Astroturfing and Why It's Wrong

Samantha Damico

samantha.n.damico@gmail.com

Astroturfing is defined as the practice of masking sponsors of a message or organization by making it appear as though it stems and is supported by grassroots participants. In journalism, we unfortunately see this more often than we should. 

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According to The Guardian, Exxon is one of the most successful companies. However, due to the fact that gasoline is a harm to the environment, Exxon teams up and collaborates with many environmentally friendly companies to appear as though they care greatly about climate change. One of the organizations Exxon works closely with is the Centre of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change. By working with them, Exxon is creating an illusion that doubts the idea of climate change throughout the world. Exxon has figured out that by working with environmentally friendly companies such as the Centre of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, it will take the attention off of the fact that their gasoline is part of the climate change problem. People will see that Exxon pairs themselves with a good cause that tries to save our planet, all while deceiving us at the same time by continuing to drill oil for their gasoline which is actually doing the opposite of good. 

This is a prime example of astroturfing. In journalism, we see it frequently and I believe it's wrong. Referring back to the code of ethics, a journalist's role is to report truth and accuracy for its' audience. Astroturfing is just another way of manipulating the audience into believing what the media is trying to tell them. 

In a different article on The Guardian's website, it states that astroturfing is most likely to occur where the interests of companies or the government come into a disagreement with the public. Therefore, the company or government will astroturf to deceive the public into believing they are actually doing the ethical thing when in actuality, they're causing more harm than good.

Unfortunately like I stated before, in journalism this is not an uncommon tactic. The biggest problem it creates is that it bands together groups of people to support a cause when they don't actually know that what they're supporting, is something they'd actually be against. It's a complete deception to the media's audience and it's been around for more than 100 years. I'm not quite sure how it can be stopped, but there definitely needs to be a solution.