Alan Jones: I mean that rubbish program which is called Media Watch, and it is rubbish, and the people in charge of it are rubbish, and the researchers are rubbish... They're rubbish, and junk, have been and always will be, but then they run around sniffing, as I think Paul Keating once said, sniffing bicycle seats to see if they can find out a little bit of rubbish and grub on someone. — Radio 2GB, The Alan Jones Show, 5th February, 2010

Sniffing bicycle seats? Alan, I think you're getting over-excited.

Welcome to Media Watch, 2010. I'm Jonathan Holmes.

And even before we got to air we managed to upset Mr Jones.

We had the temerity to ask if he was being paid for MC'ing the appearances of the Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley - free market ideologue, professional controversialist, and debunker-in-chief of climate change science.

Well, we're happy to pass on to you the news that...

Alan Jones: No, we don't get paid for doing any of this. Pleased to do it as a public service to offer a viewpoint that has been denied... Freedom of speech? You're kidding aren't you? Our ABC? You are kidding. — Radio 2GB, The Alan Jones Show, 5th February, 2010

Lord Monckton himself had a rather different take on that:

Lord Monckton: ... in fact let's be fair to ABC they have in fact given me quite a lot of coverage around Australia... — Radio 2GB, The Jason Morrison Drive Show, 3rd February, 2010

They have indeed...

Deborah Cameron: He's here on a paid lecture tour and he joins me this morning. Christopher Monckton, good morning. — ABC Radio 702, Mornings with Deborah Cameron, 25th January, 2010

Virginia Trioli: He's in Australia on a month-long speaking tour and he joins us now. Lord Monckton, good morning. Thanks for joining us. Lord Monckton: Good morning, Virginia. — ABC2 News Breakfast, 1st February, 2010

Fran Kelly: Also joining us in the Breakfast studio this morning is Lord Christopher Monckton. Lord Monckton, good morning. Lord Monckton: Good morning, Fran. — ABC Radio National, Breakfast with Fran Kelly, 28th January, 2010

Tracy Bowden: You say you are not a scientist, you're a mathematician. Would it be fair to say you're also a showman? Lord Monckton: I don't think that's for me to say. But if you give me an audience, the larger the better, I do enjoy myself. — ABC 7.30 Report, 3rd February, 2010

And enjoy himself, he certainly has.

Adoring crowds have flocked to his lectures, and climate change sceptics on commercial talkback radio around the country have fawned on him ...

Michael Smith: Lord Monckton, Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, is in Brisbane today. I met with him with two lovely blokes... — Radio 4BC, Drive with Michael Smith, 29th January, 2010

Jason Morrison: This man has had an enormous impact, again not that you would necessarily know it in the broader media... — Radio 2GB,The Jason Morrison Drive Show, 3rd February, 2010

You wouldn't know it? It's been hard to escape his Lordship, wherever you looked and whatever you listened to.

What's worried us is not that he's been given airtime, but that some of his most contentious statements have gone almost unchallenged in the Australian media.

For example:

Lord Monckton: I think the United Nations Climate Panel is now a busted flush. For instance, Rajendra Pachauri, its chairman, Sir John Houghton, its former chairman, and a number of other people associated with it, are now under formal criminal investigation in the United Kingdom for filing false accounts of a charity known as TERI Europe of which they are all trustees. For the last three years they have under-declared their income of that charity saying there was less than ten thousand pounds income each... We've now discovered they were getting income certainly in the millions and this wasn't being disclosed. — Radio 2GB, The Alan Jones Show, 25th January, 2010

Those are serious allegations to be throwing around.

But Sir John Houghton has told Media Watch:

I am not and have never been a Trustee of Teri Europe... I have never received any money at all from Teri Europe... I am writing to Lord Monckton demanding an apology and a public retraction of the libelous statements about me that he has broadcast. — Email from Sir John Houghton to Media Watch, 5th February, 2010

Read Sir John Houghton's response to Media Watch's questions

It is true that, following complaints made by Lord Monckton among others, the UK Charity Commission has, it tells us...

...contacted the charity and its advisers for further information and are currently assessing this to determine the Commission's role. — Response from Sarah Gibbs (Press Officer, UK Charity Commission) to Media Watch, 1st February, 2010

Read the UK Charity Commission's response to Media Watch's questions

That's it. Hardly a 'formal criminal investigation'.

According to TERI Europe:

Neither TERI Europe nor its trustees have received any complaint from the Charity Commission about its activities, let alone any allegation of criminal conduct. — Response from TERI Europe to Media Watch, 5th February, 2010

Read TERI Europe's response to Media Watch's questions

And then there are Monckton's attacks on global warming science. Few interviewers are equipped to challenge his pronouncements.

And even when opposing experts take him on, they find it hard to puncture his iron-clad self-confidence.

Lord Monckton: The Barrier Reef Authority has established that sea temperatures in the region of the reef have not changed at all over the last 30 years. Jon Faine: Rupert? Rupert Posner: That's simply not true, I mean... Lord Monckton: I have the figures from the Barrier Reef Authority. I have their chart. I've got it in my slides. I'll be showing it at the ball room of the Sofitel Hotel at 5.30 in Melbourne today. — ABC Radio 774, Mornings with Jon Faine, 1st February, 2010

Well, we weren't at his Lordship's lecture, so we don't know what figures were on his slide.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority says it doesn't measure sea temperatures itself, and doesn't know where his figures come from.

But its chief scientist says that what's important is the trend over the past century or so.

The peer reviewed science we rely on indicates that there has been an increase in ocean temperatures in the last 130 years and this significantly impacts on the health of corals in the Great Barrier Reef. — Response from Dr David Wachenfeld, (Chief Scientist, Great Barrier Reef Authority Marine Park Authority) to Media Watch, 5th February, 2010

Read Dr David Wachenfeld's response to Media Watch's questions

And in fact the leading authority on the topic has sent us this chart which does show a recent rise in sea temperature.

View the chart '10-year average sea surface temperatures: Great Barrier Reef'

The fact is, Monckton is a superb showman, and radio is not the forum for complex scientific argument.

So he's enjoyed a free ride, especially on commercial talkback radio. His hosts bleat about how sceptics are excluded from the mainstream. But do you think any champion of the majority scientific view on this crucial issue is given similar access to their listeners?

As Alan Jones would say, you are kidding.