Corporate pressure removed environmentalist editorial-page editors

Evidence

The influential role played by the national news media was also a focal point of industry’s response to the newly enacted environmental laws. The editors of the editorial page at both the Washington Post and New York Times were, according to one account, dismissed for being too “antibusiness” in their outlook. The Times fired John Oakes in 1976; under Oakes, the Times editorial page had run a series of editorials advocating environmental causes. Philip Geyelin, who left his position at the Post in 1977, had similarly promoted positions favored by environmentalists. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 440

Categorization

• QUESTION: How much direct corporate influence versus natural opinion shifts drove the Times firing editorialists? Worth checking independently.
• XREF: connects to: Corporate-funded specialization disguises toxicity and blocks environmental research — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 10

Broader Connections

• Corporate-funded specialization disguises toxicity and blocks environmental research #complicates (0.80) — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 10