“Science coverage does not simply lie in reflecting a wide range of views but
depends on the varying degree of prominence such views should be given.”

The Trust said that man-made climate change was one area where too much weight
had been given to unqualified critics.

In April the BBC was accused of misleading viewers about climate change and
creating ‘false balance’ by allowing unqualified sceptics to have too much
air-time.

In a damning parliamentary report, the corporation was criticised for
distorting the debate, with Radio 4’s Today and World at One programmes
coming in for particular criticism.

The BBC’s determination to give a balanced view has seen it pit scientists
arguing for climate change against far less qualified opponents such as Lord
Lawson who heads a campaign group lobbying against the government’s climate
change policies.

Andrew Montford, who runs the Bishop Hill climate sceptic blog, former
children’s television presenter Johnny Ball and Bob Carter, a retired
Australian geologist, are among the other climate sceptics that have
appeared on the BBC.

The report highlighted World at One edition in September of a landmark UN
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) research project which
found concluded with 95 per cent certainty that the climate is changing and
that human activity is the main cause.

The programme’s producers tried more than a dozen qualified UK scientists to
give an opposing view but could not find one willing to do so – so they went
to Mr Carter in Australia.

Pitted against Energy Secretary Ed Davey, Mr Carter described the findings of
the most authoritative report ever undertaken into the science of climate
change – put together by hundreds of scientists around the world – as
“hocus-pocus science”.