Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Censorship at Dallas Blog

[Ed says Nay] Dallas Blog blew a kiss Exxon's way today. It cited a self-congratulatory piece in bizjournals.com about Exxon funding math and science programs. The blogger, Trey Garrison, failed to ask any of the obvious journalistic questions (like what's in it for Exxon). However, he did make a sarcastic reference about criticism of Exxon's recent record-breaking profits, so he can't plead that his story was intended as only a simple, straightforward news piece.

My own comment in the thread on Dallas Blog was apparently censored without explanation. Perhaps, I had too much fun at Mr Garrison's expense (see below). Who is unhappy now? ;-) I'll repeat my point here, knowing it won't be deleted.

Exxon funded Cato Institute and other groups to try to cast doubt on the science of global warming. Dallas Blog embarrasses itself by acting as a mouthpiece for Exxon, filling its site with links to partisan studies. Dallas Blog would serve its readers better by doing some independent journalism and not taking at face value the accounts of speeches by corporate spokesman published in outlets like bizjournals.com.

(By the way, the joke at Mr Garrison's expense went something like this: Mr Garrison acts like an unpaid shill for Exxon. ... P.S. In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I have no evidence that Mr Garrison's shilling for Exxon is unpaid.)

2 comments:

Mike said...

Check out FrontBurner. He's doing it again.

Ed Cognoski said...

LOL. Yes, Trey Garrison is at it again, blowing more kisses ExxonMobil's way. He refers to Cheryl Miller's decent column in The Dallas Morning News about ExxonMobil's charitable giving. She does what Trey Garrison fails to do -- ask the right questions, like what's in it for ExxonMobil. With Trey Garrison and ExxonMobil, it's all kisses, all the time. At least he seems to understand his journalistic shortcomings by adding this postscript: "[Off to cash payola check.]"