PR Watch, First Quarter 1997, Volume 4, No. 1

Download PR Watch, First Quarter 1997, Volume 4, No. 1

Flack Attack

by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton

There is a precise and predictable inverse relationship between the work of journalists and the work of the public relations industry.

Good investigative journalists work to inform the public about the activities of the rich and powerful. They uncover secrets known only to a few, and share those secrets with the rest of us.

Public relations, on the other hand, works to control and limit the public's access to information about the rich and powerful. PR has its own techniques of investigation--techniques which range from opinion polling to covert surveillance of citizen activists. Rather than studying the few for the benefit of the many, these techniques study the many for the benefit of the few.

They're Rich, They're Powerful and They're Running Scared

On February 9-13, 1997, more than 200 of corporate America's top "political affair officers" (PAOs) came together with their favorite PR gunslingers to talk "grassroots" strategy and tactics.

Sponsored by the powerhouse Washington, D.C.-based Public Affairs Council (PAC), the annual "National Grassroots Conference for Corporate and Association Professionals" took place at the luxurious oceanside Marriott Casa Marina Resort in Key West, Florida. As in the past, the conference was expensive and exclusive. Not a single word about the event appeared in the local or the national press. Participants paid $1,200 a head to attend, plus lodging.

Risky Business: The World According to Hill & Knowlton

"For the last 30 years you and your corporations have been depicted as criminals," complained Hill & Knowlton Chairman and General Manager Thomas Buckmaster. His talk, titled "Defusing Sensitive Issues Through 'Risk Communication,'" was one of the most revealing and well-attended presentations at Key West.

Buckmaster cited a study of prime-time TV programming, which he claimed showed that "businessmen are three times more likely to be depicted as criminals than other people ... three times as likely to be depicted as too powerful. Sixty percent of the time businessmen are perceived as corrupt. ... We have to work under the cover of darkness because of the bad image of business."

Big Brother Gets Wired: The Dark Side of the Internet

Your boss calls you into his office and hands
you a phone number. "Call your senator," he says. "I've
got a piece of legislation that I need killed, and I want you to lobby
against it for me. Here's a script spelling out what I want you to say.
I'll just sit right here and listen in on your conversation."


align="BOTTOM">This scenario--a vision of dictatorial hell
for employees, heaven for corporate lobbyists--is not only possible but
happening today on a mass scale, thanks to companies like Gnossos Software.


align="BOTTOM">In a leaflet for a product called "Net
Action," Gnossos gives an example of the way computer database and
internet technologies are giving corporations unprecedented control over
the political activities of their employees:


align="BOTTOM">"Susan Michaels, Grassroots Director for
ABC Corporation, comes to work on Tuesday morning and is greeted with
email from the Washington office regarding an urgent legislative effort,"
the leaflet begins.

China's Corporate Friends in High (and Low) Places

Ideology is one thing. Money is another.

Quietly, behind the scenes, a coalition of some of the leading corporations in the United States has been working for years to ensure that China's Communist-led government retains most-favored-nation (MFN) trading status--in turn facilitating corporate access to Chinese markets and goods made by low-wage Chinese workers.

Details regarding the structure and tactics of this "industry grassroots initiative" were revealed by Scott Parven of Aetna Insurance at the Public Affairs Council's "National Grassroots Conference."

"Of course we don't usually talk publicly about our internal political strategy and tactics, but we're all among friends here, aren't we?" Parven said, smiling conspiratorially as he distributed a map and other coalition documents during his presentation, which was titled "Expanding Credibility Through Coalitions and Ally Development."

Mandarins and Moguls Unite for China's Most-Favored Nation Initiative

During Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign
against George Bush, he called for cutting off China's access to American
markets unless democratic changes were made, and said China's "most-favored
nation" (MFN) status should be linked to whether it chose to "recognize
the legitimacy of those kids that were carrying the Statue of Liberty"
in the pro-democracy Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989.


align="BOTTOM">For major corporations like Boeing and Motorola,
however, China's 1.2 billion people represent a huge potential market
for products ranging from cellular phones to airplanes to Coca-Cola and
Big Macs.

Flacks in Florida: PAC Member Consulting Firms

Members of the Washington, D.C.-based Public Affairs
Council include many of America's largest corporations, trade associations,
and public relations firms.


align="BOTTOM">Participants at PAC's February grassroots conference
looked like a Fortune 500 rogues' gallery: the National Association of
Manufacturers, the Chemical Manufacturers of America, the American Association
of Health Plans, the Edison Electrical Institute, the American Council
of Life Insurance, Kraft/Philip Morris, R.J.