US media celebrates stop to BP spill

For months US media has shown oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. BP has stopped the leak temporarily and the US media is celebrating!

Headlines have read: “Oil Watch: BP caps oil well, optimism grows hourly” and “Cheers as gulf oil spill is capped at last.”

However, quotes from fishermen have said “It’s like putting a band-aid on a dead man” and BP is saying this is not time for celebration.

The media was focused on the drama, the stories focused of the amount of oil, land/sea area covered and the money as well as the drama of whether or not BP could in fact cap the oil well.

RT contributor Danny Schechter said the story was defined by the drama, not by the policy lapses, the plans to prevent future spills or the control of US resources.

“The real problems sort of, kind of, got lost in all the drama of that oil being pumped out in the corner of your screen every night without much consideration of what was going to happen next” said Schechter.

Schechter explained that disaster, apocalypse sells, and conflict and fear sells in the media.

“All this kind of conflicts of people yelling at each other makes for good television, it doesn’t necessarily raise awareness,” said Schechter.

“Why let the facts get in the way of a good headline,” he added.