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SW: →Doubt as a tactic of climate skeptics: - add section
The issue has attracted the attention of some in the congressional minority.<ref name="CBS1">Declan McCullough, [http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504383_162-5761180-504383.html "Congress May Probe Leaked Global Warming E-Mails",] ''CBS News'', November 4, 2009.</ref>For example, Republican Senator James Inhofe called for an investigation on November 24, 2009.<ref>Rebecca Terrell, [http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/tech-mainmenu-30/environment/2415-congress-launches-climategate-investigation "Congress Launches Climategate Investigation",] ''The New American'', November 27, 2009.</ref> Inhofe asserted that the IPCC and the UN "cooked the science to make this thing look as if the science was settled, when all the time of course we knew it was not."<ref name="CBS1" /><ref>Matt Dempsey, [http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=2188feb3-802a-23ad-4de4-3fbc0a92e126 "Listen: Inhofe Says He Will Call for Investigation on "Climategate" on Washington Times Americas Morning Show",] ''U.S. Senate Committee on Public Works'', November 23, 2009.</ref> The Ranking Member of the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming, Republican James Sensenbrenner also declared he would attend the Copenhagen conference on climate change to tell world leaders that regardless of President Obama's promises no more laws would be passed in the U.S. so long as "scientific fascism" persists. Sensenbrenner also wrote Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, leader of the IPCC, demanding that those found to have manipulated climate change data should not be allowed to participate in U.N. reports.<ref>[http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/09/sensenbrenner-climate-fascism/ "Sensenbrenner to Tell Copenhagen: No Climate Laws Until 'Scientific Fascism' Ends",] ''Fox News'', December 9, 2009.</ref>
===Foxgate===
On December 15, 2010, [[MediaMatters]] released a Dec. 8, 2009 e-mail sent by [[Fox News]] Washington managing editor [[Bill Sammon]] stating "we should refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question. It is not our place as journalists to assert such notions as facts, especially as this debate intensifies." The email was sent less than 15 minutes after Fox correspondent [[Wendell Goler]] reported on-air that the [[United Nations]]’ [[World Meteorological Organization]] announced that 2000-2009 was "on track to be the warmest [decade] on record.”<ref name=jf>Jocelyn Fong, [http://climateprogress.org/2010/12/15/leaked-email-fox-news-sammon-cast-doubt-on-climate-science/#comment-312900 "Foxgate: Leaked email reveals Fox News boss Bill Sammon ordered staff to cast doubt on climate science"] Climate Progress, Dec. 15, 2010.</ref>
That night’s Special Report with [[Bret Baier]] – Fox’s flagship news program — featured another report by Goler on the [[Copenhagen]] conference. Anchor Bret Baier introduced the report by saying that as “‘[[climategate]]-fueled skeptics continued to impugn global warming science, researchers today issued new and even more dire warnings about the possible effects of a warmer planet.” Goler’s report featured a clip of Michel Jarraud of the World Meteorological Association explaining the recent finding that 2000-2009 “is likely to be the warmest on the record.” Appearing to echo Sammon’s orders, Goler immediately followed this by saying that [[climate skeptics]] "say the recordkeeping began about the time a cold period was ending in the mid 1800s and what looks like an increase may just be part of a longer cycle.” After running a clip of [[American Enterprise Institute]] scholar [[Kenneth Green]] questioning the “historical context” of the WMO’s climate findings, Goler then brought up the climategate emails, saying the "e-mails cast doubt on the basic scientific message."<ref name=jf/>
Later that night, on the same Special Report broadcast, correspondent [[James Rosen]] advanced the wildly misleading claim that climate scientists “destroyed more than 150 years worth of raw climate data.” A month after Sammon sent his memo, [[NASA]]’s [[Goddard Institute for Space Studies]] released data confirming that 2009 was the second warmest year on record and marked the end of the warmest decade on record. Special Report never mentioned the NASA report.<ref name=jf/>
==Academic Investigations==