"60 Minutes," long the gold standard in television journalism, continues to find itself on the receiving end of a barrage of criticism.
On Sunday, "60" delivered its latest bait for critics with a piece about the Obama administration’s clean energy programs called "The Cleantech Crash." The segment detailed the struggles of clean-energy initiatives that have the backing of the federal government and Silicon Valley investors.
Our colleague, POLITICO Pro's Alex Guillén breaks it down:
Even before it aired, green-energy backers condemned the segment as a “hit piece,” saying CBS had failed to acknowledge the initiatives’ successes — including a huge surge in electricity generation from renewable sources like solar and wind, a plunge in the prices of solar panels and LED light bulbs and the growing availability of electric cars. They also noted that the “60 Minutes” piece aired a day after The New York Times portrayed green energy as a big hit with private sector investors, writing that a “solar power craze … is sweeping Wall Street” while the electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors is “a market darling.”
Still, the Energy Department was clearly concerned by the high-profile smackdown — enough to send out a rebuttal around 11 p.m.
More than 250 news outlets around the world have signed an appeal that calls for the...
