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What the frack is going on? Music video sums it up

By

May 12, 2011

If the idea of flammable groundwater doesn’t exactly make you want to bust a move on the dance floor, nobody will blame you – but “Fracking – The Music Video” might make you change your mind.

The students of New York University’s Studio 20, a journalism course that focuses on blending reporting with new media, collaborated with the investigative unit ProPublica to create a new kind of explainer to introduce the public to ProPublica’s three-year investigation on hydraulic fracturing – “fracking” – and the potential dangers it poses to communities’ drinking water supply. Need to Know has collaborated with ProPublica in the past in a report on fracking’s impact on groundwater. The result of Studio 20’s work is “My Water’s on Fire Tonight (The Fracking Song)” – a song that packs a surprising amount of information in just over two and a half minutes through rap and a funk-laden chorus.

Studio 20 emphasizes that the video is not meant to be a substitute for ProPublica’s years of in-depth investigations. “While we hope that you enjoy the song,” they write at Explainer.net, “what we really want you to do is read more about hydraulic fractured drilling, so you can truly understand ‘what the frack is going on.’”

Last modified: May 12, 2011 at 3:04 pm
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Comments

  • http://twitter.com/seosanjaymaurya Sanjay Kumar Maurya

     need to know where frack going on.Great music video by @studio20nyu:disqus http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110510230523AAkKjGM….

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1566346688 Lera Atwater

    Ha, this is great!  Well done.

  • Anonymous

    Well done!  It’s heartening to see that Americans are waking up to the dangers of fracking.  Perhaps we can turn the tide before much of our water supply is permanently destroyed.

  • 123abc

     lets abandon airplane flights because they are dangerous while we are at it, you have no evidence that this is dangerous maybe 1 out of a 1000 cases something might be wrong

  • http://twitter.com/nvsand nvsand

    So 123abc, you have not been able to start you kitchen tap water on fire as they can in Wyoming? Right? 

  • Joe

    Good point nvsand. I mean a person’s tap water being able to BURN is very very STRONG evidence. But if you wish to prove the evidence wrong 123abc, I am sure you are free to drink a gallon if it everyday to prove that there is no evidence. I mean if you drink it all up, then there will not be anymore left… NO EVIDENCE !! Enjoy consuming hydrofracked tap firewater.

    http://www.buffalonews.com/city/columns/donn-esmonde/article377689.ece?order=F&page=1

  • Susan Exton Belmont

    Water is the most precious resource in the world……limited in quantity as it is closed ecosystem on earth….vital to life and mostly undrinkable with salt much less chemicals!!!!  Thanks for this guys and gals!  Love it!!!

  • http://edenslounge.com/ Baltimore Nightlife

    “It’s impossible to sum up a massive, immersive experience like ‘Buried Secrets’ in a two-and-a-half minute song. Instead, the intent is to bring people in, to create an easily digestible package that compels news consumers to dig into the real meat of the story.”

  • Puttigger

    great !!! loved it !!

  • Julie friedman

    he is going on right way and i have seen this yesterday night because last night i was going on different way and seen it’s really amazing here so i like it.
    http://agelessmaleingredients.posterous.com/ageless-male-ingredients-risk-free-trial