USA Today publishes a remarkable fake news headline

USA Today publishes a remarkable fake news headline

The absurdity of this fictional news headline is obvious:
Source: USA Today, online, January 10, 2019.

From the original press release which the story is based upon:

Assuming a “business-as-usual” scenario in which no effort has been made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5) models predict that the temperature of the top 2,000 meters of the world’s oceans will rise 0.78 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. The thermal expansion caused by this bump in temperature would raise sea levels 30 centimeters, or around 12 inches, on top of the already significant sea level rise caused by melting glaciers and ice sheets. Warmer oceans also contribute to stronger storms, hurricanes and extreme precipitation.

The press release does not give a current average ocean temperature but we are unaware of any oceans “boiling”. If the goal is to educate readers on the state of the oceans or climate, this sort of obvious exaggeration backfires and leads readers to question all aspects of the report and even the study. The result is to create skepticism, which is likely the opposite of what was intended.

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