Newsweek Misleads Readers on Chevron Ecuador and HIV/AIDS Award

Chevron and other “big oil” companies have been routinely criticized by politicians, commentators, and the media as greedy and heartless for making obscenely large profits. Apparently Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff now has a problem with Chevron contributing millions of those profits to fight HIV/AIDS, winning an award, and telling the public about it.

In June, Chevron was recognized by the Global Business Coalition (GBC) for committing $30 million to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Angola, Nigeria, South Africa, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. However according to Isikoff, Chevron made the terrible mistake of running an advertisement telling the public about receiving GBC’s prestigious award.

In his article, Isikoff asks, “How exactly can the name of a high-ranking Obama official be featured in a corporate advertising campaign?” Isikoff further suggests that using Richard Holbrooke’s name goes against federal ethics rules.

Unfortunately, Isikoff fails to understand the obvious reason for using Holbrooke‘s name in the advertisement. The award given to Chevron was called the “Richard C. Holbrooke Award.” GBC added the award in honor of the veteran diplomat who used to be on the Coalition’s board of directors. The fact that Holbrooke decided to lend his name to this award prior to any awardees being selected should be enough to resolve the issue. Also, it would have been strange not to use the name of the award in Chevron’s advertisement.

Isikoff reports on critics’ claims that the timing of the ads coincides with a “high-powered lobbying blitz to persuade the U.S. government to intervene in” a highly controversial lawsuit in Ecuador. Unfortunately, Isikoff’s article promotes claims by critics that are clearly inaccurate. The fact of the matter is that Chevron has been working with the state department for several years on the issues of governance and judicial integrity in Ecuador. There are systemic problems with the Correa government and the justice system, making US investment in that country particularly difficult. Under the Andean Trade Preferences agreement, there are certain criteria that Ecuador must uphold, and they are not. And that is why Chevron has been lobbying the U.S government, including the State Department where Holbrooke now works.

Turning to Chevron’s lawsuit in Ecuador, Isikoff continues his unbalanced depiction of the issue by conveniently choosing to interview an organization that is essentially on the plaintiffs side in the Ecuador litigation. Quoting Michael Brune, executive director of the Rainforest Action Network, a San Francisco-based environmental group, “It’s great that they are contributing to fighting AIDS,” he says. “But at the same time they’re trying to avoid responsibility in Ecuador and other places by essentially buying credibility in Washington.”

It is quite astonishing that Isikoff would use the very source of the conflict against Chevron as an independent and credible authority on the matter. Frankly, if Mr. Brune thinks that Chevron can purchase a few ads in the Washington Post and “buy” credibility, he has a lot to learn about the Washington establishment.

The facts are simple: GBC named an award after Richard Holbrooke, Chevron won the award, then ran an advertisement about it in the Washington Post. The rest of Isikoff’s article is totally off base. In the article, Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria comments that the criticism is, “absurd” and that it strikes him, “as the usual Washington interest-group attack, which is unfair.”

You can read more about the lawsuit in Ecuador by clicking  here.