“By no means simply learn one newspaper” is considered one of my media literacy guidelines. Typically even that fails, because it did on Monday, April 13, 2026, when the New York Occasions and the Wall Avenue Journal each weighed in with suspiciously related, and sadly unskeptical, tales claiming that the Iran warfare by some means supplied vindication for China’s emphasis on wind and photo voltaic power. [some emphasis, links added]
How’d the New York Occasions (“Battle Highlights China’s Renewables Lead“) and the Wall Avenue Journal (“An Iran Battle Winner: China’s Clear Vitality“) wind up with the identical unhealthy takes on the identical story on the identical day?
Their editors probably have been each studying the Related Press (AP), a wire service that drives newsroom agendas by offering a tip sheet prematurely, disclosing what tales the AP is engaged on.
The AP had its personal model of the identical story, headlined, “Iran warfare’s world power disaster sharpens China’s benefit in clear tech.”
Datelined Hong Kong, a China-controlled territory the place journalists are imprisoned in the event that they publish articles that the Chinese language authorities disapprove of, the AP story begins, “China is poised to learn from the Iran warfare as world power disruptions speed up a shift away from fossil fuels and towards clear applied sciences and renewable energy, industries that China dominates.”
The gist of the story—that the Iran warfare by some means demonstrates that China is true about wind and photo voltaic power—is a fantasy, not a truth.
Even if you happen to depend on China’s personal unreliable information, the Worldwide Vitality Company lists coal and coal merchandise as 71 p.c of China’s power manufacturing, and photo voltaic, wind, and different renewables mixed at 5.4 p.c.
Even if you happen to depend on China’s personal unreliable information, the Worldwide Vitality Company lists coal and coal merchandise as 71 p.c of China’s power manufacturing, and photo voltaic, wind, and different renewables mixed at 5.4 p.c.
Even if you happen to depend on China’s personal unreliable information, the Worldwide Vitality Company lists coal and coal merchandise as 71 p.c of China’s power manufacturing, and photo voltaic, wind, and different renewables mixed at 5.4 p.c.Not everybody agrees that the Iran warfare is a win for China, energy-wise.
President Trump posted to Reality Social over the weekend, “Huge numbers of utterly empty oil tankers, a few of the largest wherever within the World, are heading, proper now, to america to load up with the most effective and ‘sweetest’ oil (and fuel!) wherever within the World. We have now extra oil than the subsequent two largest oil economies mixed – and better high quality. We’re ready for you. Fast turnaround! President DJT”
Trump additionally posted a world map of marine visitors depicting tankers headed for the U.S. to replenish. “GREAT!!!,” Trump commented.
“The U.S. goes to make a fortune,” stated an Israeli reserve brigadier normal, Amir Avivi, the founder and chairman of Israel’s Protection and Safety Discussion board.
Avivi stated in Monday’s IDSF briefing that American pursuits for the battle embrace shifting Iran “from alliance with China to alliance with america.”
He additionally stated {that a} profitable warfare final result for America would probably embrace Iranian oil being traded in petrodollars as a part of the SWIFT system (Society for Worldwide Interbank Monetary Telecommunication) relatively than on the black market.
A headline that stated “Iran Battle Winner: U.S. Fracking and Offshore Drilling” could be as correct, most likely extra correct, than the Wall Avenue Journal, New York Occasions, and Related Press headlines. It’s unlikely to look as long as the AP is driving the agenda.
The AP was funded largely by dues from member newspapers. However because the newspaper business has collapsed, the AP has turn into more and more reliant on grants from nonprofit organizations with ideological agendas.
The AP web site additionally lists a “partnership” with the China Information Service. It describes the China Information Service as offering “Information and perception from every day life in China,” illustrating the partnership with a pair of lovely pandas.
“China Information Service (CNS) offers in-depth information from China to a world viewers, with protection together with function tales and subjects comparable to present occasions, artwork, way of life, individuals and journey,” the AP web site says.
What AP doesn’t say is that China Information Service is managed by the Chinese language authorities and its governing Communist Get together.
The AP article carries a disclaimer stating, “The Related Press’ local weather and environmental protection receives monetary help from a number of personal foundations. The AP is solely answerable for all content material.”
The Washington Free Beacon has beforehand uncovered this relationship with articles comparable to “The AP’s Local weather Protection Is Funded by Left-Wing Teams—And It Exhibits” and “AP Quietly Reveals Donation From Overseas Group That Trains Journalists as Local weather Change ‘Activists.’”
I wrote about it within the Wall Avenue Journal in 2025: “Following the Cash, the Related Press Strikes Left.” This newest AP article matches the sample.
The primary quote within the AP article says, “‘China’s method to power sector growth and geopolitics has been utterly validated by the Iran battle,’ stated Sam Reynolds with the U.S.-based Institute for Vitality Economics and Monetary Evaluation.”
The Institute for Vitality Economics and Monetary Evaluation is funded by the identical left-wing foundations that fund the AP.
For instance, the Hewlett Basis gave $200,000 to the Institute for Vitality Economics and Monetary Evaluation in 2025 and $750,000 to the AP’s local weather desk in October 2024 for a 24-month grant.
A member of the board of the Institute for Vitality Economics and Monetary Evaluation is Sarah Brennan, who works on the Rockefeller Household Fund on the Funder Collaborative on Oil & Gasoline.
The Rockefeller Household Fund gave $347,250 to the Institute for Vitality Economics and Monetary Evaluation in 2024, in keeping with the Rockefeller Household Fund tax return, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund gave the Institute for Vitality Economics and Monetary Evaluation $570,000 in 2025.
The AP web site lists “The Rockefeller Basis” as a present funder.
There are many Rockefellers, and the Brothers Fund, the Basis, and Household Fund are distinct entities, however the heirs of John D. Rockefeller, founder of what’s now ExxonMobil, have been outspoken in opposition to fossil fuels.
“Supporting the AP’s local weather desk dovetails with The Rockefeller Basis’s recognition of local weather change as a singular risk to humanity,” the Rockefeller Basis web site says.
The Rockefeller Basis 2024 tax return listed a $250,000 grant to the AP in 2023 “in help of launching a local weather protection initiative.”
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