When Australian physicist, Peter Ridd, lost his tenured position with James Cook University, he was called a ‘whistleblower’, ‘contrarian academic’ and ‘hero of climate science denial’. In this article, we examine the events surrounding his dismissal to better understand the role of science communication in organised climate change scepticism. We discuss the sophistry of his complaint to locate where and through what processes science communication becomes political communication. We argue that the prominence of scientists and scientific knowledge in debates about climate change locates science, as a social sphere or fifth pillar in Hutchins and Lester’s theory of mediatised environmental conflict. In doing so, we provide a model to better understand how science communication can be deployed during politicised debates.

当澳大利亚物理学家彼得·里德失去詹姆斯库克大学的终身职位时，他被称为“告密者”、“逆向学者”和“否认气候科学的英雄”。在本文中，我们研究了围绕他被解雇的事件，以更好地了解科学传播在有组织的气候变化怀疑论中的作用。我们讨论了他的抱怨的诡辩，以找出科学传播在哪里以及通过什么过程成为政治传播。我们认为，科学家和科学知识在气候变化辩论中的突出地位将科学定位为社会领域或哈钦斯和莱斯特的调解环境冲突理论中的第五个支柱。在这样做的过程中，我们提供了一个模型来更好地理解如何在政治化辩论中部署科学传播。