Why is Newsweek Lobbying for the Oil Industry?
I guess the oil industry really can buy whatever it wants.
Newsweek, a magazine that presents itself as unbiased and independent, got caught this week accepting money from oil industry lobbyists and in exchange co-sponsoring a thinly veiled lobbying event on Capitol Hill.
Yesterday TPM Muckraker reported that Newsweek is partnering with the American Petroleum Institute (API) -- the lobbying arm of the oil industry -- to host a panel discussion entitled “Climate and Energy Policy: Moving?” featuring lawmakers, the American Petroleum Institute’s CEO, and Newsweek’s Senior Washington Correspondent.
In case you don’t know much about API they are a giant in the lobbying world and have spent millions of dollars just this year to try to prevent the US from enacting energy policy reform or addressing climate change.
Now API wants to host “policy forums” with their CEO and members of Congress in Washington, D.C. – and that’s fine; it’s exactly what lobbyists do.
The problem is that API is paying Newsweek to co-host the event in order to make it look like an unbiased “discussion” and not an industry-backed lobbying effort. What sort of “discussion” about climate change happens at an event sponsored by the oil industry where the only confirmed panelist is the CEO of the biggest oil lobby?
Newsweek should know better. Offering their sponsors the chance to slap the Newsweek name on any event in exchange for money just reeks of bias and casts suspicion on the independence of Newsweek’s journalism.
We’ve started a petition here on Change.org asking Newsweek to cancel the event entirely, and it’s already gaining momentum. Take action and send a letter to the magazine right now.
Taking money from oil lobbyists and co-hosting lobbying events masquerading as “policy discussions” is clearly an abuse of public trust and an unacceptable business practice.
COMMENTS (12)