SPINWATCH CONGRATULATES REUTERS FOR CORRECTIONS TO REPORTING OF GM LOBBY
Reuters - the influential news agency whose wire service stories appear in print, broadcast and web media outlets - has
made a series of important corrections to an article on GMOs in Africa, following a complaint from SpinWatch, an
organisation that monitors PR and spin in the public interest.[1]
The article, originally published in late October under the headline "Africa seen accepting GMO crops more in future",
has now been republished by Reuters[2] with a new headline and changes that are intended to clarify the affiliations of
the source of the story - Dr Florence Wambugu and her lobby group Africa Harvest.[3]
The original article[4] reported "a Kenyan biotech expert" as seeing greater acceptance of GMOs emerging in Africa as a
result of "homegrown" African GM projects. Resistance to GM in Africa was attributed by the "biotech expert" to the
involvement of foreign corporations. The main example given of a "homegrown" project was a GM sorghum project that Dr
Wambugu and her Africa Harvest group were developing with various collaborators.
The article as republished by Reuters makes clear that the views that are described are not those of a neutral expert
but those of a "GMO advocate" who "promotes biotechnology"; it also no longer describes Africa Harvest as a
"non-governmental organisation" and it makes plain the organisation's collaboration with a subsidary of the American GM
giant DuPont.[3]
According to Prof David Miller, co-founder of SpinWatch, "Wambugu's spin in the original article about 'homegrown'
African GM projects, as opposed to ones driven by foreign corporations, appears suspect once one knows the real
affiliations of those involved. The GM sorghum project is unimaginable without DuPont's multi-million dollar involvement
and yet their involvement was not even mentioned in the original article."
Richard Mably, Reuters' Editor for Commodities and Energy, has thanked Prof Miller for helping Reuters "meet the highest
standards of objectivity". He also told Prof Miller that, "as you point out, our story does not make clear those
affiliations so we have corrected the story to all our services and removed the previous version from our databases."[5]
Prof Miller congratulated Reuters on having the courage to admit the problem and on acting to remedy it.
SpinWatch has for some time been tracking the advocacy activities of Dr Wambugu and her Africa Harvest lobby group
because of concern that their corporate affiliations were not always being made clear to journalists and others. For
instance, on Africa Harvest's website[6] it is not immediately apparent who the organisation is funded by. In fact, the
global federation of the biotech industry - CropLife International - is known to have funded the group's "communication
activities" in the past. Wambugu, who has previously worked for Monsanto, is also a DuPont advisory panelist.[7]
Complaints about Dr Wambugu's media work are not new. In July 2003 Rankin McKay wrote in Australia's Herald Sun
newspaper, "is it too cynical to suggest that having a black African as the face of a multinational chemical company is
a spin doctor's dream? This seems to have lobotomised some journalists who have treated her views like the tablets from
the Mount." [8] Academic researchers have also challenged many of Dr Wambugu's statements in support of biotechnology,
arguing that the scientific evidence often shows them to be the exact opposite of the real facts.[9]
SpinWatch, which is encouraging journalists to bring more investigative power and rigour to their reporting, especially
where there may be undisclosed affiliations and other vested interests, is making available detailed profiles of GM
lobbyists like Dr Wambugu[10] that journalists can use to help them check out this kind of background information as
well as relevant affiliations.[11] The full correspondence can be found on Spinwatch HERE
References
[1] Spinwatch is edited by a team of independent researchers who have extensive experience of researching the PR
industry, corporate PR and lobbying, front groups, government spin, propaganda and other tactics used by powerful groups
to manipulate media, public policy debate and public opinion. The editorial board of Spinwatch includes academics,
activists and freelance journalists. http://www.spinwatch.org
[3] In the article as republished on 23rd November 2005, the corrected headline reads "GMO advocate sees more acceptance
in Africa" (The October 18 item was headlined "Africa seen accepting GMO crops more in future). In the first paragraph
the corrected text now reads, "a Kenyan scientist who promotes biotechnology" instead of "a Kenyan biotech expert". In
the third paragraph the corrected text now reads "foundation" instead of "non-governmental organisation". In the sixth
paragraph the corrected text now reads, "including Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a subsidiary of U.S. chemicals company
DuPont Co". The original text made no reference to DuPont or any other US companies, referring only to "two American
groups".
[4] The original article is archived here: http://www.absp2.cornell.edu/newsroomarchives/dsply_news_item.cfm?articlei
d=296
[5] Personal communication, 23 November 2005.
[6] http://www.croplife.org
[7] Africa Harvest's previous funding information page is still accessible via an Internet archive and this confirms the
funding by CropLife International: http://web.archive.org/web/20041010205547/www.ahbfi.org/funding.asp For more on
CropLife International: http://www.spinwatch.org/modules.php?name=Encyclopedia=content=69 . Africa Harvest's previous funding information page is still accessible via an Internet archive and this confirms
the funding by CropLife International: http://web.archive.org/web/20041010205547/www.ahbfi.org/funding.asp For more on
CropLife International: http://www.spinwatch.org/modules.php?name=Encyclopedia=content=69 For more on Wambugu: http://www.spinwatch.org/modules.php?name=Encyclopedia=content=280
[8] GM science can be blinding, Herald Sun, July 30, 2003: http://www.lobbywatch.org/archive2.asp?arcid=1234
[9] See, for instance, the report by Aaron deGrassi of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex,
'Genetically Modified Crops and Sustainable Poverty Alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa'
http://allafrica.com/sustainable/resources/00010161.html ; or the report by Dr James Smith, an African Studies
specialist at the University of Edinburgh, 'The Anti-politics Gene - Biotechnology, Ideology and Innovation Systems in
Kenya', http://assets.innogen.ac.uk/assets_innogen/dynamic/1121332705303/Innogen-W orking-Paper-31-Final.doc
[10] http://www.spinwatch.org/modules.php?name=Encyclopedia=content=280
[11] http://www.spinwatch.org/modules.php?name=Encyclopedia