Breaking News: News Anchors Get Science Wrong.

From Feb. 7, 2013

CREDIT: Fox News

During a Fox and Friends segment on solar energy, a host claimed that that the outlook for the U.S.'s solar power industry is "dim." 

Shibani Joshi, a Fox Business reporter, then went on to say that solar power is "working out great" for Germany.  Why is it working out great for Germany?  Joshi says, "They've got a lot more sun that we do."

Nein, nein, nein.  Parts of the southwest get two and a half times more sun than Germany.  The only part of the U.S. that gets a comparable amount of sunlight as Germany is the Seattle/Tacoma area.  The fact is that Germany has better governmental policies towards solar power generation that we do.

CREDIT: National Renewable Energy Laboratory via Thurstone Energy

To Joshi's credit she corrected herself the next day on www.foxnews.com.

I incorrectly stated that the chief difference between the U.S. and Germany’s success with solar installations had to do with climate differences…

From Feb. 9, 2103

With the hubbub over the close pass of asteroid DA14, CNN anchor Deborah Feyerick led an interview with Bill Nye with the following question:

Is this an effect of perhaps global warming or is this just some meteoric occasion?

I would like to nominate Bill Nye for an award.  He handles these sorts of questions without rolling his eyes, without snark, and without in any way making the anchor self-conscious.  I believe she was trying too hard to transition from a story about the recent snow storm in the East to the asteroid item, but still I wish these anchors would do a bit of preparation for these stories.