Public Relations

Seven reporters and editors have left the Santa Barbara News-Press, saying owner Wendy McCaw and interim publisher Travis Armstrong "had censored or killed news stories over editors' objections." On July 6, Armstrong "escorted the newspaper's editor, Jerry Roberts, out of the News-Press offices" while other employees "shouted obscenities at Armstrong." The departing staff say "standard journalistic ethics" were violated by such incidents as McCaw killing a story on Armstrong's recent drunk driving sentence.

The world's third largest drug company, Sanofi-Aventis, sponsored a tour to Budapest and Paris for a "parliamentary and stakeholder working group" including representatives from British patient groups. The tour included "optional attendance" at lectures at the European Association of Cancer Research conference in Budapest and a presentation in Paris on cancer drugs used in France but not yet approved in Britain.

Archived internal BBC documents from the 1980's, obtained by The Sunday Telegraph under Freedom of Information legislation, reveal that the British spy service, MI5, was used to vet existing and potential staff at the public broadcaster. The paper reported that the documents revealed that "at one stage it [MI5] was responsible for vetting 6300 BBC posts - almost a third of the total workforce." The BBC adopted "categorical denial" as its "defensive strategy" to deflect questions about the practice by unions.

With the help of U.S. Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes, "the Bush administration has drawn up a classified list of about a dozen high-priority countries on which to focus public diplomacy." Hughes "said strategic plans were being developed for those 'pilot' countries," which include Afghanistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Egypt. Hughes "said her department would seek out clerics from Muslim nations where some Friday prayers encouraged hatred and bring those clerics to America on exchange programs." "People who have been to America or know someone who has been to America are far more likely to have a positive view of our country," she explained. Another goal is to identify "strategic influencers." Hughes gave the example of a dinner she attended at the U.S. ambassador's home in Morocco, "where the person on her right was a famous cooking show host, while on her left was a track star."