With U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan ordering the public release of outtakes from the anti-Chevron film “Crude,” blogger Bob McCarty wonders where the national news coverage is.
After all, if employees of a huge oil company had been in league with a right-wing director to produce a “documentary” to help fend off a multi-billion dollar lawsuit in a third-world court, that would be huge news. But when “Crude” director Joe Berlinger and the U.S.-Ecuador legal team led by U.S. trial lawyer Steven Donziger try but fail to suppress damning outtakes, footage that blows up their litigation shakedown, nothing.
McCarty concludes in his Big Government post, “Biased Media Outlets Ignore ‘CRUDE’ Outtakes,” with two messages:
To the mainstream media, I say, “Your bias is showing!”
To Mr. Berlinger, I say, “I hope you remember how much emphasis you placed on your First Amendment freedom of expression when you were vehemently opposing the release of outtakes from your film [To refresh your memory, click here or here]. When people start to air the outtakes from your film in YouTube videos, remember that those outtakes are now part of the public record and, therefore, protected by federal law.”
The principle of fair use can be invoked, as well.
As a former slothful journalist ourself, we tend to think laziness and passivity are just as common explanations as bias for the media failing to report the news. But in this case, no excuses. It’s a big story!
Earlier Shopfloor.org post on the subject, “‘Crude’ Outtakes Made Public; What an Opportunity for ’60 Minutes’.”
November 4th, 2010 on 8:06 pm
I live on a Texas Ranch with Chevron and they have been there since 1934. I decided to go dig up one of the old Texaco pits on our ranch. Here’s a movie about it! Ecuador pits?Hell, Chevron has those same pits across the USA!
Here’s one of their 1985 internal memos…these pits aren’t just an Ecuador thing.
https://docs.google.com/fileview?id=0Byv2pXDTwSsgNzk3ZThiYWMtMWFlMi00ZTk3LWExNGYtNTNiZTc3YWNmMDQw&hl=en
October 16th, 2010 on 3:58 pm
You accusations are wrong. That’s what’s so damning about all the materials disclosed from Chevron’s 1782 motions in jurisdictions all around the country: We have as a matter of court record clear documentation of how the trial lawyers/activists manipulated the Ecuadorian courts and generated what they knew to be fictional storylines. The trial lawyers shaking down Chevron? They have Karen Hinton news releases and activist outrage.
October 15th, 2010 on 2:51 pm
Well…if we are waiting for the news media to air the “truth” about this case, perhaps they should consider focusing on the fact that Chevron continues to try tamper with evidence, withholding information on the full extent of the pollution they left behind. Evidence is now leaking out that Chevron has rigged its results to show that the contamination isn’t as extensive as it is in reality. So, you’re right, “no excuses”…this IS a BIG story. It’s about time we get to the truth. Check out http://www.thechevronpit.blogspot.com.