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All three network White House correspondents traveled to Louisiana with Barack Obama. All three ran a Presidential soundbite in which he appeared to bash BP for its $50m ad campaign--in which CEO Tony Hayward apologizes to the Gulf Coast for ruining their lives--and for its corporate commitment to continue paying dividends to shareholders. "The President tore into the oil company," was how NBC's Savannah Guthrie heard it. "The President seemed irritated," to ABC's Jake Tapper. "The President lashed out at BP," according to CBS' Chip Reid.
All three seemed to overlook the Obama modifier: "I do not want to hear"--when BP spends its money on public relations and investor dividends--"that they are nickel-and-diming fishermen or small businesses here." In other words, if BP spends its money in both areas simultaneously, that is fine by him.
CBS' Reid picked up on an interesting angle about Obama's six-month moratorium on deepwater oil exploration, pending an investigation into this disaster: the Times Picayune of New Orleans opposes such a precaution because of its impact on oil services employment. ABC's Tapper reported on censorship along the oil-slicked beaches: "Both government employees and private contractors have been told not to talk to the media or public about their activities--or risk being fired."
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