John Gibbons: Climate science has long been the victim of ‘fake news’ obscuring uncomfortable truths

By pouncing on supposed uncertainties in climate science, big business interests and their supporters in the media divert attention away from the real climate emergency

A climate change awareness rally in Sydney in 2019: Facing climate change squarely requires accepting harsh realities, such as the need to set strict limits on consumption, pollution and emissions. Picture: Don Arnold/Getty Images

To the political classes and wider public still reeling from the onslaught of fake news, and incredulous that the very foundations of democracy can be swept away in a blizzard of lies, climate scientists might well say: hold my beer.

Take Phil Jones, a quietly spoken climatologist at the University of East Anglia in England. In 2009, he was caught up in an illegal hacking attack on the university’s email servers which was later dubbed...

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