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, WEEKLY NEWSLETTER , 96-13 FOR THE PERIOD JULY 6 - JULY 12, 1996 General Interest: Many may still recall the June 24th CBS Evening News TV program with Dan Rather in which our cloud seeding p~ogram was featured along with the obligatory detractors. Most v~ewers thought there was probably a funny slant to the segment; so did we. Later, people from CBS mentioned they wanted to present "both sides". That's fine, too, but both sides of what? Their idea of "fairness" apparently meant forgetting about accuracy, objectivity and any real balance in reporting. Some items were wrong, others were half-right. Typical. In the end they missed what could have been a real story about cloud seeding, one with substance. Some ot the main points made by Cg~ and our (WKWM) comments follow: CBS: Many states are spending millions to combat drought this year, WKWM:, Half true. Long-term projects in, Kansas, Texas and North Dakota, collectively, spend around $2 million---they do it every year---but not just for drought relief. New money is being spent to combat drought this year, but for programs only in Texas, so far. In which states "ere all these other programs, anyway? CBS: We had been "banned" from seeding clouds in Colorado. WKWM: Outright distortion of the truth. At the time we had not then been given, nor been denied, a permit to seed clouds in Colorado. Conveniently, or purposely, they failed to point out that only o~e year since 1975 had we been denied a permit to seed clouds in Colorado I 1994; one of, the worst years of crop-hail damage in eastern Colorado-history. In,the finest tradition of TV broadcast excellence, CBS didn't mention the reason we had not been given, or denied, a permit by the Colorado Water Conservation Board was not because the Board thought cloud seeding doesn't work, or that it's dangerous to anyone, as CBS wouldhaV9 ita viewers believe. CBS: Howard Ranson, described as an atmospheric scientist and given no further credentials by CBS, said in effect, that due to natural cloud variability, seeding to increase rainfall is unreliable.,.it may work, it may not. However, funding such programs made people feel better by trying to do something about their problem, WKWM: DUMB. It is believable that Mr. Hanson's comments may have been taken out of context by CBS. If they weren't, then what he said about seeding to increase rainfall shows his painful lack of knowledge about seeding to stimulate rainfall, Too bad CBS could not have pitted Mr. Hanson's remarks against anyone of several distinguished atmospheric scientists who have been more closely involved in weather modification programs, any of whom could have told how it accurately. Associ8tes we've talked to in weatheI: modification circles have never heard of Mr. Hanson nor are any of them aware of any work he has ever done in the field.