Headlines

Fineman Wins Gold Award for Pacifying Pacifica

The Bulldog Reporter, a publication that specializes in compiling dossiers on journalists for corporate PR use, has given its "gold award" in "crisis communications" to Michael Fineman of Fineman Associates Public Relations for his work on behalf of the Pacifica radio network. Fineman was hired to help contain the image problems that arose when the Pacifica's management used armed guards to forcibly expel veteran broadcasters, arrested demonstrators, and shut down station KPFA in Berkeley, CA.

Private Foundations Make News

Private foundations are using their tax-sheltered money to influence news and entertainment media according to a Poynter Institute study. Foundations like the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trust have funded journalist and media outlet with the intention to "shape" policy. "

iDEFENSE Intelligence Services Special Report: May Day 2001

iDEFENSE, an internet intelligence gathering service, created this report on the use of the internet by anti-capitalist activists, including a summary of May Day organizing in the UK. They write in the report's introduction: "Over the past six years, anti-capitalist protests have reemerged as a threat to public order worldwide. Since 1999, this development has been greatly enhanced by the increased use of the Internet as a means of disseminating ideology, coordinating activity and as an offensive medium.

Craig Shirley Does the Disabled

Conservative PR pro Craig Shirley has created a new front group called "Disabled Americans for Death Tax Relief," which recently ran full-page ads in the Wall Street Journal and Washington Times, urging Congress to abolish the federal estate tax. DADTR claims that millions of Americans would be adversely affected by the tax which the federal government places on estates over $650,000.

Leeds Students Campaign against Burson-Marsteller

The Burson-Marsteller PR form has established a partnership with Leeds Metropolitan University, the UK's largest university provider of public relations education. B-M will provide input into LMU's courses, share research, provide visiting lecturers and offer undergraduate and graduate training programmes, and LMU has also offered an honorary degree to company founder Harold Burson.

Professor BS

Supporters of genetically modified foods frequently claim that their position is based on "sound science," in contrast to the "junk science" practiced by anti-GM activists. Their definition of "sound science" is rooted in a set of norms for appropriate scientific behavior. A true scientist, the GM defenders say, would only argue his case with great care on the basis of sound, peer-reviewed data open to critical scrutiny. In reality, however, these standards of scientific probity are only demanded from perceived critics, while anything goes with scientists who support GM foods.

Chemical Industry Discusses PR Damage Control

Environmental activist Dave DeRosa snuck into the March 22, 2001 meeting of the Vinyl Formulators Environmental Forum and caught industry representatives discussing ways to limit bad publicity connected with Bill Moyers exposT of the chemical industry.

Chemical Industry Archives

The Environmental Working Group has created an extensive, keyword-searchable archive of 37,000 pages of internal chemical industry documents, detailing what industry insiders knew but didn't tell us about topics such as arsenic, the dangers of hairspray and the active ingredient in Scotchgard, or about the severe contamination of a chemical company town in Alabama. Visit this site to find out how the chemical industry spins, distorts, and twists the facts to suit its purposes -- and to prevent the public from finding out how dangerous their products really are.

Chemical Industry Attacks Bill Moyers Exposé, "Trade Secrets"

Veteran journalist Bill Moyers exposed decades of corruption of science and politics by companies, trade associations and PR firms defending the chemical industry in his March 26 documentary, Trade Secrets. In the week leading up to the actual broadcast, the chemical industry launched its own attack on Moyers, claiming that his documentary was unfair and biased.

Corporations Urged to Declare War on Food Activists

Agribusiness needs to use "attack technologies" against activists, according to Nick Nichols of the PR/crisis management firm Nichols-Dezenhall. Speaking to the annual business meeting of the National Pork Producers Council, Nichols quoted gangster Al Capone, who said: "You can get more with kind words and a smile and a gun than you get with kind words and a smile." (PR Watch has obtained a copy of Nichols' Powerpoint presentation to the pork producers. Click here if you want to download a PDF version.)

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