BP buys 'oil spill,' related Internet search terms to manage message

Whether it’s a $50 million TV commercial blitz or BP CEO Tony Hayward snapping to a reporter that he wanted “his life back,” the company behind the nation’s worst oil disaster in history can’t seem to get its message right.

Now, the latest media misstep, according to media watchdogs and industry experts: the company has been buying up the top Internet search terms such as “oil spill” or “BP” – a move that places its corporate website at the top of search results pages.

“At minimum, this is in extremely poor taste in the midst of such a disaster,” says Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy. But more important, she says, “it’s highly likely” that the average Internet user doing a search on any of the key terms associated with this spill would mistake the paid link for a genuine source of real information.

“Most people assume when you do a search that the things that appear front and center are in some sense the most important,” says Fordham University media maven Paul Levinson. “The average person searching online isn’t aware of the fact that there are ways to manipulate the way things come up in searches,” he adds. The author of “New New Media” says he has never been comfortable with the idea that information placement was for sale on the Internet, adding, “Google ought to rethink its policy.”

Some snippets and headlines and mix of all...

What kind of leader needs advice on ass kicking?

Help. That is what leaders do, they help.
Not once during this entire crisis did Obama pick up the phone to the BP CEO and say “How can I help?”

What has Obama done?- turned down help from other Countries, banned help from the American citizenry, barred the media, accused, threatened lawsuits, blamed others, lowered profits, killed jobs, demoralized the American citizens and the hole is not plugged.
That, more than the spilling oil, represents Obama’s failure of leadership. His failure to want to help. This is what will be remembered as his failure. He willed, he cursed, he blurted, and wanted to kick ass. But he would not help.

A major part of the Kerry-Lieberman Cap and Trade bill was written by BP.

NEWS CHOKED OFF TO PROTECT THE REGIME
Media fail to report Obama’s fingerprints on lack of Press Freedom in the Gulf.

The mobilization in reaction to the disaster as well as the responsibility for federal waters belongs to the administration and the slow reaction to the disaster afterward.

(AP) reported - “Obama says all steps BP takes to end the huge spill must be approved in advance by the government.” The left and Obamamedia have blamed BP rather than point fingers up the federal chain of command.

It’s also not funny that many in the news media and on the left would rather blame BP for controlling federal agencies like the U.S. Coast Guard and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) than recognize the similarities between limited media access in the Gulf and Obama’s previous actions controlling the press.

Obama also has a long-standing pattern of handling the press, sometimes to the point of blocking access. So now that many reporters are complaining of a lack of access to the oil spill, it is surprising how little blame has been directed at the administration.

During the campaign, he had three reporters from publications that had endorsed John McCain kicked off his plane. Since then he has openly attacked his detractors (including Rush Limbaugh) and was once criticized by a couple reporters (Chip Reid and Helen Thomas) for managing a town hall meeting.

Despite the failures of regulators at the Minerals Management Service and Obama’s own claim that the feds are in charge, a Media Research Center analysis of the oil spill coverage found 95 percent of stories had no criticism of the Obama administration whatsoever (148 out of 157 stories).
government officials themselves are the ones that have been turning the news media away.

CBS released video of a boat of BP contractors and two Coast Guard officials telling their reporters to leave an area on May 20. The video shows one man on the boat saying, “This is BP’s rules, not ours.” As a company, how could they exert authority over the Coast Guard, and why wouldn’t the Obama administration make sure that does not happen?

Embeds are fine in a war zone. But for the federal government to say the media should be satisfied with ride-alongs with an oil company under criminal investigation for the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history is insane. It just staggers the imagination

an architect and blogger about green technology, pointed out that “The Coast Guard, as one of the branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, answers to the commander in chief - President Obama.” Ultimately Burkart said he believed Obama was “aiding and abetting” BP. Others have said Obama was ‘colluding’ with BP.
But the question remains, is the White House powerless to control federal agencies like the Coast Guard? Or unwilling - because more coverage would mean more potential criticism for Obama?
Carol Browner, Obama’s energy and climate czar, said on “Meet the Press” May 30, “the government’s been in control from the beginning ... don’t make any mistake here, the government is in charge.”

Obama told AP the same thing, saying that BP had to get permission from Washington for all the clean up. So it stands to reason that the White House wouldn’t have trouble telling BP to allow the media unfettered access to report on the oil spill if it wanted to.

