For the past several weeks, the Koch brothers have made themselves increasingly “available” to the media, yielding a number of glowing profiles. But it’s not about transparency — it’s all a PR sham.
The Huffington Post yesterday revealed that what the Koch brothers’ PR team would have you believe is increased Koch “transparency” and “accessibility” is actually nothing more than a carefully crafted public relations illusion, solely designed to benefit the Kochs and improve their image. For example, according to The Huffington Post, the New York Times recently sought a one-on-one interview with Charles Koch, but were rebutted and instead offered a joint interview with the president of the UNCF, an offer they ultimately refused.
The Kochs and their PR team tightly control who is given access, and when — and more or less every other aspect of any media availability, artfully wielding the Kochs’ reputation of media avoidance to negotiate conditions that will ensure they are painted in a positive light. According to The Huffington Post’s Michael Calderone:
Media outlets must weigh whether to accept restrictions on their reporting in exchange for increased access to the reclusive brothers and their gatherings of private donors. Do ground rules for journalists still allow for reporting in the public’s interest, or are the conditions so rigid that the resulting coverage will primarily benefit the Kochs?
Here’s more from Calderone on the Koch accessibility illu
But Daniel Schulman, a Mother Jones senior editor and author of Sons of Wichita, a 2014 book on the Koch brothers, said in an interview with The Huffington Post that he’s noticed thecompany becoming more open to the press in recent months.
“That doesn’t mean they’re going to give unrestricted access,” he said. “Everything comes with ground rules and they’re going to very closely control their images.”
Another example of tightly managed Koch media ground rules: At a recent Koch network retreat in California, journalists were allowed entry — for the first time ever, by the way — but only on the condition that they didn’t name any of the 450 donors present, absent the donors’ expressed consent, according to the Washington Post.
We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: It’s all a PR campaign, nothing more.