Bolstering Case Against Exxon, New Study Confirms Vast Damage of Denial Campaign
'The contrarian efforts have made it difficult for ordinary Americans to even know who to trust.'
Corporate dollars intensify ideological polarization while sowing mistrust on the issue of climate change, with ExxonMobil and the Koch family foundations driving the phenomenon through the creation of climate disinformation think tanks and dissemination of coordinated contrarian messaging in mainstream media and public discourse.
So finds a new study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science (PNAS) journal and based on an analysis of more than 39 million words of text produced by 164 organizations active in the coordinated campaign to deny the existence of human-caused climate change between 1993 and 2013.
Study author Justin Farrell, a Yale University sociologist, told the Washington Post that this "birds-eye view" revealed an "ecosystem of influence" within the corporate-backed groups.
Within this anti-science echo chamber, the Post reports, "[t]hose that received donations consistently promoted the same contrarian themes--casting doubt, for example, on whether higher levels of man-made carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere were harmful to the planet. There was no evidence of such coordination among the non-funded groups."
Still, as Farrell told the Post: "The contrarian efforts...have made it difficult for ordinary Americans to even know who to trust."
As Brendan DeMelle at the DeSmog Blog pointed out on Tuesday, the research "confirms once again the central thesis of industry-funded attacks on climate science"--a thesis that is at the heart of the escalating #ExxonKnew campaign, aimed at probing the corporation's climate cover-up.
Not only do the study's findings raise questions about how corporate media outlets will cover such misinformation campaigns in the future, wrote DeMelle, but the research also "provides further evidence of the public deception orchestrated by the fossil fuel industry, and should prove valuable to investigators examining ExxonMobil as well as other current and future efforts to hold polluters accountable for their PR pollution."
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. Our Fall Campaign is underway, and we need your help. To power our newsroom through the rest of the year, we need to raise $125,000 by midnight on October 31. So if you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
Corporate dollars intensify ideological polarization while sowing mistrust on the issue of climate change, with ExxonMobil and the Koch family foundations driving the phenomenon through the creation of climate disinformation think tanks and dissemination of coordinated contrarian messaging in mainstream media and public discourse.
So finds a new study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science (PNAS) journal and based on an analysis of more than 39 million words of text produced by 164 organizations active in the coordinated campaign to deny the existence of human-caused climate change between 1993 and 2013.
Study author Justin Farrell, a Yale University sociologist, told the Washington Post that this "birds-eye view" revealed an "ecosystem of influence" within the corporate-backed groups.
Within this anti-science echo chamber, the Post reports, "[t]hose that received donations consistently promoted the same contrarian themes--casting doubt, for example, on whether higher levels of man-made carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere were harmful to the planet. There was no evidence of such coordination among the non-funded groups."
Still, as Farrell told the Post: "The contrarian efforts...have made it difficult for ordinary Americans to even know who to trust."
As Brendan DeMelle at the DeSmog Blog pointed out on Tuesday, the research "confirms once again the central thesis of industry-funded attacks on climate science"--a thesis that is at the heart of the escalating #ExxonKnew campaign, aimed at probing the corporation's climate cover-up.
Not only do the study's findings raise questions about how corporate media outlets will cover such misinformation campaigns in the future, wrote DeMelle, but the research also "provides further evidence of the public deception orchestrated by the fossil fuel industry, and should prove valuable to investigators examining ExxonMobil as well as other current and future efforts to hold polluters accountable for their PR pollution."
Corporate dollars intensify ideological polarization while sowing mistrust on the issue of climate change, with ExxonMobil and the Koch family foundations driving the phenomenon through the creation of climate disinformation think tanks and dissemination of coordinated contrarian messaging in mainstream media and public discourse.
So finds a new study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science (PNAS) journal and based on an analysis of more than 39 million words of text produced by 164 organizations active in the coordinated campaign to deny the existence of human-caused climate change between 1993 and 2013.
Study author Justin Farrell, a Yale University sociologist, told the Washington Post that this "birds-eye view" revealed an "ecosystem of influence" within the corporate-backed groups.
Within this anti-science echo chamber, the Post reports, "[t]hose that received donations consistently promoted the same contrarian themes--casting doubt, for example, on whether higher levels of man-made carbon-dioxide in the atmosphere were harmful to the planet. There was no evidence of such coordination among the non-funded groups."
Still, as Farrell told the Post: "The contrarian efforts...have made it difficult for ordinary Americans to even know who to trust."
As Brendan DeMelle at the DeSmog Blog pointed out on Tuesday, the research "confirms once again the central thesis of industry-funded attacks on climate science"--a thesis that is at the heart of the escalating #ExxonKnew campaign, aimed at probing the corporation's climate cover-up.
Not only do the study's findings raise questions about how corporate media outlets will cover such misinformation campaigns in the future, wrote DeMelle, but the research also "provides further evidence of the public deception orchestrated by the fossil fuel industry, and should prove valuable to investigators examining ExxonMobil as well as other current and future efforts to hold polluters accountable for their PR pollution."