Submitted by Laura Miller on
"'Word got around the department that I was a good Arabic translator who did a great Saddam imitation,' recalls the Harvard grad student. 'Eventually, someone phoned me, asking if I wanted to help change the course of Iraq policy,'" writes Asia Times (Hong Kong) correspondent Ian Urbina.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
For the past two decades, the U.S. Army has been shipping out career officers for a year-long PR training at the Pittsburgh office of global PR firm Ketchum, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. "The two sides were paired through a call from the Pentagon. It seems someone thought it would be a good idea to get public relations training," the Post-Gazette's Teresa F. Lindeman writes.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"The US Army is considering a proposal to privatize more than 200,000 jobs, a move that could displace thousands of public affairs officers worldwide - and yield a wealth of opportunity for private firms," PR Week's Douglas Quenqua writes.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"More than 14 PR groups have been meeting informally to coordinate a new plan in support of PR's role," reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily. David Drobis, chairman of Ketchum, outlined the plan to improve the industry's tarnished image. "Early next year," he said, "they will come together in an effort to provide industry positioning on three critical topics: ethics, disclosure and transparency."
Submitted by Laura Miller on
PR Tactics, a publication of the Public Relations Society of America, reports corporate budgets for public relations average $2.7 million in 2002, an increase from $2.25 in 2001. The Thomas L. Harris/Impulse Research Client Survey found that telecommunications firms outspend other sectors, averaging $8.04 million for PR budgets. Chemicals and plastics average $5.55 million; retailing, $3.96 million; energy, $3.68 million; and sports and entertainment, $3.52 million. Some of the PR spending goes to promoting new products. PR Tactics reports "a recent survey of 600 U.S.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Are Berman & Co., flacks for the tobacco, restaurant and booze industries who specialize in attacking groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Greenpeace, preparing to launch a new front group called "Tarnish the Halo?" Or are they just looking for new recruits for their on-going smear campaigns? We wonder because they've posted a job advertisement seeking a researcher. "The food police want us arrested," the ad states. "The animal-rights movement wants us thrown to the lions.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
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.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Speakers at a recent symposium of the Public Relations Society of America said that "U.S. support for Israelis over Palestinians, President Bush's 'crusade' against the Taliban and the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia contribute to the rising anti-American sentiment in the Middle East," reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily. "According to Denise Gray-Felder, VP of communications for the Rockefeller Foundation, 'Americans persist in operating like a nation of ignorants.' She has noticed in her international travels that foreigners are far better educated on world affairs than U.S.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
For insight into ways to promote better US-Arab relations, the Saudi Arabia-based Arab News interviewed Jim Cox of the Hill & Knowlton PR firm (which worked a decade ago to promote war in the Persian Gulf). "Saudi Arabia has a cadre of friends," says Cox, "who know, respect and value it in terms of business relationships and the culture of the Kingdom. The trouble is that cadre is very small.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
The Canadian firm National PR inadvertently sent an email instructing Conservative members of the Ontario Parliament how to "undermine the Kyoto Protocol" to Liberal members who support the accord. The National Post reported the misdirected email caused "embarrassment for a government that has yet to take a clear stand on the international plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions." National PR, which is partly owned by PR giant Burson-Marsteller, helped organize the anti-Kyoto front group the Canadian Coalition for Responsible Environmental Solutions.
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