Tuesday 9 January 2018

Deer oh deer! BBC admits climate change mistake

The BBC has retracted its claim reindeers are in "steep decline" because of climate change.

Climate change sceptic Lord Lawson wrote to the BBC, citing a 2016 study suggesting 17 out of 19 sub-populations of Eurasian Reindeer were now either increasing in number or had a stable population.

The BBC accepted it had made a serious factual error in claiming populations of the animals across Northern Russia were dying out because of global warming in the recent BBC 2 series 'Russia with Simon Reeve'.

The BBC published a correction stating: "This programme suggested that many reindeer populations are in steep decline because of climate change.

"It would have been more accurate to say that many reindeer populations are threatened by it."

Lord Lawson suggests even the claim reindeers are threatened is highly questionable, given their growing populations.

ELN has contacted the BBC for a comment.