Flack Attack

If you turn on the TV these days, it's nearly impossible to not see someone spinning a story. Children and young adults are not exempt from the reach of perception managers. In this back-to-school issue of PR Watch, we examine a few examples of classroom PR.

On college and university campuses this fall, students may find themselves being asked to join in a fight for "intellectual diversity" that is being spearheaded by the group Students for Academic Freedom. What may not be readily apparent to students, however, is that SAF is closely associated with the neo-conservative crusader David Horowitz, and the quest for "intellectual diversity" is a deceptively named campaign to place restrictions on instructors who are perceived as being too liberal. Ithaca College senior Molly Riordan, who interned with the Center over the summer, reports on Horowitz's Students for Academic Freedom and their Academic Bill of Rights.

Continuing in the back-to-school theme, the Center's Research Director Sheldon Rampton takes a look at the U.S. military's student-oriented recruitment efforts, highlighting the Pentagon's shoot-'em-up video game "America's Army." PR Watch editor Laura Miller examines the American Beverage Association's new school vending policy. She finds that ABA's plan is reminiscent of a larger industry PR campaign that seeks to deflect blame for soaring childhood obesity rates.

Also in this issue, Senior Researcher Diane Farsetta looks at a Pentagon PR strategy to polish the image of the controversial training facility the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly known as the School of the Americas.