BP Bloggers Describe the “Ballet at Sea”

Pelican Gulf Oil Spill, la marea negra

Are these bloggers writing towards the interest of the General Public?

While I was preparing for my day this morning I was listening as always to my favorite reporter @robinmeade (who is finally on twitter) when I heard of how @bp_america had there own bloggers on site to cover the current oil spill.

My first impression was that they where sugar coating the oil spill situation. I decided to wait till I could read some of the blog posts to form my own opinion. I have included on of the posts directly from Paula Kolmar on the BP Web site so you can form your own opinion.

Ballet at sea
Paula Kolmar – 28 May 2010
Triangles, circles, v-angles: precision shapes at sea executed by shrimping vessels and choreographed by skimming perfectionists to stop any oil from potentially getting close to Alabama’s coast.
Though there isn’t oil close to shore, practices and rehearsals occur almost daily in preparation. I was on a jack-up boat observing the practice operations several miles out of Bayou La Batre on a day when the ocean was calm, except for the groups of dolphins swimming around us. Even a shark came along to watch the show. Hot, humid conditions intensified by bright sunlight in a cloudless sky were actually made pleasant by the salty sea breezes topped off with lots of sunscreen and bottles of water. Over about four hours we, all guests of Gulf Coast native Captain Wade and his local crew, enjoyed the spectacular ballet at sea. Mind you, these drills are executed by local shrimping captains on shrimping boats who know these waters and how to catch shrimp! Until a few weeks ago, they didn’t work in tandem, making shapes with Navy-grade boom attached to skimming boats and equipment designed to capture oil.
Watching the captains weave the long black boom as seamlessly as a professional ballet troupe performs an intricate dance, I found it difficult to believe that the rehearsals only started some weeks ago. From the relative comfort of a large square deck with a cold bottle of water always in hand, and an air-conditioned TV room with comfy sofas a level below, I witnessed beauty preparing to face the beast. Miss Jasmine, the most experienced local shrimping vessel, beautifully painted with a colourful dragon streaming along her sides, pulled the folded boom in place. Then gently pulling along her side, another vessel took on a rope from Miss Jasmine. With barely a pause, the two boats moved apart at the same speed, spreading the boom into a v-shape just like birds form in the sky. As this unfolded, a Navy skimmer craft attached itself to the point. Gently caressing the sea surface, the three vessels circled and swirled, guiding the boom without changing the design. A ballet at sea as mesmerising as any performance in a concert hall, and worthy of an audience in its own right.
In my opinion I think that it is highly insensitive that @bp_america titles this blog post “Ballet At Sea”. For me Ballet is so beautiful and precious that it should not be compared to an Oil Spill Cleaning. I have to give them credit they have exceptional talent at making a bad situation look beautiful.
The other blog post that I found with little value was the one titled “Chasing tar balls”, in this post Paula Kolmar describes on how they could not find the Tar Balls people are reporting. I have not seen it personally but I have seen many pictures related to tar balls appearing at beaches and the tone in the post makes it appear that all those people imagined or created the fact that tar balls where appearing on beaches in the Gulf Coast.
If you look at the wording it makes it look like a great thing that Oil is spilling in the Gulf. There is so much uncertainty on the impact that this Oil Spill will have short term and long term it makes it very difficult for me to tolerate this behavior. I reviewed various posts and all of them seem to be as far from reality as they can be. These actions by @bp_america  also demonstrate how they are trying to move the focus of the attention towards the positive side.
I failed to see any posts that genuinely cover most of the questions people are having over the process to fix the mess the @bp_america  has created.
I don’t see any solutions into the process but a sense of creating doubt on the negative impact that the Oil Spill is causing. These bloggers are not genuinely expressing their opinion but writing in favor of @bp_america.
What would change to Help @bp_america  improve its image?
What information would you share?
How will you make the blog post more sensitive towards the current situation?
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