Some in the press have said Obama has a “a pattern of controlling the press.”

HOW’S THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” WORKING?
[London] Mayor Boris Johnson demanded an end to “anti-British rhetoric, buck-passing and name-calling” after days of scathing criticism directed at BP by the President and other US politicians.

Former Conservative Party chairman Lord Tebbit branded Mr Obama’s conduct “despicable”. And with the dispute threatening to escalate into a diplomatic row, Mr Johnson also appeared to suggest that David Cameron should step in to defend BP.

He spoke as the US onslaught against the firm became a “matter of national concern” — especially given its importance to British pensions, which lost much of their value today as BP shares plunged to a 13-year low.

Remember when people said Bush’s cowboy attitude was alienating allies?
Meanwhile, Obama’s hate speech is promoting violence against BP: “Windows at the BP Gas Station on Highway 51 at Custer Drive were shot out overnight. Folks who work at the store believe the suspects were expressing anger over BP and how it’s handling the oil spill. . . . Incidents of anger spilling over at locally owned BP gas stations have been reported in several areas.”

Obama Falls Headfirst Into His Own Hypocrisy Trap. “Obama says he’s sick and tired of the Washington blame game, but still can’t resist doling out piles of blame himself. His compulsive, reflexive finger-pointing at Republicans, George W. Bush and vague villains on the right is not only unbecoming, it also reinforces the gathering public verdict that Obama is a weakling. Victims do not make good leaders.”
why bang on about it after 17 months in office? The only answer is self-preservation, which is an unattractive trait in someone who’s supposed to be leader.

But because he is stuck in a defensive crouch on the BP spill, the economy, Afghanistan, Israel, the bungling political maneuvers of his operatives, and more, Obama’s has no alternative but to play the blame game.

Environmentalists (silently) fume that he authorized more offshore drilling without checking to see if federal regulators were doing their jobs.

— Obama’s coolness under pressure — was actually decision-making paralysis masquerading as coolness.

And when the federal government isn’t sapping the initiative and expertise of local governments, it has been preventing foreign governments from helping. Just three days after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, the Dutch government offered to provide ships outfitted with oil-skimming booms and proposed a plan for building sand barriers to protect sensitive marshlands. LA Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) supported the idea, but the Obama administration refused the help. All told, thirteen countries have offered to help us clean up the Gulf, and the Obama administration has turned every one of them.

Harry Reid- leading the charge for this out-of-control federal debt, carrying the water for President Obama on the government takeover of our healthcare system, this wasteful stimulus package that has not resulted in lasting private sector jobs at all.

as bad as the economy is right now, this for the next 6 months is the best the Obama economy is going to get.

This is why the stock market is dropping again now, with the Dow never returning anywhere near its previous peak over 14,000. The stock market looks 6 months ahead, and what it sees is Obama’s tax massacre, and other foolishly counterproductive policies. Many have been playing the market for the short term natural business cycle recovery, before the effects of President Obama’s anti-growth, neo-socialist policies kick in. But there is no longer enough upside in the economy and the market to make that game worthwhile. That is why the capital flight is beginning now.

And how much further will the already record shattering deficit of $1.6 trillion soar with renewed economic downturn? How much longer will it be before Greece comes to these shores, and the bond markets refuse to lend us vast chunks of the world’s resources to finance President Obama’s further exploding budgets and deficits?

In a stunning AP story, it has been learned that the Bush Administration cited the Deep Water Horizon (The oil rig that sank after an oil well it dug in the Gulf of Mexico exploded) for six safety violations in less than five years beginning in 2002, but the Obama Administration gave it a safety award last year.

British business on Wednesday expressed alarm at the “inappropriate” and in-creasingly aggressive rhetoric being deployed against BP by President Barack Obama, warning that the attacks on the oil company could affect energy security and damage wider transatlantic industry relations.
But electing Obama was supposed to help our image around the world, right? Right?

BP, the energy company responsible for the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, helped craft the bill proposed by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) that would tax businesses for carbon emissions and raise the cost of fuel for American consumers. “The problem for Democrats is that debating the Democrat cap-and-trade bill might not fit neatly into the White House messaging plan since it’s been widely reported that a major part, a major part of the Kerry-Lieberman bill was essentially written by BP,”

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