Sludge (8/6/21)

This week on CounterSpin: A recent New York Times story about Senate Energy Committee chair Joe Manchin’s conflicts of interest quoted a source saying, “It says something fascinating about our politics that we’re going to have a representative of fossil fuel interests crafting the policy that reduces our emissions from fossil fuels.” A lot of people would say that’s less fascinating than horrific, particularly in the context of a new global survey of people between 16 and 25 that found that more than half of them believe “humanity is doomed”—and that 58% of young people said their governments are betraying them. You can’t talk about why we can’t get to realistic climate policy without talking about that betrayal, and its roots. Which is why we talk about Joe Manchin with David Moore, co-founder of investigative news outlet Sludge.

Transcript: ‘Manchin Has Taken the Lead in Diluting Ethics Provisions’

Transcript: ‘You Should Get the Vaccine Despite the Media Telling You You Should’

Plus Janine Jackson takes a quick look at recent media coverage of Rahm Emanuel’s ambassadorial nomination.