Hush, journalists! Michael Mann is on trial …

Have you ever seen one of these dramatic courtroom presentations where, upon leaving the courthouse, the lawyers and defendants are swarmed by journalists and cameras? I can’t be sure, but I do not think that happens in real life. Journalists are kept not on leashes, but rather choke chains. As Ben Bagdakian (1920-2016) made clear in his book , The Media Monopoly (1983), young journalists are trained to rein in their curiosity, to not get emotionally involved, to get a quote from both sides and move on. TV drama would have them off the leash looking for stories, challenging powerful people, and in general, being a pain in the ass to the comfortable … doing their job. Ain’t so. Ain’t done. I know this from my own life experiences … journalists do not know how to do the one thing that one would think was their calling … to search for truth.

There’s a trial going on now in Washington, DC, and I will bet, dear reader, that you’ve not heard a word about it. It is Michael Mann versus Mark Steyn in a defamation suit brought my Mann twelve years ago, now finally coming to trial. If you wonder how bad our justice system is, twelve years says everything. Steyn has tried to get this case to trial and Mann has delayed every step of the way, as the suit was not brought in search of justice, but rather to silence critics by example. Mann is supported by unseen forces behind this group – [Climate Science Legal Defense Fund].  The group is obviously a front for the wealthy and powerful people who are backing the climate change psyop and Mann (he called them “our closeted friends” in the Climategate emails), so that he has never paid one thin dime for his efforts to silence his critics.

In fact, he sued a Canadian scientist, Tim Ball, and like the Steyn case, it went on for years. Finally Ball’s lawyers demanded that Mann produce his science behind his hockey stick and other claims, and Mann withdrew from the case. The judge up there found for Ball, and further ordered that Mann pay every cent of court costs on both sides. The result? Mann simply avoids going to Canada (he might be arrested) and has never ponied up a dime. A Canadian judge’s order cannot be enforced in the US, though many of us would like to see Mann frog marched into that courtroom to have his assets seized.

Defamation rests on financial loss, that is, Mann has to show he has suffered due to public criticism. He has not. He continually got raises while working at Penn State, which whitewashed his role in Climategate during the Sandusky trial, another concurrent distraction. He has now moved on to the University of Pennsylvania and a cushy well-paid job. Climate scientists only fail upward.

I am not sure most people are aware of this, but filming and recording of courtroom proceedings is not allowed. [See comments below. It varies by jurisdiction and is often up to the judge. In Mann v Steyn cameras are not allowed.] That is why you see artists’ renditions. If you see videotape of a proceeding, you can bet the proceeding is fake. And no cameras or recording devices are being allowed inside the Mann v Steyn affair. However, two Irish journalists, Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney, are doing the next best thing. They are taking the transcripts of the daily court transcripts and having them reenacted. The trial is ongoing, and at this point there are seven episodes at the Climate Change on Trial website. They are not repeating everything, but only highlights, so it is a very interesting affair.

There will be many more podcasts. This trial is slated to last three weeks. Steyn is representing himself. He’s a dynamic and funny guy, and the judge is, to a degree, allowing him leeway as a non-attorney.  For instance, Mann has claimed on many occasions that he is a Nobel Laureate. He says this because the IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, once won that bogus prize. (So too have Barack Obama and Al Gore, to emphasize my “bogus” claim.) There are thousands of people on the receiving end. When questioned by Mann’s attorney on the accusation that the claim by Mann is fake, the attorney wanted to know why. After all, he said, Mann was part of a group that won the prize. Steyn noted that the European Union once won the prize, so that there are millions of Nobel Laureates on that continent.

But did not all at the IPCC receive a certificate?, Steyn was asked. Yes, he answered, as he supposes the IPCC offices are located close to a Kinko’s. Challenged on that assumption, asking who would issue the certificates, Steyn responded that he cannot possibly know who is in charge of the IPCC copy machine.

That kind of repartee usually does not go far in courtrooms, as boring witnesses usually carry the day. To his credit, the judge has disallowed almost all of Mann’s “expert” witnesses. Still, I don’t feel good about this proceeding, as I do not trust our justice system to bring justice. Mann is obviously juiced – one thing in our favor, however, is the absolute press blackout of the proceeding, indicating that the media has been warned to stay away. That means if Mann loses, 98% of the public will never know about it, just as his loss to Tim Ball in Canada is a deeply kept secret.

Anyone who lived through Covid knows that the media is a faithful servant of the powerful, and does as told. Still, I thank Mark Steyn, who currently is in a wheel chair and working in an abusively hot court room, for his heroic efforts.

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PS:  If he loses, Steyn might have a powerful way to overturn the verdict on appeal. During Voir Dire, or jury selection, Bill Nye, “the science guy”, appeared and sat with the jury pool during the selection process. He told them what a wonderful man Michael Mann is, and what good friends they are. That is an attempt to influence, and is not allowed. Nye is a propagandist at best, and an engineer by degree, not a climate scientist, not that it matters.