The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a booklet put out by the Australasian Menopause Society that "suggested [hormone replacement therapy] could prevent heart disease, Alzheimer's and ageing skin, yet ... failed to mention the established side-effect of blood clots, or the accumulating evidence that the drugs were causing heart disease" was drafted by HRT manufacturer, Wyeth, and its PR firm, Hill & Knowlton. HRT's revenues for Wyeth are $3 billion a year.

"[I]n a way the term public relations is misleading, because the vast majority of PR is hidden from the public," David Miller writes in the British magazine Red Pepper. "PR is much more important than just media spin. It is the very lifeblood of the global capitalist system. PR can only flourish as a profession and an industry in a society run on market principles. The further a society moves away from neo-liberal dogma the less role there is for the PR industry and vice versa."

"Public confidence in the media, already low, continues to dip," reports Peter Johnson. In a recent survey, only 36 percent of respondents, among the lowest in years, believe news organizations get the facts straight.