The “Pugilistic” Way The Koch Brothers Handle The Media

The author of Sons of Wichita, the new biography of the Koch brothers, never got the interviews he wanted with the archconservative billionaires. But he says the family nonetheless kept a close eye on his research, deploying the “very aggressive P.R. operation” they have used for years to silence media criticism.

“I had a senior person at [Koch Industries] basically tell me, ‘Yeah, that is our strategy, we hit back and over time because of doing this the mainstream press has sort of learned a lesson to be careful about what they say about us,'” said Daniel Schulman, the book’s author and a senior editor at the progressive Mother Jones magazine. “I would describe it as pugilistic, [which] is often their style in general.”

Schulman said the company’s efforts to find out about his research and stop some from cooperating is not unusual, noting the Koch brothers and Koch Industries, the company at the root of their vast wealth, have a history of both intimidating reporters and seeking to counter negative coverage.

“People in the media certainly have what they would call their war stories dealing with Koch Industries,” Schulman said in a lengthy interview with Media Matters. “There is a range of experiences. They have a very aggressive P.R. operation.” He added, “I should also say that I like a lot of people I was in communication over there, they were nice people. But they were aggressive.”

Schulman, whose book was published last week, said he began his research by writing a formal inquiry letter to each of the four brothers. He said only Frederick, the least involved in the company, would meet with him — and then said he would only discuss his family if he received veto power over any third-party source material. Schulman declined.

At Koch Industries, which is headed by David and Charles, initial reaction was curious and somewhat cooperative, Schulman said. But it never amounted to any access to the two top executives.

Schulman describes in his book the tools the Kochs use to respond to press coverage they do not like and does not see the treatment he received as a surprise. Among their most effective weapon, Schulman said, is the KochFacts website, which the company launched to hit back at critical coverage.

The site offers company responses to coverage it finds negative, but has also made personal attacks on the credibility of reporters such as Jane Mayer of The New Yorker and Ken Vogel of Politico.

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