Jul
01
2010

Still Drill, Baby--Despite Spill

Little rethinking of oil after Deepwater disaster

Photo Credit: Huffington Post/AP/Dave Martin

The BP Deepwater oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that began on April 20 is now thought to be the greatest environmental catastrophe in the country’s history. Despite this, news coverage in the wake of the spill downplayed the harm, reasserted the need for offshore drilling and minimized the White House’s—and the corporate media’s—recent endorsement of additional offshore oil exploration. On May 2, the New York Times ran a Week in Review piece from Jad Mouawad headlined “The Spill vs. a Need to Drill.” The tone of the article was clear—“emotions are running high” as the disaster gets worse, [...]

Jul
01
2010

'You Fearmonger as a Way to Get Viewers'

Sandy Cioffi on Nigeria, the other oil disaster

Photo Credit: Sweet Crude/Sandycioffi.com

It’s hard to imagine a worse situation than the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but the Niger delta in Nigeria has by some accounts suffered spills equaling the Exxon Valdez every year for five decades. Besides the rare report, though, you wouldn’t know about that from U.S. corporate media. FAIR’s radio show CounterSpin (6/25/10) talked with filmmaker Sandy Cioffi, creator of the award-winning 2009 film Sweet Crude. Here’s an edited version of that conversation. CS: Let’s begin with your thoughts on the crisis in the Gulf. Perhaps you could describe some of the differences and similarities [with Nigeria]. [...]

May
28
2010

David Helvarg on BP spill, Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Rand Paul

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Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: The BP/Deepwater oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is by almost any standard a much more severe catastrophe than originally thought. Amid the now-they-tell-us reporting on safety violations and lack of regulatory oversight, some fundamental questions about offshore drilling are still left unaddressed—the most important being, "Is this a good idea in the first place?" David Helvarg from the Blue Frontier Campaign will join us to talk about that. Also on CounterSpin today, Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul skipped an interview with Meet the Press; the Tea Party poster boy likely would've faced [...]

May
25
2010

Drilling Disasters Can't Happen Here

In run-up to BP spill, media touted offshore safety

As the United States examines the origins of the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico, one factor that should not be overlooked is media coverage that served to cover up dangers rather than expose them. When President Barack Obama declared a new push for offshore drilling (3/31/10), asserting that "oil rigs today generally don't cause spills" (4/2/10), corporate news outlets echoed such pollyanna sentiments: You know, there are a lot of serious people looking at, "Are there ways that we can do drilling and we can do nuclear that are--that are nowhere near as risky as what they were [...]

Apr
30
2010

Marcie Keever on oil spill, Alessandra Soler Meetze on Arizona SB 1070

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Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: April 29 headlines suggest the oil spill from the explosion of a Deepwater Horizon oil rig may be as much as 5 times larger than originally predicted. But according to some media observers, TV news anyway, has kept the focus on the disaster story, and the human story, but the "What does or should this mean for increasing offcoast oil drilling story?" Not so much. How might journalists be connecting those dots? We'll hear from Marcie Keever, Clean Vessels Campaign Director at the group Friends of the Earth. Also on CounterSpin today, It wasn't [...]

Apr
23
2010

Andrew Cockburn on Wall Street, Heather Rogers on Green Gone Wrong

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Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Barack Obama is in New York City to wag a finger at Wall Street, but do the details of financial reform legislation really look like they'll make serious change in an industry where Goldman Sachs, for example, can rack up earnings double those of last year's first quarter while facing charges of fraud from the SEC? We'll talk about the state of play with Andrew Cockburn, co-producer with Leslie Cockburn of last year's feature documentary American Casino. Also on CounterSpin today, it's Earth Day season, which in much of the media means feel-good corporate [...]

Apr
16
2010

Ben Lilliston on genetically engineered foods, Barbara Miner on Teach for America

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Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: A New York Times report gives the impression that the debate over genetically engineered foods is largely over; the paper's writeup of new research says that, despite some caveats and critics' warnings, GE crops are good for the environment and the economy. Others come away with more questions than answers though. We'll hear from Ben Lilliston of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Also on CounterSpin today: On the surface, Teach for America sounds like a great idea: sending bright young college grads into needy schools to teach. But there's much more to [...]

Apr
09
2010

Jeremy Scahill on Iraq killings, Jeff Biggers on coal mining

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Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: A dramatic videotape of a 2007 U.S. helicopter attack was published by the website Wikileaks on April 5—prompting waves of coverage across the world, though only sporadic attention from the US corporate press. The attacks killed 12 Iraqis, including 2 journalists working for Reuters. Independent journalist Jeremy Scahill will join us to talk about the media reaction to the chilling video. Also on CounterSpin today: As we record this show, efforts continue to rescue 4 miners believed still trapped by the April 5 explosion that killed 25 in West Virginia, and media are tracking [...]

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