Public Relations

Most public relations practioners will tell you that PR is about good communication between an organization and its public. But the Guardian's Mark Borkowski finds a different kind of public relations being practiced by political and corporate institutions. To deal with objections to their actions, these institutions "create smokescreens of confusion and perplexity to enable them to do exactly what they want, regardless of the wishes of the people they are supposed to serve," Borkowski writes.

"Litigation public relations discussions involving lawyers and public relations professionals are protected under attorney-client privilege, according to a ruling last week by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan," PR trade publication the Holmes Report writes. "The ruling was hailed by public relations professionals as conferring new credibility on their role and acknowledging a reality of today's legal work.

"Journalists and government officials complained last week that the Bush administration has virtually abandoned its public affairs operation in Baghdad," PR Week reports. "Moroccan ambassador Margaret Tutwiler was sent to oversee the operation in April after major hostilities ended. But according to administration sources, she returned to Morocco within a month.

The Rendon Group, a secretive PR firm whose government clients have included the Pentagon, the CIA, and USAID, has gone to work for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, trade publication O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. The Washington D.C.-based firm is providing "strategic communications counsel, media analysis and consultation support services" to the Joint Chiefs, combatant commanders and top military advisors.