Public Relations

Spinning Global Capitalism

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"[I]n a way the term public relations is misleading, because the vast majority of PR is hidden from the public," David Miller writes in the British magazine Red Pepper. "PR is much more important than just media spin. It is the very lifeblood of the global capitalist system. PR can only flourish as a profession and an industry in a society run on market principles. The further a society moves away from neo-liberal dogma the less role there is for the PR industry and vice versa."

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Main Source: 
Red Pepper, May 27, 2003
Topics: 
Corporations
Public Relations

APCO Paving Way For Contracts To Rebuild Iraq

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"APCO Worldwide, a Grey Global Group unit, has set up an Iraq reconstruction task force with a personnel roster of ex-government heavyweights to guide clients through the process of pursuing contracts," trade publication O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. "Marc Ginsberg, former special coordinator for Middle East and Mediterranean trade and economic policy and ambassador to Morocco who is a senior VP at APCO, is heading the team. The rebuilding advisement team includes Former Sen.

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Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, May 23, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Public Relations

Keepers of Bush Image Lift Stagecraft to New Heights

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"We pay particular attention to not only what the president says but what the American people see," White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett told the New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller. "Americans are leading busy lives, and sometimes they don't have the opportunity to read a story or listen to an entire broadcast.

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Main Source: 
New York Times, May 16, 2003
Topics: 
Public Relations
U.S. Government

24-Hour Mideast TV To Promote "Freedom & Democracy"

Submitted by Laura Miller on

The White House expects congressional funding to the tune of $64 million for the first-ever, 24-hour Arabic-language satellite television network. "The aim is to provide the Middle East's tens of millions of viewers with an alternative to their usual viewing diet of unremediated anti-American propaganda," the Hill's Melissa Seckora reports.

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Main Source: 
The Hill, May 13, 2003
Topics: 
Democracy
International
Public Relations
U.S. Government

PR's "Deleterious Impact on the Democratic Process"

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"Every organisation that interacts with other agencies may be said to engage in public relations. Organisations by and large wish to project as good an image as they can, and often wish to communicate a particular message," Corporate Watch UK writes in the introduction to their new online report on the PR industry. "There is nothing essentially wrong in wanting to present one's own case in as effective manner as possible. However, in spite of frequent protestations to the contrary from the PR world, this is only a part of what modern PR does.

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Main Source: 
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/profiles/pr_industry/pr1.htm
Topics: 
Democracy
Public Relations

How Bush Spun Iraq: It's Not Lies, It's Empahsis

Submitted by John Stauber on

Paul Krugman notes that, " 'We were not lying,' a Bush administration official told ABC News. 'But it was just a matter of emphasis.' ... Does it matter that we were misled into war? Some people say that it doesn't: we won, and the Iraqi people have been freed. But we ought to ask some hard questions - not just about Iraq, but about ourselves. ... Thanks to this pattern of loud assertions and muted or suppressed retractions, the American public probably believes that we went to war to avert an immediate threat --just as it believes that Saddam had something to do with Sept.

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Main Source: 
New York Times, April 29, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Public Relations
U.S. Government

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