"Do reporters know that so much medical news is actually unpaid advertising?" writes Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Center for Policy Research for Women & Families. "The most effective industry influence is so well-hidden that many reporters and producers are totally unaware of it. The role of pharmaceutical companies and other health care industry interests in shaping news coverage of medical products and treatment is as invisible as it is pervasive."

"The House Committee on Government Reform, which is investigating reports of American children kidnaped and held in Saudi Arabia, has issued subpoenas to the Kingdom's top lobbying firms Qorvis Communications, Patton Boggs and the Gallagher Group demanding they turn over their PR and lobbying records," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. "The Saudi Embassy claims those documents are protected under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations as 'archives and documents of the mission.'" Committee head Rep.

"Nothing more starkly illustrates the federal government's post-Sept. 11 desire to learn more about its citizens and to divulge less about itself than the new homeland security legislation," write James Kuhnhenn and Drew Brown. "Approved by the Senate last week and destined for President Bush's signature, the bill would make it easier for government agencies to gather information about individuals and groups, including their e-mail, the phone calls they place, and the Web sites they view.