Open flames shot upward from four smokestacks at the Chevron refinery on the western edge of Richmond, Calif. Soon, black smoke blanketed the sky.

News spread quickly that day last November, but by word of mouth, says Denny Khamphanthong, a 29-year-old Richmond resident. “We don’t know the full story, but we know that you shouldn’t breathe in the air or be outside for that matter,” Khamphanthong says now. “It would be nice to have an actual news outlet that would actually go out there and figure it out themselves.”

The city’s primary local news source, The Richmond Standard, didn’t cover the flare. Nor had it reported on a 2021 Chevron refinery pipeline rupture that dumped nearly 800 gallons of diesel fuel into San Francisco Bay.

Chevron is the city’s largest employer, largest taxpayer and largest polluter. Yet when it comes to writing about Chevron, The Richmond Standard consistently toes the company line.

And there’s a reason for that: Chevron owns The Richmond Standard.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    371·
    3 months ago

    Unfortunately, this is not as big news as it should be. As the article said, they already own a news outlet in Texas. Their news network is only going to grow. No one will be able to stop it.

    • DigitalTraveler42@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      3 months ago

      It’s good to know which publications are owned by who so you can spot patterns in what they report, but also so you can filter them from your feeds when you feel like it’s not worth the effort.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
            6·
            3 months ago

            That would be awesome, but when I’m suggesting it needs a lot more attention, I mean every news service that isn’t owned by Chevron needs to give it some.

            • DigitalTraveler42@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              3 months ago

              Agreed, sending it to some of the more hungry and left leaning news orgs would probably be a good start, like The Daily Beast, Mother Jones, The Daily KOS, The Atlantic, Rawstory, and the New Yorker, these outlets like digging into stuff like this.

  • Hello_there@fedia.io
    14·
    3 months ago

    60% of emissions in the area are from the refinery. The local air district isn’t willing to do anything about it - they just released a plan for the area that is full of already planned commitments for other pollutant types, but has nothing other than vague goals for anything to do with the refinery.

    • girlfreddy
      3·
      3 months ago

      Irving should be broken up and sold for parts … and the family should receive zero money from it.

  • Maeve@kbin.social
    53·
    3 months ago

    Major global corporations own all the MSM, at least in the States. Nb4 PBS: Koch Family Foundation are major contributors.