Wal-Mart "unveiled a new weapon ... the most comprehensive study to date on the retailer's impact on the U.S. economy." The study, paid for by Wal-Mart and conducted by Global Insight, concluded the retailer saved the average American $2,329 and created 210,000 jobs in 2004. It also tied a 2.2 percent wage decrease to Wal-Mart, but claimed the "nominal" fall was offset by lower prices. The study didn't address employee benefits or working conditions. The study was one of 10 papers presented at a Washington DC conference, with "five of them at least somewhat critical of Wal-Mart's ruthlessly low-cost business model," reported the Wall Street Journal. Wal-Mart's Bob McAdam said that while "some conclusions might not be favorable ... if everything was one-sided, it would not be credible." Asked Tracy Sefl, of the activist group Wal-Mart Watch, "Will they act on any of the studies that show they have negative effects on a community?"

The State Department's Inspector General is investigating Al Hurra, the U.S.-funded, Arabic-language satellite TV network. According to the Financial Times, the Broadcasting Board of Governors asked for the investigation into "possible irregularities" with procurement and contracting as well as "concerns that viewing figures might be inflated." The BBG oversees Al Hurra, which has a budget of $49 million for 2005. The House of Representatives Committee on International Relations subcommittee on oversight and investigations is also looking into the Virginia-based network, which broadcasts to 22 countries. The FT reports Kenneth Tomlinson -- BBG chair and until very recently a member of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting -- and Al Hurra news director Mouafac Harb will be called as witnesses for the November 10 hearing. According to the FT, Harb called the inspector general's investigation a general review into whether al-Hurra was fulfilling its mission. "There's a campaign against al-Hurra by some people in this city who don't like our dedication to freedom and democracy," he said.

"Industrial salmon farming corporations have learned an important lesson ... about what to do with their tarnished images of ecological and social injustice," writes Rebecca Clausen. "Simply pour money into a public relations campaign and overwhelm dissent." She points to half-page ads that the industry group Salmon of the Americas (SOTA) ran last month in major U.S. newspapers. The ads touted ocean-farmed salmon as "good for you" and "good for the oceans." Never mind that "the salmon farming industry is based on the 'stripping of the seas' through its reliance on fish-based feeds such as anchovy, sardines, and other lower-food-chain species," adds Clausen. SOTA uses the PR firm MarketShare, but its new push draws from Hill & Knowlton's work for the British Columbia Salmon Farmers Association. The Canadian industry group's executive director once bragged, "It's the stories that don't appear in the newspaper that mean we've done our job."

"Reports of paid video's demise are clearly premature," writes O'Dwyer's, in a magazine piece on how the PR industry is weathering increased scrutiny over video news releases (VNRs). "An informal survey by one VNR distributor found a majority of stations are still willing to consider video from outside sources." The firm AKA Media "had three blockbuster stories this summer" where their video was seen by more than 57 million people. Reflecting on their success with video for Burger King's Star Wars promotion, Edelman's Kim Metcalfe says, "Ironically, topics that are overtly commercial - where there's no hidden message - still do very well." Hill & Knowlton's Sallie Gaines claims "satellite media tours are more appealing to stations now." And Edelman's Metcalfe adds, "Radio is huge. ... We can easily count on an audio news release, even without paid placement, to generate more than 10 million listener impressions."

Email correspondence from the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the peak of the Hurricane Katrina crisis reads like a skit from "Saturday Night Live," according to Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz. Highlights include notes from FEMA director Michael Brown's press secretary, fretting that he needed more time for dinner before a TV appearance, and advice to Brown on how to pose for cameras: "Please roll up the sleeves of your shirt, all shirts. Even the president rolled his sleeves to just below the elbow. In this [crisis] and on TV you just need to look more hard-working."

Conservative pundits have been spinning the perjury indictment of Cheney chief of staff Scooter Libby as "Nadagate," a "mountain that's been made out of a molehill" based on an "investigation about nothing." The latest CBS opinion poll, however, shows that the public is taking the scandal seriously. Of the people polled, 51% consider the White House role in outing covert CIA agent Valerie Plame a matter of "great importance" - giving it a higher ranking than the Monica Lewinsky, Whitewater and Iran/Contra scandals, and almost as high as Watergate. The scandal has helped Bush's ever-sinking popularity reach new lows, and "on issues of personal trust, honesty and values, Bush has suffered some of his most notable declines."

Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman found the Business for Social Responsibility's 2005 conference a sobering experience. The conference was sponsored by companies including ExxonMobil, Pfizer, Philip Morris, McDonald's and Monsanto. "The news -- what these giant multinationals don't want you to know -- is that they hijacked Business for Social Responsibility from its founders," they wrote in Corporate Crime Reporter. However, some in the conservative think tank scene aren't at all enamored with the idea of corporate social responsibility. The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) and the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) organised a "counter conference" to challenge what they described as the "leftist dominated" BSR meeting. Amongst the speakers at the counter-conference were James Glassman, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and Paul Driessen from the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise.