Sandy Cioffi on Nigerian Oil, Riki Ott Looking Back at Exxon Valdez Spill
Two deep conversations, about oil and much more.
Gas Prices ‘Skyrocketing’? You’d Better Duck
You’re not supposed to talk about oil and Iraq–but corporate media can’t stop talking about oil and Iraq.
Pointing Out How the Magician Does His Tricks Would Just Be Rude
In a New York Times story (8/24/12) about Mitt Romney’s energy proposals, reporters Eric Lipton and Clifford Krauss make this observation: With gasoline prices again approaching $4 a gallon, Mr. Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, is also trying to merge energy and economic policy in a way that will make voters see increased energy production […]
Oily Propaganda on ABC World News
If you watch TV news you’re bound to see a lot of commercials for oil companies. As Miranda Spencer reported in Extra! (2/12), there are far more commercials about energy companies and natural gas than there are actual news reports about controversial industry practices like hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” But then there are the news […]
Myth Informing Readers on Offshore Drilling
If the White House encouraged Americans to prevent colds by wearing sweaters, one would hope that media outlets would point out that there’s no evidence that being chilly has anything to do with catching a cold. Likewise, if the Interior Department green-lights a plan to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean in order to […]
PBS in the UK?
There was an interesting piece in the New York Times yesterday (8/1/11) by Elizabeth Jensen about plans to ship PBS programming across the pond. It’s a hard concept to get your head around, especially if you’re under the impression that Britain’s public broadcasting system is superior to our own. That might not be the strangest […]
Libyan War Not About Oil—Unless It Should Be
That Libya has oil is not lost on the media; network newscasts occasionally mentioned oil in the context of the war. But it often came up as as by-product of some consumer concern: “Oil and gas prices are on the rise this morning. Military action in Libya pushed crude prices up more than $2 today […]
Passing Gas at the Washington Post
Calling for more drilling for domestic oil to do something about rising gas prices makes little sense. This should be a simple matter of economics or math–there’s not enough oil to recover from U.S. territory to affect global supply, and since oil is a commodity traded on a global market, only an increase in the […]
From Africa to the Amazon — Big Oil Gets a Pass
Veteran actor and activist Peter Coyote (SFChronicle.com, 5/30/09) writes about big media’s overriding response to the “Largest Environmental Lawsuit in History–Silence.” Taking a look at “the practices that are going on behind Chevron’s carefully cultivated ‘green’ image” as they “drill for oil in the jungles of the Ecuadorian Amazon,” Coyote does give credit to the […]
MSM Blind to Energy Factor in U.S. Wars
In his introduction (TomDispatch, 5/12/09) to Pepe Escobar analyzing the current politics of the Aghanistan/Pakistan region, Tom Engelhardt describes how “there, the skies are filled with planes and unmanned aerial drones, and civilians as well as combatants die every day in increasing numbers as ever more frequent attacks and expanding conflicts make daily headlines.” But […]
Chomsky Appears on MacNeil/Lehrer; Western Civilization Survives
For years, FAIR wondered what would happen if he were actually interviewed by Robert MacNeil. On September 11, 1990, the mystery ended.
