"Documentarian Michael Moore has once again used a personal appeal over the internet to boost the success of his controversial work, highlighting the effectiveness of the web as a promotional tool," PR Week reports. Encouraging people to see his new movie "Bowling for Columbine," Moore's email was sent to thousands on his mailing list and "was widely circulated, especially by film buffs and political activists who support Moore." Moore's movie features PR representatives from Lockheed's Littleton, CO missile plant and K-Mart corporate headquarters.

The Panama Canal Authority has a $1 million contract with Edelman PR Worldwide for "corporate communications" work, O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. Edelman has "conducted a communications audit, provided media training, monitored the worldwide media and drafted materials for the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development for the PCA." The 88-year-old canal is in need of modernization, which could cost up to $8 billion. "U.S. officials also fear the Canal could be a terror target, a strike that would deal a severe blow to global commerce," O'Dwyer's writes.

Award-winning journalist Gary Webb was hung out to dry by his newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News, after writing "Dark Alliance," which showed how the CIA and drug dealers fueled the epidemic of crack cocaine in Los Angeles in the 1980s. As the first Internet-based expose in journalism history, it was seen by millions worldwide, but caused such a firestorm of controversy that the paper's editor later apologized and shut down the website to keep the stories from ever being seen again.