An official report created last week identified six “neutral to positive” journalists who have covered the Refugio Oil Spill, seeking to “target” them so they publish stories about “significant progress” of the cleanup effort.
Drafted by Unified Command — a mix of government agencies and executives from Plains All American Pipeline, the company responsible for the spill — the document lists “recommended reporters” with their photos and short bios pulled from the Internet, and it grades them based on their reporting style. I was deemed “neutral,” “accurate,” “detailed,” and “mostly balanced.”
Mostly balanced? I'm not certain how I earned this gratifying distinction, but when I called the Joint Information Center (JIC) to ask about the report and how journalists were selected, U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Kip Wadlow told me authorities chose reporters based on who requested the most information and then turned that material into news stories. “Our main goal is to ensure timely release of accurate information to the public,” he explained.