James Hoggan, a long time Canadian PR pro, represents a slew of big corporations and trade associations. But Hoggan is also the chair of the David Suzuki Foundation, a leading environmental organization, and he has been using his DeSmogBlog to heap shame and ridicule upon his colleagues in the PR business over the issue of global climate change. Hoggan says that "few PR offenses have been so obvious, so successful and so despicable as the attack on the scientific certainty of climate change. This is a triumph of disinformation. It is a living proof of the success of one of the boldest and most extensive PR campaigns in history, primarily financed by the energy industry and executed by some of the best PR talent in the world. As a public relations practitioner, it is a marvel - and a deep humiliation - and I want to see it stop."

"As the George W. Bush administration struggles through its last two years in office, it appears that the agenda of neoconservative ideologues has finally lost its appeal among strategic parts of the U.S. foreign policy apparatus," writes Khody Akhavi. "But as their influence has waned at the Pentagon and State Department, neo-conservative hawks have taken charge on the battlefield of public diplomacy. ... Right-wing hawks have gained control of the weapons in the 'war of ideas' -- U.S. government-funded and supported media outlets such as Voice of America (VOA), Al-Hurra, and Radio Farda, which broadcast to the Middle East." Neo-con polemicist Jeffrey Gedmin has taken over Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and U.S.-sponsored stations are now highlighting interviews with prominent neocons like Richard Perle and Michael Rubin. "As a result," Akhavi writes, "viewers and listeners of U.S.-supported media in the Middle East are being exposed to a tougher ideological line that endorses the hallmarks of the neoconservative agenda — regime change and interventionist policies in the region." According to Joshua Muravchik of the American Enterprise Institute, the change will help improve America's image in the Middle East because "We are, after all, a movement whose raison d'etre was combating anti-Americanism in the United States. Who better then to combat it abroad?" According to political science professor Marc Lynch, however, the opposite is likely to be true. He notes that Al-Hurra recently promoted an interview with John Bolton, who "is particularly disliked in the Arab world, and his complaints about anti-American bias at the UN will repel more Arab viewers than it could hope to impress. But the Wall Street Journal loves him... and of course that's the only audience which really matters for al-Hurra anymore."

Glenn Greenwald and Joshua Micah Marshall are calling out the mainstream media for uncritically parroting the Bush administration's new strategy of referring to Iraqi insurgents as "Al Qaeda." Greenwald writes, "What is so amazing about this new rhetorical development — not only from our military, but also from our 'journalists' — is that, for years, it was too shameless and false even for the Bush administration to use. Even at the height of their propaganda offensives about the war, the furthest Bush officials were willing to go was to use the generic term 'terrorists' for everyone we are fighting in Iraq. ... Even the President acknowledged that 'Al Qaeda' was the smallest component of the "enemies" we are fighting in Iraq." In a follow-up post, he adds: "This sudden shift in describing the 'enemy' in Iraq as 'Al Qaeda' is the by-product of a very familiar information-producing system: namely, the administration formulates narratives, the President announces them, his top officials and military commanders recite them endlessly, and then establishment 'journalists' not only write them down, but rely exclusively — and uncritically — on those narratives to report events."

Medicines Australia, the drug industry's peak lobby group, has lost a legal bid to protect member companies from being required to disclose details of hospitality they provide at "educational" events for doctors. In July 2006 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the corporate regulator, approved the industry's self-regulatory code of conduct but added a provision that every six-months member companies must disclose the details of each event for doctors and post the information to a website. The Australian Competition Tribunal rejected Medicines Australia's appeal against the provision. Dr. Ian Haines, who gave evidence in the case in support of the ACCC, welcomed the decision as "a very good first step to dismantle this whole gravy train." But he is critical that the doctors who receive the drug industry's gifts won't be identified. "Every doctor should be named on the website, and everything they accept," he said.

The family of Paris Hilton has hired PR attack dog Michael Sitrick to repair the released jailbird's reputation. According to Gawker.com, a New York-based website that focuses on media news and gossip, Sitrick is "a PR pit bull ... a master of spin ... someone who will stop at nothing to turn public opinion in his clients' favor." His other clients have included billionaire businessman Ron Burkle, fired Wal-Mart marketer Julie Roehm, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles during its pedophile priest scandal, Halle Berry when she faced hit-and-run charges, and Rush Limbaugh during his prescription pill addiction scandal. How does Sitrick perfume the reputations of these human stink bombs? "His methods are aggressive and strategic," writes Gawker. "He uses what he calls 'truth squads' to monitor the media (including blogs) to ferret out inaccuracies about his clients and 'wheel-of-pain' tactics against his client's foes — a campaign of negative publicity intended to spur a quick settlement."

