PR 101 - How to Slime a War Hero
Submitted by John Stauber on
The Swift Boat attack on Kerry uses a classic [third party] propaganda tactic: have PR professionals [such as Merrie Spaeth] organize and launch a well-funded
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Public Relations
Ghostwriters for Bush
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The Daily Kos recently uncovered an astroturf (fake grassroots) initiative by the George W. Bush campaign, which generated ghostwritten letters to the editor that found their way into at least 60 newspapers. This isn't the first time that the Bush administration has tried this trick, as we've reported in the past.
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Auto Industry Front Group Opposes California Clean Air Proposal
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"A public relations firm with ties to the automobile industry has launched ads suggesting that a proposed California rule to cut carbon dioxide exhaust could cause more people to die in traffic accidents," the Los Angeles Times reports.
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Disinfopedia versus Swift Boat Vets and Other Front Groups
Submitted by John Stauber on
Last year we launched the Disinfopedia, a "wiki" website designed
to mobilize hundreds of volunteers to help us investigate and expose front
groups and propaganda campaigns. The Disinfopedia is an experiment in
participatory investigative journalism, and the experiment seems to be
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Lower than Journalists
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Among the professions "less popular than journalism," notes Bill Hagerty, the "furtive world of public relations" is considered by many people to be "a black art, inferior only to child slave-trading or body-snatching." He cites a recent survey showing that British journalists hold PR people in especially low esteem. Nevertheless, he notes, "indications are that PR and publicists are becoming increasingly more influential and powerful."
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SLICK - The Novel
Submitted by Laura Miller on
Check out the new book SLICK by first-time novelist Daniel Price. SLICK's anti-hero protagonist, Scott Singer, works "in the field of perception management, although the less colorful term is 'media manipulation.' We're the CIA of PR, the sublime little gremlins who live just outside your senses, selling you products and concepts without you even knowing. ... I've conspired with the gun people, schemed with the liquor people, toiled for tobacco, and moiled for Monsanto. I've pushed polluters and promoted porn. I've shilled for Shell and lied for Tide.
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Got the Big Stick; Need to Learn to Speak Softly
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Condoleezza Rice admitted, "We are obviously not very well organized for the side of public diplomacy." The 9/11 Commission warned, "If the United States does not act aggressively to define itself in the Islamic world, the extremists will gladly do the job for us." Former State Departmen
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Vietnam, Re-revisited
Submitted by John Stauber on
John Kerry called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth group "a front for the Bush campaign." The New York Times' in-depth report on the group finds "a web of connections to the Bush family, high-profile
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Ad and PR Campaigns of Arabia
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"For too long, rumors have been accepted as truth," says one of two new U.S. radio ads launched by Saudi Arabia, to highlight 9/11 Commission findings favorable to the country.
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Growing Market Opposition to GMO Referenda
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"Worried that county bans on biotech crops could spread throughout the state, mainstream farm groups from the California Cattlemen's Association to the national Farm Bureau are marshaling their resources," reports the Sacramento Bee.
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