"Big Tobacco's toughest fight in years is being waged by a band of highly paid, talented and experienced former legislators, political appointees and close friends of the most powerful people in Texas.

The Australian TV show Mediawatch notes our study on video news releases and goes on to report, "We haven't found any examples as bad as that on Australian TV, but the radio equivalent -- the audio news release -- has definitely arrived." Mediawatch tracked one ANR, paid for by

The government of Alaska has signed a $3 million contract with the Oregon-based PR firm Pac/West Communications, for a campaign promoting oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).