
Monsanto built a step-by-step strategy to destroy my reputation - hhs
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/08/monsanto-roundup-journalist-documents
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mgamache
A company complaining to editors? Routine crap. Hiring FTI to pose as a
journalist? Hiring people to post fake reviews on a book you don't like? Seems
illegal, but I don't know. Are there US laws that prevent such actions?

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mirimir
IANAL, but I don't believe that a smear campaign against her would be illegal
in the US. I mean, she's arguably a public figure, so a libel case wouldn't
stand.

Indeed, it would have been a better article if she had focused on how common
this stuff is. And just used her own experience as the lead.

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dragonwriter
> I mean, she's arguably a public figure, so a libel case wouldn't stand.

No, it would just require evidence of actual malice: that is, knowledge of
falsity or reckless disregard for the truth.

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mirimir
Is that true in the US? I thought that the bar was pretty high for public
figures. I mean, consider what people say in political campaigns. Lies and
malice (i.e., prevent their election) are common.

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dragonwriter
> Is that true in the US? I thought that the bar was pretty high for public
> figures.

“Actual malice” is a much higher bar than is generally in place for libel, but
it is not an _insurmountable_ bar.

> I mean, consider what people say in political campaigns.

Litigation over political campaign statements for defamation is fruitless for
reasons aside from the legal standard to win a judgement; it takes to long to
get a final verdict, but more importantly the litigation itself keeps whatever
damaging claim you are trying to suppress at the center of the news, doing
your opponents work for them.

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mirimir
Thanks.

So she (and others, similarly targeted) might at least get ~decent
settlements.

I guess that I was thinking about this in the context of SLAPP suits and
assassinations (e.g., Karen Silkwood).

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acd10j
Oh wow, how would we know that some corporate lobbyists or worse some
government agency is not monitoring HN right now and propagating their agenda
here in comment section. How can we detect that and how can we trust anyone
else ?

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jchw
If done well, how would something like that ever be possible to detect?
Unfortunately, well-resourced malicious actors can stack the decks :( I now
question every time I saw fairly vehement defense of Monsanto in comments
sections and wonder if that defense was at least inspired by paid internet
commenters and posters, even if it wasn’t directly them. Who really controls
the narrative?

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Consultant32452
What really boils the noggin is realizing that it's not just "other" people
who fall for this. We all do. Some portion of all of our political, economic,
and moral views were put into our heads by corporate or government propaganda.

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m463
Makes me think about the (fiction) book "The Doubt Factory" by Paolo
Bacigalupi

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shadowbanme
I mean, it sounds like she built a step by step strategy to destroy Monsanto’s
reputation, so it seems disingenuous to be shocked when they respond in kind.

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pergadad
She's commenting on the scientific research and evidence on a certain topic,
which happens to be largely but not only about one individual company. That's
what journalists do. Your comment is very disingenuous.

