Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"Embarrassing public disclosures about Citigroup threaten to complicate final negotiations aimed at cleaning up tainted Wall Street research and stock-offering practices," reports Thor Valdmanis.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The Homeland Defense Bill currently working its way through Congress adds a new exemption to the Freedom of Information Act, protecting the secrecy of information that companies submit voluntarily to the government. Supporters say the exemption makes it easier for companies to share information with the government to assist the "war on terrorism." Critics, like Rep.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"The Forest Products Industry National Labor Management Committee, a group that says it wants to 'balance economic and environmental concerns' when it comes to managing America's timber, paid Ogilvy PR Worldwide $100,000 during the first-half of this year to make its case in Washington, D.C.," O'Dwyer's PR Daily writes. The group lobbied against EPA regulations on new industrial emissions. "The Committee members include the American Forest & Paper Assn., and forest industry groups in California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Louisiana and the Rockies. It also counts the International Assn.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"The US Army is considering a proposal to privatize more than 200,000 jobs, a move that could displace thousands of public affairs officers worldwide - and yield a wealth of opportunity for private firms," PR Week's Douglas Quenqua writes.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Computer experts say Microsoft's "Palladium" software project, which builds on technology being developed by the "Trusted Computing Platform Alliance" (TCPA), could be misused
Submitted by Laura Miller on
PR Tactics, a publication of the Public Relations Society of America, reports corporate budgets for public relations average $2.7 million in 2002, an increase from $2.25 in 2001. The Thomas L. Harris/Impulse Research Client Survey found that telecommunications firms outspend other sectors, averaging $8.04 million for PR budgets. Chemicals and plastics average $5.55 million; retailing, $3.96 million; energy, $3.68 million; and sports and entertainment, $3.52 million. Some of the PR spending goes to promoting new products. PR Tactics reports "a recent survey of 600 U.S.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Are Berman & Co., flacks for the tobacco, restaurant and booze industries who specialize in attacking groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Greenpeace, preparing to launch a new front group called "Tarnish the Halo?" Or are they just looking for new recruits for their on-going smear campaigns? We wonder because they've posted a job advertisement seeking a researcher. "The food police want us arrested," the ad states. "The animal-rights movement wants us thrown to the lions.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"Gordon Andrew, who has held top communications posts at Prudential and Travelers Group, is handling the press for former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, who was indicted on 78 counts of fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice," reports O'Dwyer's.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
In the latest installment of their series on the business of war, the Center for Public Integrity's team of investigative journalists examines the career of Tim Spicer, the figurehead in a PR campaign to improve the unsavory image of soldiers who fight for hire. "Politicians in the West seem quickly to have accepted a convenient if illusory dichotomy just as it has been handed to them - contrasting the old-style (and bad) 'dogs of war' with the new-style (and good) private military companies, or PMCs," the report states.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Jeremy Rifkin examines news coverage of the Bush Administration's war drive on Iraq. "One can't help but be surprised by the almost total silence on the question of the 'oil connection,'" he writes. "Is it possible that United States political leaders and reporters, columnists, editors and producers are so naive that they really believe there is no other White House agenda in the Middle East except the one that the administration is extolling? Do they really believe that oil plays no role in the strategic thinking of the inner circles at the White House? ...
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