An Inside Look At How Monsanto, A PR Firm And A Reporter Give Readers A Warped View Of Science
much of the last decade attempting to polish its public image amid
campaigns to label genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and horrifying
stories about how the company treats anyone who might get in its way.
In
2013, it enlisted Ketchum PR ― the public relations firm for Russian
President Vladimir Putin, Russian natural gas giant Gazprom and many
governments known for human rights abuses ―
to help. To reboot the national dialogue, Ketchum created a campaign
called GMO Answers, and used social media and third-party scientists to
offer a counternarrative to allay concern about Monsanto’s products.
HuffPost has acquired 130 pages
of internal documents from an anonymous source that detail the campaign
and its tactics for enhancing Monsanto’s public image ― tactics that
include developing close relationships with one writer in particular
that seem to have paid off for the company. (Bayer bought Monsanto in
2018.)