When Your Native Public Radio Station Advertises Fossil Fuels

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My native public radio station, Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), which broadcasts all through Oregon and southwest Washington, has been operating ads for a fossil gasoline utility named Northwest Pure over the previous yr. OPB has aired adverts concerning the gasoline utility’s equipment retailer the place customers can go and purchase fossil fuel-powered, local weather crisis-causing machines that additionally create vital indoor and out of doors air pollution issues (see under). Think about the cognitive dissonance of residents in my state when the most important county well being authority in Oregon warns residents concerning the respiratory dangers of burning gasoline within the house, and the statewide public radio station advertises home equipment which just do that.

Why Would Public Radio Take Cash From Fossil Fuels?

OPB issued a press release as to why it accepts promoting funds from a fossil gas firm, saying “We work with quite a lot of sponsors in our communities, until they’re engaged in criminal activity or make claims which might be unfaithful, can’t be confirmed or that violate our insurance policies.”

Whereas pure gasoline isn’t unlawful but in Oregon, there are over 130 cities, areas, and states which might be banning its use, and cities and cities in Oregon are attempting to do the identical. Air high quality districts in California are prohibiting the gas as a result of furnaces, water heaters, and stoves emit extra NOx (aka smog) than fossil gasoline energy vegetation!

Fossil gasoline firms additionally typically make claims which might be unfaithful. OPB’s personal reporting reveals how Northwest Pure has used the identical ways as cigarette firms in attempting to forged doubt on the well being and local weather issues attributable to burning their gas.

Promoting fossil fuels on public radio is problematic as a result of it legitimizes within the public thoughts the very substances inflicting our local weather disaster. It transfers the cachet that public radio has earned as an unbiased information supply to dangerous substances that our society must transition away from rapidly. It says to the general public, “your trusted public radio station doesn’t suppose these substances are unhealthy and so that you shouldn’t both.”

However OPB isn’t alone in accepting {dollars} to promote fossil fuels. A current NPR story highlighted how Nationwide Public Radio itself accepts funding from the likes of Exxon Mobil and Chevron. “NPR has no record of sources from which funding might be refused,” is how NPR’s spokeswoman places it. Moreover that assertion being typically regarding,  I ponder if it’s actually true. Some issues are so taboo, so dangerous or divisive (suppose tobacco, firearms, pornography) that they’ll by no means be marketed on publicly sponsored media. After the Intergovernmental Panel on Local weather Change declared a “Code Pink for Humanity,” after 2023 is nearly assured to be the most well liked yr on report, after sweltering warmth information had been set in all places (26 days above 105 levels in North Texas for instance), isn’t it excessive time we declare that public media shouldn’t settle for cash from firms inflicting the local weather disaster?

Non-public media organizations like The Guardian and Vox Media are refusing to simply accept funds from fossil gas firms. It looks like a no brainer to me that public radio and tv ought to do the identical. Fossil fuels, like cigarettes, shouldn’t be promoted on any media, particularly public media. As a substitute, these trusted public media organizations needs to be instructing communities learn how to stop utilizing them.

Should you’re so moved, listed below are the feedback pages for OPB and NPR.