• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

BBC ‘Disinformation’ Reporter Plans Six-Month Sabbatical to go on Climate Course Funded by Green Billionaires

by Chris Morrison
28 December 2023 7:00 AM

Marco Silva is taking time out from his role as a senior reporter for BBC Verify specialising in ‘climate disinformation’ to enrol on a six-month course at the Oxford Climate Journalism Network (OCJN), a green activist operation funded by billionaire foundations promoting the collectivist Net Zero project. Past direct funders of this course include the Laudes Foundation and the European Climate Fund, the latter heavily supported by Extinction Rebellion funder Sir Christopher Hohn. Also signed up for the course is Mora Morrison, a BBC World Service producer.

I guess the cat's out of the bag…
In January, I'll be joining the Oxford Climate Journalism Network🌍 Super excited about it! https://t.co/yTLNmM00YE

— Marco Silva 🌍 (@BBCMarcoSilva) December 7, 2023

The OCJN runs what is described as an intensive programme for about 100 journalists/activists around the world. Participants can expect to be immersed in the correct political narrative surrounding climate collapse, the so-called ‘settled science’ and the need for extreme Net Zero measures, whatever the economic and societal cost. A flavour of the echo-chamber discussions can be gleaned from past essays produced by ‘alumni’, which include titles such as ‘Journalists should help audiences understand extreme weather – even when they lack climate data’, ‘To report fully on climate change, journalists need to integrate indigenous knowledge into their coverage’, and ‘Newsrooms should develop a mental health strategy to help climate journalists cope’.

Marco Silva should enjoy his time confirming his climate science priors. He has a keen nose for what he calls ‘disinformation’, basing his work on what he deems to be the authority of 99.9% of scientists who say humans are primarily responsible for the current warming of the climate. This is provided as a reason for not hearing from the “other side”. The ongoing scientific process, alas, seems to play little part in the BBC’s Net Zero agitprop. Alas, again, Silva seems unaware that the 99.9% consensus claim that he holds to be true is the creative work of cream pie thrower and green activist Mark Lynas. This work was demolished recently in a paper led by the chemistry and physics professor Yonatan Dubi. He found that massive flaws and biases riddled Lynas’s work, implying the conclusions of the study do not follow from the data. In fact, looking at the data presented by Lynas, Dubi concludes that the actual number of scientists agreeing with human-caused warming may be on the “low side”. A previous 97% consensus claim has also been widely debunked, with former Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) author Professor Richard Tol saying that the climate community still has a long way to go in weeding out bad research and behaviour.

None of these issues need bother the hundreds of journalists now passing through the hands of the OCJN. Started last year, it is part of the Reuters Institute at the University of Oxford. The Reuters Institute is backed by the Thomson Reuters Foundation and numerous green billionaire funders including the Laudes Foundation, the European Climate Foundation (backed by Sir Christopher Hohn’s Children’s Investment Fund Foundation) and the Knight Foundation. During 2022-23, funding of “over £1 million” was received from the Google News Initiative and Meta Journalism Project.

At the OCJN, the Advisory Board is dedicated to “improving the quality and impact of climate change journalism worldwide”. Again, careful curation is evident in its goal to “establish connections between the Network and leading organisations and ideas in the world of climate journalism, climate science and climate policy”. Members include OCJN co-founder Wolfgang Blau, who’s also an adviser to the United Nations Climate Change Division and a trustee of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation; Dr Fatima Denton, a co-ordinating author for the IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report; Aldine Furio, the Strategic Communications Director, Europe, at the European Climate Foundation; Leo Hickman, the Editor of Carbon Brief, an activist blog funded by the European Climate Foundation; Dr Radhika Khosla, contributing author to the IPCC; and Catrin Thomas, who helps the Laudes Foundation to “catalyse broad impacts through the development of external relations”.

Marco Silva claims that he is investigating and debunking bad information about global warming. “Not everything is what it seems,” he tells us. “Bad actors can be incredibly clever in the way they try to manipulate our knowledge and perception of climate change. Don’t rush, take your time to dig deeper, and dare to ask: why is this narrative being shared? Where does it come from? Who stands to benefit from it?”

Perhaps he might care to put those last three questions to the well-funded organisers of his sabbatical over the next six months.

Chris Morrison is the Daily Sceptic’s Environment Editor.

Tags: BBC VerifyMarco SilvaNet ZeroOxford Climate Journalism NetworkSir Christopher Hohn

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

News Round-Up

Next Post

‘Bad Management’ Not Inflation to Blame for Councils Going Bankrupt

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

29 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

In Episode 35 of the Sceptic: Andrew Doyle on Labour’s Grooming Gang Shame, Andrew Orlowski on the India-UK Trade Deal and Canada’s Ignored Covid Vaccine Injuries

by Richard Eldred
9 May 2025
4

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

BBC Quietly Edits Question Time After Wrongly ‘Correcting’ Richard Tice on Key Net Zero Claim

9 May 2025
by Will Jones

Hugely Influential Covid Vaccine Study Claiming the Jabs Saved Millions of Lives Torn to Shreds in Medical Journal

10 May 2025
by Dr Raphael Lataster

News Round-Up

10 May 2025
by Toby Young

Electric Car Bursts into Flames on Driveway and Engulfs £550,000 Family Home

9 May 2025
by Will Jones

Ed Miliband’s Housing Energy Plan Will Decimate the Rental Market and Send Rents Spiralling

10 May 2025
by Ben Pile

News Round-Up

55

Teenage Girl Banned by the Football Association For Asking Transgender Opponent “Are You a Man?” Wins Appeal With Help of Free Speech Union

21

Hugely Influential Covid Vaccine Study Claiming the Jabs Saved Millions of Lives Torn to Shreds in Medical Journal

21

Ed Miliband’s Housing Energy Plan Will Decimate the Rental Market and Send Rents Spiralling

14

What Does David Lammy Mean by a State?

27

Hugely Influential Covid Vaccine Study Claiming the Jabs Saved Millions of Lives Torn to Shreds in Medical Journal

10 May 2025
by Dr Raphael Lataster

Reflections on Empire, Papacy and States

10 May 2025
by James Alexander

Ed Miliband’s Housing Energy Plan Will Decimate the Rental Market and Send Rents Spiralling

10 May 2025
by Ben Pile

Nature Paper Claims to Pin Liability for ‘Climate Damages’ on Oil Companies

9 May 2025
by Tilak Doshi

What Does David Lammy Mean by a State?

9 May 2025
by James Alexander

POSTS BY DATE

December 2023
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Nov   Jan »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment
Perfecty
Do you wish to receive notifications of new articles?
Notifications preferences