Earlier this year, the investments held by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in companies which had adverse health and environmental impacts were scrutinised by the Los Angeles Times. The foundation, which aims to improve health and reduce extreme poverty, said they would review their investment policy, but then subsequently retreated. The foundation has recently appointed Heidi Sinclair to the newly created position of director of communications. Sinclair, who will take up the position in September, is currently president and CEO of PR firm Burson-Marsteller in Europe and has previously worked in the technology practices of the PR firms of Hill & Knowlton, Ketchum and Regis McKenna. She has also worked for software companies Lotus and Borland. The Seattle Times reports that when Sinclair worked for Borland in 1993 she told Time magazine that "Microsoft resembles the IBM of yore: the 800-lb. gorilla that sits anywhere it wants."

The U.K. Parliament's Public Administration Committee is set to launch an inquiry into the lobbying industry. PR Week reports that the inquiry will investigate "the transparency of the lobbying industry, the effectiveness of recent attempts at self-regulation, and whether the rules for those in Parliament and government should be changed." The committee has drafted ten questions it wants public comment on, including whether lobbyists should "be regulated by an outside body." The Association of Professional Political Consultants recently wrote to all MP's indicating support for the inquiry. However, possibly requiring lobbyists to be a member of their organization, rather than just agreeing to abide by the code of conduct, sparked criticism. "It turns an ethical debate into a thinly disguised attempt to secure commercial advantage for member companies," wrote Chris Whitehouse, the managing director of The Whitehouse Consultancy.

As media mogul Rupert Murdoch closes in on a deal to buy the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times has unleashed a multi-part series about Murdoch's business dealings. Monday's installment reported that Murdoch's "vast media holdings give him a gamut of tools — not just campaign contributions, but also jobs for former government officials and media exposure that promotes allies while attacking adversaries, sometimes viciously — all of which he has used to further his financial interests and establish his legitimacy in the United States." Tuesday's installment highlights Murdoch's willingness to subordinate his conservative ideology to business goals, noting that in China he "has flattered Communist Party leaders and done business with their children ... joined hands with the Communist Youth League" and "cooperates closely with China's censors and state broadcasters" to cultivate "political ties that he hopes will insulate his business ventures from regulatory interference."

SourceWatch is CMD's on-line, collaborative encyclopedia of people, organizations and issues shaping the public agenda. Granting foundations -- regardless of their areas of interest or position on political spectrum -- certainly fit the bill. The Foundation Center has a list of the top 100 foundations by giving as of March 2007. Can you help us include this information in SourceWatch? Go to the Foundation Center page and look up one of the foundations on SourceWatch. If there is an article already, you can add the giving information. You can also click on the foundation's name on the Foundation Center page to visit their website, where you can find more information to include in the SourceWatch article. If a SourceWatch article doesn't yet exist, you can start one with the information you find.

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According to a new poll by Newsweek, "Even today, more than four years into the war in Iraq, as many as four in 10 Americans (41 percent) still believe Saddam Hussein's regime was directly involved in financing, planning or carrying out the terrorist attacks on 9/11, even though no evidence has surfaced to support a connection. A majority of Americans were similarly unable to pick Saudi Arabia in a multiple-choice question about the country where most of the 9/11 hijackers were born. Just 43 percent got it right -- and a full 20 percent thought most came from Iraq."

A report by the European Commission (EC), which favours weaker regulatory standards on the advertising of prescription drugs, has been dismissed as biased by a coalition of consumer groups and health professionals. The EC report states that the "pharmaceutical industry possesses the key information on their medicines but this information can currently not be made available to patients and healthcare professionals." However, supporters of the current ban on direct-to-consumer advertising argue that drug companies often under-emphasize the potentially serious side-effects associated with prescription drugs. "Increasingly frequent health scandals are on-going reminders of the medical and legal dangers of excessive promotion of new medicines," Health Action International, the Medicines in Europe Forum, and the International Society of Drug Bulletins wrote in an open letter to the EC. Members of the public have until June 30 to respond to the EC's document on 'patient information'.

