Today, though, they presented what I found to be the most offensive graphic yet. In support of the standard right-wing talking point that "one cold snap proves climate change doesn't exist," Neil Cavuto presented this map to his audience:
Now, do you notice anything about these two maps? What's missing? Oh, I don't know, how about some freaking numbers? A map key, perhaps? Just what are we looking at here? There is no way to know. All we know is that the map on the left looks REALLY HOT and the map on the right looks REALLY COLD and since it's more recent, climate change/global warming is a hoax! QED! But these maps could have been filled in by a kid with a coloring book, for all the actual information they present.
Now why do you suppose any sort of actual data was left off? Because if it were there it would be obvious Fox is full of crap. But before I provide what Fox did not, take a look at the maps and try to figure out what they show. It would be reasonable to assume that they depict average temperatures of some kind. On the right, using the colors that we most commonly associate with temperature maps, it looks like it's the coldest in the Upper Midwest and northern Great Plains, and warmest in the South. That's reasonable. But now apply that same logic and scale to the map on the left. Look at all those warm colors. Where is the most blazing hot heat? Wisconsin? Michigan's Upper Peninsula? Meanwhile LA appears to be undergoing some sort of frost. Does that make any sort of sense for an average temperature map for the US in March? Of course not. These two maps aren't even comparing the same thing.
Here is the actual left map. Notice how it has things such as a descriptive title and clearly defined key? How informative! It shows whether temperatures in an area were above or below average during March 2012. So the Midwest was above average while the West Coast was below average, and so the differences in "hotness" make sense on such a map. In fact, taken on its own this map actually makes the case for global warming, because it shows that in March 2012 temperatures in a rather large part of the country were warmer than in the past.
The map on the right here equates with Fox's right-side map above. It shows the minimum temperature for ONE DAY - March 20, 2013. That explains why the colors are what we'd expect them to be. But Fox commits the cardinal sin of statistics - it compares averages to one data point in a way that is dishonest, misleading, and doesn't even make sense. It's basically like telling a bowler with a 100-game average of 240, "Hey, one time I bowled a 250, so I'm obviously better than you." You cannot disprove long-term trends with one outlying data point (and with the maps, Fox isn't even doing that honestly). This is Scientific Analysis 101, but as the right wing has shown time and time again, they have no regard for such lofty ideas.
There is a word for such blatant misrepresentation of data: propaganda. There is no other explanation. They have done it so many times that sheer incompetence can't explain it. As I've said before, I would have no problem with Fox if they were merely a conservative-leaning network. But they are not. They are a vile, puking automaton that regurgitates the detritus fed to them by their right-wing overlords in order to dupe their viewers into believing they provide "fair and balanced" coverage. Please, do not get your "information" from them.
As a final note, here's a lovely graph that shows the difference in how the same set of data can be selectively interpreted to fit your talking points. It uses 40 years of data, however, so I'm sure it's totally useless.
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