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Business as usual
9/1/24 20:56![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mahnmutPower companies paid civil rights leaders in the US south. They became loyal industry advocates
"The joint investigation found that since at least 2009, consulting companies have worked on behalf of major power companies seeking to influence Black leaders and their organizations. They worked primarily through 501(c) 4 organizations, tax-exempt groups that are allowed to engage in political activity.
Two of the nation’s largest power companies, NextEra Energy and Southern Company, employed Matrix LLC, whose tactics included secretly funneling money to news sites that attacked clean energy proponents, surveilling a journalist who wrote critically about FPL and employing a corporate operative posing as a reporter to rattle political opponents."
In a sane world, this world be big time national news. Hard evidence of systemic corruption and bribery from large energy companies. Bribing community leaders to advocate for buying up their rivals, reduce government oversight and regulation, and to destroy support for things like home solar.
And make no mistake, this article might be focused on energy companies but every industry uses these tactics to manipulate public opinion and to stamp out competition.
"A “really effective way” of controlling the narrative in favor of utilities, Pellow said, has been “buying off people in communities who have a vested interest in fighting those companies”."
But this is America in 2024. Where the front page of Fox news has important articles about things like the Biden administration trying to take down a statue and riveting reporting from MSNBC detailing exactly how much Biden hurt Trump's feelings by calling him a 'loser'.
"The joint investigation found that since at least 2009, consulting companies have worked on behalf of major power companies seeking to influence Black leaders and their organizations. They worked primarily through 501(c) 4 organizations, tax-exempt groups that are allowed to engage in political activity.
Two of the nation’s largest power companies, NextEra Energy and Southern Company, employed Matrix LLC, whose tactics included secretly funneling money to news sites that attacked clean energy proponents, surveilling a journalist who wrote critically about FPL and employing a corporate operative posing as a reporter to rattle political opponents."
In a sane world, this world be big time national news. Hard evidence of systemic corruption and bribery from large energy companies. Bribing community leaders to advocate for buying up their rivals, reduce government oversight and regulation, and to destroy support for things like home solar.
And make no mistake, this article might be focused on energy companies but every industry uses these tactics to manipulate public opinion and to stamp out competition.
"A “really effective way” of controlling the narrative in favor of utilities, Pellow said, has been “buying off people in communities who have a vested interest in fighting those companies”."
But this is America in 2024. Where the front page of Fox news has important articles about things like the Biden administration trying to take down a statue and riveting reporting from MSNBC detailing exactly how much Biden hurt Trump's feelings by calling him a 'loser'.
