Hinton Communications and Amazon Defense Coalition’s Phony News

This one is just too good to be true, but it is.  The title of the article reads as follows:

Amazon Defense Coalition: Chevron produces Phony Online News Coverage to Spread Misinformation about Ecuador Disaster

Guess what?  It is a phony news article written and distributed by Hinton Communications for the Amazon Defense Coalition.

This is a commonly used trick of the trade, but little know fact outside of the PR and media industries; paid placement for articles anyone can write and upload to a distribution service that sends it to a large number of news websites.  This is how Hinton Communications can flood the internet with articles about the Amazon Defense Coalition, making it look like a legitimate organization.  Do a Google search of this article and you’ll see it appear on numerous websites like Reuters, BusinessWeek, Forbes, SmartMoney, and countless lesser known news outlets.

In fact, the vast majority of articles that mention the Amazon Defense Coalition are written by Hinton Communications and distributed through a paid service called Business Wire.  It is hard to find a legitimate story written by a respected journalist that prominently covers the Amazon Defense Coalition because you have to weed through all the phony articles distributed by Hinton Communications.

There is one article written by Pat Murphy of the San Francisco Sentinel regarding a press release distributed by the Amazon Defense Coalition.  Mr. Murphy describes the purpose of the press release as, “an effort to deceive the public and impact public opinion against Chevron…”  This seems like a common practice employed by Hinton Communications.

To be fair, companies like Business Wire and PR News Wire provide a valuable service to organizations needing to distribute news in the form of press releases to their target audiences.  The press releases are clearly marked as such, and any reader would not confuse it with a news article written by a legitimate reporter.  It is the use of news articles that can be written and distributed by anyone that is disingenuous.

However, what really hurts Amazon Defense Coalition’s credibility is the rhetoric used in their press releases and phony news articles.  A perfect example of this is covered in my previous article dissecting a typical press release written by Hinton Communications.

The average person may be misled by these phony news articles but most journalists aren’t, and quickly learn not to rely on information supplied by groups employing tactics that include blanketing the internet with misleading and false information.  Ironically, by using this tactic, Hinton Communications has done more to damage Amazon Defense Coalition’s credibility in the eyes of journalists than anyone else.

To find out more about the Amazon Defense Coalition and the Chevron/Ecuador case please visit: http://amazondefensecoalition.wordpress.com/

For more information about Hinton Communications please visit: http://hintoncommunicationswatchact.wordpress.com/