Public Relations

Democracy Now! featured a debate between Lauri Fitz-Pegado, the account supervisor for Hill & Knowlton's PR campaign on behalf of "Citizens for a Free Kuwait," and John Stauber, co-author of Weapons Of Mass Deception and Toxic Sludge Is Good For You.

James R. Wilkson ran the White House Coalition Information Center for "the war against terrorism" and also served as top PR strategist for General Tommy Franks during the US attack on Iraq. Most recently he has been been planning the 2004 Republican convention to be held in New York city coinciding with the third anniversary of the 9/11 terror attack. A White House press release today announces that he will soon be back in the White House with a couple of new titles: "Deputy Assistant to the President" and "Deputy National Security Advisor for Communications."

"The Senate confirmed longtime Republican spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs," PR Week reports. Tutwiler steps in to fill an eight-month vacancy left when ad queen Charlotte Beers resigned the post for health reasons. Tutwiler reportedly left her post as ambassador to Morocco only after "much cajoling by the Bush administration." During her confirmation hearing she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that America needs to do a better job of listening to foreign audiences.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has aired a glowing memorial to Paul Moran, its cameraman who was killed in March by a suicide bomber while filming the war in Iraq. The broadcast features fond recollections from Moran's colleagues, friends and family, while glossing over and rationalizing Moran's work for the Rendon Group, the secretive PR firm that has worked behind the scenes to promote the U.S. foreign interventions in Iraq and elsewhere.