Trusting Mainstream News Media Outlets in the United States: What Energy Production Companies Do Not Want the General Public to Know about Climate Change

Abstract

The top 1%, executives of energy production companies in the US, control media outlets and politics. They serve their own benefit, narrow the general public's perception on climate change, and raise the risks of starvation spreading. They accuse scientific consensus of being exaggerated and overly pessimistic, and work to control climate policy. This destroys the democratic process. For example, Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corporation who owns major shares in Genie Oil, is adopting a new strategy in which he controls farming lands around the world, gradually. He does this because when fossil fuels run out, he wants to have a say in saving the world from soon-coming food-shortages. Survey we conducted shows great hopes in the publics’ background on the issue and willing to take intuitive. The shortsightedness opportunist selfish politics will backlash, and in the future everyone will know what is best to do.

            Income disparity contributes to an uneven distribution of power, and leads to the obstruction of economic growth and environmental sustainability. The current state of division of wealth in the world gives the top 1%, especially executives of energy production companies in the United States, control over media outlets and politics. Side effects of which include narrowing the general public's perception on climate change, and raising the risks of starvation spreading globally. This provides corporate-heads with the advantage of benefitting from buying farming lands in third-world countries and having an upper hand in fighting food shortages when fossil fuels run out. By identifying the individuals in power and holding them responsible for their crimes and examining the contradictions in the opinions they spread, we can understand the general and specific consequences of their actions. Looking at real life examples can help us design a renovated economical system, which when we follow, we will be able to restore and improve urban infrastructure. 

            In the United States, poor press coverage on climate disruption is blamed on the lack of specialist journalists in the field. But, analysis claims “portrayals of climate science on Fox News Channel and in the Wall Street Journal’s opinion section,” of New Corporation, “are overwhelmingly misleading” (Union of Concerned Scientists 7). When Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp, was asked to express his views on environmental concerns, he dismissed the alarming reports made by scientists on the devastating impact that climate change is causing the planet. "We should approach climate change with great skepticism," he said. "Climate change has been going on as long as the planet is here. There will always be a little bit of it” (The Australian 19:55). Murdoch wants the public to think of his networks’ approach towards climate change as environmental skepticism, but in fact, it is self-censorship. Murdoch owns stakes in energy companies of great import —i.e. Genie Oil and Gas, and Shale Gas and Oil. This disqualifies him of talking from a neutral perspective. Because of his alliance to capitalist enterprise, he favors the interests of international corporations over those of the individual citizen. He uses environmental skepticism as a tactic in his favor. By accusing scientific consensus of being exaggerated and overly pessimistic, he controls climate policy formation for his own benefit.

            In July 2014, Australia became the first nation to repeal pro-environment carbon laws that put a price on greenhouse gas emissions (ROB, and RHIANNON 2). This is not the first time Tony Abbott, Australian Prime Minister, had pushed to serve fossil energy companies. Abbott and his advisors deny climate science in the hopes of landing highly ranked positions in the energy production business. Fore example, in a classic revolving door maneuver, Matthew Warren, chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, switched jobs to the Energy Supply Association of Australia, and ironically earned a position where he would have a greater influence on deciding how to deal with climate change than he ever did in the CEC (GILES 23). Another key facet to the carbon tax repeal is the role of Murdoch-owned media in Australia. More than 59% of daily newspaper sales go to Murdoch. His papers provide the main new source on environmental issues for the Australian public. This gives Murdoch-owned companies global impact, as they do not only have power to control public opinion but also political decision making. Currently, the Abbott government is choosing to block international climate change negotiations in the United Nations. Time and time again, Abbott has stated that he “will not allocate anymore money,” to the cause of reducing Australia's carbon emissions, throwing the UN’s new post-2020 climate agreement in Paris into disorder (LENORE 35). This does not only destroy democratic systems and renders the voting process useless, but also raises the risks of starvation spreading globally.

            According to the company’s annual reports, Murdoch’s New Corp. invested $30 million Australian dollars in cattle farms, but did not disclose the deal to its investors (EDWARD 8). Covering up the transaction can be attributed to the insignificance of $30 million Australian dollars, about $28.5 million US, in the bookkeeping of News. Yet, more investigation must go in to this matter. Although this secretive deal has come undone, we must consider the possibility of other deals under the table. In the small and medium enterprise world, environmental decline is raising many concerns, either as a reason of the beliefs and values of a company’s management, or the pressure exerted by the market— consumers and institutions (CAMBRA-FIERRO, JESU ́S, SUSAN HART, and YOLANDA POLO-REDONDO 645). Environmental respect and sustainability are considered to be relevant management factors in not SME context alone. In the big corporate world, environmental respect is called ethics of self-interest. For the sake of profit- maximization, companies, like News Corporation, are opt to develop and manage a positive corporate reputation. In hopes to appear more environmental friendly, Murdoch is adopting a new strategy in which he controls farming lands around the world, gradually, so when fossil fuels run out, he has a say in saving the world from soon-coming food-shortages.

            As further proof, we attempted to measure the public’s perspective on climate change issues through a survey, and this is what we found:

    When asked to classify climate change as a problem, 27% of the participants answered that it was a problem for the future. This shows the strength of the grip corporate-owned media outlets has on the public’s perception. In a very close 25% of the participants found that climate change was a problem for now. This can help turn the scales if handled properly.

   When asked about their top sources for news on environment policy, 67% of the participants chose Internet news sites, and 60% chose television. These two results can be very eye opening. They help us comprehend the power of the new media, and encourages us to focus on it as a medium for total free expression, and reminds us the television is still living and thriving, which we are ought to watch out from.

   Still wanting to understand the public’s perception of climate change, we asked the participants about what they thought of the relationship between the consumer and the media, and whether it was direct or indirect and served a secretive agenda. Much to our surprise, the exact same number of participants answered in favor of a secretive agenda existing, as those who were undecided.

   Lastly, we asked the participants to rate their willingness to change their lifestyles order to save the Earth, and found that the greatest majority rated from moderately willing to extremely willing. This result is very promising, because it encourages action to be taken from hesitant governments. 

            There are many obstacles standing between us and the betterment of the environment. To start facing those obstacles, we need to fight misinformation about climate science; we must rethink the media we consume. We need to encourage questioning the static queue by teaching students to use the right terms when discussing environmental issues. As industrial countries, how can we reduce our resource consumption when our economic system is derived from the needs of the industrial revolution? We must think beyond materialistic possessions. The appeal of capitalism rests in it creating the wealthiest society Earth has ever seen. This society is very exclusive, and most of us, Earth residents, are broke. The shortsightedness opportunist selfish politics will backlash, and in the future everyone will know what is best to do

    Work Cited

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