I think the media gets kickbacks and tax breaks proportional to the amount of public relations propaganda they successfully sell to the public.
Any 'science' about oil decomposition is NOT NEW (with all the oil spills in the past, they would have known before if this would happen). It simply is an attempt to 'pacify' us for the remainder of the hurricane season (when little will be done and much will accumulate) and probably also because BP is going to try it's own FINAL EXIT from the whole situation (at least partially).