Jen's Green Journal

This is not the first time or the last time I'll curse the major media degeneration into corporate prostitution. I rarely read the Deseret News, so I  first read about this in an email from HEAL Utah:

" . . .On the front page above the fold was a story with the headline, “Utahns back nuclear power,” about a new Dan Jones poll showing 57% of Utahns in favor nuclear power as part of Utah’s energy mix--something the paper called a “strong majority.”

But is this really front page news or just nuclear boosterism?

What the paper fails to mention, or deliberately omits, is this is the third Dan Jones poll on nuclear power conducted for the Deseret News, and results have varied widely.  From a high of 63% of Utahns favoring nuclear power last July, support then plummeted to 38% in November after it was revealed that Representatives Aaron Tilton and Mike Noel, chairs of the legislative committee that oversees Utah’s energy policy, were working behind the scenes to build Utah’s first nuclear reactors in Green River.

The paper also fails to mention that Dan Jones polls have found 92% of Utahns support increased government incentives and investment in solar power, 90% support the same for wind power, 80% support geothermal power, and 94% support energy efficiency and conservation.  That’s a strong majority, but apparently overwhelming support for clean energy is no longer newsworthy." (emphasis mine)

(snip)

"While we can’t say for certain why the Deseret News has given over so much of its content to the nuclear industry in recent months, editor Joe Cannon’s ties to the industry have been quite strong in the past.

Between 2005 and 2006, Mr. Cannon was paid $150,000 by EnergySolutions to lobby in Washington, DC(1).  And five years ago, he and EnergySolutions CEO Steve Creamer plotted an effort to hijack the Goshutes' nuclear storage proposal with "Plan B," which would have had the state build and operate a high-level nuclear storage site near Canyonlands National Park(2).

We don’t mean to suggest that Mr. Cannon has carried his past positions into his current job as editor.  But we do think the nuclear industry has plenty of money to buy its own ad space, and doesn’t need the help, unwittingly or not, of one of Utah’s largest newspapers.

(1)For Joe Cannon’s federal lobbyist disclosure form, click here: http://sopr.senate.gov/cgi-win/m_opr_viewer.exe?DoFn=3&LOB=CANNON,%20JOSEPH&LOBQUAL==
(2) Fahys, Judy and Dan Harrie. 2003 ‘Plan B’ Aims to outbid Goshutes’ N-waste site-Legislators see little hope to stop toxic materials, want to ‘deal with reality;’ Lawmakers push alternative to Goshutes’ Site. Salt Lake Tribune, February 6."