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posted by martyb on Monday September 19 2016, @09:12AM   Printer-friendly

The Colonial Pipeline spill has caused 6 states (Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and North Carolina) to declare a state of emergency. Gasoline (petrol) prices on the east coast are likely to spike. Yet, most puzzling is how this vast emergency and its likely effect on cost of living has gone unnoticed by mainstream media outlets. The pipeline is owned by Koch Industries: is this why the media is silent?

[Are there any Soylentils in the affected area who can corroborate this story? Have you heard of the spill, seen long gas lines, or any price gouging? -Ed.]


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday September 19 2016, @11:34AM

    by Thexalon (636) on Monday September 19 2016, @11:34AM (#403675)

    Environmental stories regularly get short shrift. That's because there's big money behind burying the story, and no money behind telling the story.

    For example, it's entirely possible that you had no clue that there have been thousands of people protesting a pipeline in North Dakota for the last few weeks. The reason why is that there's been a noticeable blackout of the news about it: NPR had 1 story about it, the New York Times ran a human interest piece profiling the protesters without actually explaining why they were protesting, Reuters has a couple of wire-service articles about it that were picked up by a few newspapers' online editions, and that's about it. Fox recently started acknowledging the existence of the controversy, but only as a "Obama is angering everybody and is terrible" piece.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @01:37PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @01:37PM (#403741)

    I read tons of stories and saw videos about it on BBC. Maybe people should diversify what sites they visit for news.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Monday September 19 2016, @02:10PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday September 19 2016, @02:10PM (#403761) Journal

      Yes. That.

      Rewind a few years. CNN shed many reporters and foreign bureaus. That foretold that it was getting out of the "news" business and would focus more on entertainment. And it did. It was addictive. The constant promise of real news (which never came) right after the break.

      Then came SOPA. Not a peep in any main stream media. Not until the major internet sites went dark for a day explaining how SOPA was an existential threat to the Internet. Then all main stream media reluctantly covered it. That was an eye opener about how controlled everything was. (by someone or some group) I almost stopped watching CNN a that point, but could not break the addiction.

      Later came Snowden. CNN covered it alright. But it was totally one sided. No contrary view. No suggestion that there might be another side to this story.

      That was the point I just quit watching. Cold turkey.

      I started looking elsewhere for news. A good first start was Google News. But then I found other foreign sources that don't have the American slant. BBC. Jerusalem Post. RT. Al Jazeera.

      Like American news outlets, they all have their own bias and slant. But I'm a grown up. I think I can recognize propaganda when I see it. It opened my eyes to seeing US propaganda too. (say it ain't so!)

      Here is one example of the stark contrast in media in the last year. There has been real news happening in the world. Almost daily. We haven't heard most of it on US media because . . . .

      Trump, trump , trump, trump . . .

      Welcome to the Trump Show!

      Daily coverage of the most outrageous reality TV presidential campaign evar !!!!

      You'll laugh. You'll cry. But you won't get any real substance -- or any real news.

      How did we get to this point? FAILURE of our news media to keep politicians honest and hold their feet to the fire. They are controlled by the government. Not in the traditional way of the last century. But by willing participation. "If you don't tell the party line, your news organization might lose access to press conferences, and embedded access to the military, and other access." No wonder CNN and others had such a consistent story about Snowden. It's obvious in hindsight.

      If you just look at US news only, you really don't have a clue what is going on in the world. Or even if you are informed, you're not necessarily seeing all sides or viewpoints.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @06:33PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @06:33PM (#403895)

        shed many reporters

        ...and what's left is pretty gutless and/or useless.

        Some recent items:
        US Media Ignores CIA Cover-up on Torture [consortiumnews.com]
          Data Transfer Interrupted   8-(

        The Biggest Strike in World History? No Thanks, We’re Focusing on the New iPhone [fair.org]

        tens of millions of workers go out on strike in the second [most populous] country

        Nationwide Prison Strike Mostly Ignored by National Media [fair.org]

        Colleagues Mostly Fail to Rally for Amy Goodman, Threatened With Jail for Journalism [fair.org]

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday September 19 2016, @07:05PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Monday September 19 2016, @07:05PM (#403907)

        > How did we get to this point? FAILURE of our news media to keep politicians honest and hold their feet to the fire.

