The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) continued its predictable obsession with defending fossil fuels from the ongoing #ExxonKnew investigations, with its fourth opinion piece on the issue in just the last month. Media Matters has the play-by-play, if you need catching up.
Their new editorial attacks Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) for daring to correct the record about how the Journal is “trying to saddle me with arguments I am not making, because they have no good answer to the arguments I actually am making.” As he states in an email to supporters, Whitehouse’s argument is that, “fraud is not protected by the First Amendment.”
Oddly, “fraud” appears nowhere in the WSJ’s editorial, or any of the other three pieces on Exxon published since March 1. It does, however, appear in last November's news report on the New York subpoena of Exxon, so clearly the reporters at WSJ are aware of the real issue here, even if the editorial board is not.
Whitehouse responded with a detailed post about the “WSJ’s Long Record of Protecting Polluters” on how the Journal has exhibited a clear pattern on environmental issues for decades, from CFCs to acid rain to climate. According to Whitehouse, the editors “Deny the science, question the motives, exaggerate the costs, help the polluters.” He clearly shows that the WSJ’s climate contrarianism is neither new nor unique. Media Matters for America wrote the original blogpost on this strategy, which Whitehouse tweeted out prior to the publication of his article.
The WSJ is clearly doing everything it can to defend Exxon and the oil industry in general during these investigations, because as history shows, in a battle between David and Goliath, this editorial board always backs Goliath.
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