30 minutes

Science versus comms

Start here if you already believe technical staff often tell each other the truth.

The falsification is assigned to a comms function — or to the act of stopping the research. Five pairs. About thirty minutes.

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Step 1 of 5
A scientist briefs management. The mechanism is named. This is the private climate.
Exxon 1977 management briefing
advertorial
Public
Exxon and later ExxonMobil public communications · 1989-2004
corporate advertising and issue ads
New York Times advertorials and similar
“Public ads stressed uncertainty: the role of greenhouse gases was unclear, more research was needed, and costly action could be premature.”
Private
James F. Black · 1977-07
Exxon Research scientist, briefing management
Internal Exxon presentation
“In the first place, there is general scientific agreement that the most likely manner in which mankind is influencing the global climate is through carbon dioxide release from the burning of fossil fuels.”
The briefing is a staff preference: the mechanism is known, the company should plan. The advertorial is an audience preference: the mechanism is still a debate. Same firm, two climates.
The tell · If the technical brief is older than the uncertainty ad, the uncertainty is assigned, not discovered.
How this became public: Inside Climate News archive; later counted by Supran and Oreskes.
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Step 2 of 5
Shell writes a planning document. Planning is a preference: treat the science as true enough to spend against.
Shell 1988 greenhouse report
advertorial
Public
Industry public affairs · circa 1989-1998
oil-sector communications of the late 1980s–90s
Advertorials and trade-group copy
“Public copy treated climate change as a theory under study, not as an operating constraint on the product.”
Private
Shell Groep · 1988
confidential staff report
The Greenhouse Effect
“The changes may be the greatest in recorded history… The report treats CO2 from fossil fuels as a real and serious risk, including sea-level rise and agricultural disruption, written for internal planning.”
Shell’s 1988 paper is a planning document. Planning is a private preference: treat the science as true enough to spend against. Advertising is the affordable one.
The tell · A confidential scenario that names dates and centimeters is the honest register.
How this became public: Published via Climate Files / Climate Investigations Center.
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Step 3 of 5
The ads sell a debate. Internals sold a constraint. Then watch the same assignment in a different century, with pills instead of barrels.
Advertorials that stress uncertainty
advertorial
Public
ExxonMobil · 1989-2004
paid New York Times advertorials
NYT advertorial series
“Advertorials told readers the science was uncertain, that climate models were unreliable, and that mandatory cuts could wreck the economy.”
Private
Exxon and Mobil scientists and planners · 1977-2003
internal reports and briefings
Internal research files
“Internal documents from the same decades treat anthropogenic warming as a serious, likely, and operationally relevant fact.”
This is preference falsification as a product line. The scientists were allowed a private climate. The public was sold a debate.
The tell · Count the modal verbs. Internals say will and is. Ads say could and if.
How this became public: Advertorials are public; internals surfaced via journalism and archives.
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Step 4 of 5
Addiction becomes a messaging plan. Technical staff and sales staff are not given the same rate. Now the modern research version:
Play down the risks
advertorial
Public
Purdue public affairs · 2001-2010
company line as deaths rose
Statements and sales aids
“Purdue said it was committed to responsible use, that the label was adequate, and that the crisis was about abuse, not the medicine.”
Private
Richard Sackler · circa 2001
Purdue president / owner family
Internal plan, later reported by STAT
“Richard Sackler proposed a plan to play down OxyContin’s risks and to keep the public story pointed at abusers rather than at the drug.”
A plan to play down a risk is an advertorial assigned to an owner. The sales force then carried it into clinics.
The tell · If the owner writes the talking points, the medical affairs page is literature.
How this became public: STAT reporting on Purdue files; UCSF opioid collection.
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Step 5 of 5
Technical staff often tell each other the truth; the falsification is assigned to a comms function — or to the act of stopping the research.
We make body-image issues worse
testimony gap
Public
Facebook / Instagram public policy · 2021-09
company statements after the Facebook Files
Blog and press responses
“The company said the Journal focused on a limited set of findings, that the research was part of a commitment to understanding hard problems, and that Instagram is helpful for most teens.”
Private
Instagram research presentation · 2019-2020
internal research slide
Facebook Workplace / research deck
“We make body-image issues worse for one in three teen girls. Thirty-two percent of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.”
The public register is net-helpful and methodologically humble. The private slide is a rate. Testimony-gap is when Congress and parents get the first and staff get the second.
The tell · If the research slide would be a headline, and the press line is “it’s complicated,” you are looking at two audiences.
How this became public: Frances Haugen production; WSJ Facebook Files; FBarchive at Harvard.
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Science versus comms

Exxon 1977 management briefing

Shell 1988 greenhouse report

Advertorials that stress uncertainty

Play down the risks

We make body-image issues worse