On June 25, the Central Intelligence Agency will declassify its "full 693-page file amassed on CIA's illegal activities by order of then-CIA director James Schlesinger in 1973 -- the so-called 'family jewels.'" The non-governmental research institute National Security Archive "separately obtained ... a six-page summary of the illegal CIA activities, prepared by Justice Department lawyers after a CIA briefing in December 1974, and the memorandum of conversation when the CIA first briefed President Gerald Ford on the scandal on January 3, 1975." On the list of CIA activities that "presented legal questions" are: wiretapping two syndicated columnists; conducting physical surveillance of several journalists, including the Washington Post's Michael Getler and current Fox News anchor Brit Hume; compiling files on "9,900-plus Americans related to the antiwar movement"; conducting behavior modification experiments on "unwitting" U.S. citizens; and planning to assassinate Cuba's Fidel Castro and other foreign leaders.

Child refugees from DarfurPoor Adidas, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald's, and other companies that have "coughed up tens of millions of dollars to sponsor the Olympics" in 2008. If they "ignore activists such as Darfur groups -- who have already branded next summer's Games the Genocide Olympics, in reference to what they say is China's complicity with mass killings in Sudan -- they risk angering consumers back home. But if they criticize Beijing, they could run afoul of the Chinese government and jeopardize their future in the world's most promising market." The Free Tibet Campaign's Matt Whitticase said, "You cannot ... trumpet your corporate responsibility credentials, while at the same time indulging China and refusing to criticize it." But that's exactly what the Olympics sponsors are trying to do. McDonald's says the Olympics "aren't the right forum for discussing Darfur," GE says pressuring China won't help Darfur, and Coke says it won't interfere "in the internal policy decisions of sovereign nations such as China and Sudan."

A U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has thrown a legal lifeline to two former Fleishman-Hillard executives, Doug Dowie and John Stodder, who were sentenced to time in prison for their role in overbilling the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for PR work. The court granted the two bail while their appeal is before the courts, on the grounds that they presented little risk of fleeing. In its decision, the court wrote that their "appeal raises a 'substantial question' of law or fact" that could result in the earlier court decision being overturned, a re-trial ordered or a non-custodial sentence imposed.

From the SiCKO website"A multifaceted counteroffensive against Michael Moore's film about the health care industry" is beginning, reports Elizabeth Solomont. To counter the movie Sicko, "free market think tanks and the drug companies are already mobilizing. ... Several organizations staging responses to 'Sicko' receive funding from pharmaceutical companies, including the Manhattan Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Pacific Research Institute," notes Solomont, citing SourceWatch. "It definitely has to be rebutted," said the Pacific Research Institute's Sally Pipes. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America's Ken Johnson called the film a "biased, one-sided attack." Health Care America, "whose Web site says it is funded in part by pharmaceutical manufacturers," held a conference call with reporters, "to discuss what Michael Moore left out of his movie." A press release from FreedomWorks says the conservative lobbying group will also weigh in, with its "nationwide grassroots army ... handing out information at movie theaters that exposes Moore's hypocrisy, points out the problems associated with government-run health care, and promotes the FreedomWorks solution of removing existing government barriers that prevent Americans from being able to use the free market to choose the care that suits their individual needs."

A B-roll video -- an unassembled video news release -- has been distributed to Canadian newsrooms warning consumers that "disease causing germs can be found lurking" just about everywhere in the home. The video, which was distributed by the PR firm Hill & Knowlton on behalf of The Hygiene Council, includes a "suggested" script for journalists. The suggested narration reads, in part: "Lysol is the No.1 pediatrician recommended brand and can help you maintain a clean, healthy environment for the whole family." The video includes interview clips of two doctors who are members of The Hygiene Council, Professor John Oxford from St. Bartholomew's and Royal London Hospital, and Dr Donald Low, the Microbiologist-in-Chief at the Toronto Medical Laboratories, Mount Sinai Hospital. Who makes Lysol? Reckitt Benckiser, a company that produces chemical products for domestic consumers. And who funds The Hygiene Council? On its website -- but not in the B-roll information sent to newsrooms -- the council states that it is funded by "an educational grant from Reckitt Benckiser."

