International

Brits Propose Law to Shut Up Protesters

by Sheldon Rampton — May 18, 2002 - 10:00pm

The Independent of England has obtained a copy of a secret internal memorandum circulating in the UK's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which proposes an "urgent" change in the law by November to crack down on objections to the genetically modified crops.

Main Source: 
The Independent (UK), May 19, 2002

Journalists Repressed in Turkey

by Sheldon Rampton — May 16, 2002 - 10:00pm

A Turkish court has sentenced a journalist to a suspended prison term of 20 months for writing that ordinary Turks have litle hope for a fair trial. Meanwhile, the head of the international journalist group Reporters Without Borders has been banned from entering Turkey, after the group called Turkey's top general a "predator of press freedom."

Main Source: 
Miami Herald/Associated Press, May 17, 2002

Saudi Arabia Spends $3.8 Million on PR

by Laura Miller — May 15, 2002 - 10:00pm

"The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia has paid Qorvis Communications $3.8 million since it signed a one-year $200,000 a-month contract on Nov. 14 with the 15 percent Patton Boggs-owned PA shop," trade publication O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. "The bulk of those outlays ($2.9 million) were for advertising services to position the Kingdom as a trusted ally of the U.S. and a partner in President Bush's 'war on terror.' QC, in turn, paid its advertising contractor Sandler-Innocenzi $2.5 million for work on the ads.

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, May 16, 2002

Argentina Tries PR To Fix Economy

by Laura Miller — May 14, 2002 - 10:00pm

Argentina's Ministry of Economy is paying Zemi Communications $300,000 a year for media relations, reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily. Meanwhile, current President Eduardo Duhalde asked the World Bank to let it delay repaying $800 million in loans that come due this week according to a New York Times article. "Zemi Communication's job is to pitch the Ministry's revitalization efforts with financial institutions and the international press," O'Dwyer's writes.

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, May 15, 2002; New York Times, May 15, 2002

My Team Should Have Investigated Jenin

by Sheldon Rampton — May 9, 2002 - 10:00pm

William Nash, a retired U.S. Army major general, was one of the members of the United Nations fact-finding mission assigned to investigate what happened in Jenin during the Israeli incursion into the Palestinian refugee camp last month. Unfortunately, the team never got a chance to do its work. "Israel's need for clarification turned to obstruction and then to blockage. Our mood in turn changed from bemusement to frustration to anger," Nash writes.

Main Source: 
Washington Post, May 10, 2002

Philippines Hires Weber Shandwick

by Laura Miller — May 1, 2002 - 11:00pm

"The Philippines Dept. of National Defense is relying on Weber Shandwick to keep in touch with the Pentagon, White House, Congress and various federal agencies under a two-year contract worth $20,000 a month," reports PR trade publication O'Dwyer's. "The Philippines has the second biggest deployment of U.S.

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, May 2, 2002

Silencing the "Singer of the Wars"

by Sheldon Rampton — April 28, 2002 - 11:00pm

"To generations of Israeli fans, Yaffa Yarkoni has been 'the Singer of the Wars.' Whenever troops marched into battle, they could be sure Yarkoni would follow. Clad in fatigues, she raised spirits at the front with her rousing renditions of patriotic songs," writes Mary Curtis.

Main Source: 
Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2002

Defending Capitalism in Argentina

by Laura Miller — April 28, 2002 - 10:00pm

Rissig Licha, the Fleishman-Hillard PR firm's executive director in Argentina, is urging businesses there to "show their hand and defend the capitalist system. Once society begins to question the system, it will be much more difficult," says Licha, whose clients have included Philip Morris and the Clarin Group, a powerful media conglomerate. The problem is that Argentinians are already doing more than "question" the system. "You know what we want to do?

Main Source: 
PR Week, April 29, 2002

Terrible Tales: The Media and the Mideast

by Sheldon Rampton — April 24, 2002 - 4:31pm

Are the ways most media report and discuss the Israeli-Palestinian war making the crisis worse? Do accusations of media bias push people farther apart? How can news stories help bring about peace? The MediaChannel offers a compendium of news features and essays.

Main Source: 
http://www.mediachannel.org/atissue/mideast/

Italy's One-Party Media

by Sheldon Rampton — April 20, 2002 - 11:00pm

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a media mogul who already owns most of the country's television outlets, is trying to stamp out the few voices of dissent left on the airwaves. "On Thursday, the conservative prime minister accused two journalists and a comedian who have been critical of him in the past of the 'criminal use' of state television," reports the New York Times. ... Under his government, Mr. Berlusconi said, state television 'cannot be so seditious.'"

Main Source: 
New York Times, April 21, 2002
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