BP “To The Couch” Walk: New Day Stupid?

Polluting America’s Gulf: Polluting CNN’s airwaves? Lampooning themselves unintentionally a la a Saturday Night Live spoof, CNN New Day co-hosts Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira made a mockery of themselves and their show today anew with their diurnal “To The Couch!” walk sponsored by BP in the penultimate block of ND. After Kate announced that they would be making their odd amble to ND‘s version of F&F‘s “curvy couch” for John Berman‘s “Award of the Day” segment, an actual ad sponsored by BP began to air in a split screen alongside with Chris, Kate, and Michaela strolling to the sofa.

It was embarrassing and absurd. When the author saw this inanity of a crass commercial during ND itself for the first time a while back, he thought it was a lame joke or, perhaps, a jejune jab at F&F‘s famed “curvy couch.” But, it was not to be: It was actually a legitimate commercial. Yikes! It was especially jarring since CNN’s American Morning (an earlier ED iteration) co-hosts Kiran Chetry and John Roberts had covered the 2010 BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico with exceptional reportage and sincere sensitivity.

Whenever this viewer watches Chris, Kate, and Michaela stroll to ND‘s “curvy couch” as the ad voice-over proclaims the merits of BP, he remembers the pollution from that oil company spill that savaged the Gulf of Mexico, its marine life, and the economic livelihoods of so many Gulf states natives. And, those images now spill over onto a seemingly much too cavalier New Day itself.

Scrub well with Dawn, ED, and start a whole new dawn!

“Certainly, it’s not [BP’s] Fault”

Who said it? No, not BP CEO Tony Hayward but Fox & Friends contributor and FBN reporter Ashely Webster! During an F&F segment concerning the danger of BP going bankrupt, co-anchor Brian Kilmeade asked, “Ashley, do we have to be careful now politically and out in public with our statements at the highest level in ripping BP? Should we moderate some of our criticism in order to sustain the company?”*

Beginning quite reasonably, Webster answered, “No, I don’t think so. I mean, obviously, BP didn’t want this to happen. It’s the last thing in the world they wanted to happen but they certainly haven’t helped themselves with the way they responded initially. And, CEO Tony Heyward, of course, saying, ‘This is the worst day of my life’ and, so on, certainly did not come across very well at all.” Unfortunately for Webster, he did not stop there.

Sounding almost like a BP shill, he continued, “You know, BP is one of many of the major oil companies that do this type of exploration around the world to satisfy our thirst for oil.” Then, he incredibly concluded, “And, certainly, it’s not their fault but the way they’ve handled it hasn’t been great at all.” Shockingly, as the segment ended, F&F’s co-hosts (Brian, Steve Doocy, and Alisyn Camerota) uttered not a word of disagreement.

Perhaps, that Fox & Friends’ segment should have been entitled “Hayward’s Wet Dream.”

*Fox & Friends – 06/10/10 (@7:02 a.m. ET)

AM’s “Missing Leak”

What happened to that third leak from BP’s off-shore oil well polluting the Gulf of Mexico? American Morning co-host Kiran Chetry did not seem to realize that it existed, and her co-anchor John Roberts initially appeared to have thought that it had been plugged. However, BP (or British Petroleum) has acknowledged its existence and has not yet announced its closure.

On May 5, BP stated that it had sealed one of the three oil leaks from its off-shore well. Further, the New York Times reported that BP had stopped one of these leaks and would try to shut up the worse of the remaining two with a “containment dome” and, if successful, then would tackle the third one with a second dome. However, according to the author’s understanding of  BP’s releases, it has been unsuccessful with the containment dome(s) (including its second “top hat” model) thus far on the second leak and has mitigated it’s flow with an RITT (riser insertion tube tool) which carries a portion, at least, of the oil leakage to a surface ship. Apparently, now BP is trying to shut off this second leak and the third yet un-dealt-with leak with a “top kill” approach (intended to clog up the oil wellhead with industry “mud” and cement it, and thus cut off the oil leakage).

Yes, AM, the third BP leak exists. Brickbats to Kiran for blithely ignoring the reality (after being apprised by the author citing a CNN transcipt of her interview with a Purdue professor). Bouquets to John for readily acknowledging it (when he received Tweets from the author about the NYT article and the link thereto, supra). Nevertheless, kudos to Kiran, for her great in-the-field coverage of the BP ecological nightmare in Louisiana.