At the site where I am editor in chief, OpEdNews.com, we welcomed Should OpEdNews Publish Articles From Monsanto? The results came back with little support for permitting Monsanto to post articles and, being a bottom up site which respects its members preferences, we went with the poll results.
Shortly afterwards, what looks to me like a disinformation campaign started to come out, with people accusing Linn of disseminating disinformation and suggesting she is unstable and unreliable. The abovementioned sites either published or linked to articles attacking the articles Linn had written and others began attacking Linn personally.
It turns out that a few weeks earlier, I'd been an invited speaker at the National Whistleblowers Conference. That provided me with an opportunity to learn what happens to whistleblowers. The entities that they report engaging in wrongdoing routinely attack the whistleblowers and attempt to destroy their credibility and even their lives, their jobs-- often doing so successfully. Remember Karen Silkwood?
When billions are at stake, the ante is very high. Ironically, defending the freedom of small farmers-- one of the main thrusts of Linn Cohen-Cole's advocacy-- seems to be an issue that is being embraced more by conservatives. This doesn't make sense. Establishment of regulations that hand control of an industry over to one or a few megacorporations should be anathema to progressives. They should be able to see past the lure of "food safety" that is being dangled. This is an issue that needs a lot more journalists investigating and reporting on it. And it is an issue and a process that progressives, particularly progressive editors and leaders must approach with caution. Disinformation and deceptive efforts are at play and it is essential that leaders be aware of who the players are and what the stakes are.
My reference to crooksandliars.com and rawstory.com does not in any way suggest that they are not excesslent progressive sites. And there is nothing wrong with covering different aspects of an issue. In this case, I think the writers and editors got it wrong.
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