Astroturfing

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This article is about faked grass-roots political activism. For artificial grass, see AstroTurf.

In American politics and advertising, the term astroturfing describes formal public relations projects which deliberately seek to engineer the impression of spontaneous, grassroots behavior. The goal is the appearance of independent public reaction to a politician, political group, product, service, event, or similar entities by centrally orchestrating the behavior of many diverse and geographically distributed individuals.

Contents 1 Word origin 2 Techniques 3 Examples 3.1 Early examples 3.2 Examples from the 1990s 3.3 Recent examples 3.4 Outside the United States 4 Telecom astroturf 5 Fictional examples 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading

Word origin

The term, said to have been used first in this context by former U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas), is wordplay based on "grassroots" efforts, which are truly spontaneous undertakings, largely sustained by private persons (and not politicians, governments, corporations, or public relations firms). "AstroTurf" refers to the bright green artificial grass used in some sports stadiums, so "astroturfing" refers to artificial grassroots efforts.

As of October 2005, "AstroTurf" remains a registered trademark of Textile Management Associates. Use of the word "astroturfing" in certain contexts may be restricted in the US by the 1995 Federal Dilution Trademark Act and in the UK by the 1994 Trade Marks Act. This would generally only apply in commercial transactions, where genericide (use of a trademark to refer to any maker of a product such that the mark becomes a generic) would be a violation of law.

Techniques

A form of propaganda, industry astroturfing attempts to selectively affect the emotions of the public. Whether trying to win a campaign, be the top music record seller, the top book seller, or gain political support, the industries are constantly in search of new means of accomplishing these goals.

The most frequently identified cases of astroturfing are found in recent political history.

Astroturfing techniques usually consist of a few people discreetly posing as mass numbers of activists advocating a specific cause. Supporters or employees will manipulate the degree of interest through letters to the editor, e-mails, blog posts, crossposts, trackbacks, etc. They are instructed on what to say, how to say it, where to send it, and how to make it appear that their indignation, appreciation, joy, or hate is entirely spontaneous and independent; thus being "real" emotions and concerns rather than the product of an orchestrated campaign. Local newspapers are often victims of astroturfing, by publishing letters that are identical to letters other newspapers have received.

It has become easier to structure an astroturfing campaign because the cost and effort to email (especially a pre-written, sign-your-name-at-the-bottom email) is so low. Companies may use a boiler room, full of telephones and computers, where hired activists locate people and groups that create enthusiasm for the specified cause. Also, the use of psychographics allows hired supporters to persuade their targeted audience. This correlates with the merge-purge technique that combines information about an individual from multiple databases. Companies can then turn hypothetical supporters into activists for the cause. This leads to misuse of the Internet, for one person is able to play the role of a whole group of like-minded people (see also Internet sock puppet).

News consolidation services, such as Google News, as well as PR Watch and Sourcewatch, have made it easier to spot such campaigns through the search of specific key phrases that bring up results showing identical letters, articles, blogs, websites, etc.

Examples

Early examples

At the turn of the 20th century, it was common to have newspapers in major American cities sponsored by local political parties. Some were open about this practice, but many of these relationships were hidden under the guise of journalism. Other examples include political "clubs" which front for voter fraud and intimidation, letter-writing campaigns organized by local ward bosses, and some union-organized political activities.

Kristallnacht was a riot in Nazi Germany in 1938 in response to the assasination of a Nazi official. Many of the rioters, in fact, were hired by the Nazi government, and were not ordinary citizens.

One case, documented in the book All the President's Men, the Committee to Re-Elect the President orchestrated several campaigns of "public support" for decisions made by President Nixon in the period preceding the 1972 election, including telegrams to the White House and an apparently independent advertisement placed in The New York Times.

Another case is that of Bolivian dictator General Luis Garcia Meza Tejada, who at the end of his promised one year rule staged a televised rally and declared "Bueno, me quedo," or in English: "All right, I'll stay."

Examples from the 1990s

In 1991 a memo from PR firm van Kloberg & Associates to Zairian ambassador Tatanene Tanata was leaked, containing references to the "Zaire Program 1991". The memo outlines steps the firm was taking to improve the image of Mobutu Sese Seko's regime, including placing dozens of letters to the editor, op-ed pieces and articles in the American press praising the Zairian government. [1]

In 1998, Paul Reitsma, former member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, was accused of writing letters to newspapers under assumed names praising himself and attacking his political opponents. A Parksville newspaper had asked a former RCMP handwriting expert to compare a sample of Reitsma's handwriting to that of letters to the editor submitted by a "Warren Betanko", and then ran a story entitled "MLA Reitsma is a liar and we can prove it". For this, Reitsma was expelled from the caucus of the British Columbian Liberal Party and then compelled to resign his seat after it became obvious that an effort to recall him would succeed.

