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☆ Climate scientist Michael Mann awarded more than $1 million in damages from conservative writers who defamed his work
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-09 | by ( David Goldman | Paradise Afshar | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —A jury has awarded climate scientist Michael Mann more than $1 million in a defamation lawsuit he brought against a former scholar and a media personality who lampooned Mann’s work. A jury in the Washington, DC, Superior Court civil case awarded Mann $1 million in punitive damages and a dollar from each defendant in compensatory damages. Mann had also sued the National Review and Competitive Enterprise Institute. Mann intends to appeal that 2021 decision, which said the Competitive Enterprise Institute and National Review could not be held liable for defamation, according to multiple reports. However, Mann’s is the latest in a recent string of defamation trial victories for plaintiffs or large settlements – most notably including E. Jean Carrol’s $83.3 million verdict against former President Donald Trump.

Persons: Michael Mann, Mann’s, Mann, Rand Simberg, Mark Steyn, Jerry Sandusky, “ Mann, ” Steyn, Simberg, Steyn, “, ” Mann, Mike Mann’s, Pete Fontaine, Jean Carrol’s, Donald Trump Organizations: CNN, Competitive Enterprise Institute, National, Pennsylvania State, Superior, DC, Court, X, Fox Corp Locations: Washington, DC, United States

WASHINGTON (AP) — A jury on Thursday awarded $1 million to climate scientist Michael Mann who sued a pair of conservative writers 12 years ago after they compared his depictions of global warming to a convicted child molester. Photos You Should See View All 21 Images“Mann could be said to be the Jerry Sandusky of climate science, except for instead of molesting children, he has molested and tortured data,” Simberg wrote. The jury awarded Mann $1 in compensatory damages from each writer; it also awarded punitive damages of $1,000 from Simberg and $1 million from Steyn. The trial happened as climate change continues to be a divisive and highly partisan issue in the United States. ___The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations.

Persons: —, Michael Mann, molester, Mann, Rand Simberg, Jerry Sandusky, “ Mann, ” Simberg, Mark Steyn Organizations: WASHINGTON, University of Pennsylvania, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Penn State University, Penn State, Associated Press, District of Columbia, NORC, for Public Affairs Research Locations: U.S, Court, Simberg, Steyn, United States, AP.org

The work brought Mann, then at Penn State but now at University of Pennsylvania, wide exposure. Kate Cell, whose work as senior climate campaign manager at The Union of Concerned Scientists includes tracking climate disinformation, said Mann's case is well-known among other climate scientists. A 2023 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 91% of Democrats believe climate change is happening, while only 52% of Republicans do. Many scientists have followed Mann’s case for years as misinformation about climate change has grown and many of them have themselves been subjected to attacks. Lidsky was skeptical that Mann’s case would have any broader significance, particularly on social media.

Persons: — It's, molester, Michael Mann, Mann, Al Gore’s Oscar, Rand Simberg, Penn State University —, —, Jerry Sandusky, “ Mann, ” Simberg, Mark Steyn, ” Mann, Simberg, “, ” Steyn, Kate Cell, Lyrissa, Lidsky, ” Organizations: WASHINGTON, Penn State, University of Pennsylvania, United, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Penn State University, The Union of, University of Florida, Associated Press, NORC, for Public Affairs Research Locations: Northern, United Nations, U.S, United States, AP.org

☆ Fact Check-European mortality data do not support link between higher COVID-19 vaccination rates and excess deaths
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-07 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Social media users are sharing a 45-second clip from a British news channel’s report which juxtaposes European COVID-19 vaccination rates and a single month of mortality rates to imply that countries with higher COVID-19 vaccination will have greater “excess mortality”. However, no “study” has reached the conclusion that European national vaccination rates correlate with mortality, as suggested in some social media posts. The map depicts so-called excess mortality rates across Europe in June 2022, which is the excess of deaths that month as compared to the average rate in the same month during the baseline period 2016-2019. “You really can’t draw valid conclusions on a single factor, like vaccination rates from country-level aggregated data, since countries differ in many ways other than vaccination. The clip selectively compares unrelated European datasets to suggest that high national rates of COVID-19 vaccination led to high excess mortality.

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