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5.31.2010
Where to start with this book? Now, being 8 years old or so, it makes for an interesting at the time analysis of what happened. In short, how a New Zealand government owned enterprise called Timberlands, that was involved with logging old growth forest, used a public relations company to get its way. The evidence is through what’s called “The Timberland Papers”, a detailed history of the whole dirty tricks campaign leaked from the inside. Each chapter covers the same time frame of several years, but through a different topic, such as how the media is manipulated, fake grassroots organisations, using environmental groups to greenwash Timberland’s logging methods. It makes for a sad read really. The book is heavy with examples and evidence, both presented within the narrative, and at the end of the book. There are also appendices to give more information.
The down side of the book, it was being written as the end of the events were unfolding, so there’s no end to the story. Well, there is an end, but it’s not in the book.
It’s worth reading just to see how the tricks were planned and executed. The book provides a useful analysis for those in the environmental movement who may be fighting against the same kind of dirty tricks campaign. And for the employee on what to do if your company is one of those perpetrating the lies.
Rating: 4 / 5
5.31.2010
An unprecedented story – a comprehensive dissection of an anti-environmental PR campaign based on an almost complete set of leaked public relations files. The tactics exposed are in common use – especially in North America, but rarely see the light of day until many years have passed. Shandwick, one of the top 10 environmental “greenwashers” helped Shell manage bad publicity over it’s role in Nigeria. They were hired in 1997 to build support for Timberlands, a state-owned logging company in New Zealand. For two years 5 full time employees ran a comprehensive campaign to discredit the environmentalists, who initially had majority support, and build a positive picture of their logging plans in the eyes of the public. The exposure of these plans, by the initial publication of this book in the fall of 1999 , led in part to the downfall of the NZ government and the cancellation of the Timberlands old growth logging plans.
The book makes use of the leaked documents to illustrate how environmental groups were infiltrated, and attempts made to neutralize them. Details of how sources of funding were targeted, and the use of legal threats or “SLAPP suits”. It documents the people who actively assisted the company, as well as those who were unknowingly recruited in support. The setting up and methods of control of supposedly independent front groups is revealed in the leaked PR documents. In North America the “wise use” groups fit this model. The manipulation of the media is detailed. Friendly press were given all-expense paid tours of model logging areas, for which positive publicity was expected. Complaints were sent to the employers of journalists who wrote stories unfavorable to logging.
“Dirty tricks” are exposed. The planting of a fake bomb and the destruction of a tree-sitting platform with a log slung from a helicopter are exposed through subsequent cover ups and attempts to influence an investigation by aviation authorities.
I rate this book highly because of the unique portrait of an anti-environmental campaign, and it’s relevance to campaigns in North America.
Rating: 5 / 5