News Media
“'Media’s failure to connect the dots … is [partly] why
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Americans don’t perceive [it] to be a … priority issue'.”
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.
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The percentage of advertisements that come from pollution-producing companies could be 25%.
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Two of the top U.S. purchasers of ads are car companies: GM at $3.2Bn, and Ford at $2.5Bn.
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As a media business director, would you allow truth-telling stories about polluters -
if those same polluters were providing vital advertising money? Maybe sometimes, but how often?
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NPR and PBS are funded by federal government (as well as “underwriters” - who are really advertisers).
"ExxonMobil is among NPR's financial supporters."
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Did you know,
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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 at Heated says:
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Newsrooms "shouldn't profit from propaganda." "Lies aren’t harmless. Climate change is deadly.”
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How well does the news media cover stories about pollution & weather?
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Not connecting "the dots 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 heating is caused by human ... pollution.”
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​ press releases opposing action to address climate change are about twice as likely to be cited in national newspapers as are press releases advocating for climate action.
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An Iowa weatherman tried to speak truthfully. He resigned after getting death threats from viewers.
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A Florida weatherman expressed "frustration over society’s failure to [stop] the pollution ... despite ... increasingly violent 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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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 many] 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 a different 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?
Maybe not:​​“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 plunged in ignorance ... and their leaders, seeking their votes, did not dare to undeceive them.’"