Pew Charitable Trusts, a powerful non-profit organization, sponsored a retreat on Bonaire in October 2002 and personally handpicked the roster of influential journalists and respected scientists who were in attendance, The Gloucester Times reported this week. Officially considered a training workshop to hone scientists’ media and communication skills, the trip also provided an outlet for scientists to use the media to caution against overfishing — a policy issue in which Pew has invested millions of dollars.
Noted journalist Tom Hayden of the U.S. News and World Report, who was present at the retreat, wrote “Fished Out” eight months after Bonaire — a cover story in which 13 of the 14 scientists he quoted received funding directly or indirectly from Pew. “This particular event, in essence, was an opportunity for Pew’s handpicked scientists to indoctrinate Pew’s handpicked journalists,” says ACSH's Jeff Stier. “Could you imagine if an industry trade association tried sponsoring a similar trip?”
