Climate censorship at the Listener

Hot Topic has an appalling story of censorship at the Listener, with Ecologic columnist Dave Hansford being sacked after pressure from the climate cranks in the New Zealand Climate "Science" Coalition. The column they objected to pointed out how the media's desire for balance distorted the truth by creating an illusion of debate and uncertainty around climate change when in fact there has been a remarkable agreement among climate scientists for the last decade that a) it's happening; and b) it's our fault. It also pointed out how this was exploited locally by the NZCSC, and how they were part-funded by the oil industry. Every fact in it was verified - unlike those in the NZCSC's "reply" several weeks later - but shortly afterwards Hansford was dumped. It's remarkable cowardice on the part of the Listener, and it raises serious questions about the ability of our media to accurately report on issues against the interests of the rich and the powerful. And OTOH, given the Listener's own editorial line on climate change (which is fairly sceptical about the issue, and certainly opposed to any real policy to deal with it), this isn't really surprising...