PRESS SPREAD CLIMATE SMEAR AGAINST GOVERNOR RICK SCOTT

In an astonishing violation of journalistic ethics, the Associated Press, Reuters CNN and many other media outlets, including the New York NBC News outlet WPTZ ran a story March 9th that Florida Governor Rick Scott had personally “banned” the use of the phrases “Climate Change” and Global Warming.  This story unfortunately remains entirely unsubstantiated and has been debunked by the Governor’s Office itself.

This story originated with the Florida Center for Investigative Journalism, a group founded and run by Trevor Aronson a former reporter for Al Jazeera and graduate of the Investigative Reporting Program at California Berkley.  Mr. Aronson and company have put forward the narrative that Governor Scott set out an official policy of barring the use of the controversial terms, as claimed by Christopher Byrd, a disgruntled former employee of the State of Florida.

Mr. Byrd recently left the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to form his own private law firm, Byrd Law Group, whose clients include a list which is near exclusively made up of environmental lobbying groups, including Florida Defenders of the Environment and a group called Animal Rights, which specializes in defending the civil rights of household pets.  Mr Byrd put forward no evidence to verify his claim regarding the Governor’s office, which comes at a fortunate time to promote his own legal business.

The Governor himself has denied this report to reporters, stating  “First of all, its not true”, said Governor Scott.  The Governor’s spokesperson Jeri Bustamonte confirmed that there is no such policy.

It is a matter of great concern that in 2015, so-called investigative journalism may consist, even with regard to institutions of high prominence, merely repeating rumors with no confirmation, evidence or substance.