The Associated Press has changed its official Stylebook for reporters, instructing them to discontinue the use of "skeptic" and "denier" in their climate change coverage. Instead, reporters are now instructed to use "climate change doubters" or "those who reject mainstream climate science" to describe the people blocking our way to a cleaner, safer world.
There is no such thing as mainstream science! Science is science. Climate deniers do not "doubt", they loudly and deliberately deny the facts in order to obstruct progress and perpetuate the status quo for Big Oil.
Associated Press is a trusted news source that runs articles in almost every news website and newspaper across the country, and many across the world. Millions of people read their articles. The words they use matter. They cannot be allowed stop the general public from seeing these people for who they really are - CLIMATE DENIERS.
Dr Mr Colford,
People who deny that climate change is real and caused by our actions are, by definition, climate change deniers. Those who are skeptical of climate science are skeptics. Changing how such people are described only muddies the issue - an effective tactic climate change deniers have used and relied upon for decades in order to delay progress.
Please alter the AP Stylebook to reflect who these people really are and reinstate the terms "denier" and "skeptic". Do not play into their hands by softening and confusing the terms with which they are described.
Sincerely,
