Fearless investigative journalists Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber are back withTrust Us, We're Experts--a gripping exposé of the public relations industry and thescientists who back their business-funded, anti-consumer-safety agendas. There aretwo kinds of "experts" in question--the PR spin doctors behind the scenes and the"independent" experts paraded before the public, scientists who have been handselected, cultivated and paid handsomely to promote the views of corporationsinvolved in controversial actions. Lively writing on controversial topics such as dioxin,bovine growth hormone and genetically modified food makes this a real page-turner,shocking in its portrayal of the real and potential dangers in each of thesetechnological innovations and of the "media pseudo-environment" created toobfuscate the risks.Rampton and Stauber introduce the movers and shakers of the PR industry, from the"risk communicators" (whose job is to downplay all risks) and "outrage managers"(with their four strategies--deflect, defer, dismiss or defeat) to those who specialisein "public policy intelligence" (spying on opponents). Evidently, these elaborate PRcampaigns are created for our own good. According to public relations philosophers,the public reacts emotionally to topics related to health and safety and is incapableof holding rational discourse. Needless to say, Rampton and Stauber find these viewsrather antidemocratic and intend to pull back the curtain to reveal the real wizard inOz. This is one wake-up call that's hard to resist.
I enjoyed reading this book very much, despite the fact it is over a decade, 2002 in fact, that it gotpublished. Since then, it kind of has been overtaken by other books exploring the same theme; mostnotably Merchants of Doubt and Doubt is their Product. Indeed, similar cases are mentioned in all thebooks. However, what is very depressing about it all is that, despite this book being over a decade old, it is stillvery relevant. Or in other words, and I doubt this comes as a massive surprise to anyone, nothing haschanged. In fact, either the topics are still being “discussed” by various types of experts funded byindustry (global warming for example, anyone ?!) or you can cut out examples and just replace them withcurrent discussions (suger in diet, anyone ?!) without changes the book. It really is quite sad, but if you are one of those people who says stuff (mainly in the Daily Mail commentssection) like “scientists always change their minds, and they cant agree on anything”....well here is youranswer.Have I learned anything from this book? I was already familiar with the arguments and I had heard aboutmost of the examples. However, what I did not know was that the term “junk science” was invented byindustry experts/PR people as an easy-to-understand and easy-to-communicate term for any science thatcontradicts their argument. That’s good to know....it makes sifting through publications a lot easier! In conclusion, a bit outdated but still relevant, and interesting to read; causing anger along the way - 8/10.