Public Relations

How the White House Won the Spin War at Home

Submitted by John Stauber on

"The second Persian Gulf war was not only a runaway victory for the United States military, but for another aggressive force that fired off round-the-clock verbal cruise missiles: the White House communications operation. That is the assessment of the Bush administration's wartime public relations campaign by both its supporters and critics, who say the spin operation was extraordinarily successful in shaping a positive battlefield narrative, at least for American audiences. ... White House officials acknowledge that the communications effort in the Arab world largely failed...

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Main Source: 
New York Times, April 20, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Public Relations
U.S. Government

Pro-War Rally Gets PR Help

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"Shirley & Banister Public Affairs helped put together one of the largest pro-Bush rallies during the Iraq war on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., last Saturday, starring Republican heavyweights G. Gordon Liddy, former senator and actor Fred Thompson and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, among others," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. "The event, which drew between five and ten thousand people, was staged for longtime client Citizens United Foundation. ...

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Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, April 17, 2003
Topics: 
Right Wing
Iraq
Public Relations

Burson-Marsteller Buffs Iraqi National Congress Image

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"Burson-Marsteller is working to buff the image of the Iraqi National Congress," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. BKSH & Associates, Burson-Marsteller's lobbying wing is working for the Iraqi National Congress Support Foundation. With the assistance of the Pentagon, INC head Ahmad Chalabi and 'free Iraqi forces' arrived in Bagdad last week. Chalabi and the INC hope to be part of a new government in Iraq.

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Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, April 17, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Front Groups
Public Relations

Tutwiler, New Top Iraq Flack, May Take Beers' Old Job

Submitted by John Stauber on

"Margaret Tutwiler, the United States ambassador to Morocco, left Rabat for Baghdad today to assume a temporary position overseeing all public relations and information operations in postwar Iraq. Ms. Tutwiler, who was the State Department spokeswoman during the Persian Gulf war in 1991, ... also said she was still in discussions with Bush administration officials about a separate offer to return to Washington as the under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. If Ms.

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Main Source: 
New York Times, April 15, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Public Relations
U.S. Government

Ex-FDA Head David Kessler Now a PR Flack for F-H

Submitted by John Stauber on

The Fleishman-Hillard PR firm has announced hiring former Food & Drug Administration head Dr. David A. Kessler. Under Kessler the FDA served the biotechnology industry by adopting an anti-consumer policy of not requiring safety testing or labeling of genetically engineered food.

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Main Source: 
PR Newswire, April 10, 2003
Topics: 
Health
Public Relations

Cameraman Killed In Northern Iraq Worked For Pentagon PR Firm

Submitted by Laura Miller on

Australian cameraman Paul Moran, who was killed by a suicide bomber on March 20, had worked for the Rendon Group, a Washington-based PR firm currently being used by the Pentagon, the Adelaide Advertiser reports. At the time of his death, Moran was on an assignment for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in northern Iraq.

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Main Source: 
Adelaide Advertiser, April 5, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Journalism
Ethics
Public Relations

Pentagon Embeds Public Affairs Officers With Journalists

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"They may not get as much attention as their media counterparts, but dozens of Pentagon public affairs officers are 'embedded' right alongside the reporters in Iraq," PR Week reports. "The Pentagon also maintains the Coalition Press Information Center (CPIC) in Kuwait, a base of operations for public affairs officers not traveling with troops.

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Main Source: 
PR Week, March 31, 2003; Wall Street Journal, April 1, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Public Relations
U.S. Government

Embedded Reporter Tactic "Sheer Genius"

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"The current war has been called the best-covered war in history, and certainly the visuals and reports from 'embedded' reporters have been spectacular, bringing war into our living rooms like never before," Katie Delahaye Paine writes in her PR firm's publication The Measurement Standard. "[T]he embedded reporter tactic is sheer genius. ... The sagacity of the tactic is that it is based on the basic tenet of public relations: It's all about relationships.

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Main Source: 
The Measurement Standard, March 28, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Journalism
Public Relations
U.S. Government

Courting Al-Jazeera

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

"Bush administration officials once referred to Al Jazeera, the Arab satellite network based here, as 'All Osama All the Time' for its regular showings of Al Qaeda video tapes and frequent appearances by anti-American commentators," write Jane Perlez and Jim Rutenberg. Last week, however, several U.S. officials accepted an invitation to a barbecue in at the home of Al-Jazeera's news director.

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Main Source: 
New York Times, March 20, 2003
Topics: 
International
Media
Public Relations
U.S. Government

Canadian Military Brass Get PR Lessons

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"Canada's military has launched a major effort to help senior officers express empathy during tragedies, avoid nervousness, craft sound bites, avoid gaffes and 'deflect' questions," CanWest News Service's Peter O'Neil reports. A critic of the effort says that the federal government should focus on policy and performance rather than spin, suggesting that the military believes "that we're going to be the author of a lot of bad news over the next while, or associated with a lot of bad news and, therefore, we better figure out how to spin it."

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Main Source: 
Ottawa Citizen, March 6, 2003
Topics: 
International
Public Relations
War / Peace

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