Unreliable Sources: Slick Coverage of the Exxon Valdez Spill
In the aftermath of Exxon's 11-million-gallon oil in March 1989, U.S. news media described an Alaskan coast with countless dead animals, decimated plant life, and a massive black blanket covering nearly 1,100 miles of shoreline. But within a few months, a different story gained currency, as reports out of Prince William Sound took on a friendly and forgiving tone. National media began to focus on the damage not done by Exxon's blunder, heralding Big Oil's efforts to preserve Alaska's environment. Out of the jaws of catastrophe, Exxon snatched a news spin increasingly to its liking. During one week in September ...
Slick Coverage of the Exxon Valdez Spill
In the aftermath of Exxon's 11-million-gallon oil spill in March 1989, U.S. news media described an Alaskan coast with countless dead animals, decimated plant life, and a massive black blanket covering nearly 1,100 miles of shoreline. But within a few months, a different story gained currency, as reports out of Prince William Sound took on a friendly and forgiving tone. National media began to focus on the damage not done by Exxon's blunder, heralding Big Oil's efforts to preserve Alaska's environment. Out of the jaws of catastrophe, Exxon snatched a news spin increasingly to its liking. During one week in ...
No Hope for the Homeless at the New York Times
The New York Times' campaign against the homeless, begun in 1988 with an article charging beggars with "hardening New Yorkers against their fellow citizens" (7/29/88), has recently heated up. The latest barrage began with a January 26 op-ed column by Myron Magnet, a Fortune magazine editor, who was given nearly half the page to make the point that growing numbers of homeless do not reflect "rising injustice and inequality in the social order." "Anyone who goes home by train or subway and trusts the evidence of his senses," Magnet wrote, "knows this just isn't so. What you see, if you ...
