Agencies Control Scientists' Contacts with Media

The document details how federal agencies like NOAA and NASA used media policies to control scientists' public communications on climate change. It provides specific examples of scientists, such as Dr. Thomas Knutson and Dr. Kevin Trenberth, whose media appearances were blocked or diverted to political appointees or scientists with opposing views when their research highlighted human influence on the climate or hurricane intensity.

• Federal agencies modified media policies to increase oversight of communications regarding climate science, with the most significant interference targeting scientists researching 'controversial' areas such as human influence on the climate and the resulting impacts on agriculture and ecology.
• In 2004, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) established a top-down media policy requiring prior approval from the Department of Commerce for interviews with national media outlets, a policy that was unevenly enforced to specifically scrutinize scientists working on sensitive topics.
• NOAA public affairs officials actively blocked Dr. Thomas Knutson from media appearances regarding the link between carbon dioxide and intense tropical cyclones, instead routing inquiries to Dr. Chris Landsea, who contested the connection between global warming and hurricane intensity.
• Media inquiries regarding a 2003 peer-reviewed study by Dr. Kevin Trenberth and Thomas Karl, which concluded that modern climate change is primarily driven by human influence, were diverted from the authors to Jim Mahoney, a political appointee who downplayed the study's significance.
• Similar restrictions on scientists' communications occurred at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), though these issues were partially addressed by a revised media policy issued in February 2006.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2004). Agencies Control Scientists' Contacts with Media. https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/agencies-control-scientists-contacts-media

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Agencies Control Scientists' Contacts with Media. 2004. https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/agencies-control-scientists-contacts-media.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Agencies Control Scientists' Contacts with Media |date=8 April 2004 |url=https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/agencies-control-scientists-contacts-media |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2004agencies, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Agencies Control Scientists' Contacts with Media}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2004}, month = apr, url = {https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/agencies-control-scientists-contacts-media}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }