Disingenous BBC: Antarctica melting...

...And there's nobody else who disputes that. And it's probably because of you.

At least that's what the BBC suggests. The other day I heard this report which sounded like trademark legacy media journalism on another sign of the impending Global Warming apocalypse, er, Climate Change as it is now called:

"I didn't expect to see things happen this quickly. The ice shelf is hanging by a thread - we'll know in the next few days or weeks what its fate will be."

...Professor Vaughan predicted in 1993 that the northern part of the Wilkins Ice Shelf would be lost within 30 years if climate warming continued. But he said it is happening more quickly than he expected...

Scientists say the Antarctic Peninsula, which juts out into the Southern Ocean towards the tip of South America, has experienced unprecedented warming over the last 50 years...

The story was cleverly written. There's not one mention tying this to Global Warming, rather it's blamed on Antarctic Warming. But you wouldn't think that by what the BBC chooses to emphasize... for example the leading paragraph in bold does not distinguish between 'global' and 'antarctic':

...what scientists say is further evidence of a warming climate.

and later a bold subheader shouting

'Unprecedented' warming

Out of 19 paragraphs, the BBC gives two to the "other side." That other side apparently balances out the story by merely suggesting that the ice shelf in question might take just a bit longer to break off.

Now read this story; a completely different perspective on the same thing:

The high-profile collapse of some Antarctica's ice shelves is likely the result of natural current fluctuations, not global warming, says a leading British expert on polar climates.

This surprising finding is supported by analysis of data from the European Space Agency's ERS-1 satellite, according to Duncan Wingham, Professor of Climate Physics at University College London. The data, measuring changes in ice thickness across the Antarctic ice sheet using the polar orbiting satellite, show areas of growth from snowfall are as common as areas of decline. [emphasis added]

'Natural fluctuations'? 'Not global warming'? I wonder why the BBC chose to leave that out?

Via Ace and this guy.