"Don't let union bosses eliminate your right to privacy!" warns an ad from the Center for Union Facts, one of many front groups associated with lobbyist Rick Berman. With the U.S. Senate deliberating over a bill that "would give employees at a workplace the right to unionize as soon as a majority signed cards saying they wanted to do so," Berman & Co. are busy. The Center for Union Facts has spent "$500,000 on newspaper and broadcast advertisements this week alone," reports the New York Times. The House has already passed the bill, but not by enough votes to override a presidential veto. In the Senate, "Republicans and their business allies are predicting that they can prevent even an up-or-down vote on the measure." Like the Center for Union Facts, many Republicans are saying that "majority sign-up is less fair than secret-ballot elections," and warning that labor organizers will intimidate "workers into signing pro-union cards."

"Today's video PR campaigns must include both traditional and online components," counsels PR Week. "Leave nothing on the cutting-room floor ... put it on YouTube or another video-sharing site. ... The use of viral video and other new-media initiatives is essential in connecting with teens," but "equally important is engaging parents, educators, and other adult influencers via traditional broadcast vehicles," such as video news releases (VNRs), B-roll video and satellite media tours. For example, Boston Market hired Fleishman-Hillard and On the Scene Productions to promote its "Time for Your School" program. The PR campaign included a partnership with Students Against Destructive Decisions, a page on the MySpace social networking site, and "traditional broadcast components" such as TV satellite and radio media tours. To promote its PlayStation 3, Sony had the PR firm Medialink Worldwide issue VNRs, B-roll, "multimedia offerings distributed via its digital newsroom," and viral videos posted to social networking sites.

The two lobbying firms unflatteringly profiled in a Harper's Magazine article on Washington DC lobbyists for foreign dictators -- APCO Worldwide and Cassidy & Associates -- are not amused. In researching the piece, Harper's reporter Ken Silverstein presented himself to the firms as someone interested in rehabilitating the poor image of Turkmenistan, "one of central Asia's most repressive countries." APCO's B.J. Cooper called the Harper's piece the "most unethical reportorial project" he's ever seen, saying Silverstein "lied to" his firm and published information "out of context." Using the "no news here" crisis management tactic, Cassidy issued a statement expressing surprise that "a reporter would go to such extraordinary lengths to gather information in such a deceptive way that really isn't all that new or interesting." Both firms say that Harper's should have at least given them an opportunity to comment. Silverstein admits to "trickery," but defends the article as a "public service."

David Hancocks, a former director and architect of zoos in the United States and Australia, is skeptical of the conservation benefits often claimed by zoos. While many zoos tout breeding as a success story, Hancocks sees it as "merely basic zoo business: zoos must breed their animals to preserve their collections. Hardly any animals born in zoos are introduced to the wild." Despite this, he wrote in an opinion column, "They nonetheless loudly position themselves as leaders in wildlife conservation. In truth, government and non-government agencies are most successful in restoring habitat and reintroducing wild species. Zoos play an occasional minor role - and want all the glory." While a supporter of what he describes as a handful of the "best zoos," he is not persuaded by the claims of many zoos that their re-designed enclosures improve conditions for the animals: "The new zoos, sans cages, make visitors feel better, but it is all deception. The animals typically have no contact with living plants, separated from them by electric wires." Yet such greenwashing attracts more visitors.

BP advertisement from 2004The High Court of Australia has dismissed a bid by BP to have the green Pantone colour 348C used in its logo registered as its trademark. BP's barrister, David Shavin, requested leave to appeal the lower court's decision that the company can't trademark the colour. However, Justice William Gummow was skeptical: "It might be inherently adapted to mislead, might it not? ... What is nature [sic] and healthy about the production or consumption of petroleum products?" BP's Shavin asserted, "To the consumer in the context of oil, your Honour, green indicates BP, not environmental friendliness." Justice Michael Kirby commented that "it was a clever colour to have chosen so many years ago because it is now very much associated with the environmental movement." A majority of the three judges rejected BP's application and awarded costs against the company. Despite the setback, BP has registered the colour green in over 20 countries.

