The Exxon media blackout has been reported here at Daily Kos, notably here and here.
Not satisfied with trying to prevent any media coverage of the Mayflower spill, Exxon has successfully forced television stations to pull an ad critical of its policies.
The ad was set to air on Arkansas ABC, NBC, and Fox affiliates this week, but was pulled moments before airing by the stations when Exxon threatened legal action.
“Exxon is and will always be a bully,” said David Turnbull, Campaigns Director of Oil Change International. “Instead of engaging their critics appropriately, Exxon uses its billions to hire high-priced lawyers to make scary-sounding but unsupported legal claims to suppress criticism. It’s a window into how they have preserved billions in taxpayer handouts for their industry for so many years.”
Oil Change International,The Price of Oil
So, in addition to running its pipeline with flagrant disregard for the safety of Americans, in their own homes, behaving as a de facto arm of the government in imposing air space restrictions and threatening the members of the press with arrest for doing their jobs, it is now deciding what can be shown on television.
Exxon may have too much power.
Exxon Hates Your Children