Crisis Management

Op-Ed

Conversation with "Fix the Debt," Help Count the Pinocchios

by Lisa Graves — February 28, 2013 - 12:21pm
  • Topics: Astroturf, Corporate Campaigns, Crisis Management, Front Groups, Corporations, Democracy, Economy, Media, Public Relations, Real Economy Project, U.S. Government

    • Last week, the Center for Media and Democracy and The Nation magazine worked together to publish a package in The Nation and a new online wiki resource on Pete Peterson and the Campaign to Fix the Debt, an entity we consider an "astroturf supergroup" with a huge budget working hard to create the fantasy that Americans care more about national debt and deficits than jobs and the economy. Fix the Debt is currently exploiting the "sequester" debate in Congress to encourage steep cuts to incredibly popular social programs like Medicare and Social Security.

    News

    The Trap Shoot Must Go On: Guess Who'll Be Shootin' with ALEC Members in Salt Lake? (The NRA and a Machine Gun Corp)

    by Lisa Graves — July 19, 2012 - 6:45am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Right Wing, Crisis Management, Front Groups, Issue Management, Third Party Technique, Corporations, Public Relations

    • Madison, WI -- Three months after the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) issued a PR statement that it was eliminating its Public Safety and Elections Task Force, which was previously led by the National Rifle Association (NRA), the NRA announced that it would still be hosting its regular annual shooting event at ALEC's summer convention, in Salt Lake City on July 28. For the past several years, on the Saturday of ALEC's annual meeting, the NRA has regularly hosted an outing for ALEC legislators and lobbyists to go shooting together -- with complimentary guns and ammo plus plenty of food and drink (this time it is a barbeque).

    Op-Ed

    Trained on Koch: Daily Caller Claims Fake Rebuttal of CMD on ALEC Role Promoting "Stand Your Ground" Laws

    by Lisa Graves — June 18, 2012 - 9:54am
  • Topics: Corporate Campaigns, ALEC Exposed, Crisis Management, Right Wing, Third Party Technique, Corporations, Democracy, Propaganda, Public Relations

    • Tucker Carlson's website, the "Daily Caller," recently posted a story claiming that a Florida state legislator had rebutted a purported claim by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) "drafted" Florida's "Stand Your Ground" (SYG)/"Castle Doctrine" law. But we did not make that claim.

    Special Report

    CMD Special Report: ALEC's Gun Agenda Flourished with Koch Industries on Board, as with other Koch-Funded Groups (Part Two)

    by Lisa Graves — May 16, 2012 - 8:58am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Crisis Management, Corporations, Democracy

    • PART TWO: ALEC's Extreme Gun Agenda Was No Secret Since Koch Joined its Board

    A new examination of the gun agenda of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) reveals numerous extreme bills advanced on the watch of Koch Industries as a leader and funder of ALEC. Koch has had a seat on ALEC's board for almost two decades, as many NRA bills became ALEC's "policy" and priority. An exploration of other entities funded by David or Charles Koch shows that this is no outlier and that other Koch-fueled organizations have also helped advance the NRA's efforts in a variety of ways.

    Special Report

    CMD Special Report: New Documents Confirm Koch Was on ALEC Crime Task Force Led by NRA (Part One)

    by Lisa Graves — May 14, 2012 - 12:22am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Crisis Management, Corporations, Democracy

    • PART ONE: New documents show that Koch Industries had a seat on the controversial "Public Safety and Elections Task Force" of the American Legislative Exchange Council as of at least 2011. (Part two of this special report detailing the extent of the gun agenda over the past two decades is available here.)

    ALEC announced it was dropping that task force in the wake of the controversy over the tragic shooting of Trayvon Martin and so-called "Stand Your Ground" (SYG) laws. However, the co-leader of that task force, Rep. Jerry Madden (R-TX), revealed ALEC's announcement to be a PR maneuver when he reassured The Christian Post that his task force's work would continue through other ALEC task forces.

    How News Gets Framed Influences Public Emotions Towards Corporations

    by Anne Landman — January 15, 2012 - 9:26am

    Corporate spinmeisters may take note of a new study out this month by University of Missouri and University of Singapore researchers. They studied readers' reaction to various news articles and found that the subtle way in which journalists report on crises -- like oil spills, plane crashes or product recalls -- can affect the public's attitude towards the corporation involved in the crisis. Not surprisingly, the public tends to respond more favorably towards a corporation if the story is given a "sadness-frame," meaning if it centers around the plight of the victims and how relief is being delivered. By contrast, if a story focuses on the corporation's contribution to the crisis, including laws that were potentially broken and possible punishment, it elicits a more negative attitudes towards the corporation. The research may prove useful to corporate criminals as well as accident-prone industries. "It is important for corporations to put on a human face during crises," Cameron said. "If a corporation can focus on the well-being of the victims and how the corporation will improve following the crisis, they have a better chance of influencing 'sadness-frame' news coverage as opposed to 'anger-frame' coverage. If the news coverage remains 'sadness-framed,' public perception will stay more positive." Watch for this spin in your local news and keep us informed at PRWatch.org.

    Main Source: 
    PhysOrg.com, January 13, 2012
    Op-Ed

    Synagro's Shiny New Patina

    by Anne Landman — October 3, 2011 - 4:28pm
  • Topics: Crisis Management, Corporations, Public Relations

    • Synagro Technologies is the latest big corporation trying to ditch a scandal-ridden past by re-branding itself. In an August 10, 2011 press release, the company announced it is launching a new website as part of a "rebranding initiative." The press release says the initiative "is a reflection of the enhanced and growing service and solution offerings that have resulted from organic growth and recent acquisitions." Of course, the press release fails to mention the back-to-back scandals that have plagued Synagro since 2008 as well as earlier controversies.

    Synagro is in the business of marketing sewage sludge as "compost," or, as the company's new, PR-approved website puts it, "Transforming natural waste challenges into sustainable, planet-friendly solutions." The company is a subsidiary of the Carlyle Group, the largest private equity firm in the world. Carlyle is also a sizeable part of the military-industrial complex with ties to numerous national politicians, including former British Prime Minister John Major, Alice Albright (daughter of former Secretary of State Madelyn Albright), and both George W. and George H.W. Bush.

    Can PR Fix This End Run?

    by Anne Landman — August 31, 2010 - 1:27pm

    Tiki Barber, a former running back for the New York Giants, has hired the 5W Public Relations agency in New York to try and repair his image after he left his wife, who was eight months pregnant with twins, for a former NBC intern. 5W Public Relations is the third PR agency Barber has hired to try and burnish his image.

    Main Source: 
    Huffington Post, August 31, 2010

    Sometimes PR Just Can't Help

    by Anne Landman — August 25, 2010 - 11:04am

    The PR debacles of BP, Toyota and Goldman Sachs show the limits of what public relations can do for companies in crisis.

    Main Source: 
    New York Times, August 22, 2010

    Reading Between the Lies

    by Chelsea Lawliss — August 4, 2010 - 1:12pm
  • Topics: Left Wing, Crisis Management, Iraq, Politics, Public Relations

    • Iraq's Ministry of Interior recently released a civilian casualty count for the month of July. Their report accounted for the lost lives of 535 Iraqis, making this past month the most violent since June 2008. This escalation in violence can be attributed in part to a situation which Jeremy Scahill, writer of the ground breaking novel, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army and correspondent for Democracy Now! explains as an unstable country. Iraq is as "unstable as it has ever been," Scahill says. "They [Iraqis] can't form a government. The vast majority of people don't have consistent access to potable water, to electricity, to gasoline... Iraq is a disaster right now."

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