Unmasking Fossil Fuel Lobby Groups [1]
Submitted by Bob Burton [2] on
George Monbiot argues that journalists and media outlets routinely fail to ensure adequate disclosure of the funding sources when including interviewing staff from think tanks on global warming [3]. "While the BBC [4] would seldom allow someone from Bell Pottinger [5] or Burson-Marsteller [6] on air to discuss an issue of concern to their sponsors without revealing the sponsors' identity, the BBC has frequently allowed International Policy Network [7]'s executive director, Julian Morris [8], to present IPN's case without declaring its backers. IPN has so far received $295,000 from Exxon [9]'s corporate headquarters in the US." He points out that while the BBC's guidelines are clear that the broadcaster should not "get involved with campaigning programming which is politically contentious" not all groups describe themselves in those terms. IPN, he suggests, would be better described as a "lobby group" than as a think tank [10].