Citing an unnamed "senior administration official," The Politico reports that Geoff Morrell, "previously a White House correspondent for ABC News, has been hired as the Defense Department's on-camera briefer. ... The official said that a working journalist was chosen by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in an effort to improve press relations at a time when the administration is under pressure to show progress in Iraq."

We need help cleaning up existing articles in our new Tobaccowiki Biographies database. Tobaccowiki is a new project to mine information from tobacco industry documents now available online. The Biographies articles contain information on people affiliated with the tobacco industry, such as consultants, political allies, and employees. You can help by editing any of the articles - everything from reformatting to rewording sentence fragments to adding new information is very helpful! We're especially interested in strengthening articles on: Allen M. Brandt, the author of the new book Cigarette Century; Bing Crosby, who endorsed Chesterfield cigarettes; Albert Gore, the U.S. vice-president during major tobacco litigation; and Norma Broin, who launched a landmark legal case against cigarette companies. If this is your first time editing on SourceWatch, you can register here, and learn more about adding information to the site here and here.

Is Al Gore aiding and abetting the world's largest greenwashers? The New York Times reports that "The brightest lights in the advertising business are gathering in Cannes, France, this week for an annual celebration. ... Mr. Gore is being accorded rock star status at the festival. ... The embrace of Mr. Gore shows how 'green' advertising has galvanized the marketing community. 'The consumer sentiment out there is just palpable,' said Hamish McLennan, chief executive of Young & Rubicam, the advertising agency that arranged Mr. Gore's visit to Cannes and helped him to develop the Save Our Selves (SOS) campaign for environmental awareness. ... Not long ago, it seemed, only oil companies touted their environmental credentials via big-budget advertising campaigns. But now green advertising is everywhere. ... The idea that consumers can continue to consume, making tiny changes in their behavior, is attractive to marketers, too. Not only can they keep promoting consumption, they can turn greenness into a selling point."

In his new role as co-chair of the PR firm Fleishman-Hillard's government relations (or lobbying) practice, former U.S. Senator Jim Talent will be "spearheading the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers' bid to torpedo the effort to raise fuel mileage standards to 52 miles per gallon" by 2030. Instead, the automakers are supporting a compromise measure from Senators Carl Levin and Kit Bond. "Talent cannot lobby for the Levin-Bond bill because of Senate rules," explains O'Dwyer's. "He can do media outreach on behalf of the carmakers."

One day after the mother of Chinese reporter Shi Tao announced she was suing the Internet company Yahoo for helping Chinese officials imprison her son, Yahoo said it was "dismayed that citizens in China have been imprisoned for expressing their political views on the Internet." Yahoo's brief statement did not mention Shi Tao, who received a 10 year jail sentence for "leaking state secrets" in 2005. He had forwarded an email describing media restrictions placed by the Chinese government. The court that sentenced Mr. Shi used information provided by a Hong Kong subsidiary of Yahoo to convict him. The new legal challenge is part of an lawsuit filed by the World Organization for Human Rights USA against Yahoo, its Hong Kong subsidiary and Alibaba.com, which runs Yahoo China.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has launched a $150 million promotion campaign for its over-the-counter (OTC) weight loss drug, Alli. But not all media coverage is up-beat about what is a lower-dose version of Roche's prescription only drug, Xenical. New York Daily News reporter Julian Kesner reports that Alli consumers "might just find themselves $50 poorer, lacking in vitamins ... and suffering a bout of diarrhea." GSK has produced a video on what it refers to as "treatment effects," which the product pack states may include "more frequent stools that may be hard to control." A consumer coalition, Prescription Access Litigation, has given GSK its 'With Allies Like This, Who Needs Enemas?' award for marketing the drug over-the-counter, where there are less controls to ensure it is used appropriately. In February this year, the Australian drug regulator revoked Roche's approval to market Xenical with direct-to-consumer advertising, as there "was insufficient public health benefit."