        Correct but incomplete: have a cat video.
        Two things drove US coverage, one still does:
          - What's the ratings? Talk about a vanished plane for months at a time, because nobody care about South Sudan, the Philippines or Kabul... Assume the viewers are really dumb, and serve them pre-digested easy "news" that fit the feel-good, watch-that's-awesome or be-scared narratives.
          - Thou Shalt Not Criticize The US: Avoid talking about anything which might threaten the overarching concept of "USA, USA, USA #1". Under W, that would amount to treason and get you listed as an enemy of the people. People want to be told they're the best. People don't want to be disturbed by complex concepts with spectrum of viewpoints. Tell the people their ideas are the best and their lifestyle is right, especially if they buy more shit. Success for detailed criticism like John Oliver or even Trump was inconceivable for a while, with barely a John Stewart turning it into comedy. Not something you'd see on actual "news"

      • (Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Monday September 19 2016, @11:43PM

        by Hyperturtle (2824) on Monday September 19 2016, @11:43PM (#404042)

        Yes, but its hard to watch the news while keeping up with the Kardiashians. It's like in the same timeslot or something. I think the news was also totally boring, I mean they kept promising this cute puppy thing after the break but it was at the END of the newscast? I was lost in the bathroom by then.

        Other than that I concur with your views; I gave up a while ago and try not to get all of my news from the same place. TV I gave up on a while ago and I just buy the DVDs or rent or something when there is something I hear that is good to watch. Following word of mouth advice like that usually means I can save time by not complaining nothing is on.

        As to the propaganda, yeah. I think it's a requirement, and as such you don't get much coverage *about* it.

    • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday September 19 2016, @03:21PM

      by Thexalon (636) on Monday September 19 2016, @03:21PM (#403799)

      The CBC has been offering significantly more coverage than any of the US-based news networks as well. That's why I always include at least one non-US-based news source if I'm looking for a less biased view of reality.

      The powers-that-be know that it is possible to get around news blackouts. However, news blackouts do keep the population that is ignorant and/or unfamiliar with the Internet from figuring out what is going on. That's working less and less as people who grew up with the World Wide Web existing are slowly but steadily becoming a majority. As the longtime saying goes, "The Internet sees censorship as damage and routes around it."

      --
      The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday September 19 2016, @03:58PM

      by LoRdTAW (3755) on Monday September 19 2016, @03:58PM (#403814) Journal

      PBS NewsHour and BBC are my two go-to news sources.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday September 19 2016, @04:35PM

        by Thexalon (636) on Monday September 19 2016, @04:35PM (#403831)

        For me, it depends a lot on the subject at hand.

        For example, the BBC and PBS will not give me anything close to an unbiased view of anything to do with the Middle East. Neither will Al Jazeera, on its own. But if you put the BBC, Al Jazeera, the Jerusalem Post, and PBS together, you'll get some sort of approximation of the truth.

        --
        The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @06:43PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @06:43PM (#403900)

        The PBS NewsHour was bought by a a Right-^W Wrong-Wing syndicate in Richmond, VA quite some time back.
        Starting in the early Noughties, what they covered and how they covered it took a dive.
        Most notable is what they -won't- cover.

        If you insist on turning to any of these Lamestream Media outlets (anything with corporate sponsors), you would do well to see what FAIR.org (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) has to say about that.
        (FAIR also does a weekly half-hour thing called "Counterspin" that airs on my Pacifica Radio affiliate in Los Angeles (KPFK) and on an NPR affiliate (KUCI) in Orange County.)

        MediaMatters.org (Media Matters for America) is another place to check about LSM's veracity.

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @02:03PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @02:03PM (#403759)

    > NPR had 1 story about it,

    PBS spent a lot of time on it

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @02:50PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @02:50PM (#403791)

    Try smaller regional papers. The Lincoln Journal Star has been covering it, and the issue isnt evern taking place in Nebraska.