On E Magazine, Jim Motavalli’s done an interview with Frank Maisano, a guy who’s spent his life as an extremely successful communications guy — shill — for polluting industries. Disturbingly, Maisano comes off as congenial, reasonable, well-informed. I prefer my evil people more evil, please.
Also — I should have noted this weeks ago — don’t miss Mark Hertsgaard’s piece from the recent Vanity Fair green issue. Most of it covers ground familiar to Grist readers, about how a well-funded campaign kept controversy about global warming alive long after the science was settled. What’s new is the exposure of one Dr. Frederick Seitz, a former president of the National Academy of Sciences. According to Hertsgaard, Seitz helped lead an effort to produce research for tobacco companies to fight off bad publicity in the 70s and 80s. Then, in the 90s, Seitz smoothly transitioned to climate contrarianism. It’s a fascinating tale.
On Tech Central Station, Nick Shulz calls Hertsgaard’s piece a smear job. Eli Rabett read through the tobacco company documents and says that, no, Seitz really is a shill. Tim Lambert has a roundup.
