Public Relations

One Hundred Days of Ineptitude

The vacationing George W. Bush recently said from his Crawford, Texas ranch, "We've made a lot of progress" in Iraq. The pronouncement was timed with the White House release of a 24-page report called "Results in Iraq: 100 Days Toward Security and Freedom". Detailing "highlights of the successes" in Iraq, the report -- prepared by the White House Office of Global Communications and the staff of L. Paul Bremer, the U.S.

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Mixed Reviews For State Department's Hi Magazine

The State Department's glossy Arabic-language magazine aimed at 18- to 35-year-olds is getting mixed reviews with its target audience. Hi Magazine which focuses on cultural and societal issues, is funded by more than $4 million of State Department money. So far 50,000 copies have been distributed from Morocco to Kuwait. U.S. officials hope to increase the circulation to 250,000.

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Thin Lizzie

Fresh from the slammer, disgraced celebrity publicist Lizzie Grubman is trying to rehabilite her image by teaching a three-hour class called "How to Succeed in Public Relations and Image Marketing." According to O'Dwyer's PR Daily, Grubman's presentation included two and a half hours of Q&A in which "she did not mention the 2001 hit-and-run incident at Conscience Point in the Hamptons which landed her in jail, and some questions submitte

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State Department Fills PR Czar Position

After much speculation, Ambassador to Morocco Margaret Tutwiler is finally returning to Washington to take Charlotte Beers' old post as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. Ad queen Beers stepped down among much criticisms in March. The Washington Post's Al Kamen writes that Tutwiler, who served as assistant secretary of state for public affairs for the elder Bush, "was most happy with her Morocco assignment -- apparently even with an occasional terrorist bomb going off -- and was said to be ambivalent about coming back.

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Branding America, Part II

Just in from the been there, done that department: "With anti-American sentiment rising worldwide, Bush administration officials say they are stepping up efforts to market America throughout the world," reports Michelle Orris. "Polls indicate that international opinion of the United States has plummeted in the last year, and worldwide sympathy for the United States after Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has all but dissipated."

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Death of a PR Man

Tex McCrary, a legendary New York public relations man and political strategist who helped invent the talk-show format on radio and TV, has died at the age of 92. His obituary in the New York Times notes that McCrary helped elected President Eisenhower after serving as a public relations officer for the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. Richard Severo notes that McCrary also "became one of the first Americans to visit Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped.

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Former Government Flacks Find Corporate PR Path

Prime Minister Tony Blair's top spokesman Alastair Campbell's may be the next in a long line of government spinners to take a high-powered spot in corporate public relations. Rumors of Campbell's leaving No. 10 Downing Street, have him "being stalked by international agencies, keen to utilise his government and media contacts," the Financial Times reports. Campbell's potential career path is already well trod. Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer will hang out his shingle as an advisor to top corporate executives.

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Qorvis Communication Quacks For Kingdom

"Qorvis Communication is helping Saudi Arabia lash out at critics who believe the 'blanked-out' section of the Congressional 9/11 report exposes the Kingdom's involvement in the terror attacks," O'Dwyer's PR reports. "The Bush Administration demanded that the 28-page section dealing with the role played by Saudi Arabia and other governments in 9/11 be omitted from the 900-page report." Qorvis has a $200,000 a month contract with the Kingdom for PR work. Saudi Arabia spent $288,000 at Patton Boggs -- a well connected D.C.

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Edelman Drops British American Tobacco Account

"Edelman PR Worldwide, which represents the National Dialogue on Cancer, has dropped British American Tobacco as a client in Malaysia, according to The Cancer Letter of July 25," O'Dwyer's PR reports. "Richard and Daniel Edelman had signed a pledge that the firm would not work for tobacco companies when it won the non-profit group's account last October. Edelman's Kuala Lumpur office, however, helped BAT promote 'social reporting,' issuing press releases about scholarships for children of tobacco farmers.

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Mega PR Firm Plays Role In School Reform

"Civic Progress, a St. Louis-based group made up of the heads of the region's largest corporations, is paying Jay Lawrence, who is co-chairman of Fleishman-Hillard's corporate reputation management unit, to play a behind-the-scenes role in the city school reform effort," O'Dwyer's PR reports.

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