I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
After the latest presidential debate, yet another ad from oil company Chevron appeared on ABC. At the same time the network refused to run an ad that blames large advertising campaigns by Big Oil and coal as a reason for the gridlock on clean energy in Washington.
The ad titled “Repower America” was produced by Al Gore’s nonprofit organization We Can Solve It. Here’s the script of the ad:
The solution to our climate crisis seems simple.
Repower America with wind and solar.
End our dependence on foreign oil. A stronger economy.
So why are we still stuck with dirty and expensive energy?
Because big oil spends hundreds of millions of dollars to block clean energy.
Lobbyists, ads, even scandals.
All to increase their profits, while America suffers.
Breaking big oil’s lock on our government …
Now that’s change.
We’re the American people and we approve this message.
The We Campaign CEO Cathy Zoi is asking people who agree with the ad’s message to send a letter to the Disney-owned network encouraging the paid airing of the ad Friday evening during “20/20.”
A conservative free market Web site Business Media Institute defended ABC by saying that the network is planning a special feature on the dangers of global warming in 2009 (and therefore no friend of Big Oil). The site does note, however, that in its study of the TV networks’ openness to global warming skeptics, ABC was rated “the best”:
• Disagreement Squashed: Global warming proponents overwhelmingly outnumbered those with dissenting opinions. On average for every skeptic there were nearly 13 proponents featured. ABC did a slightly better job with a 7-to-1 ratio, while CBS’s ratio was abysmal at nearly 38-to-1.
ABC has yet to offer an explanation for its refusal.
(Todd Spencer contributed to this report.)
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