News Media
“'Media’s failure to connect the dots … is [partly] why Americans
don’t perceive [pollution-reduction] to be a … priority'.”
By Kasa Fue - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87486464
Commercial media would not exist, financially, without the commercials. See the Advertising page.
The percentage of advertisements that come from pollution-producing companies could be 25%.
Two of the top U.S. purchasers of ads are car companies: GM at $3.2Bn, and Ford at $2.5Bn.
As a media business director, would you allow truth-telling stories about polluters -
if those same polluters were providing vital advertising money? Maybe? But if so, how often?
NPR and PBS are partially funded by the federal government (as well as “underwriters” -
who are really advertisers). "ExxonMobil is among NPR's financial supporters."
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Both “The NY Times and The Wash. Post … have internal studios [who made ads] for Big Oil.”
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Geneveive Guenther at End Climate Silence:
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“Push ... media ... to refuse fossil fuel sponsorship, end ... conflicts of interest, and tell the truth.”
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Emily Atkin from Heated:
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Newsrooms "shouldn't profit from propaganda." "Lies aren’t harmless. Climate change is deadly.”
How well does the news media cover stories about pollution & weather?
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News coverage leaves people "feeling like climate change is just something that happens.”
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“Only 2 of 95 news segments mentioned the link between ... climate ... and ... wildfire."
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"None said that global warming is caused by human ... pollution.”
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It takes courage to report inconvenient truths.
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An Iowa weatherman tried to speak truthfully. He resigned after getting death threats.
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A Florida weatherman expressed "frustration over society’s failure" to stop pollution-fueled
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extreme weather. “'It … wrecks lives', Mr. Morales said."
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“Journalism’s failure to properly report the climate story ... [is] ... one of its great humiliations.”
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Press opinions opposing eco-action were twice as numerous as those "advocating for … action".
An example of the best that commercial media can do was the 12/2019 edition
of TIME magazine, where Greta Thunberg was named PERSON of the YEAR.
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Time mentioned weather-crisis causes, plus noted why flying is bad:
“roughly 124,000 flights ... every day [produce] tons of [ghg] gases.”
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They included an entire paragraph about the flight-shame movement.
They criticized some of Greta’s suggestions. “Thunberg has no magic solution.”
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But there was also:
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- a full page ad for a foreign airline
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- 1 page of ads for car dealers
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- a 1 page ad for car loans
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- a 3 page ad for a lung cancer medication
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- 1 full page ad for a car insurance company
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- a ½ page photo of a car mechanic (with oil and grease) about another medication
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- a full page ad for international tourism
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- 2 ads for banks which, partly, invest in pollution-related companies
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- and 1 full page ad for an American airline
Will media coverage of pollution stories improve?
“Rupert Murdoch … who … owns Fox News, plans to launch a … channel … called Fox Weather.”
"The Saudi royal family has been the second-highest shareholder in [Murdoch’s] Corporation.
"'The multitudes remained … in ignorance … and their leaders, seeking their votes, did not dare to undeceive them.’"