Category Archives: Environment

Another Embarrassing NYT Oil Correction

Posted on 07/01/2010 by Peter Hart

You'd think after the paper's recent whopper on the magnitude of the BP oil spill, folks at the New York Times would be extra careful. Apparently not. Back in May the paper suggested the BP spill wasn't nearly as bad … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, New York Times | 9 Comments

Thomas Friedman and 'Our' Failures

Posted on 06/14/2010 by Peter Hart

New York Times columnist Tom Friedman arguedyesterday (6/13/10) that, when it comes down to it,we're all to blame for the BP disaster. And that's not all we're to blame for: We cannot fix what ails America unless we look honestly … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Environment, New York Times | Tagged | 24 Comments

News We Could Have Used: Offshore Drilling Leakier Over Last Decade

Posted on 06/08/2010 by Peter Hart

The front page of USA Today tells us (6/8/10):: Oil Spills Escalated in This Decade Experts: Red flag wasn't heeded By Alan Levin USATODAY The number of spills from offshore oil rigs and pipelines in U.S. waters more than quadrupled … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Media Criticism, USA Today | 9 Comments

Newsweek Still Pushing Phony Climate Controversy

Posted on 06/01/2010 by Jim Naureckas

Newsweek's "environmental issue" has an article (5/28/10) by correspondent Stefan Theil declaring climate change to be "Uncertain Science." Giving the Reader's Digest condensed version of the denialist case, Theil refers to "e-mails and documents suggesting that researchers cherry-picked data and … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Newsweek | Tagged | 10 Comments

The BP Spill Is Not as Complicated as David Brooks Wants You to Think

Posted on 05/28/2010 by Jim Naureckas

David Brooks (New York Times, 5/28/10) informs us that the idea that "government should have more control over industry" is one of the "predictably partisan and often puerile" reactions to the oil spill. The lesson that smart people derive from … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | Tagged , | 18 Comments

Managed News From the Gulf of Mexico

Posted on 05/27/2010 by Jim Naureckas

A troubling article from Newsweek (5/26/10) reports on efforts by both BP and government officials to limit media access to the aftermath of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico: As BP makes its latest attempt to plug … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Newsweek | Tagged | 11 Comments

NYT Tale on Oil Spill: From Bad to Worse

Posted on 05/20/2010 by Peter Hart

The New York Times ran a story on May 4 that advanced a rather unusual argument: BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill was probably bad, but not that bad. Helping the paperflesh out that line was a group called the … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, New York Times | Tagged | 9 Comments

Climate Bill Coverage, Minus Environmentalists

Posted on 05/13/2010 by Peter Hart

Do you want to know what environmentalists think of the "compromise" climate bill unveiled by senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman yesterday? Ifso,don't read the New York Times today. Times reporter John M. Broder (5/13/10) quotes Kerry, Barack Obama (a … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, New York Times | Tagged | 15 Comments

NYT Has No Space to Tell You It's an Oil Industry Group Saying That Spills Aren't So Bad

Posted on 05/04/2010 by Jim Naureckas

The formula for "contrarian" journalism was aptly summed up by Wonkette (1/6/09): Take a widely accepted belief (e.g., "Dogs make good pets") and write a cool 600 words arguing why its opposite is SECRETLY truer ("Why all dogs should die"). … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, New York Times | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

NewsHour Finds Drilling Critic

Posted on 05/04/2010 by Peter Hart

We noted last week that the PBS NewsHour's coverageof the Gulf oil disaster one night includeda one-on-one interview with a spokesperson from BP. Going through the show's coverage since then, a remarkable fact emerged: The show hadnot interviewed an environmental … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Media Criticism, PBS | Tagged , | 7 Comments

NYT: Drill, Baby, Drill

Posted on 05/03/2010 by Peter Hart

The New York Times' May 2 Week in Review section leads with a piece from Jad Mouawad headlined "The Spill vs. a Need to Drill." You get a sense of the tone of the piece early on: Readers learn that … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Environment, New York Times | 15 Comments

PBS Oil Spill Deja Vu?

Posted on 04/30/2010 by Peter Hart

When FAIR released a study of the PBS's NewsHour (then known as the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour) in 1989, one finding stood out: The Exxon Valdez oil spill was the major environmental story of the period. MacNeil/Lehrer had seven segments on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, PBS | Tagged , | 16 Comments

NYT Applauds Cassandra, but Isn't Taking Her Calls on Climate Change

Posted on 04/19/2010 by Jim Naureckas

I find it very peculiar that the New York Times can publish an editorial observer piece about unheeded warnings–"Cassandra, the Ignored Prophet of Doom, Is a Woman for Our Times," by Adam Cohen (4/19/10)–without once mentioning climate change. The piece … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, New York Times | 8 Comments

Without Info on Oil Price Non-Effect, Offshore Drilling Reports Are Just Gas

Posted on 03/31/2010 by Jim Naureckas

Implicit in much coverage of the offshore drilling debate is that such oil has the potential to lower gasoline prices. The L.A. Times' report (3/30/10) on the Obama administration's new offshore drilling plan provided this context: The announcement will come … Continue reading →

Posted in Barack Obama, Economy, Environment | Tagged | 14 Comments

Blog: NYT Science Section Doubts Science on Climate Change

Posted on 03/17/2010 by Jim Naureckas

Via Climate Progress (3/16/10), Scientific American guest blogger John Horgan (3/16/10) makes a disturbing claim: Two sources at the Science Times section of the New York Times have told me that a majority of the section's editorial staff doubts that … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, New York Times | 15 Comments