"A 60 Minutes segment claiming that federal government efforts to encourage clean tech -- the production and use of alternative energy sources and more efficient technology -- have failed drew some harsh disagreement among reporters covering the energy beat who say the negative report ignored many successes and focused too narrowly on a few unsuccessful companies."
"Correspondent Lesley Stahl concluded in the January 5 piece that while stimulus spending including the Department of Energy's loan guarantee program was invested in the industry, "instead of breakthroughs, the [clean tech] sector suffered a string of expensive tax-funded flops."
Stahl's segment has drawn criticism from observers who have noted that 60 Minutes focused on Solyndra and a handful of other failed companies whose loans made up a tiny fraction of federal loans and ignored the clean tech breakthroughs and the explosive growth in the sector that have occurred.
The report was only the latest in a series of 60 Minutes reports that have been subject to stinging critiques in recent months. The program has been excoriated by media observers and accused of 'check[ing] its journalistic skepticism at the door' by The New York Times."
Joe Strupp reports for Media Matters January 7, 2014.
SEE ALSO:
"The Cleantech Crash" (CBS/60 Minutes)
"’60 Minutes’ Does About-Face on Cleantech" (Silicon Beat)
"60 Minutes Hit Job On Clean Energy Ignores The Facts" (Climate Progress)
"What 60 Minutes Got Right And Wrong in Its Story on the 'Cleantech Crash'" (GigaOm)
"What's The Matter With 60 Minutes?: Cleantech Edition" (Media Matters)
"Troubled ’60 Minutes’ Imagines A Cleantech Crash" (Earth Techling)
"The Fox 'News'-ification of CBS News and '60 Minutes': 'The Cleantech Crash'" (Bradblog)
"60 Minutes’ ‘Cleantech Crash’ Segment Misses the Point, Critics Charge" (Grist)
"Anatomy Of A Hit Job: Expert Featured On 60 Minutes Exposes How Show Knowingly Ignored Facts On Clean Energy" (Climate Progress)
"“60 Minutes” Gets It Wrong Again: Cleantech Hit Job Doesn’t Check Out" (Salon)
"60 Minutes Skewers ‘Cleantech’ Energy" (National Review)
"60 Minutes Show On Cleantech Looks Like Its Going To Be “Dumb & Dumber Part 3" (Clean Technica)
"Cleantech Crash or Crescendo: What “60 Minutes” Got Wrong… and Right" (Union of Concerned Scientists)
"’60 Minutes’ Clean Tech Report Draws Criticism" (Morning Energy/Politico)
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