Independent News Outlets Call on Corporate Media to Stop Making Ads for Fossil Fuel Industry
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 6, 2022
CONTACT: press@optout.news, (917) 974-4383
Brooklyn, N.Y. — More than 20 news outlets and leaders in the OptOut independent media network released an op-ed and video showing how, even in this time of climate crisis, corporate and legacy media continue to produce ads for oil and gas companies.
Written by OptOut Media Foundation Executive Director Alex Kotch and Popula Founder Maria Bustillos, using original reporting from climate journalist Amy Westervelt, the piece traces the history of corporate media's collaboration with the oil and gas industry, from Mobil Oil and The New York Times' creation of the advertorial to Politico's current energy podcast, which is sponsored by Chevron.
Even now, when scientists say we’ve done irreversible damage to our planet, corporate and legacy news outlets won’t give up the fossil fuel dollars.
In this time of emergency, new publishers and organizations are springing up to create better and more trustworthy models for journalism. An expanding group of independent editors, publishers, and journalists has come together to form a network led by OptOut, a nonprofit charity that has launched a free iOS app (Android version coming soon) and a newsletter providing news, analysis, and opinion from more than 150 financially independent media outlets.
"As a network of scrappy, uncompromising media organizations, including many nonprofits and reader-funded publications, we are saying to the corporate and legacy news giants, if we don’t need to hawk fossil fuels to our audiences, you don’t have to either," said Kotch.
"Wake up. Do the right thing, and get fossil fuel propaganda out of our media."
Read the article on the OptOut website or iOS app, or find it at several OptOut network outlets that co-published the piece including Counterpunch, The Lever, Popula, and Welcome to Hell World.
Bustillos and Kotch are available for interviews.
About OptOut
The OptOut Media Foundation (EIN: 85-2348079) is a nonprofit charity with a mission to educate the public about current events and help sustain a diverse media ecosystem by promoting and assisting independent news outlets and, in doing so, advance democracy and social justice.
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