The PR firm Edelman "is working with the American Petroleum Institute (API), the oil industry's primary lobbying group, on a public issues campaign aimed at convincing Americans that the industry is facing severe challenges, even as its members pull in record quarterly profits," reports PR Week. Print ads designed by Edelman's advertising unit, Blue Worldwide, "have run in major daily newspapers across the nation, as well as in Roll Call and The Hill." The print ads urge "consumers to adopt conservation measures this winter" and push for the removal of "barriers on the production of natural gas on federal lands." Blue Worldwide also launched "a new TV campaign that will run during news and public affairs programming, which started with NBC Nightly News" on November 10.

West Virginia's Pharmaceutical Cost Management Council unanimously approved "a financial disclosure form that would require pharmaceutical companies to reveal how much they spend on advertising and promotion of brand-name drugs" in the state, as well as any "gifts, grants or payments to physicians" in excess of $25. A legislative rules committee considers the form and related rule changes next, though they will likely "be challenged in court by the pharmaceutical industry." An attorney with the industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) said the proposal "is much more extreme, we think, than is authorized by statute." To back up its critique, PhRMA presented "a four-page analysis from the Washington law firm Covington and Burling." A PhRMA state lobbyist also argued that such information should be "used internally by the council ... and not be accessible, say, to attorneys doing litigation against a company." West Virginia's AARP supports the measure.

"Time heals a lot of marketing wounds," said the director of the University of Southern California's Sports Business Institute. In June 2003, basketball star Kobe Bryant signed a four-year, $45 million endorsement deal with shoe company Nike. Weeks later, Bryant was accused of sexual assault. Now that the criminal case has been dismissed and a related civil lawsuit settled, "Nike and Mr. Bryant are slowly relaunching the star's career as a product endorser." But even while Bryant's legal problems abounded, Nike had "an under-the-radar campaign intended to keep the star's cachet high among shoe collectors and other taste makers." That included limited releases of shoes "customized for Mr. Bryant that landed in upscale sneaker boutiques," raffles of shoes with Bryant's signature, and others with his personal logo, a "dagger-like etching." While "traditional consumer-product companies" are staying away from Bryant, Nike "recently rolled out its first Kobe print campaign."

The American Chemistry Council (ACC), which recently launched a major chemical industry PR campaign called "essential2," is one of the main groups claiming that the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), a public right-to-know program, is not so essential. Under TRI, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency annually reports on what industries release into the air, water and land. The ACC "has urged less frequent reporting since 1999." ACC's Michael Walls said, "Just because we're used to doing something doesn't mean we should accept the inherent high costs or burden of doing it." The Bush administration supports changing the TRI so that fewer releases are reported, less frequently. EPA officials say they will "likely spend another year weighing the pros and cons" of the proposed changes, after the public comment period ends on December 5. According to federal records, the EPA "previously solicited comments from industry groups."

In its latest quarterly financial report, Medialink Worldwide, the world's biggest producer of video news releases (VNRs), has revealed that its losses are growing. In the three months to the end of September, the company had a loss of $1.3 million from continuing operations, compared to $596,000 for the same period in 2004. Medialink's Media Communications Services unit - which is responsible for products such as VNRs, audio news releases, B-roll and Satellite Media Tours - suffered a 6.9 percent drop in income, largely as the "result of a significant decline in business from a major customer." The company notes that changes in government regulations imposed "on the company or on the news media could have the effect of reducing the effectiveness of our services." On the teleconference for investors, Medialink's CEO, Larry Moskowitz, made no direct mention of the controversy over fake news.