For Immediate Release Contact: Trey Pollard,
(202) 495-3058
October 4, 2012
New Report Finds Energy and
Environmental Coverage in Swing States Often Misses Mark
Sierra Club Launches Energy Truth
Website To Counter Big Polluter Propaganda
Visit
the Energy Truth Blog For More Findings
(Washington, DC) – A new analysis
prepared by Media Matters for America found that newspapers across six of the most hotly-contested swing
states this Presidential election often highlighted arguments used by Big Oil
and Big Coal industry groups and omitted discussion of the benefits of public
health safeguards and the popularity of clean energy.
With fossil fuel special
interests spending more than $150 million on attack and issue advocacy
advertisements already this election cycle to drive the narrative on energy,
the new Media Matters analysis shows
that coverage in Colorado, New Hampshire, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and
Virginia often focuses exclusively on industry perspectives.
The study reviewed stories
related to clean energy, public health safeguards, environmental issues, and
energy policy from the beginning of July to mid-August in 11 newspapers across
those states. The major findings are detailed below. Data and more analysis are
available on the Media Matters website.
“Big polluters are doing and
spending anything to keep a stranglehold on our energy future and drown out the
very real successes our nation has achieved in building a clean energy economy,”
said Cathy Duvall, Sierra Club Director of Public Advocacy and Partnerships. “But,
Americans deserve the full story about all the work being done to create new
clean energy jobs and keep our families healthy -- and they deserve that
coverage in their hometown newspapers.”
In response, Sierra Club has
launched the new Energy Truth website
to help counter propaganda from big polluters and push back against imbalanced
coverage with facts on clean energy and environmental and public health
safeguards. The site will be updated to address and respond to common mistruths
about these issues over the coming weeks.
The Findings:
1)
Benefits Of Public Health
Safeguards Often Go Neglected
New public health and
environmental safeguards proposed and implemented in the last several years are
poised to save tens of thousands of lives and billions of dollars in health
costs annually. For example, the new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for Power
Plants are expected to prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths and 130,000 cases
of aggravated asthma each year, while saving American families up to $90
billion in health costs by curbing the pollution in our air and water.
Still, this study indicates that
much of the press coverage of the debate over these safeguards rarely
acknowledges their positive impact – if they are mentioned at all - instead
focusing on industry arguments. No more than half the stories in any of the six
analyzed states referenced the role safeguards play in cleaning our air and
water, protecting healthy families, or saving lives – even though these are the
primary reasons they were implemented.
This
breakdown demonstrates the percentage of articles discussing environmental and
public health safeguards that included information on their benefits:
See
a graph of this information
- Colorado: 50% (9 of 18 stories included the benefits of public
health safeguards)
- Pennsylvania: 44% (16 of 36 stories included the benefits of
public health safeguards)
- Ohio: 41% (13 of 32 stories included the benefits of public health
safeguards)
- Nevada: 33% (1 of 3 stories included the benefits of public health
safeguards)
- Virginia: 25% (3 of 12 stories included the benefits of public
health safeguards)
- New Hampshire: 0% (0 of 2 stories included the benefits of public
health safeguards)
2)
Public Support for Clean
Energy is Rarely Acknowledged in Coverage
Public polling indicates that an overwhelming,
bipartisan majority of American voters – 89% - believe increasing the
amount of energy the nation gets from wind is a good idea, while 92% think
its important to develop more solar energy here at home.
However, this broad public support for clean
energy rarely is discussed in the news.
Even in states with relatively high coverage
of environmental and energy issues, indicators of public sentiment is often
overshadowed by debates between special interests.
In Pennsylvania, readers received
no indication that their friends and neighbors support clean energy, even while
polling indicates 85% of Pennsylvanians say they support greater expansion of
wind energy (source).
The breakdown showing the
percentage of stories that included public opinion information on energy policy
is below:
- Colorado: 13% (4 of 30 stories included public opinion
information)
- New Hampshire: 11% (1 of 9 stories included public opinion
information)
- Nevada: 3% (1 of 29 stories included public opinion information)
- Ohio: 2% (2 of 61 stories included public opinion information)
- Pennsylvania: 0% (0 of 64 stories included public opinion
information)
- Virginia 0% (0 of 35 stories included public opinion information)
3)
The Risks of Dirty Energy
are Reported Less than Half the Time
While landmark public safeguards
are being introduced to protect American families from toxics in our air and
water pumped out by burning fossil fuels, coverage often completely neglects these
severe environmental and health risks.
The state by state breakdown is
as follows:
- Colorado: 44% (11 of 25 stories reported risks of dirty energy)
- New Hampshire: 20% (1 of 5 stories reported risks of dirty energy)
- Nevada: 15% (4 of 26 stories reported risks of dirty energy)
- Ohio: 45% (21 of 47 stories reported risks of dirty energy)
- Pennsylvania: 44% (26 of 59 stories reported risks of dirty
energy)
- Virginia: 38% (8 of 20 stories reported risks of dirty energy)
Visit the Energy Truth Blog
For More Findings
Full
Report Data Available Here
# # #
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The Sierra Club Voter Education Fund seeks to educate voters about
public health and other issues of critical importance to the American people
during the 2012 election, and encourage the public to find out more about all
sides of these issues.
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