Public Relations

Wal-Mart's Believe It or Not: 90 Percent of Workers Have Health Insurance

Wal-Mart had already announced an attempt to rewrite its public image through the hire of ex-political operatives and creation of a social responsibility ad campaign. The company has now released an internal study claiming that the overwhelming majority (90 percent) of its workers have health coverage--just not Wal-Mart's health coverage.

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U.S. Drops Cool $36 Million to Burson-Marsteller to Promote...Money

The federal treasury will pay out $36 million over five years to the Burson-Marsteller PR firm to promote redesigned $5 and $100 bills. According to the Treasury Department's Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the bills need to be promoted and explained to businesses, the media and others in order to ensure that new security features, including "optically variable ink" and watermarks are fully understood.

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Philip Morris’s Project Sunrise: Wake Up and Smell the Efforts to Undermine Public Health

An article published in the medical journal Tobacco Control reveals Philip Morris' "Project Sunrise" (1995-2006), a long-term plan to bolster the social acceptability of smoking and ensure the company's future.

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Meet Us in Memphis!

Media activists, scholars, reporters and policy makers will converge in Memphis, TN, this weekend, for the National Conference for Media Reform, organized by Free Press. If you'll be there, stop by the Center for Media and Democracy information table or come to one of the presentations by CMD staffers.

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Industry-Funded Studies Say Drink Up (Their Stuff)

Studies of the health benefits of beverages are four to eight times more likely to support the studied drink if industry fully paid for the research than if it didn't, according to a newly-published article in the science journal PLoS Medicine. The study reviewed 206 journal articles that drew conclusions about the health effects of a beverage. About half of those revealed their funding sources.

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Illinois Power Company Cash Lines "Consumer Group" Coffers

An apparent astroturf group calling for an end to an electricity rate freeze received $10 million for its programs from ComEd, the largest power company in Illinois. An administrative law judge with the Illinois Commerce Commission has ordered an investigation of financial ties between the company and the group Consumers Organized for Reliable Electricity (CORE).

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Boom Times for Scandal PR

"The number one PR trend of 2007 will be dealing with the PR fallout from congressional subpoenas," predicts public relations industry blogger Alice Marshall. "Local law firms are already soliciting business. PR strategists are dropping quotes in the press hoping to attract clients. ...

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