Complaint to Ofcom Regarding “The Great Global Warming Swindle”

Dr Tim Ball

The programme relied extensively on interviews with Tim Ball, who was identified in the programme’s caption about him as “Professor Tim Ball, Dept. of Climatology, University of Winnipeg.”

However, the University of Winnipeg has never had a Department of Climatology (see http://directory.uwinnipeg.ca); and Dr Ball is no longer affiliated with the University and is not a Professor. He retired as a Professor in the Department of Geography, rather than Climatology, in 1996 (see http://tinyurl.com/ysj7p8).

He has published a total of only four papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals: and these were on historical climate in Canada, with no publications on the physical causes of climate change.

He is not currently active in scientific research, and has not published in the peer- reviewed literature since 1994 (source: ISI WoS).

His claims to have been a Professor for 28 years and to have been the “first climatology PhD in Canada” have been challenged and are currently the subject of a lawsuit (see http://tinyurl.com/yvf243 and http://tinyurl.com/25wzzy).

Dr Ball can certainly not objectively be regarded as an expert on climate, nor as a leading scientist. He is not currently a Professor, and his links to the fossil fuel industry and to lobby groups were not disclosed.

Direct Corporate Funding

According to an August 12, 2006 Globe and Mail feature (http://tinyurl.com/39q2dj, Ball “has been paid to speak to federal MPs by a public-relations company that works for energy firms …. and his travel expenses are covered by a group supported by donors from the Alberta oil patch.”

Links to Corporate-funded Lobby Groups

(For information about the following organisations and the funding they receive, see Appendix D: Corporate-funded Organisations Linked to Contributors to the Programme).

Contrary to Ball’s assertion of never having received any money from the energy industry: