Tacked on to a New York Times this-and-that article about the ongoing legal detritus of the ongoing gusher in the Gulf of Mexico are two paragraphs on the oil spill cataclysm itself.
Well, not exactly.
Actually, the two paragraphs are about public confidence in BP’s ability to still the leak and the region’s ability to recover from it:
A new CBS/New York Times poll found that public confidence in BP’s ability to stop the leak within the next month is fairly low, while confidence is higher that the region’s industry and wildlife will eventually recover from the spill. According to the poll, about 48 percent of Americans think it will take the oil company several more months to stop the leak; 18 percent think BP will be successful in the next month; 16 percent think it will take a year or longer; and 7 percent say the company will never be able to stop the leak.
Two-thirds of all Americans say that despite severe environmental damage, the gulf’s wildlife, like fish and birds, will recover. And about 8 in 10 Americans, including more than 7 in 10 Gulf Coast residents, say that the region’s economy, including businesses like tourism and fishing, will eventually return to normal.
The truth is that these queries are a poll about ignorance and measures nothing else.
So this is news?