Syngenta PR’s Weed-Killer Spin Machine: Investigating the Press and Shaping the "News" about Atrazine

Submitted by Beau Hodai on February 7, 2012 - 9:33am

- By Beau Hodai and Lisa Graves

Documents obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy, recently unsealed as part of a major lawsuit against Syngenta, reveal how the global chemical company's PR team investigated the press and spent millions to spin news coverage and public perceptions in the face of growing concerns about potential health risks from the widely used weed-killer "atrazine."

This story is part of a new series about this PR campaign to influence the media, potential jurors, potential plaintiffs, farmers, politicians, scientists, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the midst of reviews of the weed-killer's potential to act as an endocrine disruptor, over the past decade or so.

Dealing with Meddlesome Reporters

Reporter Danielle Ivory (Source: UC)Two years ago, on March 2, 2010, Huffington Post Investigative Fund (HuffPo) reporter Danielle Ivory contacted Syngenta Corporation Director of Corporate Communications-North America Paul Minehart and asked, as reporters do, a few questions.

Little did she know her questions to Syngenta—which reported sales of over $11 billion that year, almost half of which, $5 billion, was profit—would provoke the creation of a secret dossier on her.

"ALEC Accountability Act" Introduced in Wisconsin

Submitted by Emily Osborne on February 10, 2012 - 9:59am

A Wisconsin state legislator is filing a bill that would require greater transparency regarding the activities of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) in the state.

Americans for Prosperity, a Nonprofit, Campaigning for Walker?

Submitted by Brendan Fischer on February 9, 2012 - 9:33am

The Koch-founded Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit "charity" prohibited from intervening in political campaigns, is spending $700,000 on ads and holding events around Wisconsin that look like appeals to re-elect Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who is facing a recall election. The campaigning seems to flout proposed state campaign finance rules that AFP helped block and comes as secretly-funded nonprofits are playing an increasingly important role in elections nationally.

Upcoming Events for the Wisconsin Uprising Anniversary

Submitted by PR Watcher on February 9, 2012 - 4:34am

For the anniversary of the Wisconsin Uprising, a series of events have been planned to commemorate the historic events of February and March 2011.

The Battle for Vermont's Health -- and Why It Matters for the Rest of the Country

Submitted by Wendell Potter on February 8, 2012 - 10:29am

Wendell Potter, CMD Fellow and former head of PR for CIGNAMONTPELIER, Vermont — You can't see them. They're hidden from view and probably always will be. But the health insurance industry's big guns are in place and pointed directly at the citizens of Vermont.

Health insurers were not able to stop the state's drive last year toward a single-payer health care system, which insurers have spent millions to scare Americans into believing would be the worst thing ever. Despite the ceaseless spin, Vermont lawmakers last May demonstrated they could not be bought nor intimidated when they became the first in the nation to pass a bill that will probably establish a single-payer beachhead in the U.S.

When he signed Act 48 into law on May 27, surrounded by dozens of state residents who worked for many years to achieve universal coverage, Governor Peter Shumlin expressed great pride in what had been accomplished.

Syndicate content