Public Relations

A Talent for PR

by Judith Siers-Poisson — March 27, 2007 - 3:13pm

It didn't take Former Republican Senator Jim Talent of Missouri long to take a spin through the revolving door between government and the private sector. Talent just lost the Senate seat that he had held since 2003 in November, but the public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard has already hired him as co-chairman of its Government Relations subsidiary.

Main Source: 
Bulldog Reporter's Daily 'Dog, March 27, 2007

Shaping the Message, Distorting the Science

by Sheldon Rampton — March 27, 2007 - 3:13pm
  • Topics: Global Warming, U.S. Congress, Lobbying, Marketing, Public Relations, Science, Tobacco

    • I've been asked to deliver testimony this Wednesday before the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of Representatives, which is holding a hearing titled "Shaping the Message, Distorting the Science: Media Strategies to Influence Science Policy."

    And the Brand Played On

    by Diane Farsetta — March 23, 2007 - 3:21pm

    As noted in previous Spins, the movie "InnerState" was bankrolled by Johnson & Johnson to promote a drug produced by its biopharmaceutical unit, Centocor. But J&J isn't alone.

    Main Source: 
    PR Week, March 14, 2007

    Pakistan People's Party Plans U.S. Lobbying Campaign

    by Bob Burton — March 23, 2007 - 4:22am

    In February the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) hired BKSH & Associates, Burson-Marsteller and the polling company Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, to promote the need for "free, open and transparent elections in Pakistan in 2007." The contract, which runs to June 2007, could be worth as much as $250,000.

    Main Source: 
    The Hill, March 20, 2007

    Multifaceted PR Campaigns Grow on Trees

    by Diane Farsetta — March 20, 2007 - 5:05pm

    PR Week gave its "Public Affairs Campaign of the Year 2007" award to the Porter Novelli firm and the Abundant Forests Alliance, a front group for the "wood and paper products industry." The campaign was launched in response to "environmental activist" efforts to "change the foresting industry's procurement practices." The campaign's goal was to convince "col

    Main Source: 
    PR Week (print edition), March 12, 2007

    Public Relations: The International Language

    by Diane Farsetta — March 19, 2007 - 2:39pm

    "Overseas political groups are increasingly seeking to raise their legitimacy and sell their agendas in their home countries through communications outreach to US politicians, media, think tanks, and other influential audiences," writes PR Week.

    Main Source: 
    PR Week, March 16, 2007

    A High-Stakes Game of Telephone

    by Diane Farsetta — March 19, 2007 - 12:15pm

    In documents filed with the International Court of Arbitration in New York, the state-owned Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor is accusing the Russian telecom company Altimo of having "bribed journalists, whipped up nationalism and distorted the truth in an attempt to gain control of a mobile network in Ukraine which is jointly owned by the two companies," reports Michael Harrison.

    Main Source: 
    The Independent (UK), March 14, 2007

    Moore Spin: Or, How Reporters Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Nuclear Front Groups

    by Diane Farsetta — March 14, 2007 - 9:52am
  • Topics: Activism, Front Groups, Nuclear Power, Video News Releases, Public Relations

    • "We just find it maddening that Hill & Knowlton, which has an $8 million account with the nuclear industry, should have such an easy time working the press," concluded the Columbia Journalism Review in an editorial in its July / August 2006 issue.

    Tracking the Front Group "Boomerang"

    by Jonathan Rosenblum — March 14, 2007 - 4:06am
  • Topics: Front Groups, Journalism, Education, Public Relations

    • Corporate front groups can cause a "boomerang effect" to their sponsors, damaging the reputations of companies like ExxonMobil, Merck, and PepsiCo, when the sponsor's role in misrepresenting issues is widely revealed.

    "Public Intellectuals" Don't Come Cheap

    by Sheldon Rampton — March 13, 2007 - 12:02am

    After billionaire insurance mogul Maurice "Hank" Greenberg was charged with fraud and insurance and securities violations, he hired the eSapience PR firm — whose executives include the dean of MIT's Sloan School of Management — to buff up his image. Now eSapience is suing Greenberg for unpaid bills.

    Main Source: 
    Boston Globe, March 10, 2007
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