The Journalism of Fear

On Monday, December 7, the Hindu newspaper in India ran a front page editorial. It was an “unprecedented common editorial” that was run by 56 newspapers in 45 countries. The title was “Copenhagen: seize the chance.”1 It was of course, about the climate summit that is now happening in Denmark.

This common editorial included major western papers such as The Miami Herald, Le Monde and the Guardian (“the world’s leading liberal voice”)2 . There were also some lesser known fish in the kettle too, like the Zimbabwe Independent and the Vietnamese Tuoi Tre (originally a publication of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Organization). These papers warned of the “profound emergency” that faces humanity. The tenor of the editorial and the panicky agenda of the climate change proponents seek to get its way by mobilizing world opinion to reduce carbon emissions.

To begin with, the editorial makes no acknowledgement that any debate on the subject exists. “The science is complex but the facts are clear,” they smugly announce. Because science has supposedly settled the issue, no dissent or discussion is tolerated. It is labeled “obstructionism.” The only question is “how little time we have left to limit the damage.”

Secondly, this editorial is journalism of fear at its most irresponsible. If we follow the course of inaction, we are threatened that in 5 to 10 years continents will be parched “turning farmland into desert. Half of all species could become extinct … whole nations drowned by the sea.” Please remember this journalistic prophecy. They claim that in 2016-20 nations will be drowned by the sea. Which nations? Are they now building massive sea walls as they only have 5-10 years left? This sensationalism is creating widespread anxiety and fear on data that is still debatable at its core.

Most unbelievably and blatantly the editorial brandishes the humanist credo. They set the goal of limiting global carbon emissions as “a collaborative effort to achieve collective salvation.” Man has declared the planet is doomed in 5-10 years and man is going to save it.

This kind of fear-based, political journalism reminds me of the 10 Israelite spies in the Old Testament. They said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us… the land … is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people … are men of great size… we became like grasshoppers … in their sight.”3 Fear and exaggeration does not mobilize. It immobilizes. It’s interesting to note that the ten spies presented ‘scientific’ facts in verses 27-29. Resource evaluations and demographic studies based on observations of the land were part of their report. The science of the day was on their side. The picture was bleak.

Their problem, like ours today, is that they did not factor in a sovereign God. “We shall surely overcome it,”4 said Caleb and Joshua. Theirs were two voices of assurance and hope versus ten of doom. There is a demonic motivation behind this current fear, working through human-inspired pessimism that does not acknowledge even the existence of God. Didn’t God promise that man would never be destroyed by water again?5

Is the climate crisis a lot of hog-wash? No. There are concerns and we all collectively must work to preserve our beautiful planet. We hope that the summit will make progress in cooperation and action.

But like Caleb and Joshua, we must not succumb to the fear and anxiety that is gripping so many today. It was Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones who said, "Faith is the refusal to panic."

God has spoken. “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”6


1- The Hindu, Monday, December 7, 2009 (Vol.132 No. 289) www.thehindu.com
2- www.guardian.co.uk
3- Numbers 13:31-33, New American Standard Bible (NASB)
4- Numbers 13:30, NASB
5- Genesis 9:11, NASB
6- Genesis 8:22, NASB