The Times practiced recycling Tuesday, as environmental reporter Andrew Revkin teamed with Matthew Wald for Tuesday's report on a House hearing held by Democrats making various accusations against the Bush administration for being anti-environment ("Material Shows Weakening Of Climate Change Reports [1]"). The story's text box emphasized: "A White House aide wielded a heavy editing pencil, a House study finds."
Actually, the Times itself found this out a full 21 months ago, and merely rehashed it and made it the focus of its new story on Tuesday.
Revkin had already reported the Philip Cooney controversy back on June 8, 2005 ("Bush Aide Edited Climate Reports [2]"): "A White House official who once led the oil industry's fight against limits on greenhouse gases has repeatedly edited government climate reports in ways that play down links between such emissions and global warming, according to internal documents."
That 2005 article went on to list, in disapproving manner, specific changes made by Cooney to environmental reports. Cooney later resigned.
Meanwhile, the Times ignored a fresh angleof the story the Washington [3]Times [3]found interesting. The House hearing featured the ubiquitous global warming doomsayer Dr. James Hansen of NASA, who has often complained of being muzzled by the Bush administration. The Timesskipped overCalifornia Republican Rep. Darrell Issa's comeback to Hansen: "We have over 1,400 opportunities that you've availed yourself to, and yet you call it, you know, being stifled."