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Summary of the Adjudication
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Channel 4’s penalty for the breaches of Ofcom’s Fairness rules by The Great Global Warming Swindle was to broadcast a summary of the adjudication, on prime time television. The summary was written by Ofcom.
The following was read out and displayed on screen at 9pm British Summer Time (BST), on Channel 4 television, on August 04, 2008; and an almost identical summary is to be read out and displayed on Channel 4’s More4 channel, at 10pm BST on August 05, 2008:
Summary of Adjudication
Complaints by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Sir David King
and Carl Wunsch
The Great Global Warming Swindle, Channel 4, 8 March 2007
This is a summary of adjudication by Ofcom, the communications regulator. It concerns 3 complaints about the programme The Great Global Warming Swindle, a documentary that challenged the scientific theory that man-made activities are a major cause of global warming.
Ofcom found the programme was unfair in a number of ways.
It made significant allegations about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, questioning its scientific credibility, but failed to offer the IPCC a timely and appropriate opportunity to respond.
It unfairly attributed to the former government Chief Scientist, Sir David King, comments he had not made, and criticised him for them. It also failed to provide him with an opportunity to respond.
The programme makers did not properly explain the nature of the programme to one of its contributors, Professor Carl Wunsch, when he agreed to take part, and the broadcast unfairly implied that he had agreed with the premise of the programme.
For a full copy of the adjudications go to Ofcom’s website at www.ofcom.org.uk