Chevron’s Aggressive PR Challenge – ‘buying’ bloggers?

Chevron is throwing down the gauntlet – conducting a bare knuckle PR campaign the likes of which we have rarely seen. At stake is a $27 billion judgement in an Ecuadorian court that, ifﾃつ�leveled (a decision is expected this year), and if it sticks (it is not clear if an Ecuadorian court can extract payment from an American company with no current operations in its country), would be the largest environmental lawsuit in history.

Such a judgement could severely hamper Chevronﾃつ�and impact its stock. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is demanding a full accounting from Chevron (the state, through pension funds, is a shareholder). Dozens of blogs and web sites are devoted to slamming the company and generating a consistent stream of negative news -ﾃつ� including accusing the company of buying off bloggers. Chevron is aggressively fighting back.

Anybody who does not believe that high-profile civil cases areﾃつ�fought as much through PR as they are in the courtroom should study the Chevron case.

The latest flame-up in this story was the May 3, 2009, ’60 Minutes’ segment titledﾃつ�Amazon Crude. Silvia M. Garrigo, Manager, Global Issues and Policy for Chevron, was in the unenviable position of facing the 60 Minutes grilling from Scott Pelley. Garrigo’s performance on ’60 Minutes’ was ridiculed by many anti-Chevron groups although, from my perspective, she is a strong and credible advocate for her client.

Chevron responded to 60 Minutes by hiringﾃつ�former CNN correspondent ﾃつ�Gene Randall to narrate a ‘News” report that tells the story from its perspective. The video, Chevron Texaco Ecuador Lawsuit – Behind the Scenes, is on YouTube and a company web site devoted to the case.

Smack in the middleﾃつ�is a blogger called Zennie62, who, ChevronToxicoclaims, is a paid shill for Chevron. ChevronToxico offers no proof and Zennie Abraham, the blogger, does not confirm or deny payments in his blog posts. He posts prodigiously about the case and seems to have a wealth of information that would only be available to an insider. His blog posts and YouTube videos rank high in Google searches on keywords Chevron, Texaco (acquired by Chevron), and Ecuador.ﾃつ� Daryl Hannah, right, visiting environmental disaster site in Ecuador.

In 2008, Amazon Watch disclosed thatﾃつ�Bay Area blogger Pat Murphy was a paid to post pro-Chevron comments on the Ecuador case in his small online newspaper.ﾃつ� Murphy has publicly acknowledged he accepted fees for control of editorial content, according to Amazon Watch.

Chevron’s Garrigo has acknowledged that this is a PR battle. The company claims that it cannot get a fair trial in Ecuador and they seek to sway public opinion in the U.S. if the case is brought here. This is not a ‘cut and dry’ case, despite the entrenched certainty of the opposing forces. There is plenty of villainy to go around. The Ecuadorian government has an atrocious environmental record – the big U.S. oil company is an easy target that reaps enormous political benefit, even if they don’t realize a dime from the lawsuit.

ﾃつ�ﾃ｢竄ｬﾅ撤aying so-called independent bloggers to post is just one part of a wide-ranging fraud designed by Chevron to cover up the companyﾃ｢竄ｬ邃｢s enormous exposure in Ecuador,ﾃ｢竄ｬﾂ� said Prieto. Prieto said Samson, Chevronﾃ｢竄ｬ邃｢s public relations director, has built an ﾃ｢竄ｬﾅ兎mpireﾃ｢竄ｬﾂ� of consultants in the U.S. and Ecuador to put out misleading information about the case.ﾃつ� Chevronﾃ｢竄ｬ邃｢s environmental problems in Ecuador have become the companyﾃ｢竄ｬ邃｢s largest worldwide public relations problem. Samson has retained the New York office of the global public relations behemoth Hill & Knowlton — the same firm that represented the tobacco industry for decadesﾃ｢竄ｬ窶� to manage Chevronﾃ｢竄ｬ邃｢s image problems stemming from the Ecuador case.ﾃつ�Chevron P.R. Director Donald Samson Behind Secret Payments to Bloggers to Hide Ecuador Liability