Issue Management

Water: The Newest Wave of Corporate "Social Responsibility"

Even critics of World Water Week, held annually in Stockholm, Sweden, agree that it's an important forum where thousands of people working on water issues share information.

This year's event, held from August 16 to 22, placed special emphasis on the relationship between water and climate change. The closing statement (pdf) was literally a message to COP15, the major United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December. "Water is a key medium through which climate change impacts will be felt," it reads, adding that "water-related adaptation" should be seen as part of the solution. The statement also calls for funding "to assist vulnerable, low income countries already affected by climate change," along with longer-term adaptation efforts.

So why are there critics of World Water Week? In a word, Nestlé.

Timing Is Everything

Submitted by Bob Burton on

A British public relations executive is cautioning PR professionals not to release bad news in the wake of Michael Jackson's death. "No-one can ever trump Labour aide Jo Moore's debacle during the September 11 attacks, but there'll be cynics out there watching very carefully for companies releasing stuff under cover of global mourning," said Dougal Paver, Managing Director of Paver Smith.

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Main Source: 
PR Week (UK), June 29, 2009
Topics: 
Issue Management
International

An Army of One Viewpoint

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

U.S. Army officials have barred a reporter with the military newspaper Stars and Stripes "from embedding with a unit of the 1st Cavalry Division that is attempting to secure the violent city of Mosul" in Iraq. In the refusal letter to Stars and Stripes reporter Heath Druzin, an Army public affairs officer wrote that "Mr.

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Main Source: 
Stars and Stripes, June 24, 2009
Topics: 
Iraq
Journalism
Issue Management

Reputation Cleaning, After a Coal Disaster

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

Following a December 2008 massive coal ash spill at the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA's) Kingston coal-fired power station in Roane County, Tennessee, local officials want a three-year, $1.9 million public relations campaign.

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Main Source: 
Knoxville News Sentinel (Tennessee), May 23, 2009
Topics: 
Issue Management
Environment
Public Relations

BP: We Won't Blow You Up, Just Ruin the Planet

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

First, it was British Petroleum. Then, after a multi-million dollar rebranding as "green," the oil giant renamed itself Beyond Petroleum, or simply BP. Now, BP says its "number one priority" is responsibility. BP spokesperson David Nicholas described the change as "an evolution and expansion of green as a brand value rather than a replacement. ... 'Responsible' encompasses BP's original aspirations towards the environment, in addition to ...

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Main Source: 
BBC News, May 11, 2009
Topics: 
Climate Change
Issue Management
Health

Alberta Lobbies for Its Tar Baby

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

The Canadian province of Alberta, which promotes the development of its tar sands oil, "has hired a team of consultants to improve [its] image in Washington ahead of climate-change talks." The lobbyists, who Alberta is paying $40,000 a month, include former Michigan governor James Blanchard and former U.S.

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Main Source: 
CBC News (Canada), April 3, 2009
Topics: 
Climate Change
Issue Management
Lobbying

Oil Industry Advisor Comes Out of His Shell

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

The oil company Shell -- which is heavily invested in Alberta's tar sands, an especially dirty and greenhouse gas-intensive source of oil -- has launched a blog about climate change issues. It's "the first time a major oil company has used social media to make a public policy case," reports Siobhan Hughes.

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Main Source: 
Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), March 5, 2009
Topics: 
Internet
Climate Change
Issue Management

"Countrywide" Goes the Way of "Blackwater"

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

Countrywide Financial, the company infamous for its role in the subprime mortgage crisis, is now called "Bank of America Home Loans." Bank of America, which purchased Countrywide in July 2008, is using the name change "to separate itself from Countrywide's reputation," reports the Wall Street Journal.

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Main Source: 
Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), February 18, 2009
Topics: 
Issue Management
Corporations
Politics

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