Major news and tech media that have run fossil fuel ads were largely staying quiet after the UN’s secretary general called for governments and companies to place bans on advertisements for coal, oil and gas.
“Stop taking fossil-fuel advertising,” António Guterres implored in a major speech on Wednesday after railing against energy companies for “distorting the truth, deceiving the public, and sowing doubt” about the climate crisis.
The Guardian contacted 11 major news organizations and tech firms who run fossil-fuel ads in some form, seeking comment on Guterres’s call for media to stop running the ads. Most did not respond to requests, with only two choosing to comment.
Guterres’s admonishment came amid fierce debate in recent years about fossil-fuel dollars in media circles. Some publications, including the Guardian in 2020, Vox in 2021 and France’s Le Monde last year, have banned oil and gas advertisements.
“This also includes not partnering with lobbyist groups whose purpose is to support fossil-fuel companies,” a Vox Media spokesperson said in a statement.
But many major media outlets, including the Washington Post, Reuters, Politico and Axios, and TV networks such as MSNBC and CNN still feature fossil-fuel ads.
News organizations have in recent years come under fire for the practice, and especially for placing oil ads alongside coverage of the climate crisis. In December 2022, one climate journalist parted ways with the publication Semafor after the company ran oil-company ads on his climate newsletter and articles.