Corporate Damage Control Turns Tough

Alicia Mundy writes that "I was about to go live on the
Today show to discuss my book on the fen-phen scandal when the host,
Maria Shriver, leaned forward and very kindly said, 'I'm really sorry
about the way we're doing this interview and the questions I have to
ask. You understand, don't you?' ... It seems that the pharmaceutical company, Wyeth-Ayerst, had been
calling. Wyeth, a major conglomerate, makes Dimetapp and Robitussin, as
well as hormone replacement products and other drugs, and was a huge
advertiser with NBC. They'd apparently been in negotiations with NBC's
counsel over my pending appearance. ... I left satisfied, but remained curious about the dynamics
behind the scenes. The answer came this summer in an extraordinarily revealing panel at the
annual convention of Investigative Reporters and Editor [7],, in Washington. ... The panel, titled 'PR Attacks and Counterattacks,' was moderated by Mark
Feldstein of George Washington University. With him was a former local
TV news colleague, Kent Jarrell, who went over to the dark side to
P.R. and 'crisis management' in 1996, and is now a senior vice
president for litigation communications at APCO [8] Worldwide. Jarrell was
joined by Don Goldberg, a survivor of the Clinton White House, who toils
for the government relations firm Navigant Consulting."

Main Source:

Columbia Journalism Review, September/October, 2003 [9]