In our book Trust Us, We're Experts! we describe the "third party technique" that PR experts use. Reassuring words come from the mouths of supposed objective scientific experts to convince the public that a crisis is really no problem at all. A current example would be the industry front group called the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis.

"The rise of Tony Feather from congressional intern to successful lobbyist is a story of loyalty, of good deeds rewarded -- and of Republicans taking care of their own," the Washington Post writes.

Since the announcement that mad cow disease has been found in the US, John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton have conducted hundreds of interviews based on their 1997 book Mad Cow USA. The US government and the livestock industry have launched a massive PR campaign to hide the fact that they are not taking the necessary steps to stop mad cow disease in the US. However, some excellent reporting is piercing their PR smokescreen.