Promoting Instability?
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Noting that the U.S.
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Public Relations
See Syria Spin
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"The Syrian government, increasingly under fire for its suspected role in sponsoring terrorist activity, has launched a PR offensive to improve its image in the West," reports PR Week.
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PR Damage Control for Halliburton's Iran Deals
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"Only weeks before Halliburton made headlines by announcing it was pulling out of Iran ... the Texas-based oil services firm quietly signed a major new business deal to help develop Tehran’s natural gas fields," Newsweek's Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball write. "But overlooked in most of the press coverage of the announcement was that [Halliburton CEO David] Lesar’s statement contained enough wiggle room to permit Halliburton to continue participating in the new South Pars project. ...
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SOA Watch Watchers
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
At the trespassing trial of activists protesting the School of the Americas combat training base, "new information surfaced about a comprehensive plan devised by the U.S. Army to deflect criticism of the school, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation." Defendant Aaron Shuman introduced as evidence WHINSEC's "Strategic Communications Campaign Plan," which he obtained from an Army public affairs officer.
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PR, as in Profit and Propaganda
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"The Armstrong Williams scandal is an example of the close coordination between the advertiser and the commentator ... that violates disclosure and conflicts-of-interest principles," the Center for Media and Democracy's Sheldon Rampton told the New York Times' Timothy O'Brien.
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The PR Plan Behind Big Tobacco's Big Victory
The tobacco industry won a big victory Friday when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled in its favor, against the U.S. Justice Department. The court's ruling means that the Justice Department cannot force the industry to disgorge $280 billion in past profits, even if it wins its fraud and racketeering case against the cigarette makers.
Little media attention has been paid to this important decision in a landmark case concerning a major public health threat. The near-invisible nature of the ongoing federal trial to determine whether Big Tobacco engaged in a conspiracy of fraud and deceit may represent another aspect of that very conspiracy - the successful efforts of tobacco industry PR to influence journalists. Internal tobacco industry documents shed light on the largely hidden phenomena of corporate tobacco lobbyists courting favor with editorial boards.
No PR Firm Left Behind
Submitted by Laura Miller on
In the continuing saga of taxpayer money used to champion Bush administration policies, the Palm Beach Post reports, "A Florida State University center has used more than a half-million in education tax dollars to put a positive spin on President Bush's key school policies, including hiring a public relations firm to teach charter schools to be more media-savvy." As part of a 5
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Anti-Propaganda Propaganda?
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The Federal Propaganda Prohibition Act has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Stop Government Propaganda Act in the Senate, "to increase congressional oversight of federal PR contracts." Yet, "the reaction of the industry has been less than panicked." Why? "Neither bill is likely to become law." PR Week writes, "These anti-PR bills are mostly PR tools.
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Anti-WiFi "Sock Puppets of Industry"
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Glenn Fleishman has done a neat job of identifying some of the leading groups and individuals that are trying to stop U.S.
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Burson-Marsteller's Bromine Front Groups
Submitted by Laura Miller on
As the European Parliament has come into power, the population of lobbyists, PR firms and front groups has boomed in Brussels. In a new report, the Corporate Europe Observatory exposes the work of global PR firm Burson-Marsteller on behalf of the bromine industry as it attempts to stymie bans on bromine-based flame retardants.
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