Public Relations

Publicis PR Affiliate Seeking to Mute Bad PR?

Last July, labor activist Junya Lek Yimprasert took up the cause of five women workers dismissed by the Thai subsidiary of the global PR firm Publicis Groupe. She described alleged sexual discrimination and intimidation at the firm's Bangkok office to reporter Stephen Frost of CSR Asia (PDF).

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PR Execs Held to Account for Overbilling City Accounts

Douglas Dowie, the former head of Fleishman-Hillard's Los Angeles office, was convicted "of 15 counts of conspiracy and fraud in a scheme to overbill city taxpayers for public relations consulting services." His assistant and co-defendant was convicted on 1

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AANRs: Australian Audio News Releases

The Australian TV show Mediawatch notes our study on video news releases and goes on to report, "We haven't found any examples as bad as that on Australian TV, but the radio equivalent -- the audio news release -- has definitely arrived." Mediawatch tracked one ANR, paid for by

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Food Flack Nation Attacks Journalist Eric Schlosser

"Fast Food Nation" mega-selling author Eric Schlosser must be doing something right. He's under vicious attack from food industry lobbyists and front groups mimicking his book title in their website smearing him. Long time Fleishman-Hillard food flack Becky Johnson and her fellow spinmeisters risk publicizing Schlosser's writings in their over-the-top efforts to condemn him.

The industrial food lobby is freaking-out over "Chew On This", his new book with Charles Wilson aimed at youngsters, and the fact that his "Fast Food Nation" is being made into a major Hollywood movie with the same title. Best Food Nation is the food industry's sound-alike website funded by the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Meat Institute, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Council of Chain Restaurants, and 14 other food lobbies. The website highlights anti-Schlosser rants by industry-funded front groups including Heartland Institute and the American Council on Science and Health.

Spinning (and Unspinning) Nuclear Power Worldwide

"The nuclear industry took steps ... to head off a growing public relations -- if not health -- problem, promising to closely monitor leaks of slightly radioactive groundwater at power plants," reports AP. "Water containing tritium has been released into groundwater at half a dozen plants over the past decade," including in Illinois, Arizona and New York.

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The War on Terror Meets the War on Drugs

Hill & Knowlton will head "a complex $3.8M PR effort" for the U.S. State Department, "targeting Afghan citizens and stakeholder groups to dissuade Afghan farmers from cultivating poppies and boosting global drug trade." Poppy production has soared since the 2001 U.S. invasion.

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Chemical Association's PR To Make You Safer

The American Chemistry Council wants you to know that you're safer than you may think when toxic chemicals end up in your local groundwater and air. ACC has announced the hire of ex-Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson Lisa Harrison as its new vice president of communications. Says Ms.

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