Blogger Targeted by ‘Spin’ in $27 Billion Lawsuit

By Bob McCarty

For most of the past three weeks, I’ve been trying to learn as many details as possible about the a $27 billion class-action lawsuit pitting the Amazon Defense Coalition against Chevron. Only last night, however, did I come to realize fully how large the stakes are in this 16-year-old lawsuit being tried in an Ecuadoran court.

Barely an hour after “60 Minutes” reporter Scott Pelley’s story, “Amazon Crude,” aired on CBS Sunday night, I had exchanged e-mails with representatives on both sides of the lawsuit.

On the plaintiff side, Andrew Woods, a Huffington Post blogger and Harvard Law School graduate who serves as one of the attorneys for the plaintiff, got things started by sending me a link to the “60 Minutes” piece along with a transcript of the CBS segment at 8:10 p.m. Central. He ended his message by saying, “I’d be interested in your reaction.”

On the defense side, media advisor Justin Higgs sent a message 15 minutes later. In response to his question about whether I had seen Pelley’s piece, I told him, “Coincidentally, I’m watching it online right now.” He followed up by sending me a link to a Chevron Flickr page which offers photos that, he explained, “haven’t been publicized until recently.” Six photos to be exact, all of which were shot by a Chevron consultant, according to Kent Robertson, a Higgs’ colleague with whom I also exchanged e-mails. One of the photos accompanies this post.

To find out more about the "spin" I encountered, visit Bob McCarty Writes.