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Trafigura: A Classic Investigation

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Abstract

This story of toxic dumping brings together key themes—the global nature of scandals; the need for collaboration; simultaneous publication; the role of media bosses; legal bullying and how to defeat it; false PR narratives; links with Greenpeace and lawyers Leigh, Day; the power of social media; and finally, the importance of getting discoveries effectively published. Trafigura experimented with a cheap refining process at sea and had the toxic residue dumped on choking people in Africa. Their lawyers and lobbyists peddled a false narrative denying their misdeeds, which was eventually defeated by a coalition of print and TV journalists from Norway, the Netherlands, and the UK. The Guardian famously used Twitter to defeat their so-called superinjunction.

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References

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  1. City, University of London, London, UK

    David Leigh

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Leigh, D. (2019). Trafigura: A Classic Investigation. In: Investigative Journalism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16752-3_11

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