Heartland Heavies Silence Climate Reporters at Oil Supported Summit*

R2uAVsWy_400x400
on

The principled crusaders for free speech at the Heartland Institute today took the pragmatic step of banning credentialed journalists from its event fearing negativeย publicity.

Jim Lakely, the communications director for the oil and tobacco funded think tank, withdrew media credentials made and handed to Brendan Montague, editor of DeSmog UK, and asked hotel security to remove the reporter from the ICCC-10 event at the Washington Court Hotel in Washington DC.

Gene Koprowski, director of marketing, said he โ€œrefused to be drawn into a philosophical debateโ€ when asked whether a think tank claiming to champion personal liberty and press freedom should begin blacklisting members of theย media.ย 

Gene protested that he had been a journalist for 25 years but was simply following orders when implementing theย ban.

Inhofe’sย Snowball

Senator James Inhofe, the chairman of the Senate Committee on the Environment, was the morning’s keynote speaker as a handfull of guests assembled in the hotel basement. Members of the press however were penned into a separate room to watch the speech on aย livestream.

Inhofe, who enjoys considerable political sponsorship from fossil fuel polluters, became something of a national laughing stock when he produced a snowball as evidence that climate change was not happening this winter.ย โ€People take things too seriously around here,โ€ he said shortlyย after.ย 

Lord Monckton, who has garnered international media after slipping past security and attempting to accost Ban Ki Moon after the meeting with the Pope in the Vatican, said he would not be able to negotiate entry for theย reporter.

READ OUR LETTER TO JIM LAKELY, HEARTLAND‘S COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Montague presented the Heartland team with his press pass issued by the National Union of Journalists in the United Kingdom which shows he is recognised by police as a โ€œbona fide newsgathererโ€. He was told that he would not be admitted because of negative reporting of the Heartland press conference inย Rome.

He said: โ€œUncle Joe Bast and his Heartland Institute claim that personal liberty and the free market are absolute principles, but here we see them resorting to bully tactics, hiding behind hotel security and press censorship as a result of the mildest ofย criticism.ย 

โ€œI thought this was the ICCC event, not the CCCP.ย Whatever happened to the market in ideas?ย Thankfully the hotel security have been veryย gratious.โ€ย 

Heartlandย Sponsors

The event sponsors include Heritage Foundation, Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Science and Environmental Policy Project and Texas Public Policy Foundation – all beneficiaries of ExxonMobil largess. Joe Bast, president and CEO of the Heartland Institute did not attend the event due toย illness.

The editor of DeSmog UK has written a series of articles criticising Heartland for its attack on climate science pointing to the fact the think tank has in its history been funded by Charles Koch, the billionaire oil refinery baron, oil behemoth ExxonMobil and also tobaccoย interests.

He attended the Heartland conference in Vegas last year resulting in a hugely popular Hunter S Thompson inspired report about the free market libertarians gambling with the future of the planet. He also earlier attended the conference in the think tankโ€™s home town ofย Chicago.

*Our lighthearted headline is a reference to thisโ€ฆ

R2uAVsWy_400x400
Kyla is a freelance writer and editor with work appearing in the New York Times, National Geographic, HuffPost, Mother Jones, and Outside. She is also a member of the Society for Environmental Journalists.

Related Posts

on

Victoria Hewson called the 2050 ambition a โ€œhuge own goalโ€ while working for a Tufton Street think tank.

Victoria Hewson called the 2050 ambition a โ€œhuge own goalโ€ while working for a Tufton Street think tank.
on

Ahead of a city council vote, Resource Works launched an influence campaign with stock submissions for restaurant owners, hospitality workers, and residents.

Ahead of a city council vote, Resource Works launched an influence campaign with stock submissions for restaurant owners, hospitality workers, and residents.
on

Ahead of the November 29 election, dairy producers tell Irish government to step off the โ€œtreadmillโ€ of unsustainable milk production โ€“ and share a more holistic vision.

Ahead of the November 29 election, dairy producers tell Irish government to step off the โ€œtreadmillโ€ of unsustainable milk production โ€“ and share a more holistic vision.
on

The head of the CO2 Coalition tells DeSmog that Wright agrees carbon dioxide is โ€œnot the demon molecule, itโ€™s the miracle molecule.โ€

The head of the CO2 Coalition tells DeSmog that Wright agrees carbon dioxide is โ€œnot the demon molecule, itโ€™s the miracle molecule.โ€