Crisis Management

Flacks Get a Chill Up the Spine

by Sheldon Rampton — September 5, 2007 - 1:20pm

James L. Horton of the Robert Marston & Associates PR firm is worried about Wikileaks, a new website that provides a means for people to share information about unethical behavior by governments and corporations. Wikileaks says it "is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and participatory analysis.

Main Source:

Online Public Relations Thoughts, September 5, 2007

Literal "Whitewashing": The Taiwanese Show How PR is Done After Plane Catches Fire

by Conor Kenny — September 2, 2007 - 2:42pm

This bit of PR whitewashing comes very close to a literal definition. From a Japanese press account quoted in the "Telstar Logistics" blog: "China Airlines has painted over its name and logo on the wreckage of a passenger jet that exploded in flames at Naha Airport in Okinawa moments after passengers slid down emergency chutes to escape. The airline painted over the name 'China Airlines' on the left-hand side of the aircraft and the company's logo on the plane's tail fin.

Main Source:

Telstar Logistics blog, August 23, 2007

We Know What You Did Online Last Summer

by Diane Farsetta — August 31, 2007 - 5:38pm

Topics: Citizen Journalism, Crisis Management, Internet, Issue Management, Human Rights, Secrecy

Self-described "disruptive technologist" Virgil Griffith lists as his top aim in developing WikiScanner: "To create a fireworks display of public relations disasters in which everyone brings their own fireworks, and enjoys."

Here at the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), we see WikiScanner as a great way to better understand how public relations firms and other "perception managers" are subverting online discussions and social media. And what better website to track this on than Wikipedia, the world's most popular wiki, or collaboratively edited website?

Was Wikipedia Spinning Part of H&K's Maldives Work?

by Diane Farsetta — August 31, 2007 - 1:03pm

The Center for Media and Democracy has previously reported on the PR firm Hill & Knowlton's work for the oppressive regime of the president of the Maldives, Maumoon Gayoom.

Main Source:

Wikipedia / WikipediaScanner

Fake Green Certification Backfires

by Bob Burton — August 29, 2007 - 4:13am

The Australian supermarket company Woolworths has withdrawn a range of tissue products after being outed by an anonymous blogger for using a "Sustainable Forest Fibre" logo on products sourced from a notorious Indonesian forestry company.

Main Source:

Australian Associated Press, August 27, 2007

Logging Lobbyist Joins Politicians Pulp Mills Tour

by Bob Burton — July 25, 2007 - 3:42am

A lobbyist for the Australian forestry company Gunns will travel with a delegation of Tasmanian politicians visiting pulp mills in Brazil, Chile and Finland.

Main Source:

The Mercury (Australia), July 25, 2007

Pulling the Charity Lever

by Bob Burton — July 15, 2007 - 5:41am

A six-all vote by Launceston City Council on a motion expressing opposition to a proposed pulp mill has irked Gunns, the Tasmanian logging company pushing the project.

Main Source:

The Mercury (Australia), July 14, 2007

When Publicists Attack

by Sheldon Rampton — July 13, 2007 - 10:10pm

Gawker.com, a New York-based website that focuses on media news and gossip, has posted the contents of an email exchange between Ronn Torossian of 5W Public Relations and Richard Rubenstein, the son of PR crisis management guru Howard J. Rubenstein.

Main Source:

Gawker.com, July 6, 2007

How to Cool Down Global Warming

by Diane Farsetta — July 3, 2007 - 10:29am

Drawing on documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Rolling Stone details the Bush administration's "ongoing strategy to block federal action on global warming." In 2002, the administration's Climate Action Report was reported on as a "stark shift" in U.S. policy.

Main Source:

Rolling Stone, June 20, 2007