the coverage was nothing short of relentless. one year ago when an oil rig exploded in the gulf of mexico, the media jumped on the disaster day after day, hour after hour, minute by minute. and the man on the firing line was admiral thad allen. is top kill this week going to work? we certainly hope it will. nothing is a sure thing. so at this moment, admiral allen, do you think this is possibly the big fix? is this it? well, diane, this certainly is an important day in the evolution of this pons. why did it take the coast guard until this morning to realize that bp and louisiana didn t have the resources to contain this thing? well, katie, we ve been on this problem ever since the fire broke out on the rig. actually there s been a life cycle to this event that started with a very serious search and rescue case. those pictures look so familiar, but did journalists go overboard on the impact of the environmental disaster? was the reporting overheated or restrained? i spoke
yes. journalists have nine lives or maybe even less. you don t want to use up too many of those. no. it s a fascinating piece and it s not the kind of thing usually talked about in public so very much appreciate you being here. thanks for joining us. after the break, the press put him on the hot seat day after day during that gulf oil disaster a year ago. admiral thad allen turns the tables by grading the media s performance. that s next. rids, and plug-in vehicles. and we ve got cars like that, even trucks. but we can do more. when you buy a chevrolet, we ll invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and tree-planting programs across america, reducing carbon emissions by up to 8 million metric tons over the next few years in just one more way, we can proudly say, chevy runs deep. the morning after the big move starts with back pain. and a choice. take advil now. and maybe up to 4 in a day.
papers. there s breaking news that tony blair and kboegordon brown are g snubbed and not invited to the wedding. i wonder if we might be overestimating the public appetite. here s a the new york times /cbs poll that says only 6% of those asked the question are following news about the royal wedding closely. 22% somewhat closely. that leaves a whole lot of people that don t care that much but you re not going to escape this particular topic. coming up in the second part of reliable sources war correspondents get all the glory but what about the spouses left behind. a wife says his job almost destroyed their marriage. one year after the bp oil spill did the media overdrama ties the impact of that disaster. thad allen talks about it. [ male announcer ] is zero worth nothing?
so they wanted to make sure people knew the oil was there. so the impact was very wide and disparate and that they had you right on the hot seat. thad allen, thanks for joining us. the creator of the dilbert strip does a not so funny thing online. there s a nurse who can access in an instant every patient s past. and because the whole hospital s working together, there s a family who can breathe easy, right now. somewhere in america, we ve already answered some of the nation s toughest healthcare questions. and the over 60,000 people of siemens are ready to do it again. siemens. answers. [ male announcer ] surprisingly priced at $15,995, the 2011 jetta has arrived.
need respirators. reporter: no respirators to prevent them from breathing toxic air? so we took our findings to washington. to the lead agents involved in the cleanup efforts. our first stop was the epa, who told us to go to the agency in charge of workplace safety, which declined an interview. so we went to the man who was the face of the oil spill response and the only one to acknowledge that maybe something better could have been done for these workers. were this to happen again, would you admiral allen have employed these vessels of opportunity? i think i d be very judicious in employing vessels an opportunity in the future. i think they can be used effectively but understand the environment that the they re operating in, the impact on the people and on the boats. reporter: and finally we went to bp s top men in the gulf who despite hundreds of workers reporting the same symptoms refuses to say whether anyone got sick. do you think that anybody got sick? i can t answer that