Ummmm, Why Is The Media Helping BP?

It was only a matter of time it appears, but over the last few days, it seems some media outlets are becoming British Petroleum's 2nd Public Relations Group.

Yesterday on CNN, both Rick Sanchez and Anderson "BOTH SIDES DO IT" Cooper asked one of the all time most incompetent and egregious questions ever on American news television, saying to their viewers "Where is all the oil?" In fact, Sanchez went on to have the audacity to inquire, "Why is the left and traditional media outlets asking that question?"

But wait, just when you think that maybe limited to just that "neutral" network's occasional addiction to "neutral do nothing" journalism, this whole memo of inquiring about the location of all that now invisible oil (and even questioning whether the amount of oil dumped into the gulf of BP was actually as much as some people estimated like Cooper did last night) was not just limited to those two.

Just get a load ladies and gentlemen of more corporate media sources doing BP a nice image favor.

From ABC, look how Diana Sawyer embarrasses herself once more:

BP Oil Spill: Clean-Up Crews Can't Find Crude in the Gulf

And this from the AFP:

Gulf focus shifts, but where is all the oil?

And of course, the Murdoch Clown Center:

Gulf Cleanup Chief Needs to Know: 'Where Is All the Oil'?

This unbelievable vantage point that these "journalists" have undertaken on themselves to somehow ask such a stupid question really got the blood boiling of the terrific Mac McClelland.

The Mother Jones human rights reporter has been one of the few bright spots in this historic mess, breaking news on gulf developments and the people most affected by BP's royal "F--k up" that no major outlet is doing themselves.

And the now frequent visitor on Countdown had a very stern word on seeing her colleagues in the field act as semi spokespeople for the oil company:

"WASHINGTON (AFP) – With BP's broken well in the Gulf of Mexico finally capped, the focus shifts to the surface clean-up and the question on everyone's lips is: where is all the oil?"

NEW ORLEANS (Mother Jones) – I don't know who the fuck these everyones are, but I'm happy to help out them, and ABC, and this AFP reporter writing that due to BP's stunningly successful skimming and burning efforts, "the real difficulty now is finding any oil to clean up."

I sent one text message to Bloomberg's Lizzie O'Leary, who's standing on Grand Isle, Louisiana, right now, asking how the beach looks. "Lower part past the barrier untouched with globs of oil that washed up last night," she said. By "untouched," she means by cleanup crews, and that "barrier" she's talking about is the one the press isn't allowed past. I sent another text to Drew Wheelan, who's also in Southwestern Louisiana, doing bird surveys for the American Birding Association, asking him how big the biggest tar mat on Grand Terre—the scene of those now famous horrifying oiled-bird photos—is. "20 feet by 15," he said. "But bigger ones submerged slightly."

It's BP's job to whitewash this story and make it easier to indulge the desire to forget about the scope of the devastation, guys. Not the media's.

I can say enough how appropriate McClelland's impassioned tone was here, as it has been throughout this entire disaster.

That is a far far cry from the Diana Sawyers and Anderson Coopers of the world, who once again preach to "Keeping them honest", but can't even keep themselves honest at days end for the sake of actual journalism.