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While sea level rise may be the most talked-about adverse effect of climate change, there is virtually no aspect of life on Earth that isn’t under threat from global temperature rise — including life on Earth itself. The United Nations recently released a summary of a report written by 400 scientists who found that up to one million plant and animals species are facing extinction, many within the next few decades, due to climate change and other man-made factors. “Human actions threaten more species with global extinction now than ever before,...

In order to cover every big story, the big 24 hour cable news networks need to find experts to debate and discuss this bit of information. This is most often presented in the now standard split screen format with opposing takes to the story, now viewable side by side (sometimes the host or anchor will take up a third portion of the screen). Split screens are almost always used when another report or study is released that concerns climate change or global warming. On one side a researcher or scientist (former staple of kids’ programming Bill Nye “the Science Guy” has now become a news staple) explains the findings while a representative from some organization (“Citizens for…”, “The …Foundation, etc.) dismisses it with the popular mantra “not all the studies are in…”. But, just who are these naysayers, and what are these groups they speak for? Science historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik M.

Merchants of Doubt

Directed by Robert Kenner & Kim Roberts

Directed by Robert Kenner

USA, 2014

Watching the new documentary Merchants of Doubt is fascinating and infuriating in equal measure. On the one hand, this is an entertaining examination of American spin doctors and their impact on public opinion. On the other hand, it paints a bleak picture for the prospects of ever neutralizing their impact. Still, Robert Kenner’s creation has enough gallant heroes, despicable villains, and ideological intrigue to rival any political thriller. It’s a fast-paced tutorial on the politics of punditry.

Politically-charged documentaries like Merchants of Doubt can take one of two possible approaches; preach to the choir, or seek new converts from outside the congregation. Writer-director Robert Kenner chooses the latter approach, with varying degrees of success. He insinuates that everyone, regardless of political preference, suffers from the deliberate spread of misinformation. Kenner visually traces the history...

Editor’S Note: This is a capsule review. The full review will be released once the film hits theatres.

Merchants of Doubt, the latest doc from Food, Inc. director Robert Kenner, is a sometimes fascinating but mostly shallow and repetitive glimpse at how a few powerful corporations and think tanks have manipulated the public through cunning PR. It is inspired by a 2010 non-fiction book by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, which argues that a few people with special interests are altering public opinion around climate change, thus delaying how we solve this issue. That is an important topic for discussion; however, Merchants of Doubt is an incomplete doc.

Kenner compares the public ignorance surrounding the perils of climate change to the warnings over tobacco in the mid-20th century. The heads of tobacco companies knew that smoking caused cancer and heart disease, but hid these facts from the press and the public.