The question of whether record snows in the Northeast US says something about climate change is a scientific question. The NY Times shows us how not to report on a scientific issue:

Skeptics of global warming are using the record-setting snows to mock those who warn of dangerous human-driven climate change — this looks more like global cooling, they taunt.

Most climate scientists respond that the ferocious storms are consistent with forecasts that a heating planet will produce more frequent and more intense weather events.

But some independent climate experts say the blizzards in the Northeast no more prove that the planet is cooling than the lack of snow in Vancouver or the downpours in Southern California prove that it is warming.

As an illustration of their point of view, the family of Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, a leading climate skeptic in Congress, built a six-foot-tall igloo on Capitol Hill and put a cardboard sign on top that read “Al Gore’s New Home.”

1. The Times refers to "some independent climate experts", and then immediately quotes Senator James Inhofe, who has no climate science expertise and is well known for claiming that global warming is a hoax.

2. The very first person quoted in this article is not a climate scientist, but Senator Inhofe.

But don't worry! The right-wing skeptic is duly juxtaposed to someone who's liberal:

Nonsense, responded Joseph Romm, a climate-change expert and former Energy Department official who writes about climate issues at the liberal Center for American Progress.

The article then goes on to cite Matt Drudge and the Virginia Republican party. Finally, someone with a PhD in the relevant field is quoted at the very end.

If this is how one of the best U.S. papers reports on a critical scientific debate, we're completely hosed.

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