No sunshine policy
July 6, 2010 7:34 AM Subscribe
Journalists who come to close to the BP Oil Spill can be fined up to $40,000 and face 1 to 5 in prison A well-informed public being detrimental to BP's public image and bottom line, the British corporation is taking a rather hard-line approach in keeping photographers and journalists away, making certain police departments in Louisiana basically extensions of BP's own security force.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Probably a better post out there about this if it needs being made, this does fall sort of weirdly to the editorial side. -- cortex
Guys, you want one post down.l
posted by cjorgensen at 7:45 AM on July 6, 2010
posted by cjorgensen at 7:45 AM on July 6, 2010
You know, I'm just not going to submit any more links to this site. How can you avoid editorializing on something this egregious? Gimmie a fucking break
posted by MattMangels at 7:45 AM on July 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by MattMangels at 7:45 AM on July 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
BP being British, for one. Their headquarters is in England, but the company is 40% American-owned and largely a creation of the BP/Amoco merger.
posted by mikeh at 7:45 AM on July 6, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by mikeh at 7:45 AM on July 6, 2010 [3 favorites]
rocket88: "Spelling errors, missing words, just plain wrong facts, and editorializing. This post has got it all."
Ad hominems, ad hominems, conjecture, and axe-grinding. This message has got...nothin'.
posted by notsnot at 7:46 AM on July 6, 2010
Ad hominems, ad hominems, conjecture, and axe-grinding. This message has got...nothin'.
posted by notsnot at 7:46 AM on July 6, 2010
MattMangels, easily. If the facts tell a horrendous story, then let them tell it. They certainly do, here.
This is a good story, but it's a single-link post to a roundup page that's being actively updated. It'd be nice to have some links to supporting static content.
posted by mikeh at 7:47 AM on July 6, 2010
This is a good story, but it's a single-link post to a roundup page that's being actively updated. It'd be nice to have some links to supporting static content.
posted by mikeh at 7:47 AM on July 6, 2010
That can hardly be expected to be common knowledge mikeh
posted by Think_Long at 7:47 AM on July 6, 2010
posted by Think_Long at 7:47 AM on July 6, 2010
Oh, and can we drop this "British" nonsense please? BP is no more British than any other multinational company, especially since it merged with AMOCO (you know, the American Oil Company that used to be Standard Oil) a decade ago. One of the conditions for that merger was that the name "British Petroleum" be dropped IIRC.
The only thing British about BP is the fact that it's HQ happens to be in London.
(Incidentally, I would be interested to know whether the installations that have had serious safety issues in the US over the last 10 years were run by ex-BP or ex-Amoco staff. Is it really a coincidence that the various disasters appear to have happened on US installations, or is that simply because the media in the US is more likely to report on them, rather than similar failings in, say, Nigeria or South America?)
posted by pharm at 7:48 AM on July 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
The only thing British about BP is the fact that it's HQ happens to be in London.
(Incidentally, I would be interested to know whether the installations that have had serious safety issues in the US over the last 10 years were run by ex-BP or ex-Amoco staff. Is it really a coincidence that the various disasters appear to have happened on US installations, or is that simply because the media in the US is more likely to report on them, rather than similar failings in, say, Nigeria or South America?)
posted by pharm at 7:48 AM on July 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
You can avoid editorializing by quoting the source, and letting your link speak for itself.
posted by crunchland at 7:48 AM on July 6, 2010
posted by crunchland at 7:48 AM on July 6, 2010
Alright, alright I should've just linked to the post with no description. Mods, you know what to do
posted by MattMangels at 7:49 AM on July 6, 2010
posted by MattMangels at 7:49 AM on July 6, 2010
MattMangels: "Mods, you know what to do"
memail rocket88 and ask him to stop being such a dingus?
posted by boo_radley at 7:51 AM on July 6, 2010
memail rocket88 and ask him to stop being such a dingus?
posted by boo_radley at 7:51 AM on July 6, 2010
The insistence on saying "the British company" or pointing out that the B in BP stands for British seems a lot like the insistence of some to say "Barack Hussein Obama." There's an implied sneer about the whole thing.
posted by proj at 7:51 AM on July 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by proj at 7:51 AM on July 6, 2010 [1 favorite]
That can hardly be expected to be common knowledge mikeh
What, so posts are cool with common misconceptions now, because they're "common knowledge" where facts aren't?
posted by mikeh at 7:52 AM on July 6, 2010
What, so posts are cool with common misconceptions now, because they're "common knowledge" where facts aren't?
posted by mikeh at 7:52 AM on July 6, 2010
No, you should have linked to the source and some additional supporting material embedded in a one paragraph non-editorializing summary.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:53 AM on July 6, 2010
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:53 AM on July 6, 2010
Think_Long: That can hardly be expected to be common knowledge mikeh
So people should just make assumptions and post them to the front page as facts, because they can't be assed to actually go to wiki?
This is a shitty FPP and that's all there is to it. The weird anti-English angle was covered last time we did this. which makes it a bit ironic that it pops up here, hamburgers-free.
posted by paisley henosis at 7:54 AM on July 6, 2010
So people should just make assumptions and post them to the front page as facts, because they can't be assed to actually go to wiki?
This is a shitty FPP and that's all there is to it. The weird anti-English angle was covered last time we did this. which makes it a bit ironic that it pops up here, hamburgers-free.
posted by paisley henosis at 7:54 AM on July 6, 2010
proj: "The insistence on saying "the British company" or pointing out that the B in BP stands for British seems a lot like the insistence of some to say "Barack Hussein Obama." There's an implied sneer about the whole thing."
Is it? I thought it was because the company was headquartered in London. I suppose you might be better off describing it as an international.
posted by boo_radley at 7:54 AM on July 6, 2010
Is it? I thought it was because the company was headquartered in London. I suppose you might be better off describing it as an international.
posted by boo_radley at 7:54 AM on July 6, 2010
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posted by rocket88 at 7:40 AM on July 6, 2010