Recent examples

In 2001, the Los Angeles Times accused Microsoft of astroturfing when hundreds of similar letters were sent to newspapers voicing disagreement with the United States Department of Justice and its antitrust suit against Microsoft. The letters, prepared by Americans for Technology Leadership, had in some cases been mailed to deceased citizens or incorrect addresses and had been remailed to newspapers, without correction, by the recipients. [2]

USA Next, a seniors' organization which supports the privatization of Social Security, has also been accused of being an astroturf group funded by corporate interests, especially those of pharmaceutical companies.

In recent years, organizations of plaintiffs' attorneys have established front groups such as Victims and Families United and the Center for Justice and Democracy to oppose tort reform.[3]

In 2005, PalmSource reportedly instructed its employees to make posts to various PDA sites around the world in an effort to counteract the growing negative sentiment surrounding both PalmSource and PalmOS.

In March 2006, a supposed environmental group called the Save Our Species Alliance was exposed as a front group that was created by a timber lobbyist to weaken the Endangered Species Act. The campaign director for this group is Tim Wigley, the Executive Director of Pac/West Communications. Wigely was also the campaign director for Project Protect, another front group that spent $2.9 million to help pass President Bush's Healthy Forests legislation which has been criticized for its pro-industry bias. "[4]

Outside the United States

In the 2005 UK general election, the Labour Party packed press conferences with party workers who appeared as genuine, concerned members of the public. Party workers also sent letters to the local press purporting to be ordinary members of the public; all of the letters fit a common template covering specific party issues. Aside from deceiving the readership, such tactics also deny space to genuine local residents.

Manipulation of public opinion was also used in the Soviet Union, when political decisions were preceded by massive campaigns of orchestrated 'letters from workers' (pisma trudyashchisya) which were quoted and published in newspapers and radio.

Slobodan Milošević, a former authoritarian leader of Yugoslavia, also used astroturfing by broadcasting, on state television, numerous "letters of support" containing emotional expressions of love and support for his policies, creating an artificial impression of legitimacy.

Telecom astroturf

Dionne Searcey, in the article "Consumer Groups Tied to Industry", in the Wall Street Journal, Tuesday March 28, 2006, p. B4, names some telecom groups as astroturf:

• Consumers for Cable Choice. Funding from Verizon Communications, Inc. and AT&T, Inc.
• Keep It Local New Jersey. Funding from New Jersey Telecommunications Associates; the WSJ indicates this is a coalition of various telecoms including Time Warner Cable and Cablevision Systems Corp.
• New Millennium Research Council. Funding from Verizon Communications Inc.

Fictional examples

Government astroturfing, as well as other sneaky tricks including an eleven-day war waged to distract from a sex scandal, are depicted in the film Wag the Dog. Although fiction, the film dissects the process of astroturfing in fine detail. Obviously, these techniques would normally be cloaked in secrecy.

In one sequence, spin doctors desire to create the illusion that broad public support exists for a kidnapped war hero (who is actually a nondescript, safe in military prison). Two contemporary musicians are hired to record a song in the idiom of turn-of-the-century acoustic Delta blues, as was archived definitively by Alan Lomax. The modern studio recording is artificially degraded with surface noise, scratches, and hiss; and a single 78 RPM record is pressed with a faded, worn paper label. The fake is inserted into an authentic old blank paper sleeve, and infiltrated into the Library of Congress audio collection. Once there, the song (whose lyrics appear to make reference to the name of the "kidnapped war hero"), is "discovered" and released to radio stations across the country, which are encouraged to air the song: scratches, pops, clicks, and all. That "historical" song provides the theme for an astroturfed wave of mass support for the "hero."

See also

• Spin (public relations)
• Internet sock puppet – a form of personal astroturfing common in Internet communities
• Working Families for Wal-Mart
• Paul D. Thacker, "Hidden ties: Big environmental changes backed by big industry Lobbyists and industry officials who once pushed for the president’s Healthy Forests legislation now collaborate with Rep. [Richard] Pombo to alter the Endangered Species Act", Environmental Science & Technology, March 8, 2006.

References

• Anderson, Walter T. "Astroturf - The Big Business of Fake Grassroots Politics." Jinn<u> 5 January 1996. [5]

• <u>Astroturf.<u> 17 Oct. 2004. Sourcewatch. 6 Nov. 2005. [6]

• Miller, Laura. "Powers Behinds the Throne." <u>Center for Media and Democracy<u> 21 February 2005. [7]

• Rampton, Sheldon and Stauber, John. "Keeping America Safe from Democracy." <u> Center for Media and Democracy<u> 30 October 2004. [8]

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Further reading

• Outside Lobbying, by Ken Kollman
• Who Will Tell the People?, by William Greider
• Letters From Iraq from Sourcewatchde:kunstrasen (PR)