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Sarah Wasko / Media Matters

Wash. Post pushes Trump’s spin as he makes America’s waterways dirtier

Written by Zachary Pleat

Published 09/12/19 3:16 PM EDT

Multiple news organizations reported today that the Trump administration is expected to finish its rollback of a 2015 Obama administration regulation which limited pollutants near waterways. While many of these outlets explained in their articles’ headlines and tweets that the rule change would effectively increase water pollution, The Washington Post instead pushed President Donald Trump’s characterization that the Obama-era regulation is “destructive and horrible.”

Instead of clearly explaining the effects of Trump’s action where many people would see it, the Post’s headline and Twitter post promoting its story stated that the Trump administration “finalizes repeal of 2015 water rule Trump called ‘destructive and horrible.’”

Other news outlets wrote posts on Twitter that let their readers know some of the effects Trump’s action would have:

The New York Times’ story on the rollback effort noted that it "adds to a lengthy list of environmental rules that the administration has worked to weaken or undo over the past two and a half years.”

Those efforts have focused heavily on eliminating restrictions on fossil fuel pollution, including coal-fired power plants, automobile tailpipes, and oil and gas leaks, but have also touched on asbestos and pesticides.

Twitter accounts for The Washington Post, ABC, NBC, and NBC’s Sunday political talk show Meet the Press have previously repeated Trump’s laughable claims that he is focused on “clean air and clean water” -- even as he planned to allow more pollution into the environment from the very beginning of his presidency.

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In This Article

  • The Washington Post

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