From Evans Memorial Library

Two corporate giants, Xerox and Procter & Gamble, are launching new corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaigns. The Xerox campaign, "Let's Say Thanks," encourages customers to send postcards to U.S. soldiers stationed overseas. The postcards feature artwork by children; Xerox "is hoping to garner media coverage through the local drawing contests for kids." The P&G campaign, "Pantene Beautiful Lengths," encourages people "to grow, cut, and donate their hair to make wigs for women who have lost hair due to cancer treatment." P&G's Anthony Rose told PR Week, "We created the program to form a deep, emotional bond between our consumers and Pantene. Increasingly, we are learning that mere awareness of the brand, its functionality, and performance are not enough." Rose credited P&G's PR firm, DeVries Public Relations, with the idea for the campaign.

Susan E. Dudley, the "Regulatory Studies Director" at the anti-regulatory think tank the Mercatus Center and a self-proclaimed "free-market environmentalist," has been nominated by the White House to "a little known but powerful post at the Office of Management and Budget." If confirmed by the Senate, Dudley will head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), which "reviews major agency regulations with an eye toward reducing compliance costs, and according to critics, easing burdens on companies." Dudley and Mercatus have been "very active" on OIRA issues, notes the Wall Street Journal. "Ultimately, 14 of the 23 rules the White House chose for its 2001 'hit list' were Mercatus entries."

Journalist blogger Josh Wolf was jailed for contempt of court after refusing to give a grand jury film footage of a street protest. The New York Times reports he claimed his "right as a journalist to shield his sources" and compared him to disgraced Times journalist Judith Miller who was jailed for protecing her source in the Valerie Plame scandal, Dick Cheney's indicted chief of staff Scooter Libby. Josh Wolf appears to be the first online journalist jailed for protecting sources. The San Francisco Bay Guardian reports that "In addition to the National Lawyers Guild, Wolf has received assistance from the Society of Professional Journalists. The ACLU and the French organization Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press both filed amicus briefs on Wolf’s behalf." Meanwhile, Wolf's website on August 1 had this appeal: "Josh is in jail and this is his mom!. ... I don’t have any other information at this time, but his lawyer is planning to file an appeal to the federal 9th circuit court. That filing alone costs almost $500, so if you can donate any little bit helps with the expenses of legal counsel and money for Josh while in jail."