The Environmental Protection Agency is rebooting the way it tracks media coverage of the agency by employing a conservative public relations firm noted for its prowess in going after Republican opponents.
The Virginia company Definers Corp. was awarded a $120,000 contract this month to help the EPA keep up with stories on the agency across the 24-hour news cycle.
"The contract award was handled through the EPA Office of Acquisition Management and was $87,000 cheaper than our previous media monitoring vendor while offering 24-7 news alerts once a story goes public,” EPA spokeswoman Nancy Grantham said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
The left-leaning news magazine Mother Jones first reported on the contract award on Friday, saying the consulting firm, which has a record of finding damning facts on Republican political opponents, is being brought on board by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to help it grab more favorable news coverage.
“The Definers contract is for media monitoring/news clip compilation," Grantham said, explaining the company's narrow role.
The Mother Jones article noted that the firm was founded by Matt Rhoades, who managed Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.
After Romney’s defeat, Rhoades established America Rising, an independent political action committee that helped the Republican National Committee and Republican candidates “to mine damning information on opponents,” the magazine reported.
Pruitt signed off on using the company's Definers Console technology. The company's brochure says the software promises “war room” style tracking of the media, analysis and advice, according to marketing materials.
The Console enables users to “monitor for potential crises, as well as to track their message dissemination, relevant responses to their messaging, and what competitors’ actions have been,” a brochure read.
The EPA is the first government client to use the technology, said Colin Reed, a senior vice president with the firm. The company says Reed is "one of the most vocal opponents of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, with a Boston Globe column describing America Rising as, 'among the leaders of the war on Warren,' by 'carrying the fight with scathing op-eds and online hot takes.'”
"Definers operates a full-service war room that monitors a wide range of media platforms on a continuous basis, including: print and online news, social media, local and national television, and local and national radio," the company says on its website. "Our unique war room capability allows us to function in real time to identify and react immediately to opportunities arising out of the news cycle and to flag potential challenges and crises before they take on a life of their own."
Grantham's statement to the Washington Examiner suggests EPA's contract falls more on the side of "media monitoring" with limited aspects of the war room services.
