Public Relations

In Search of the Magic Phrase

The "apparatus of public diplomacy" (the official government euphemism for overseas public relations) "has proven inadequate, especially in the Arab and Muslim World," says Harold Pachios, a commissioner on the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. In testimony before the U.S.

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Losing Hearts and Minds

In Margaret Tutwiler's first public appearance as the State Department's public diplomacy head, she admitted that America's international standing has fallen so far that "many years of hard, focused work" are needed to restore it. This week, the al-Hurra ("Free One") network begins broadcasting from Virginia. The $62 million project will tell "the truth about the values and the policies of the United States" to Middle Eastern countries and overcome "hateful propaganda...

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PR, Journalism, Same Thing

University of Kansas' journalism school will award its prestigious William Allen White Foundation Medal for "outstanding journalistic merit" to PR professional and former Reagan and Bush I White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater. Previous honorees include Charles Kuralt, Bob Woodward and Molly Ivins.

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Lobbying Makes DC a PR Capital

Everyone from the highway construction industry to the mining industry, environmental groups and the healthcare and tobacco industry has a stake in Washington politics. As a result, reports the Washington Post, "Pasting ads all over Capitol Hill has become a big business -- so big that Washington is the nation's second-largest public relations market after New York, even though the District is only the 21st-largest city in the country, behind places like Phoenix, Memphis and Milwaukee."

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B-M's Biotech Front Group Exposed in the UK

"Few could question the sentiment behind the campaign: a fight against cervical cancer. A clutch of famous women, including Liz Hurley, Caprice and Carol Vorderman, signed up to support a crusade to introduce a new NHS screening test that could save the lives of thousands of women. The campaign is due to reach the House of Commons on Wednesday, when MPs will be lobbied on the issue.

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US Obesity Expands PR Budgets

"The United States spent $75.1 billion last year on medical expenses, such as drugs, doctor visits and hospitalizations, related to obesity, according to a study published this month in the journal Obesity Research," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The study, financed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that taxpayers paid half of the bill through Medicare and Medicaid programs.

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Army Will Continue To Tell Its Own Story

"The Army has abandoned plans to outsource nearly one in six of its jobs to the private sector, a move that could have resulted in the loss of thousands of public affairs positions worldwide and a windfall of contracts for private PR firms," PR Week reports. "The outsourcing plan, first announced in late 2002, was part of President Bush's directive to trim the government by farming out all work not 'inherently governmental.' The Army also cited an interest in directing more of its resources to national security and the war on terrorism.

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