Syngenta PR: Investigating the Press and Shaping "News" About Atrazine

"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."

Beau Hodai and Lisa Graves report for the Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch February 7, 2012.

SEE ALSO:


"Behind the PR Curtain: Oregon Firm Played Part in Effort To Counter Attacks on  Herbicide" (Oregonian)

"Reporters: There Is Nothing Wrong With PR Firms Doing Research on You" (Gawker)

"The Biologist Behind One of the Strangest Feuds in Scientific History" (io9)

"Firm Investigated HuffPost Investigative Fund Reporter's 'Motivations' for Critical Stories" (Poynter Institute)

Source: PR Watch, 02/09/2012