It seems everyone has an agenda these days — this blog does, I know — but once upon a time there was a clearer demarcation between news facts and news opinion. I’m not an authority on journalism but I no longer see that boundary honored by The Associated Press, and their agenda apparently includes shutting down the coal industry.
Earlier this month the local paper ran an article by The Associated Press that began with:
The chemical spill that contaminated water for hundreds of thousands in West Virginia was only the latest and most high-profile case of coal sullying the nation’s waters.(The Associated Press, 2014)
Someone unfamiliar with the situation may naturally conclude from reading this that coal — the mineral — contaminated the water, but of course that isn’t true. Or they may conclude that the source of the chemical spill was a coal mine, or a coal processing facility, or a coal-burning utility; and that isn’t true either. Wishing to hold the coal industry accountable for this is a lot like levying a fine against all automobile drivers for the BP oil spill in the gulf.
The Associated Press’ website states that they “abhor inaccuracies, carelessness, bias or distortions,” but they seem to have gotten over that aversion. There may have been a time when a consumer of news could rely on and trust the provider, but today that premise is gone with the wind. And with thousands* going without electricity this winter due to high costs, this bias has disastrous real-world consequences.
*I’m estimating; I don’t know how many are going without electricity this winter. The government, which typically has facts available to bolster its case, is strangely silent on this one.
The Associated Press. (2014, January 19). W.Va. spill latest case of coal tainting US waters. Bristol Herald Courier, p. A1.
Coal Matters 
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