Public Relations

American Legion and VFW Launch Pro-War Lobby & PR Campaigns

by John Stauber — August 16, 2007 - 9:22am

The Boston Globe reports "the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the nation's oldest and most influential veterans' organizations, have broken their relative silence on the merits of the Iraq war, joining some of the staunchest war supporters to lobby Congress and the public...

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Boston Globe, August 16, 2007

SourceWatch Tracks the Pro-War Lobby and Vets for Freedom

by John Stauber — August 15, 2007 - 9:37am
  • Topics: Citizen Journalism, Right Wing, Iraq, Front Groups, Terrorism, Third Party Technique, U.S. Congress, Lobbying, Public Relations, War / Peace

    • SourceWatch citizen journalist Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a dogged and prolific investigator of the pro-war lobby. AI began digging into the pro-war front group Vets for Freedom in June 2006. AI's research exposing the neoconservative agenda and Republican operatives behind VFF has been used by scores of journalists. Just do a Google search for "Vets for Freedom" and you'll find AI's work in our SourceWatch article right at the top of your returns, next to the VFF's own website.

    Pro-war funding appears plentiful for VFF as it gears up to lobby Congress in September. Here's some of the latest from AI and the VFF article on SourceWatch:

    Vets for Freedom and VoteVets Are "Valuable Public Relations Tools" for Politicians

    by John Stauber — August 14, 2007 - 9:07am

    The Associated Press examines two dueling partisan lobby groups composed of military veterans, "valuable public relations tools" for politicians in the debate over the war in Iraq. VoteVets "has spent about $850,000 this year on political ads. ... Its board of advisers includes ...

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    Associated Press, August 14, 2007

    Pulp Friction

    by Bob Burton — August 14, 2007 - 5:32am

    The latest edition of the Tasmanian Business Reporter waxes lyrical about the importance of building a massive pulp mill proposed by the controversial logging company Gunns. Writing about the positive coverage in The Australian, D.D.

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    The Australian, August 14, 2007

    McDonald's Advised to Fight or Fess Up

    by Bob Burton — August 13, 2007 - 4:47am

    McDonald's has been criticized by PR professionals for its response to the recent study by Stanford University School of Medicine and the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital which found that young children preferred foods associated with the company's packagi

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    Advertising Age, August 13, 2007

    University Defends Using Hill & Knowlton

    by Bob Burton — August 9, 2007 - 5:06am

    The human rights group Friends of Maldives protests H&K

    A local branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) representing University of California (UC) employees is protesting against UC management's hiring Hill & Knowlton to spin its labor reco

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    PR Week, August 7, 2007

    Drive-Buy Journalism Infests China

    by Bob Burton — August 9, 2007 - 5:00am

    Jamil Anderlini and Mure Dickie report that when the banking company HSBC and the China Charity Foundation recently held a celebration in Beijing, the event organizers paid attending Chinese journalists 200 renminbi ($26.40) as "transport money." "It's awful. It's an embarrassment for Chinese journalism ... and it's corruption," said Ying Chan, director of the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong.

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    Financial Times, August 5, 2007

    Bob Burton Takes Readers "Inside Spin"

    by Diane Farsetta — August 7, 2007 - 3:08pm

    The PR industry in Australia "employs more than 10,000 people and turns over more than $1 billion a year," writes the Center for Media and Democracy's Bob Burton, drawing on research published in his new book, "Inside Spin." While some PR campaigns are benefic

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    Sydney Morning Herald, August 7, 2007

    Clinton Campaign Dogged by PR Misdeeds

    by Diane Farsetta — August 7, 2007 - 2:07pm

    The PR firm Burson-Marsteller's anti-union consulting continues to haunt Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. That's because Mark Penn, a top campaign aide, also heads Burson-Marsteller (B-M).

    Main Source: 
    Los Angeles Times, August 7, 2007
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