Two climate change advocacy groups are challenging WBAL-TV and Tony Pann, one of the station's meteorologists, for Pann's stance denying that global warming is occurring.
Forecast the Facts, a Berkeley, Calif.-based group focused on broadcast meteorologists who deny climate change, has teamed with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network on a petition calling on the station and Pann to "publicly correct the false claims about climate change made by" Pann.
"We have organized so far hundreds of Baltimore viewers to urge WBAL's station management to correct Tony Pann's misinformation," Haedtler said.
Butt confirmed that she met with the groups for about 45 minutes to hear their concerns. But she said there are no plans to address the petition on the air given that Pann has never discussed his views on climate change on the station's broadcasts. Pann could not immediately be reached for comment.
The online petition does not reveal how many signers it has gained, though the page had been shared more than 50 times via Facebook as of early Tuesday evening.
Pann writes a blog for Examiner.com in which he has cited studies and statistics that counter evidence that global warming is occurring. Forecast the Facts cites more than two dozen of them, most of them dating back to 2009.
An earlier version of this post misspelled Haedtler's name.