Public Relations

More Nukes? Moore Spin

Submitted by Bob Burton on

Patrick Moore, a former environmental activist who left Greenpeace twenty years ago and is now a PR consultant, argues "it is now far more effective to work with governments and industries to encourage positive change." As a consultant, Moore has dismissed concerns about the impact of logging in the Amazon, supported Newmont Mining over controversies at its mines in the U.S., Ghana and Peru, defended the use of PVC in plastics and e

No
Main Source: 
Pallet Enterprise, January 1, 2007
Topics: 
Activism
Astroturf
Nuclear Power
Third Party Technique
International
Public Relations

Society of Professional Journalists, or for Professional Flacks?

Submitted by Jonathan Rosenblum on

The Society of Professional Journalists is moving ahead on a joint venture with Market Wire, a PR industry firm that, among other services, distributes news releases. Columnist Michael Miner of the Chicago Reader exposed the deal last fall.

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Main Source: 
The Reader, December 15, 2006
Topics: 
Journalism
Marketing
Media
Public Relations

A Cause (-Related Marketing) for Joy?

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

"Large American nonprofits spend at least $7.6 billion per year on marketing and public relations," according to a consulting firm's analysis of U.S. tax data. "$7.6 billion annually in spending for advertising, communications, public relations and branding ... is not an insignificant business sector," writes Tom Watson. "Total spending on public relations in the U.S. reached some $3.7 billion last year. ...

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Main Source: 
The Huffington Post, December 13, 2006
Topics: 
Corporate Social Responsibility
Marketing
Public Relations

Playing High-Stakes Media Games in China

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

As the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing approach, "the Chinese government knows cameras and notebooks are just as likely to record angry farmers protesting, practitioners of the banned Falun Gong discipline clashing with police, or Hollywood stars campaigning for Tibet's independence -- if reporters have the access." While China has 31 journalists in jail -- more than any other country -- the government has "pledged to temporarily relax limits on foreign journalists" reporting on the Olympics.

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Main Source: 
The Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), December 15, 2006
Topics: 
Journalism
Human Rights
International
Public Relations

A Letter Writer's Imagination

Submitted by Bob Burton on

A doctor who featured in the PR plans of the drug company GlaxoSmithKline has been appointed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to a committee reviewing possible links between anti-depressant drugs and suicidality. In December 2004, internal GlaxoSmithKline documents revealed that Dr.

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Main Source: 
BioEthics, December 12, 2006
Topics: 
Issue Management
Third Party Technique
Ethics
Pharmaceuticals
Public Relations
Science
U.S. Government

Taco Bell Seeks PR Antidote to E. Coli Cases

Submitted by Jonathan Rosenblum on

Taco Bell has hired a safety expert, tested its produce, eliminated green onions, changed suppliers, and hired a PR crisis-response firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland. The firm's advice: publicize safety, which the company has done in big market newspaper ads. Still, with 69 reported East Coast cases of E.

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Main Source: 
The Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), December 13, 2006
Topics: 
Food Safety
Crisis Management
Public Relations

Government Scientist Pleads Guilty to Accepting Pfizer Fees

Submitted by Bob Burton on

The chief of the geriatric psychiatry branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Pearson Sunderland III, has pleaded guilty to accepting approximately $300,000 in undisclosed fees and expenses from Pfizer between 1997 and 2004. The NIMH is a part of the U.S. government's National Institutes of Health (NIH), which conducts and funds medical research projects.

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Main Source: 
Baltimore Sun, December 9, 2006
Topics: 
Ethics
Health
Pharmaceuticals
Public Relations
Science
Secrecy
U.S. Government

PR Adviser Pleads Guilty To Insider Trading Charges

Submitted by Bob Burton on

Margot Mackay, a former PR consultant to the gambling company Aristocrat, has pleaded guilty to three charges of insider trading. Mackay, who headed her own company Margot McKay and Associates, used family members to buy almost $150,000 in shares ahead of announcements to the stock exchange that she wrote herself.

No
Main Source: 
Sydney Morning Herald, November 29, 2006
Topics: 
Ethics
International
Public Relations

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