Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Tim Blackstone, who left his career as a porn star to become a financial journalist before finally stooping to public relations, has been fined for insider trading. A British court found him guilty of buying and selling shares worth more than £13,000 based on insider knowledge of top secret takeover plans being hatched by a company to which he was a PR adviser.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
A survey by the Edelman PR firm has found what it calls a "trust vacuum" in Europe, as the public's confidence in businesses and governments hits an all-time low. Moreover, reports Julia Day, "Public relations executives have taken over from estate agents as the professionals the public trust least, according to a survey out today."
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Howard Kurtz reports that the New York Times has spiked a "My Job" column by Jeff Barge, a Manhattan public relations executive who described planting stories in major newspapers and blasted the PR industry as "a deceptive business" in which newspapers are fed "quotes that are just plain fabricated by the PR people." According to Times editor Judith Dobrzynski, Barge's piece was "too self-promotional." (The mention of Barge appears in the bottom half of Kurtz's column, under the subhead, "Unfit to Print.")
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee (ENVY), which owns a nuclear power plant near Brattleboro, VT, has been conducting an opinion poll using leading questions designed to influence public opinion, not measure it. "They were trying to sneak in some propaganda disguised as an objective poll," said one local resident after being called. "They claimed they didn't know who was paying for the poll." ENVY has been fighting to keep the plant open as town meetings convene to discuss its fate.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil company, has turned to Hill and Knowlton to devise its communications strategy," reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily. "H&K's communications counsel comes as fear spreads of a big spike in energy prices triggered by the U.S. invasion of Iraq." Hill & Knowlton is the PR firm notorious for its deceptive PR campaign in 1990 to promote the first U.S. war in the Persian Gulf.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
PR Watch editor Sheldon Rampton participated in December in the World Information Conference in Amsterdam, which explored both positive and negative aspects of new information technologies. An interviewer captured his thoughts on some things that grassroots movements can learn from the PR industry: "There is an interesting seepage that's always going on as they try to control the thinking of others but they are forced to adopt a lot of the language and the symbolism of the people they are opposing. That has always been a very interesting aspect of PR.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The PR industry needs to mull "a shift in strategy if US goes to war," writes Sherri Deatherage Green. During the first few days of fighting, she says, PR pros should hold off on product promotions. "Few activities could be more futile than pitching stories when war reports fill every second of network time," she writes. "But if military action continues over time, companies should find tasteful and appropriate ways to revive their marketing." Also, "Understatement might be the best messaging approach during wartime.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The industry trade publication PR Week has a few kind words to say about Nick Naylor, the fictional PR man who figures as the protagonist in Christopher Buckley's hilarious book, Thank You for Smoking. "He can stun a Clean Lungs conference into silence with a few words about the First Amendment rights of the poor, embattled tobacco companies.
Submitted by John Stauber on
Odwyer's PR Daily reports that "Qorvis Communications [OC] received a staggering $14.6 million from Saudi Arabia during the six-month period ended Sept. 30 for producing ads and doing PR to 'increase the awareness in the U.S.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The National Security Archive (NSA), a nonprofit research institute, has published a collection of documents detailing an early Cold War campaign to win hearts and minds in the Middle East, launched 50 years before current efforts to achieve United States "public diplomacy" goals in the region. Methods that were utilized included graphic displays, manipulation of the news, books, movies, cartoons, activities directed at schools and universities, and exchange programs. "The documents show that many of the factors that generated resentment of the U.S.
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