Submitted by Bob Burton on
Joan Lowy notes that environmental groups like Greenpeace, Rainforest Action Network and the Texas Campaign for the Environment are having success with campaigns that bypass government and directly lobby corporations instead.
"Several of the nation's most prominent environmentalists have gone public with the message that nuclear power, long taboo among environmental advocates, should be reconsidered as a remedy for global warming," the New York Times' Felicity Barringer reports. And while environmentalists who support nuclear power as a supposedly "emission-free" alternative to fossil fuels are not representative of the larger movement, the buzz about them is mushrooming. "Their numbers are still small, but they represent growing cracks in what had been a virtually solid wall of opposition to nuclear power among most mainstream environmental groups," writes the Times.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Britain's Channel 4 documentary "Undercover in New Labour" includes footage from "a reporter wearing hidden cameras who volunteered to work on the party's election campaign and ended up being drafted to work at its national PR headquarters." The documentary shows Labour staff using "party supporters in key professions from medicine and the law to the armed forces and the police, who were prepared to appear on TV and in the papers and lie through their teeth that their support for this or that policy was entirel
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The U.S.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
In an essay for the Public Library of Science, the former editor of the British Medical Journal, Richard Smith, argues that while corporate advertising may be the most obvious source of revenue for medical journals, they are "the least corrupting." More significant, he writes, are the clinical trials the journal publishes which carry "the journal's stamp of approval (unlike the advertising)." While journals can more tightly screen what gets published, Smith thinks more fundamental steps are required to "stop journals from being beholden to
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
A worker who knows Social Security "could run out before they retire," a couple with children who like "the idea of leaving something behind to the family," and a single parent who wants "more retirement options and security" than Social Security offers - all younger than 29.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The London office of U.S.-based PR giant Hill & Knowlton signed a $600,000 contract with the government of Uganda, "to improve Uganda's stained reputation as a human rights abuser and democracy laggard." Foreign Minister Sam Kuteesa confirmed the contract, which calls for Hill & Knowlton "to improve Uganda's image with donors and to help blunt damaging reports from human rights watchdogs that have been highly critical of the government." In Uganda, political activity is "restricted" and plann
Over the last four months, Richard Edelman, the CEO, president and chair of the privately-owned PR firm Edelman, has been busy blogging away about how the public standing of the PR industry is in free-fall.
In a May 2nd post, he was incredulous that blogger David Weinberger - who has been a consultant to Edelman's firm - doesn't think that PR people have a role in the blogosphere, because they are, by their very nature, propagandists.
A few weeks back, Edelman blogged about spending a weekend smarting after CNN/US president Jon Klein referred to "sophisticated corporate PR departments, marketers and politicians" as "propagandists," during his speech to the National Association of Broadcasters.
While it might seem self-evident to most people that the PR industry is in the propaganda business, these incidents led an agitated Edelman to propose a five-point plan to rescue the PR industry’s tarnished credentials.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"In the year or so before the general election" in Britain, "the nuclear industry slowly but surely put together a classy public relations act," report Jonathan Leake and Dan Box. "Last October, British Energy appointed Craig Stevenson, formerly Monsanto's top UK lobbyist, as head of government affairs. ...
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"If you are wondering why Americans are losing the wars on cancer, heart disease and diabetes, you might look at the funding sources of the major public health groups," Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman write. "Big corporations dump big money into these groups. And pretty soon, the groups start taking the line of the big corporations. Case in point: the American Diabetes Association (ADA). Earlier this month, the ADA cut a deal with candy and soda pop maker Cadbury Schweppes.
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