I was quick to condemn TV3 news for its gratuitous introduction of denialist claims into its item last week on the Greenpeace ship Esmeralda’s Pacific climate impact tour. It’s a pleasant duty to be equally quick to report that their story tonight on Oxfam’s concerns at the suffering of northern Ugandans from the effects of climate change was told straightforwardly and without any nods in the direction of denial. Mike McRoberts was on the scene and provided a report sympathetic to the plight of the unfortunate people he was taken to see.Â
Oxfam’s just-released report was the subject of the item, and it was made clear that Mike McRoberts presence in Uganda was as a result of an Oxfam invitation. It was straight reporting, in which TV3 was not itself required to take up any position on climate change, though it was clear from the manner of the presentation that they took Oxfam seriously. And they went to the trouble to make the report available on their website.
 I hope it means that TV3 has given up the notion that because it is reporting an organisation that takes climate change seriously it needs to insert a caveat that some don’t.
TV3 news hit one of its lows last night. Reporter and presenter Samantha Hayes was in Aitutaki in the Cook Islands for the visit of Greenpeace’s ship the Esmeralda on its Pacific climate impact tour, with Sign On ambassador Keisha Castle Hughes on board [