Concerned about consumer backlash, the World Diamond Council (WDC) has pumped $15 million into a public relations and education campaign to respond to the new movie "Blood Diamond." The film, starring Leonard DiCaprio, opened to generally good reviews and ranked among the top ten in popularity during the holiday season. It is set in 1999 Sierra Leone, but, a multimillion dollar illicit trade in diamonds from African conflict zones (proceeds from which are used to fund criminal activity) continues in countries such as Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo. WDC created a website, DiamondFacts.org, asserting that the industry successfully participates in monitoring that all but eliminates blood diamonds. WDC also hired the PR crisis management firm, Sitrick and Company, to create an education campaign to neutralize the movie's potential impact. The stakes are high: "The film makes its debut during the heaviest-selling season for the $60 billion-a-year worldwide diamond industry, and the U.S. accounts for nearly half of diamond-jewelry purchases," writes T.L. Stanley.

Channel One, the controversial advertising-funded TV network that reaches 7 million secondary schools, faces declining revenue and its owner, Primedia, is looking to sell. The station has been especially hit by marketing pullbacks on food and beverage ads aimed at children, the subject of increasing criticism by prominent members of Congress and, most recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics. The home page of ChannelOne.com has featured U.S. Army "All American Bowl" football ads, as well as Pepsi products.

U.S. safety regulations for produce have been relegated to the far reaches of government bureaucracies, tucked into an under-funded combination of U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversight and state agriculture bureaucracies. Despite significant increases in 2006 of reported produce-related illnesses compared to previous years (ranging from a deadly spinach E.coli outbreak to Taco Bell's unsolved, but eventually controlled, East Coast E.coli outbreak in December), growers are lobbying for an industry-funded system of regulation. The approach is known as "marketing orders" in which farmers would pay for Department of Agriculture oversight through its "Agricultural Marketing Service," which does not traditionally work in food safety. At the FDA--where budget cuts have reduced inspections--an official has endorsed the new approach. But there is widespread disagreement on the most effective path to produce safety. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has petitioned the FDA and the State of California to set mandatory safety standards for fruit and vegetables. Researchers suspect that the deadly E. coli strain resulted from industrial livestock production methods, including force-feeding grain and antibiotics to cattle.

Late last month, NewsTrust went live. This non-profit online news rating service aims to help people identify quality journalism - or "news you can trust." The project is led by Fabrice Florin, a former journalist and a digital media pioneer at Apple and Macromedia. The concept is simple -- NewsTrust members submit articles, then read and rate them based on key journalistic principles such as fairness, balance, evidence, context and importance. The ratings are compiled and each article is given an overall "grade." Based on the positive reception it has so far received, NewsTrust plans to launch its full service in 2007.