AARP Examines Drug Industry Front Groups
Submitted by John Stauber on
AARP, the huge non-profit membership and business organization that bills itself as the senior lobby is now headed by corporate PR veteran Bill Novelli.
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Public Relations
"Canned PR Material" Not Welcome
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"Readers have a right to assume that what they read on the letters page is not canned public relations material," Boston Globe Editorial Page Editor Renee Loth said. Responding to unknowingly running GOP "astroturf" form letters, the Globe is instituting a new policy to "confirm original authorship on any letter that could be part of an organized campaign." Globe Ombudsman Christine Chinlund writes that while readers may find the fake grassroots letters-to-the-editor offensive, in political campaigning circles, there is bipartisan support.
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Republicans Seek a Few Good African Americans
Submitted by John Stauber on
Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten feels "sorry for African American Republicans. They've never had it real good ... So I was heartened when I happened on a Web site last month run by a group called the African American Republican Leadership Council. ... The honorary chairman of the panel is listed as former U.S. senator Edward W. Brooke III, a Republican from Massachusetts. So I called up Brooke, who confirmed the important fact that he is black. Alas, he is not in any way associated with the group.
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PR-Inflicted Nightmare Hits Cell Therapeutics
Submitted by John Stauber on
"A public-relations firm is dealing with a public-relations nightmare
after unintentionally e-mailing journalists and others documents about
one of its clients, Seattle-based Cell Therapeutics.
The mass e-mail from Shepardson Stern + Kaminsky on Wednesday revealed
the candid views of Cell Therapeutics managers and outside analysts on
the strengths and weaknesses of the biotechnology company. SS+K asserts
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H&K Nukes Australia
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The Federal Government of Australia has given the Hill & Knowlton PR firm a $300,000 contract to to promote a controversial national nuclear waste dump planned near Woomera in South Australia.
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Resource on Kasky vs. Nike
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
ReclaimDemocracy.org has created a web resource tracking the Kasky vs. Nike case, in which a California activist is suing the sportswear company for making misleading statements about its overseas labor practices.
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Nice Work if You Can Get It
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The Holmes Report, a PR industry trade newsletter, has published the results of its survey on the "best PR firms to work for." Winners included:
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Astroturf Letter Wars
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"Newspapers and political organizations are engaged in technological one-upmanship over 'AstroTurf' - letters to the editor that look like authentic grass-roots responses from readers but are not," reports Jennifer Lee.
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"Made in (Deleted)"
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
When President Bush gave a speech at a St. Louis warehouse announcing his new tax plan, he stood against what appeared to be a backdrop of cardboard boxes stamped "MADE IN U.S.A." The backdrop, however, was actually a painted facade.
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Downward Career Trajectory
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Tim Blackstone, who left his career as a porn star to become a financial journalist before finally stooping to public relations, has been fined for insider trading. A British court found him guilty of buying and selling shares worth more than £13,000 based on insider knowledge of top secret takeover plans being hatched by a company to which he was a PR adviser.
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