PR Watch, Third Quarter 1999, Volume 6, No. 3

Download PR Watch, Third Quarter 1999, Volume 6, No. 3

Flack Attack

align="BOTTOM">PR Watch has never shied away from
controversy, and our target="_parent">second quarter 1999 issue was no exception. It drew strong
criticism from three individuals who have been involved in next year's
"Green Olympics" in Australia and who took exception to Sharon
Beder's critique of the role that Greenpeace has played in promoting the
Olympics as an environmental showcase. Their
letters appear in this issue.


align="BOTTOM">Beder in turn replied with a new article, titled
"From Green Warriors to Greenwashers"
and with the critique of former Greenpeace International CEO Paul Gilding
that appears as this issue's cover story.


align="BOTTOM">Given the sharp-tongued nature of this exchange,
it is important to point out that both Beder and Greenpeace have a long
track record of activism in defense of the environment.

Through the Revolving Door: From Greenpeace to Big Business

by Dr. Sharon Beder


The revolving door that operates between industry,
government and public relations firms has been well documented. A similar
revolving door between journalism and corporate PR helps grease a smoothly-operating
propaganda system in which both corporations and their supposed watchdogs
are in fact drinking buddies and business partners.


align="BOTTOM">Now Greenpeace, one of the world's leading
environmental organizations and a frequent adversary of corporate polluters,
is itself a site of the ubiquitous revolving door.

Palese Says Beder Was "Outdated, Incorrect and Unworthy"

Letter from Blair Palese, Greenpeace International Olympics Campaign, Sydney, Australia

Your article about Greenpeace's role in Sydney's Olympic Games ("Greenwashing an Olympic-Sized Toxic Dump," Sharon Beder, Second Quarter, 1999) was outdated, incorrect and unworthy of your usually insightful publication.

Beder implies, wrongly, that Greenp

OCA Spokesperson Says Beder Was Wrong

Letter from Dr. Kate Hughes, Ecology Programs Director, Special
Advisor for Environment to the OCA Director General


Dr. Sharon Beder is highly misled in her negative
assessment of the Olympic Coordination Authority's (OCA) Homebush Bay
site cleanup and appears uninterested in gaining further knowledge that
may provide opportunities to move on to a more informed position.


align="BOTTOM">Dr. Beder has chosen to ignore the significant
and beneficial leachate management system designed into the engineering
waste mounds that are visible at the OCA site.

Thorstensen Says Beder Was Bitter

Letter from Lynette Thorstensen, former CEO of Greenpeace Australia


I am very disappointed at the many inaccuracies
in the Sharon Beder piece. As CEO of Greenpeace Australia at the time
of the announcement of Sydney's successful bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics,
I undertook literally hundreds of interviews in which I deliberately raised
the issue of the dioxin-contaminated sites within the Olympics precinct.


align="BOTTOM">I remarked again and again that the Olympics
process, though far from perfect, would provide the momentum and the capital
needed to genuinely remediate the contaminated sites on the Rhodes peninsula.


align="BOTTOM">I was particularly passionate about these issues
because, prior to my appointment as CEO, I was the national Coordinator
of Greenpeace Australia's Toxics Campaign for four years.

Facts vs. Factoids: Sharon Beder Responds

by Dr. Sharon Beder


Neither Thorstensen nor Palese has challenged
the central point of my original
article, namely that the Sydney Olympic Games are sited on a toxic
waste dump that hasn't been cleaned up properly, and that to call them
"the Green Games" is an exercise in greenwashing. My article
was about how Sydney won the bid to host the Games by promoting them as
"green." I argued that the Olympic bidders were only able to
present the Games as "green" because Greenpeace supported the
bid by also promoting the Games as "green."


align="BOTTOM">Palese and Thorstensen do not take issue with
any of this.

From Green Warriors to Greenwashers

by Dr. Sharon Beder

When Greenpeace emerged as an international organization in the 1970s, it embodied a spirit of courageous protest by activists who were willing to place their bodies on the line to call attention to environmental injustice. Its mission was to "bear witness" to environmental abuses and take direct nonviolent action to prevent them.

In the 1990s, however, a new current of thought emerged, both at the international level and at the level of national affiliates such as Greenpeace Australia. Greenpeace leaders and many members began to talk of going beyond negative criticism. The Greenpeace Australia website proudly asserts this new philosophy: "We work with industry and government to find solutions."

Mining PR Exec Lauds Peter Sandman

Letter from Geoff Kelly

Group Manager Corporate Communication

WMC Limited

Victorian President, Public Relations Institute of Australia


In "Sandman's Cagey Tactics" (readers'
letter, Second Quarter
1999), the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force (NNWTF) seems to miss the
point of Peter Sandman's magic.


align="BOTTOM">I've worked with him a number of times, and
his greatest impact isn't with the catchy concepts that are the hallmark
of most high-profile consultants.