Halliburton found itself in the spotlight Thursday after asking a reporter at the Casper Star-Tribune to sign a release promising any coverage wouldn’t portray the company in a negative light. The reporter posted the release on Twitter, where it was quickly picked up by national media watchdogs. Casper Star-Tribune editor Jason Adrians says he found the request highly unusual and inappropriate.
“We’re a media organization. Our job is tell stories and no matter how those stories turn out, we have to tell it like it is, and be honest. So we can’t sign an agreement that would only enable us to tell one side of a story,” Adrians says.
Adrians adds that the story in question only peripherally focuses on Halliburton, but that he objected to the release on principle. He says the company reached out to him, but he declined to comment on the conversation other than to say they agreed to disagree about the appropriateness of the release form.
Halliburton didn’t immediately return Wyoming Public Radio’s request for comment.
