Opinion: Straus Newspapers - Don’t Take Dirty Money
Lucrative but deceptive advertising promotes misinformation.
by Gail Buckland
Money talks, we all know, but does it have to lie? In the May 24-30 and May 31-June 6, 2024 issues of the Warwick Advertiser, The Photo News, and The Chronicle, these Straus newspapers ran full page advertisements, paid for – as revealed in almost impossible to read text – by the American Chemistry Council. This is no group supporting science education. It is a lobbying group for the chemical industry and the people who bring us more and more plastics. The ad uses scare tactics and lies to encourage people not to support a bill in Albany that will help reduce plastic waste. In bold caps, it starts with “RADICAL ACTIVISTS ARE ABOUT TO RUIN SUMMER BBQ SEASON” and shows pictures of hot dogs and hamburgers wrapped in plastic. It goes on to say the bill “will lead to fewer choices in products like cheese slices,” etc., by “banning their packaging.” The ad also falsely claims our groceries will be more expensive and hurt businesses if the bill is passed.
Re-thinking packaging and improving recycling won’t give the consumer fewer choices; it will give us all a cleaner, healthier environment. Fortunately, the dirty money didn’t work this time around. Albany just passed the Clean Deliveries Act.*
But beware! This may just be the beginning of outside money exerting influence through our local newspapers. Some of the companies the American Chemistry Council represents are Chevron, Exxon, Shell, Solvay, Daikin and 3M.
Many of the companies represented by ACC produce what is known as “forever chemicals” – those chemicals that get into our bodies for life and are linked to many health problems. It is our tax payer dollars that will have to remedy our water supply when our drinking water reaches dangerous levels; our own pocketbooks when our health is impaired. Exxon is not going to extend a helping hand when our our homes and property are damaged because of extreme weather resulting from rising temperatures. They just want to make money – and boy, are they good at that!
The American Chemistry Council is spending millions of dollars on public relations campaigns to encourage use of more plastics and nasty chemicals. Among other things, they lobby legislators against regulating greenhouse gas emissions. Now, they are spreading their lies in our local newspapers.
People tend to trust their local newspapers. Straus should honor that relationship and not take money from groups that do not care about – are actually out to hurt - Warwick, Monroe, Goshen and Chester.
Straus has a policy to “show both sides.” The American Chemical Council has millions of dollars to spend on false advertising. The thousands of dollars they are spending to “infiltrate” Straus newspapers in order to try and influence “us” is a drop in their oily bucket. Yes, those of us with a differing viewpoint could also take out full page ads. The only problem is, those newspaper ads cost thousands of dollars. It is not a level playing field.
I understand it is increasingly harder to keep local news alive. It is one of the reasons I am on the Editorial Board of the Tri State Lookout, a source of local news that relies on its readership for financial support. I want the Straus newspapers to survive. I just don’t want them to sell their soul by accepting false advertising.
*https://earthjustice.org/press/2024/in-final-days-of-legislative-session-new-york-senate-heeds-call-for-cleaner-air-and-corporate-accountability-by-passing-the-clean-deliveries-act
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I sure wasn't stoked to see that tasteless ad, either, but where are newspaper supposed to draw the line?
How, exactly, do we define and then demarcate "dirty" money?
Money is tighter than ever before for them, and Strausnews never really vetted advertisers before, as money has always spoken loudest for them, which makes sense, especially with a free newspaper.
The graphic in this article really isn't a good fit for any struggling print media company, is it?
Running with bags of cash?
..... c'mon.
Do we demand some new line in the sand, or do we maybe ask that strausnews better-indicate that these fake article ads be better identified as advertisements?
To ME, I see strausnews running FAR less biased reporting than ever-before, and far less biased overall editing.
I'll take that tradeoff, myself: I'm willing to accept some sneaky ads in exchange for better editing and more open overall reporting.
Yes, one reported there has some serious issues with fact-checking and with bias, but the editor does a good job, overall; Lisa Reider is, in my opinion, the best editor they've ever had outside of Bob Quinn.