Monsanto Wins Headline Sweepstakes

I'm guessing that nobody at Monsanto has ever invoked the adage, "There is is no such thing as bad publicity." The biotech giant, already a bogeyman to the anti-globalization/anti-corporate/anti-GMO crowd, has endured a particularly rough PR stretch of late. Last month, protesters from around the globe marched against the company. Then came news of Monsanto's "rogue" GMO wheat, a curious mystery that has reignited the "contamination" meme. All this notoriety makes Monsanto a media magnet. So when three scientists were awarded the annual World Food Prize this week--one of them being from Monsanto--most editors and reporters hooked their stories to...you guessed it: Monsanto. The angle was telegraphed by the headlines.New York Times: "Executive at Monsanto Wins Global Food Honor" Financial Times: "World Food Prize to Monsanto exec" Reuters was a bit more inclusive: "Monsanto Exec, other biotech pioneers win World Food Prize" Same with MarketWatch: "Monsanto exec shares world food prize for genetically modified crops" The Cattle Network (yes, there is such a thing) was rather parsimonious: "Monsanto scientist, two others win World Food Prize" USA Today notably departed from the herd: "World food prize goes for work on biotech crops" An NPRstory, titled "And the Winner of the World Food Prize is...the Man from Monsanto," generated over 250 comments, of which one reader observed: