Chevron Now Trying to Buy Journalists. Seems Big Oil is Getting Desperate.

[Donnachaidh]

http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2010/08/17/chevron-now-trying-to-buy-journalists-seems-big-oil-is-getting-desperate/

Big Oil never ceases to amaze me. Just today I was reading about a new round of “citizen rallies” manufactured by Big Oil front groups. I was amused that many of the sponsoring Big Oil front groups were actually front groups of the front group API.

Yet, beyond the web of election season front groups, I’ve been watching the tricks of the trade come front and center for the past 5 months in the Gulf of Mexico, as BP has resorted to the Big Oil playbook (PDF) on oil disasters. BP’s oil disaster play calling has mirrored that of Chevron’s tactics in Ecuador, where they are embroiled in a 17-year $27 billion lawsuit for their pollution in the Amazon. While both companies share the same playbook, as BP puts on a public relations dog and pony show and Chevron attempts to buy off Salt Lake City residents for $300, it’s Chevron that is beginning to turn to some desperate trick plays resembling a last second Hail Mary.

We’ve seen an illustrious chain of embarrassing Chevron snafus. There was the well-documented collusion with a known felon and former employee conspiring to bait an Ecuadorean judge. Then there was the instance in which Chevron did not like the media they were receiving on a national level. Following a scathing 60 Minutes piece exposing Chevron’s double speak and ill-crafted lies, Chevron conjured up the idea to produce their own “news reporting” for their YouTube audience. In this news report Chevron hired a retired CNN reporter to “report” their side of the story and pass it off as “journalism.” An event that nearly had the New York Times at the edge of their seat with laughter.

Now Chevron has gone from YouTube news to flat out bribes. That Chevron tried to manipulate the media is not news. I can’t blame them really. If I were Chevron I’d also be fearful the media will continue to non-objectively cover my responsibility to clean up my pollution in the Ecuadorean Amazon. Facts are a pesky thing when the media continues to report them.


More (including a video) at the link ---

[obxhead]

1. k/r

[amborin]

2. knr