Blaming the "Enviros" With Insinuation
Reported by Ellen - July 21, 2004 -
"Enviros File Tons of Lawsuits" is the not-so-fair-or-balanced headline under the Only on Fox banner on the FOXnews.com website. It's a good clue to the slant of the actual report.
In typical Fox style, the article implies but never proves that environmentalists are to blame for both energy shortages and high prices. Here are some excerpts:
"'The truth is the Bush administration is issuing oil and gas permits on our public lands at a record rate. Gas production in the Rockies has never been higher,' said Suzanne Jones of the Wilderness Society."
Comment: Despite being a quote from an environmentalist, it pushes the Bush agenda as portraying itself as increasing energy production. Note that the article does not mention what her concerns are.
"Energy producers argue that any litigation delay, even by one year, has a profound effect on production."
Comment: Implies through words of unidentified "energy producers" that production delays are the fault of "enviros."
"'The fact that the environmental groups have so successfully worked the litigation element into the regulatory process is proven today by the high oil and gas prices we're seeing both at the gas pump and in the natural gas sector,"'said Mark Sexton of Evergreen Resources."
Comment: Implies through words of Mark Sexton (Is this man an expert in the field? We're not told) that environmentalists are the cause of high oil and gas prices. Does Fox News do any independent verification of this allegation? No.
"But environmentalists say they won't stop until they get what they're pushing for."
Comment: Paints environmentalists as tyrants who will keep on delaying production and forcing prices to rise indefinitely while they ruthlessly push their agenda. We are not even told what it is they are "pushing for."
A not-uncommon example of Fox tainting through insinuation, implication and innuendo - everything but hard reporting.
