News and tech media mostly quiet after UN chief calls for ban on ads for oil and gas
Major news and tech media that have run fossil fuel ads were largely staying quiet after the UN’s secretary general called for governments and companies to place bans on advertisements for coal, oil and gas.
“Stop taking fossil-fuel advertising,” António Guterres implored in a major speech on Wednesday after railing against energy companies for “distorting the truth, deceiving the public, and sowing doubt” about the climate crisis.
“Many in the fossil-fuel industry have shamelessly greenwashed, even as they have sought to delay climate action with lobbying, legal threats and massive ad campaigns,” Guterres said.
The Guardian contacted 11 major news organizations and tech firms who run fossil-fuel ads in some form, seeking comment on Guterres’s call for media to stop running the ads. Most did not respond to requests, with only two choosing to comment.
Guterres’s admonishment came amid fierce debate in recent years about fossil-fuel dollars in media circles. Some publications, including the Guardian in 2020, Vox in 2021 and France’s Le Monde last year, have banned oil and gas advertisements.
