'Muted' Wishart angry at scientists

Outspoken journalist and author Ian Wishart has been put on mute at a climate science conference.

Wishart, whose book Air Con is sceptical about man-made global warming, was appalled to be shut out of a phone conference with New Zealand's top climate scientists yesterday.

Organisers admitted muting Wishart's phone for "time management" because there were 25 journalists trying to ask questions of the five assembled scientists in Wellington.

"What they were after was a carefully stage-managed presentation," Wishart told The Press. "In my view it was a propaganda stunt."

The Science Media Centre briefing, backed by the New Zealand Climate Change Centre and the Environment Ministry , was billed as a chance for journalists to be updated on "the most important new developments in climate change research".

Wishart, who dialled in to the conference, asked about the "residence time" of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and suggested the science was not settled.

Dr Howard Larsen, the New Zealand representative on the International Panel on Climate Change, said Wishart should send him copies of the studies he referred to, adding: "We'll have to agree to disagree."

A few minutes later, Wishart was cut off mid-sentence while talking about a recently released Oxford University study that urged caution on the expected extinction of plants and animals.

Science Media Centre manager Peter Griffin said Wishart was invited to participate in the forum.

"It's just a conference system, so we muted him," he said.

"We did it on the basis of time management. We had 25 people there and we wanted to give everyone a fair go."

The Science Media Centre is a government-funded organisation overseen by the Royal Society of New Zealand.

- © Fairfax NZ News