Readers Invited to Trust Us, We're Experts

PR Watch editors Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber have completed a new book, titled Trust Us, We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future.An exposé of the PR techniques used to manufacture "independent experts," Trust Us, We're Experts will be published by Tarcher/Putnam and will be available in bookstores in January.

PR relies heavily on what industry insiders call the "third party technique" of "putting your client's words in someone else's mouth." Trust Us, We're Experts shows that many of these so-called "independent third parties" are often anything but neutral. They are handpicked, cultivated, and packaged to make you believe what they have to say--preferably in an "objective" format like a news show. And in some cases, they have been paid handsomely for their "opinions."

Topics covered include: the manipulations of science with respect to occupational health issues; the influence of corporate funding on medical research; and case studies involving specific issues such as biotechnology and global warming.

Journalist and author Bill Moyers says Trust Us, We're Experts explains "how the world wags, and who's wagging it. . . . Read, get mad, roll up your sleeves, and fight back. Rampton and Stauber have issued a wake-up call we can't ignore."

Tufts University Professor Sheldon Krimsky says the book "explodes the cult of expertise and shows how easily the media and their readers can be misled by public relations claims masquerading as science. This book makes the best case I know for complete disclosure of the financial conflicts of interest of scientists and the corporate influence on university research."