The climate differences between scientists and TV weathercasters

NYTimes.com : A study released on Monday by researchers at George Mason University and the University of Texas at Austin found that only about half of the 571 television weathercasters surveyed believed that global warming was occurring and fewer than a third believed that climate change was “caused mostly by human activities."More than a quarter of the weathercasters in the survey agreed with the statement “Global warming is a scam,” the researchers found.The split between climate scientists and meteorologists is gaining attention in political and academic circles because polls show that public skepticism about global warming is increasing, and weather forecasters—especially those on television—dominate communications channels to the public.A study released this year by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities found that 56% of Americans trusted weathercasters to tell them about global warming far more than they trusted other news media or public figures like former Vice President Al Gore or Sarah Palin, the former vice-presidential candidate.