Corporations

Former Monsanto Exec Takes Another Turn Through the Industry-Government Revolving Door

by Sheldon Rampton — April 1, 2001 - 11:00pm

President Bush announced that he will nominate Linda J. Fisher, a former executive of the Monsanto Company, as well as an official with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the Reagan Administration, to be Deputy EPA Administrator. Fisher most recently served as Vice President of Government Affairs for Monsanto, an agricultural biotechnology firm. Fisher served as Chief of Staff for EPA Administrator Lee M. Thomas from 1985 to 1988.

Main Source: 
CSO Weekly Report, April 2, 2001

Corporate Front Group Created to Support Arctic Drilling

by Sheldon Rampton — March 22, 2001 - 11:00pm

The oil and gas industry has launched the Energy Stewardship Alliance, aimed at winning access to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. ESA claims to be a non-profit coalition of "professional organizations" and "individuals" who believe opening the Refuge to oil drilling is worth the human and environmental risk.

Main Source: 
Greenpeace USA, March 22, 2001

A Free Press...If You Can Afford It

by Anonymous — March 12, 2001 - 12:00am

Powerful corporations routinely throw their weight around in the local and national media--and get away with it. Before running a piece about Micron Technologies, the Idaho Statesman sent a review copy to...Micron Technologies. The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal got a scoop on a big airline merger, under the condition that they not talk to any critics of the deal. In their Fear and Favor 2000 report, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting document these and many more examples of the media caving in to corporate spin.

Main Source: 
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, March 12, 2001

Corporate Spin and Lies: A Spymaster's Lament, And A Warning To Us All

by Sheldon Rampton — February 28, 2001 - 11:00pm

Feeling brainwashed? The world's most famous spy, John le CarrT (aka David Cornwell) thinks you should be. "We have become the creatures of these people," he said in a recent interview. "Advertising as news. It's prevalent in every aspect of the press. It's very skilfully done. The amount of energy and money and ingenuity applied to corporate spin and corporate lying has never been greater or more effective than it is now."

Main Source: 
Sydney Morning Herald, February 28, 2001

In NGOs We Trust

by Sheldon Rampton — December 18, 2000 - 11:00pm

This news release by Edelman PR explains the rationale for trying to encourage business "partnerships" with activist groups: "You've got an environmental disaster on your hands. Have you consulted with Greenpeace in developing your crisis response plan? Co-opting your would-be attackers may seem counterintuitive, but it makes sense when you consider that NGOs (non-governmental organizations) are trusted by the public nearly two-to-one to 'do what's right' compared with government bodies, media organizations and corporations."

Main Source: 
PR News, December 18, 2000

Tobacco Industry Sponsors British School of "Business Ethics"

by Sheldon Rampton — December 6, 2000 - 11:00pm

London's Nottingham University has been vigorously criticized for its

Main Source: 
The Guardian (London), December 6, 2000

Think Tanks: Corporations' Quiet Weapon

by Sheldon Rampton — January 29, 2000 - 11:00pm

Derailing a multibillion-dollar federal plan to restore the Florida Everglades is just the kind of cause that suits Citizens for a Sound Economy, a conservative think tank. But soon after the group took on the Everglades project in 1998, the Washington-based nonprofit got an incentive that went beyond the purely philosophical. It received $700,000 in contributions from Florida's three biggest sugar enterprises, which stand to lose thousands of acres of cane-growing land to reclamation if the Army Corps of Engineers plan goes into effect.

Main Source: 
Washington Post, January 29, 2000

Fortress Microsoft

by Sheldon Rampton — March 7, 1999 - 11:00pm

A scathing item by Tony Seideman ravages Microsoft's PR tactics, arguing that "the company's internal story is so far from what others are seeing that it is enraging members of the media who would rather be friendly, straining people's credibility and ultimately harming its own interests." Through its media relations operatives at Waggener Edstrom, Microsoft has tracked its press coverage with "spreadsheet precision and wooed select tech reporters for key media outlets via command audiences with Bill." The result, Seideman says, is a cult-like atmosphere within the company: "There is a point b

Main Source: 
Salon.com, March 8, 1999
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