Flashback: When The New York Times Reported Fairly On Climate Change—In 1989!
A historical look at media coverage shows that global warming politicization came later.
by Robert Bradley Jr. September 30, 2025, 3:29 PM
Master Resource Ed note: The current debate regarding the 2009 EPA Endangerment Finding can be enriched by a historical review of climate alarmism and its critics. This repost on fair reporting on the climate issue, a rarity for The New York Times, is relevant in this regard. [some emphasis, links added]
“The skeptics contend that forecasts of global warming are flawed and overstated and that the future might even hold no significant warming at all. Some say that if the warming is modest, as they believe likely, it could bring benefits like longer growing seasons in temperate zones, more rain in dry areas and an enrichment of crops and plant life.
“‘The expense [of climate policy] is patently obvious,’ said one of the most outspoken skeptics, Patrick Michaels, a professor of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia and a former president of the American Meteorological Society. ‘If the policy is going to be that expensive, the science should be much less murky than it is now,’ he said.”
James Hansen’s climate alarm back in 1988 attracted mainstream scientific caution and dissent, believe it or not. Full politicization and polarization would come later.
https://climatechangedispatch.com/flashback-nytimes-climate-change-coverage-1989/
