I was seriously misrepresented by a newspaper and thrown into a political storm. Rather than take it lying down, I set the record straight. It has been an odd journey, and I think there are lessons for how we scientists should deal with the media.