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Lloyd Carter commentary: The public relations firm from hell

Posted by: Maven on June 30, 2009 at 7:19 am

From LLoyd Carter & the Chronicles of the Hydraulic Brotherhood blog:

The masters of “astroturfing” are trying to convince you, the media, California and Washington, D.C. that San Joaquin Valley farmworkers’ new best friend is Big Agribusiness, the same industry that has exploited them for decades. Say what?

Campaigns & Elections magazine defines astroturfing as a “program that involves the manufacturing of public support for a point of view in which either uninformed activists are recruited or means of deception are used to recruit them.” In other words, rich people with a lot of money but no popular support for their cause (getting richer), will create the illusion of broad public support by half truths, manipulation, disinformation, spin doctoring, creating false impressions, and cash. It also involves ghost writing op-ed columns and letters to the editor from little people, to generate the perception there is widespread public support for the client’s position. Grassroots is bottom up. Astroturf is top down.

The late Texas Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, a vice-presidential candidate and a lobbyist, is credited with coining the term “astroturf lobbying” to describe the synthetic grassroots movements conjured up by powerful lobbying and public relations firms. Astroturfing is specifically prohibited by the code of ethics of the Public Relations Society of America, the national association for members of the public relations profession.

But that hasn’t stopped the spin doctors at Burson-Marsteller (B-M), the astroturfing PR firm that has been hired by the California Latino Water Coalition (created around 2006-2007), headed by comedian Paul Rodriguez, and Orange Cove Mayor Victor Lopez, co-chairs of the coalition, and technical advisor Mario Santoyo, assistant general manager at the Friant Water Users Authority, which represents federal irrigation districts on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley from Madera County south to Bakersfield.

Read more from Lloyd Carter & the Chronicles of the Hydraulic Brotherhood blog by clicking here.

June 30, 2009 · Filed Under San Joaquin Valley

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