"Bayer AG Discussed Plans To Give Not-For-Profit Funding For Influence"

"Emails between two senior executives and a journalist show discussions aimed at giving Bayer a voice in press foundation initiatives"

"Bayer AG discussed plans to give the German drugs giant influence within a prestigious American not-for-profit dedicated to media freedoms that would protect and promote the company’s business interests in exchange for generous funding, records obtained by the Guardian show.

Multiple email communications from 2018 and 2019 detail the entwinement of two senior executives at Bayer’s US operations with a Greek journalist and “communications strategist” named Thanos Dimadis who served briefly as executive director for the 101-year-old New York-based Foreign Press Association (FPA), and the related Foreign Press Foundation (FPF).

The association is a membership organization and the foundation supports the work of the members with scholarship awards and other activities. Dimadis worked on behalf of both the FPA and the FPF from November 2017 to April 2019 to help with fundraising and organizing events."

Carey Gillam reports for the Guardian November 21, 2019.

Source: Guardian, 11/22/2019