Caught FTI Consulting's language "environmental activists masquerading as environmental reporters" out of EPA administrator Wheeler, a fossil fuel lobbyist masquerading as an environmental regulator, *twice* in the "secret science" announcement today.

There is a coordinated and well-funded attempt underway to paint all climate journalists who critique oil companies as "activists masquerading as journalists". This is why I get very annoyed by that label. It also undermines climate reporting across the board.

For the record, since at least the 1980s, the fossil fuel industry has used this as a tactic to shut down criticism, and it has largely worked because journalists as a breed are both prideful and insecure.

Herb Schmertz, former Mobil VP, described this strategy in an interview we dug up: "I try to attack their legitimacy. It's a tactic to get them to cover Mobil's point of view."

One of many examples, a 2020 post on Energy In Depth, one of a few websites FTI runs on behalf of oil companies, staffed by...paid flacks masquerading as experts and journalists (see also: Western Wire). Apparently @drvolts @emorwee and @HirokoTabuchi are all secret activists