Energy — FAIR: Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting

Aug

2008

Failing to Do the Math on Oil

Support for offshore drilling increases following media misinformation

Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons/Bryan Burke

When Republican presidential contender John McCain called on June 17 for an end to the federal ban on offshore oil drilling, corporate media framing of the debate that followed helped sell his position. Journalists focused more on the political calculations of the move and its supposed populist appeal—while downplaying the question of whether or not offshore drilling would do what supporters argued it would. Much of the coverage led voters to believe that such drilling would have an immediate effect on oil prices. "Sen. John McCain has come out with an idea for how to solve the nation's current oil-related [...]

Jun

2008

Tyson Slocum on offshore drilling, Matthew Lasar on the Red Lion decision

Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: John McCain says the ban on oil drilling of the U.S. coast should be lifted, to increase oil production and lower prices. Drilling opponents say the drilling won't lower prices and will endanger environments. Who's right? Mainstream reporting is little help, rarely offering more than to say that the story is about a "trade-off" between energy and environmental costs. We'll talk to Tyson Slocum, the director of Public Citizen's Energy Program, about the price of oil. Also on the show: The case Fox vs. FCC that the Supreme Court will hear next fall has [...]

Feb

2008

Dahr Jamail on the Iraq surge, Karl Grossman on nuclear power resurgence

Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Reports that the surge in Iraq "is working" are commonplace, but they rarely confront the question, "Working for whom?" In his latest piece, "Reality Is Totally Different: Iraqis on 'Success' and 'Progress' in Their Country," available at TomDispatch.com, independent journalist Dahr Jamail goes beyond the official Washington view and asks Iraqis how the surge is working for them. We'll talk to Dahr Jamail. Also on the show: It was not just the fiascos of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl but years of citizen activism that scuttled the U.S. love affair with nuclear power in [...]

Feb

2008

The NYT's Nuclear 'Promised Land'

By Karl Grossman

Note: This is a sidebar to "Money is the Real Green Power" (Extra!, 1-2/08). The New York Times is not alone in promoting a revival of nuclear power. But as the U.S. paper of record, it sets the media tone. Its pro-nuclear editorial culture began decades ago when the Manhattan Project and its corporate contractors (notably General Electric and Westinghouse, which became the major manufacturers of nuclear power plants) sought to perpetuate what was established during World War II, by making other things atomic. Because of the Times’ importance, Manhattan Project director Gen. Leslie Groves personally arranged for its reporter, [...]

Feb

2008

Money Is the Real Green Power:

The hoax of eco-friendly nuclear energy

By Karl Grossman

Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons/EnvironmentBlog

Nuclear advocates in government and the nuclear industry are engaged in a massive, heavily financed drive to revive atomic power in the United States—with most of the mainstream media either not questioning or actually assisting in the promotion. “With a very few notable exceptions, such as the Los Angeles Times, the U.S. media have turned the same sort of blind, uncritical eye on the nuclear industry’s claims that led an earlier generation of Americans to believe atomic energy would be too cheap to meter,” comments Michael Mariotte, executive director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. “The nuclear industry’s public [...]

Aug

2007

Arianna Huffington on Utah mining disaster, Ralph Nader on talk radio payola

Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: the six coal miners buried in Crandall Canyon in Utah are presumed dead. With three additional miners killed in the rescue attempt, the question now is whether media will call the story a tragedy and move on, or track responsibility for the disaster, no matter how high it goes. We'll speak with Arianna Huffington of the blog the Huffington Post about media's record on the story so far. Also on the show: a potential new payola scandal involving talk radio hosts receiving perks from General Motors, including free use of cars, in exchange for [...]

Aug

2007

NPR Touts Pro-Nuke 'Environmentalists'

Network's own nuclear links undisclosed

An August 15 NPR Morning Edition segment touted the benefits of nuclear power, suggesting it was gaining popularity with many environmentalists who once opposed it. The segment was an interview with Fortune magazine editor David Whitford, who has written a series of articles about the debate over nuclear power. The piece was introduced by NPR anchor John Ydstie, who asserted that "with fossil fuel carbon emissions in the environmental bull's-eye, nuclear power is starting to shake off its bad reputation." Whitford elaborated on the claim that nuclear power's image is improving: "There are many environmentalists now who began their careers [...]

Apr

2007

CBS's Nuclear Revival

60 Minutes' critic-free boosterism

On April 8, the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes aired a segment about the "resounding success" of the French nuclear power program, suggesting that "emission-free" nuclear power might offer an easy solution to the problem of climate change. The report protected this dubious assertion from skeptical scrutiny by failing to quote a single bona fide critic of the nuclear industry. The segment was titled "Vive Les Nukes," which gave a good indication of the slant it took. Describing it as "an efficient means of producing large amounts of carbon-free energy," correspondent Steve Kroft announced at the top of the segment that [...]