This is quite possibly one of the greatest pieces bonafide journalism I’ve ever seen, especially how filmmaker/journalist Phelim McAleer manages to get “Gasland” director Josh Fox’s to admit he left a key piece of relevant information out of his film. Fox’s Academy Award-nominated documentary blames the energy industry’s practice of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for natural gas on increased levels of methane that are so high people can actually light their tap water on fire.
Scary stuff, right?
However, what we learn here is that something Fox chose not to reveal was that there are reports of people being able to light their tap water on fire decades before any kind of fracking occurred in the same geographical area. You’ll get the full context in the video:
—–
“Gasland” is an extremely well-made documentary, so well done, in fact, that about an hour in Fox had me convinced that fracking for natural gas really was a problem. The film is produced in a low-key kind of way using a tone that’s practically hypnotic and when you watch people light their freakin’ tap water on fire it blows your mind. My wife and I — and she’s even more skeptical of these enviro-Marxists than I am — just looked at each other in horror. After the credit’s rolled, our skepticism returned, and soon after, Ann McElhinney (McAleer’s wife and filmmaking partner) pretty much confirmed our skepticism.
But McAleer’s success in getting Fox to admit he knew about these decades-old reports is like (and not just because of the courtroom setting) the closing scene in a “Perry Mason” episode.
Why would Fox not include the relevant fact that there were reports of high enough methane levels to light tap water on fire decades prior to any kind of industrial fracking being done? But that’s not the real question, is it? Because the answer is obvious: Fox has an agenda and he very well knew that such a pertinent fact would completely undermine that agenda. The real question, though, is why would an Academy Award-nominated documentary that currently sits at a nearly unprecedented 100% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes get away with this for so long? Even if you Google “Gasland debunked” most of the links appear to be about debunking the debunkers. Same with “Gasland lies.”
With a few very simple, straight-forward questions (always the best kind), McAleer not only allows Josh Fox to bury himself but we also — unless I missed something — get a lesson in just how pathetic the elite media is when it comes to puncturing narratives they’re sympathetic towards.
McAleer’s report is here.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.