Climate Scientist Wins Defamation Suit

Sometimes the bad guys get their comeuppance, even after 12 years. 

Respected climate scientist Michael Mann won a defamation lawsuit against two right-wing propagandists who had maligned Mann's work investigating climate change. The propagandists, Rand "Ayn" Simberg and Mark "Brown" Steyn, claimed that Mann manipulated climate data and that his research was "fraudulent." From the Associated Press:

"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.

Mann, a professor of climate science at the University of Pennsylvania, rose to fame for a graph first published in 1998 in the journal Nature that was dubbed the 'hockey stick' for its dramatic illustration of a warming planet. [snip]

In 2012, a libertarian think tank named the Competitive Enterprise Institute published a blog post by Rand Simberg, then a fellow at the organization, that compared investigations into Mann’s work to the case of Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State University who was convicted of sexually assaulting multiple children. At the time, Mann also worked at Penn State. [snip]

'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. Another writer, Mark Steyn, later referenced Simberg’s article in his own piece in National Review, calling Mann’s research 'fraudulent.'

The jury in Superior Court of the District of Columbia found that Simberg and Steyn made false statements, awarding Mann $1 in compensatory damages from each writer. It awarded punitive damages of $1,000 from Simberg and $1 million from Steyn, after finding that the pair made their statements with 'maliciousness, spite, ill will, vengeance or deliberate intent to harm.'”  (our emphasis)

Doesn't maliciousness, spite, ill will etc. describe most of what is found in the media swamps of the far right? Steyn in particular has a long history of right-wing radicalism and Islamophobic writings. While Steyn plans to appeal the judgement, it's good to see him finally get the bill for his spiteful writings.

(photo: Michael Mann, Abby Drey / Centre Daily Times, file)