The Business of Green (IHT) versus Green Inc

I don't know who moved first: the IHT with the Business of Green or the NYT with Green Inc.

Either way, I only noticed for the first time a house-advert for Green Inc in the IHT a couple of days ago.

James Kanter's Business of Green Blog (with E. Rosenthal and others) is no more at iht.com; now you go to the NYT's blog Green Inc. (Described on iht.com as the Business of Green's new home on the web, to which you are then directed ) Kanter is the IHT's man at Green Inc.

What is Green Inc? Apart from the beginnings of the end for www.iht.com?

About Green Inc.
How will the pressures of climate change, limited fossil fuel resources and the mainstreaming of "green" consciousness reshape society? Follow the money. From renewable energy policy to carbon markets to dubious eco-advertising, our energy and environment reporters will track the high-stakes pursuit of a greener globe.

Three questions:

a) Increasingly NYT blogs are alternative ways of organising news stories that are run in print or on line - it's not really blogging as I understand it. What do you think they are all about? Is it just a way to allow journalists trained to report facts an opportunity to express opinion? If so, their opinions are tame.

b) Is Green Inc a nice idea for a global audience? It strikes me as very American.

c) The Environment is not exclusively an energy story. Why group them together? And why so little attention to the 'traditional' energy story within Green Inc which seems to largely ignore fossil fuel stories, and focus on renewable energy stories, which is rather missing the point. Are we not going to get into peak oil, pros and cons for example?

To see the meta themes of energy and environment and how to distinguish them, visit A Place in the Auvergne.

READ AN ALTERNATIVE IHT DAILY NARRATIVE AT
A PLACE IN THE AUVERGNE

International Herald Tribune
IHT
New York Times
NYT

Vacation /Business Trip Furnished Apartment in Paris

Chinese walls between advertising and editorial

Have no fear, the walls are still high at the IHT.

Despite the fact that virtually all IHT advertising is currently coming from corporate 'green advertising' or luxury goods/fashion at the moment, Monday's special report on The Business of Green led with an article by the IHT's Eric Pfanner, headlined:

'Green' marketing loses buzz and credibility - here's a taste.

PARIS: At an annual gathering of the advertising industry a year ago in Cannes, the environment was the topic du jour. "Be seen, be green," one agency urged on the invitation to its party at a hillside villa. Al Gore, invited by another agency, flew in to deliver a message linked to "An Inconvenient Truth," his film about climate change: that the ad industry could play an influential role in encouraging business and consumers to change their ways and slow the process of global warming.
The sun was still beating down on the Côte d'Azur last month as advertising executives from all over the world returned for this year's festival. But Al Gore, the former U.S. vice president, was nowhere to be found, and the party buzz was about the U.S. presidential elections, the Euro 2008 soccer tournament or even the business of advertising itself. "Green" marketing, while booming, had lost some of its buzz.
The advertising industry is quicker than most to pick up on changing consumer tastes and moods, and experts say many people are growing skeptical about the proliferation of ads with an environmental message.
Over the past year, as if in answer to Gore's plea, marketers around the world have jumped onto the green bandwagon.
But the sheer volume of environmental advertising and the flimsiness of the claims in some of the campaigns show signs of generating an unintended effect. Instead of serving as a call to action or casting brands in a positive light, these ads are generating an increasingly skeptical response.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/06/business/rbogad.php

Given how the special report was packed with those green advertisers, and how this particular piece was given a skybox on the front page to flag up the report, I think we can safely say IHT editors aren't rolling over to have their tummies tickled by 'green advertisers'.



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