The Kochs' Climate Change Denial Media Machine

Submitted by Anne Landman on

Charles (left) and David KochBillionaire brothers Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries, the second largest privately-held energy company in America, have poured millions of dollars into creating a web of media influence to increase their power to sow doubt about climate change among the American public. A network of bloggers, pundits, think tanks and foundations get funding from the Kochs, including the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which has received over $700,000, and the libertarian Cato Institute, which has received $13 million from the Kochs since 1998. The Manhattan Institute received $1.5 million, Americans for Prosperity has gotten $5.5 million, the Pacific Research Institute has gotten $1.2 million and the Federalist Society $2 million. This web of think tanks and foundations operates blogs and Web sites and house prominent writers who pump out climate denial writings that help spread the Kochs' anti-climate change ideology. The Kochs' influence isn't limited to fringe media, either. Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer, who writes for the Weekly Standard and the Washington Post, Philip Anshutz, owner of the Examiner newspapers and the Weekly Standard, Stephen Moore, a Wall Street Journal editorial board member, are just some of the conservative media figures who attend the Kochs' exclusive, private annual gatherings.

Main Source: 
Mother Jones, February 4, 2011
Topics: 
Energy
Climate Change
Media

Comments

NeoKong replied on

What's your point....? You wouldn't have a problem with them donating to think tanks or causes you support.
Ever hear of a guy named George Soros.
He bought a presidential election and I'm sure you did not mind.
The global warming hoax gets plenty of airtime and coverage in print but to you that's different because you agree with it.
Al Gore even got a Nobel for his dumb movie and has made himself a nice chunk of change pushing his fraud.
But that is different I suppose.

Rustytacks replied on

It has been proven 9 ways to Sunday that This global warming hoax is just that - a hoax. Hey - get real and get a brain - Why is the climate of Mars warming? Why is the climate of Saturn warming? Why is the climate of Neptune warming? WHAT??? That's right! We obviously need better telescopes so we can watch those cars running around on Mars. (and Neptune)

Anonymous replied on

whats a NeoKongservative doing reading an essentially left-wing site? You are either a corporate shill or a moron, let me tell you why:

1. George Soros? Really? What does he have to do with this story? Nothing. Link me an article where this site promotes Soros. You can't?

2. Hoax? Climate change is a thing.thats.happening. It ain't a hoax just because you say it is, no matter how many times you say it.

3. Why am i bothering to answer you? My guess is that you are paid to wait online, and when a story pops up mentioning 'global warming' you race to smear your disinformation all over the comments section, only to race away, never reading the replies. After all, there's lots of work to be done, right guy?

4. (you made wild leaps, why not me?)

Anonymous replied on

George Soros donated to causes of the Democratic party, but did not advocate outright lies to determine his position like KOch.

Jerzeyjoe replied on

Hey you little worm. Don't come on hear and spout conservative talking points like a little parrot.
Yeah, George Soros. Is that all you have, punk?
Conservatives have had an army of well helled sugar daddies, essentially, financing the conservative movement for the last 60 years.
Richard Scaife, the Bradley Foundation, the Olin Foundation, the Scaife Foundation, the Kochs, and many more.
These groups fund the vast network of think tanks, front groups like Americans For Prosperity, Club For Growth, and Freedomworks. They also pay to train the next generation of conservative activists through groups like Young America Foundation (YAF).
In all probability, you're one of those trained activists taught to monitor left wing sites, and put out conservative talking points. You also may be a paid flack at one of the think tanks, paid to disseminate conservative talking points.

Gary Williams replied on

How so many conservatives are able to not only repeat blatant garbage but actually believe so much of it is related to the high correlation between conservatism and authoritarian leader/follower personalities. These people appear to have cognitive level filters that disallow info that conflicts with their prior beliefs and emotional attachments to the status quo. Their leaders tell them what they believe and they repeat it without analyzing it's coherence or veracity in the way other people, whatever their ideology, all do (even the left extreme).
Some quotes from a criminology paper at Okla. government website are instructive regarding the extent of the folly involved by our own projection, hence assumption, that these are also people who use reason and intellect to make important decisions. Most, the RWA-SDOs (see Dr. R. Altemeyer - The Authoritarians) do not. Being, or following power and authority - does.

"It appears that conservatism has pathological dimensions manifested in violence and distorted psycho-sexual development" (Boshier, 1983, p. 159). This is supported by a study conducted by Walker, Rowe, and Quincey (1993) in which there was a direct correlation between authoritarianism and sexually aggressive behavior. An investigation done by Muehlenhard (1988) revealed that rape justification and aggression toward subordinate individuals was much higher in traditional (conservative personality) than non-traditional personalities."

"neither conceptually nor empirically does there appear to be any grounds for distinguishing authoritarianism and conservative personality-except that the former may be regarded as a somewhat more particular case of the latter" (Wilson, 1973, p. 33). Dogmatic attitudes tend to be related to close-mindedness. The individuals who adhere to dogmatic attitudes have behaviors including: authoritarianism, tough-mindedness, conservatism, and alienated behavior (Rajnarain, 1986)."

"Conservatism is not the doctrine of the intellectual elite or of the more intelligent segments of the population, but the reverse. By every measure available to us, conservative beliefs are found most frequently among the uniformed, the poorly educated, and the less intelligent" (p. 38). McClosky, H. Conservatism and personality. American Political Science Review, 52, 27-45.

For much, much more simply use Google Scholar to search the terms "authoritarianism, conservatism".

Transfer Point ... replied on

The way the temps have been around hear it sure feels like global cooling. The funny thing is look at the snow coverage in the states and then look at an old map of what science stated the ice-age looked like. They are almost the same.
Transfer Point Beta Glucan

MattT replied on

Snow on the ground does not = an ice age. Ice age=glaciers covering continents. The glaciers are receding rapidly. There is no doubt about this.

Likewise, a cold winter does not disprove global warming. Nobody claimed that we would not have snow this or next year. Give me a break.

Anonymous replied on

You might want to temporarily suspend your disbelief and see if you can find some information that helps you understand that there is a difference between your local day-to-day weather and the global climatic trends. There's a reason that the price of wheat doubled this year, it's heat in other regions of the world. While you get to see snow this winter (go figure) the former Soviet Union saw record heat last summer, leading unprecedented crop failures, and in case you can't stomach the mere mention of a communist country, look at what just happened to Australia...

It's morons like you that keep science from entering its proper place in political debate. You may think it's patriotic to flack for environmental degradation in order to preserve you hedge fund bets on coal, oil and natural gas, but it's not going to stop your grand children from cursing your lack of understanding.

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