Al Gore is an example of global warming as an issue which involves communication, media and science. He helped raise the profile of global warming, especially with “The Inconvenient Truth”. Gore used the scientific community to justify his position and the media to communicate that position to us the general public.
His funding of the project is a source of criticism towards his position on global warming. Like any other movie, An Inconvenient Truth relied on private funding. As a result the scientific research is a combination of private and state funded. The problem with private funding is that it could lead to a biased view, ultimately engineering answers rather than finding answers. Ironically, he himself has made accusations against large corporations for privately funding research to sow doubt inthe minds of the public about the credibility of global warming. How is his "documentary" any different? Would he really include information that did not support his view? Maybe he's just been more efficient at putting his agenda across. Al Gore tackles the issue of global warming from many mediums, using both traditional and new mediums.
He communicates his position primarily through the movie, but he has also published books, and has an official website. The more people talk about his work across those different media, public attention grows.
Gore’s high profile in the public and media has attracted a lot of criticism. Richard S. Lindzen criticizes Gore for pursuing a “moral crusade” rather than educating the masses about the real dangers of global warming. His concerns are echoed in William Booth’s article. According to Booth, Gore treats an inconvenient truth not as a message to the people about global warming but rather as a personal project that he wanted to get off the ground.
Global warming is a highly debated topic with many sides to the story. Gore presents one side of the argument; he combines both academic scientific data as well as mass media techniques to communicate his position. However, it is easy to assume that Gore is the champion of environmental politics and global warming. Consider the points I’ve raised so far; Gore presents his views using popular mass media movies and books. Sure he’s getting the message out there, but he is also selling his face and name to the public. He is one of many individuals out there in the world using science and media to enforce their own views.
Personally I think global warming is happening. But I realize now doing so much reading that I may have simply been foolishly absorbing all of what the media has been telling me without really considering all of the players and factors behind the claims.
On the internet, there are many millions of these views floating about, we cannot simply accept them face value.
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