Environment

The Fakest Time of the Year: The 2007 Falsies Awards

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the year that the Falsies Awards have truly arrived!

Groucho maskHere at the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), we've dearly treasured our Falsies since we gave the first awards out in 2004. After 12 months of reporting on the cynical, manipulative and just plain anti-democratic pollution of our information environment, we love adding an extra dash of humor to our work. But this year's Falsies Awards are extra super special.

Greenwash Hoaxes

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

In January 2008, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will "examine carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates that claim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in one place to offset emissions elsewhere." It's part one of the agency's review of "green" marketing guidelines. The review was initially slated for 2009, but is being moved up due to the rapid increase in marketing things like carbon offset programs, a "$55 million market that is largely unregulated." A legal staffer for the U.S.

No
Main Source: 
Washington Post, November 27, 2007
Topics: 
Activism
Corporate Social Responsibility
Cause-Related Marketing
Climate Change
Media
U.S. Government

Kentucky Officials Treated to a Global Warming Snow Job

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

"You can only hear that the sky is falling so many times," said Kentucky Representative Jim Gooch, explaining why he only invited global warming skeptics with no scientific background to address state legislators on climate issues.

No
Main Source: 
Lexington Herald-Leader (Kentucky), November 15, 2007
Topics: 
Climate Change
Corporations
Science
Think Tanks

Want to Be a ConocoPhillips Flack (for Free)? Here's How!

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

ConocoPhillips's Bob Ridge visited San Antonio, Texas recently, as stop number 32 of a 33-city "Conversation on Energy" tour. "It becomes obvious fast that Bob isn't in San Antonio to make any great promises," writes local reporter Greg Harman, who attended the event. "He tells our group straightaway that the next 30 years belong to oil, natural gas and coal.

No
Main Source: 
San Antonio Current (Texas), November 21, 2007
Topics: 
Climate Change
Issue Management
Corporations
Environment
Public Relations

The U.S. Propaganda Blitz in Post-War Japan

Submitted by Bob Burton on

A report written in 1959 by Mark May, a Yale University professor and expert on psychological warfare, detailed the extensive operations by the United States Information Service (USIS) in Japan after the end of World War II. The report was recently uncovered in the National Archives in Washington by Kenneth Osgood, an assistant professor of history at Florida Atlantic University. The report reveals that 23 of 50 USIS-sponsored programs were not publicly identified as U.S. funded projects.

No
Main Source: 
The Japan Times, November 21, 2007
Topics: 
Journalism
Nuclear Power
International
Media
Propaganda
U.S. Government
War / Peace

Pages

Subscribe to Environment