And now a story that most of Australia's media thought worth reporting last Monday morning

Climate Commission report says 80 per cent of fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground — ABC News Online, 17th June, 2013

An advance copy of the Climate Commission's report

The Critical Decade 2013 — Climate Commission, The Critical Decade 2013, June, 2013

was sent to all major media outlets last Sunday. It was heavily covered in the mainstream media on Monday morning...

Leave coal in ground, scientists urge government — Sydney Morning Herald, 17th June, 2013

Joel Philp: The Climate Commission's latest report says that 35,000 homes in Queensland are at risk from rising sea levels and tides... — Sky News, 17th June, 2013

Tony Eastley: What were once considered risks are now a reality according to the Climate Commission's latest major update on how the planet is tracking ... — ABC Radio, AM, 17th June, 2013

Deborah Knight: The Great Barrier Reef could soon be damaged beyond repair if we don't act soon on climate change — Channel Nine, Today, 17th June, 2013

The Australian online carried a report from AAP that morning...

Imagine a world without coal, one where mining companies didn't dig up fossil fuels but instead kept them in the ground... — The Australian Online, 17th June, 2013

But in the hard copy national broadsheet that morning, not a word. The Australian explained to Media Watch that

It simply didn't make the cut. — Clive Mathieson, Editor, The Australian, 24th June, 2013

It didn't make the cut either in our two most popular daily newspapers, the Herald Sun and the Daily Telegraph.

But on Tuesday, The Australian's Cut and Paste section did take the opportunity for a little of its customary ABC bashing ...

Climate scientists may wonder why it's so damn cold but Aunty remains a doubt-free zone — The Australian, 18th June, 2013

That's because the ABC was sufficiently credulous to report what Australia's climate scientists were actually saying. And on Thursday, with thudding predictability, News Ltd's Andrew Bolt joined in ...

More Warm Claptrap from ABC Take ABC24's interview with Climate Commissioner Will Steffen and retired admiral Chris Barrie. Host Virginia Trioli didn't ask why the commission was using an admiral with zero qualifications in climate science to launch its report. — Daily Telegraph, 20th June, 2013

Well, she did actually...

Virginia Trioli: Chris Barrie, can I start with you, why are you launching this? — ABC News Breakfast, 17th June, 2013

Andrew Bolt has zero qualifications in climate science either. But week after week, News Ltd gives him space to pour scorn on climate scientists.

But back to The Australian. Here's the sort of thing that does make the cut ...

Emissions debate heats up while experts warn of a coming ice age Researchers around the world remain at odds on the causes and future of global warming Graham Lloyd — The Weekend Australian, 4th May, 2013

Well, no. Two Taiwanese scientists are worried that particulate pollution from China might have a cooling effect - but neither of them questions the warming effect of greenhouse gases. Only one expert quoted in the article does.

... one of the world's leading solar physicists, Habibullo Abdussamatov, says the planet is well on the way to another deep freeze. — The Weekend Australian, 4th May, 2013

Graham Lloyd says Dr Abdussamatov expresses these views...

In an interview with Principia Scientific International... — The Weekend Australian, 4th May, 2013

Now, Principia Scientific International - or PSI - is not actually a widely-respected scientific institution. It's the publisher of a weighty tome called

Slaying The Sky Dragon Death of the Greenhouse Gas Theory THE CLIMATE FRAUD IS EXPOSED!... ... the greatest science fraud of all time: man-made global warming. — slayingtheskydragon.com

You get the picture.

The article about Dr Abdussamatov in PSI was posted on the 26th of April this year.

But the quotes The Australian republishes come from this article posted on Canada.com the website of the National Post of Canada , on...

January 26, 2007. — Canada.com, 26th January, 2007

And PSI refers to one scientific paper by Dr Abdussamatov - dated 2006.

The good doctor has published his theories about solar irradiance accounting for climate change frequently in the past decade.

So they're not exactly news. They've gained little traction in the scientific literature. Indeed, four other experts whom Graham Lloyd quotes in his article reject the notion of an oncoming ice-age.

So what about that headline? The Australian concedes that...

on reflection, the use of the word 'experts' in the plural, was an error...It goes without saying that Graham did not write the headline. — Clive Mathieson, Editor, The Australian, 26th June, 2013

No, but he did write the story. And here's another piece by Graham Lloyd that the Australian thought worth front-page treatment...

Aerosols blamed for global warming, not CO2. Banned aerosols that caused the ozone hole - not carbon dioxide - were responsible for global warming since the 1970s, according to published research from one of Canada's leading universities. The research predicts global temperatures will continue to fall for the next 50 to 70 years and sea levels will rise for two decades before starting to retreat. — The Australian, 3rd June, 2013

So that's all right then. We can all relax. The peer-reviewed paper by Professor Qing-Bin Lu was published in a respectable physics journal **, and as Graham Lloyd points out...

If correct, the theory would have dramatic implications for forecasting global climate change. — The Australian, 3rd June, 2013

Indeed it would. But predictably, most climate scientists think it isn't correct. Not that you'd know that from Graham Lloyd's article, which doesn't quote a single critic. The Australian tells us that that's because they took too long to respond.

But when the ABC's AM interviewed climate scientist David Karoly about the paper that morning...

Prof. David Karoly: My assessment of this is that the study is completely wrong. — ABC Radio, AM, 3rd June, 2013

...it gave rise to another ABC-bashing piece in the Australian's op-ed page...

ABC LACKS BALANCE IN ITS CLIMATE COVERAGE — The Australian, 5th June, 2013

But there I go again. In The Australian's view, among the warmists and alarmists at the ABC, I'm one of the stand-outs. As the paper editorialised a bit over a year ago ...

Media Watch's presenter, Jonathan Holmes, has often been an intelligent commentator, but he displays his climate change bias week after week. — The Australian, 21st May, 2012

Well, this our 21st episode in 2013, and the first time this year we've dealt with the reporting of climate change. But month after month, to put it no higher, The Australian gives prominence to the small number of scientists who dissent from the view that global warming is being caused by human activity; and down play or ignore the publications - and the warnings - of the scientists who do. Quite simply, The Australian is misreporting the true scientific debate.

Of course, the Oz will dispute that. Over two years ago, Graham Lloyd argued indignantly that

The Australian has unwaveringly supported global action to combat climate change based on the science... — The Australian online, 4th December, 2012

If The Australian bases its views on the science it chooses to report, you have to wonder why it supports any action at all.

Until next week - my last in this chair - goodnight.

**UPDATE

In the above transcript, Media Watch stated that "the peer-reviewed paper by Professor Qing-Bin Lu was published in a respectable physics journal".

The journal is the International Journal of Modern Physics B (IJMPB), which has an impact factor of 0.4 (2010). The impact factor is regarded as an indicator of the prestige of an academic journal.

Media Watch now understands an impact factor of less than 0.5 is considered low for a journal of physics. However, the IJMPB is peer-reviewed.