"60 Minutes" unfair to Chevron, according to CJR

Martha Hamilton of the Columbia Journalism Review writes Thursday that a “60 Minutes” segment last year about Chevron was unfair to the oil company.

Hamilton writes, “Based on a review of documents provided by Chevron and publicly available information from other sources in this matter, I find that the main Chevron complaint is warranted, namely, that 60 Minutes leads the segment by showing a polluted well that wasn’t Chevron’s responsibility to clean and which Chevron says is not polluted by petroleum at all, but rather by fecal matter. In back-and-forth emails between the news organization and oil company, provided by Chevron to me, 60 Minutes journalists don’t address Chevron’s assertion about the source of the pollution, except to say that Salinas believes his well is polluted by oil.

“Overall, while a few of Chevron’s complaints are minor or can’t be substantiated, and while 60 Minutes never directly says Chevron is responsible for the pollution, 60 Minutes gives the clear impression that Chevron trashed the place and left, while downplaying the fact that Petroecuador has been operating alone at the former Texaco sites since 1990.

“60 Minutes declined to discuss Chevron’s criticism. ‘We don’t see a need to discuss this any further than the story we put on the air, which we stand firmly behind,’ wrote Kevin Tedesco, executive director of communications for CBS News/60 Minutes, after I sent him, at his request, a list of questions.

“In any event, ‘Amazon Crude’ is an interesting study in appearance and reality in a TV news documentary and how the one doesn’t always add up to the other.”

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