Media has failed to cover, before, during and after, the Gulf spill in such a dramatic way that some lesson must be learned.
1. If you get too close to your sources, you follow their agenda.
2. PR dominates and controls business and financial coverage more than ever.
3. “Embedded journalists” get access but a high credibility cost.
4. Online and social media networks react to the news, but are unable to anticipate or prevent them.
5. Politicians and local authorities are trap and neutralized by the constant lobby efforts
6. If you want to report these mega-events you need to be there: virtual journalism is not enough.
7. Filtering, double-checking, asking questions, going back to the past, leaning from similar disasters, and using visual journalism techniques are essential to deliver reliable and compelling news and stories.
8. Avoid to become an activist, fair coverage includes to check with all the involved players.
9. Be aware that PR intoxication is becoming very sophisticated with online webs, search engines, and social networks.
10. As always, report the facts before the opinions. As INNOVATION’s Andrew Mango said: “facts are expensive, opinions are cheap”.
The BP big story has to be told in a different way.
Just some revealing cases to understand how the media missed the story:
• The New York Times Andrew Revkin reports about “a wild bit of faux journalism recently concocted by BP as part of its public relations efforts related to the gusher in the Gulf of Mexico. On his blog, a BP “reporter,” Tom Seslar, describes a two-hour helicopter flight over the gulf with a team charting oil patches… He somehow finds space in his post to describe the scope and vital importance of the oil industry and the beauty of the coastal marshes. He fits in a plug for the Louisiana Shrimp & Petroleum Festival scheduled for early September… and includes the festival’s promotional line describing “the unique way in which these two seemingly different industries work hand-in-hand culturally and environmentally” — with no hint of the deep irony, of course… But he doesn’t include a single line describing the spreading gulf slicks that the flight is supposed to chart.”
• Just search anything including the word BP and you will get in the top a “sponsored link” with the BP Oil Spill Response.
• Oild Florida reports that “Florida has received $75 million to date from BP Keys get BP money, Key West Citizen, June 26, 2010: The Monroe County Tourist Development Council announced Friday it will receive $400,000 for an advertising campaign to counter the misconception that the Gulf oil spill is fouling Florida Keys beaches and waters.”
(Picture by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
Tags: Andrew Mango, Andrew Revkin, BP OIL SPILL, BP Oil Spill Response, BR, Key West Citizen, OU, The New York Times, innovation
