In some ways, Armstrong Williams got a bad rap.
The conservative Black commentator, who was paid $240,000 by the U.S. Department of Education to advertise and advocate for the controversial "No Child Left Behind" law, lost his syndicated newspaper column and was pilloried for not disclosing the payment.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Reportedly hoping to land "a nice local technology story," a partner in the Washington DC area firm Rock Creek Creative "issued a news release touting the company's role in (Ukraine's) Orange Revolution." Instead, Russian media "seized on Rock Creek's release as proof that the United States had meddled in the Ukrainian presidential election." The firm later backpedaled, saying it had been hired by the nonprofit Global Fairness In
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The Columbia Graduate School of Journalism will give its first ever Dean's Medal for Public Service to Daniel Edelman, the founder and chair of "the largest independent public relations firm in the world." The award "honors extraordinary lifetime achievement" by alumni, "for their contributions to society through professional accomplishments and civic involvement." While Daniel Edelman has contributed to many community groups,
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
California's Labor and Workforce Development Agency produced and distributed a video news release, narrated by a former reporter, that promotes Governor Schwarzenegger's "plan to modify rules detailing when and how employers are to provide meal and rest breaks." The Los Angeles Times noted, "Un
The Bush administration ventriloquists are out in full force these days, breathlessly hyping "Personal Retirement Accounts" as a way to save Social Security by destroying it. For the average voter, getting a handle on what the Bush administration is proposing to do to Social Security is quite a challenge. The dozens of bobbing heads and clicking fingers, holding forth on cable news programming and the Internet is enough to make anyone's head spin.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Along with doubling spending on external PR contracts, the Bush administration has increased PR positions inside government agencies, called public affairs. Public affairs staffs grew by 9 percent since 2000, "even faster than the federal work force," for a cost increase of more than $50 million.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Noting that the U.S.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"The Syrian government, increasingly under fire for its suspected role in sponsoring terrorist activity, has launched a PR offensive to improve its image in the West," reports PR Week.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"Only weeks before Halliburton made headlines by announcing it was pulling out of Iran ... the Texas-based oil services firm quietly signed a major new business deal to help develop Tehran’s natural gas fields," Newsweek's Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball write. "But overlooked in most of the press coverage of the announcement was that [Halliburton CEO David] Lesar’s statement contained enough wiggle room to permit Halliburton to continue participating in the new South Pars project. ...
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