“You’re right from your side / I’m right from mine,” Bob Dylan wrote in One Too Many Mornings, which is among his lesser-known songs. Similar sentiments from many other artists try to capture the convoluted nature of mutual, competing truths.
And this raises a dilemma for journalists attempting to cover corporate and civic affairs.
Comes now an incident from our “Circle of Poison” investigation in the 1970s and 1980s. At first we were focused on the moral aspect of U.S. companies shipping banned pesticides to Third World countries, which exposed farmworkers and their families to health risks, and polluted the environment.
At an international gathering sponsored by the UN about this issue in Mexico, a representative of Dow Chemical approached me and said, “I understand your concern but what’s wrong with helping a hungry world eat?”
His point was that even if the pesticides were considered too dangerous for us here in the U.S., food scarcity was such in poorer countries that such compromises made sense. After all, at least in the short term, pesticides boost food productivity.
His comment got me thinking and back home at the Center for Investigative Reporting we started looking more closely into what crops the hazardous pesticides were being applied to. That research led to a breakthrough in our analysis, as almost all of the food crops sprayed in Third World countries did not go to local people at all but were exported right back here to the U.S.A..
This was the final piece of the “circle,” and it guaranteed the book would cause more waves than had we solely focused on the impacts overseas.
When I looked back on it, years later, that guy from Dow was right, but we were right too. And in this case of mutually competitive truths, I hoped that the pen would prove to be mightier than the sprayer.
HEADLINES:
Alina Habba, a Trump Loyalist, Resigns as New Jersey’s Top Prosecutor (NYT)
Millions of children and teens lose access to accounts as Australia’s world-first social media ban begins (Guardian)
War is hell, but that should never excuse war crimes. (The Hill)
Supreme Court Appears Poised to Expand Presidential Power (NYT)
Supreme Court conservatives poised to back Trump in FTC firing case (Reuters)
Trump’s plans to shatter the bureaucracy have a green light at the Supreme Court (Politico)
Trump pardons major drug traffickers despite his anti-drug rhetoric (WP)
Donald Trump Lashes Out At Paramount Owners In Rant About Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Appearance On ‘60 Minutes’ (Deadline)
How the new H-1B visa fee is upending health care in rural America (WP)
For Gen Z-ers, work is now more depressing than unemployment (NYT)
Trump Border Czar Seems Totally Fine With Detaining Citizens (TNR)
Mamdani tells New Yorkers, ‘We can all stand up to ICE’ (WP)
Trump’s National Security Strategy: Atlas Shrugs (The Bulwark)
EU slams critical US security strategy, notes ‘changed relationship’ (Al Jazeera)
Zelenskyy heads to London for more Ukraine peace talks. (NPR)
China’s Trade Surplus Climbs Past $1 Trillion for First Time (NYT)
A year after Bashar Assad fled, Syria struggles to heal (AP)
Thailand launches airstrikes at Cambodia as border tensions reignite (Reuters)
Paramount Makes Hostile Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (NYT)
Scientists discovered a powerful new way to combat the effects of aging. (WP)
AI boom fuels “environmental justice” fears in communities of color (Axios)
More than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacenters (Guardian)
ChatGPT’s Self-Serving Optimism (Atlantic)
Oprah Pursues Dr. Phil On Ship Through Arctic (Onion)
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