Activism

The Burson-Marsteller PR form has established a partnership with Leeds Metropolitan University, the UK's largest university provider of public relations education. B-M will provide input into LMU's courses, share research, provide visiting lecturers and offer undergraduate and graduate training programmes, and LMU has also offered an honorary degree to company founder Harold Burson.

The Pacifica radio network has been known for decades as the home of "listener-sponsored free speech radio." That has changed, however, following the network's "Christmas coup" in December 2000, when workers at Pacifica's New York City station, WBAI, were fired and banned from the station. Since then, the situation has gone from bad to worse, with the station imposing a "dirty laundry rule" that threatens employees and volunteers with disciplinary action if they discuss the Pacifica crisis on-air.

Professional athlete Jim Keady became an activist against sweatshop conditions in Nike's overseas factories while studying theology at St. John's University and coaching for the school's soccer program. His athletic and academic career slammed to a halt, he says, when St. John's negotiated a multi-million-dollar sponsorship deal with Nike that would have required him to become "a billboard for a company that was reaping profits on the backs of the poor. ... As a coach, I would've had to wear the equipment

"Activists are using the internet to fight large companies over ethical issues. Yet many major brand-owners lack a clear counter-strategy," warns this industry trade publication.