Teodoro Obiang and Condoleezza Rice

To investigate high-powered lobbying firms' advocacy for "corrupt, dictatorial foreign regimes," Harper's Washington editor Ken Silverstein posed as "Kenneth Case" of "The Maldon Group," a fictitious London-based firm which he said had "a financial stake in improving the public image" of Turkmenistan. An excerpt of Silverstein's article on Harper's website describes his meeting with Cassidy & Associates. Cassidy lobbyists said their work for Equatorial Guinea was "a very similar sort of representation to what you're talking about" for Turkmenistan, and boasted of getting President Teodoro Obiang off Parade Magazine's "worst dictator" list. They also trumpeted the firm's "strong personal relationships" with policymakers. According to the Wall Street Journal, both Cassidy and APCO Associates suggested "an aggressive campaign against 'biased' news stories, organizing conferences at which sympathetic views could be aired, finding ways to get members of Congress to take paid trips to Turkmenistan and emphasizing how much the U.S. would benefit if Turkmenistan further opened its economy to outside investment." APCO further "recommended holding forums for journalists, academics and politicians, hosted by a third party, where a Turkmen politician could give a speech."

PR Week has more on McDonald's "moms' quality correspondence" PR campaign. The fast food giant met with the six mothers in early June, "at the company's global headquarters in Oak Brook, IL. Future interactions will include a visit to a beef supplier in August and a 'farm field' and produce supplier in September. ... The moms will also get the chance to work behind the counter of McDonald's in Oklahoma City." McDonald's PR executive Tara Lazarus Hayes said the mothers "will get to see first-hand how menu items are made, and ask our executives tough questions about nutrition," and also get a "sneak peek" at a "product due to launch next year." The campaign is geared to help McDonald's neutralize criticism about fast food and childhood obesity. "We're also hoping to dispel that McJob image," added Hayes. "We understand the mom-to-mom dialogue is important because they listen and influence each other." She explained that McDonald's hopes "the misperceptions they had and myths that are out there will be debunked by their [the mothers'] experience." The mothers will write about their experiences "and have them posted, unedited by McDonald's, online at McDonaldsmom.com."

Bill Berkowitz reports on the rise of Michael D. Evans: "In recent appearances on two U.S. cable news networks, he was slinging and zinging -- the well-rehearsed pitchman for the Biblical 'End Times' was dead certain that 'Iran is going to have to be attacked' before 2008. He also claimed that during a recent visit to Iraq, he was told by intelligence sources that Iran had given the green light to Hezbollah to unleash suicide bombers in the United States this summer. ... These days, the bestselling author and head of the 'Jerusalem Prayer Team' ... is at the top of his game. On June 3, his new book, 'The Final Move Beyond Iraq: The Final Solution While The World Sleeps', made it onto the New York Times bestsellers' list at number one in the paperback category. ... Evans had 'made himself a major religious movement and media figure long before his new book was published,' CMD's John Stauber ... told IPS. 'He's not just an author, he's a general in God's patriotic army, and he knows how to mobilize his troops.'"

Karen Hughes in IndonesiaA new public diplomacy plan, authored by Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes, says the United States must "offer a positive vision of hope and opportunity that is rooted in our most basic values." The "U.S. National Strategy for Public Diplomacy and Strategic Communication" promotes a Hughes favorite, the "diplomacy of deeds," which is defined as "providing health care, education, economic opportunity, food and shelter, training for political participation, help after disasters." Also put forward is a "Counterterrorism Communications Center," to develop "messages and strategies to discredit terrorists and their ideology." The Center is "now being formed at the State Department and [is] staffed heavily with military and intelligence officers," reports Warren Strobel. The new plan stresses that "all communication and public diplomacy activities" should "support those who struggle for freedom and democracy." Former State Department official Price Floyd countered, "When people hear that, they stop and say, 'What about Abu Ghraib? What about Guantanamo?'"

The SourceWatch staff has recently created two new forums for citizen journalists on SourceWatch to communicate with each other about what's going on in the site: a Yahoo group and a Community Portal. The Community Portal is a place where you can find announcements by staff and citizen editors, links to important policies and help pages and categories of outstanding tasks and projects identified by readers and editors, such as articles that need updating, expanding or fixing. The Yahoo group is meant primarily for sysops and other editors who are most concerned with the administration of the site and facilitating the contributions of the users, but both the group and the community portal are open to everyone to view and post. SourceWatch is only as strong as its community of editors, so please dive in and let us know what you think.

"Army Strong, as the Army's latest recruiting campaign is called ... has a definite emphasis on electronic communications, from opportunities to chat live on the Web site with soldiers ... to interactive sections showing what boot camp is like, the different specialties the Army trains people for, and more," writes PR Week. Army podcast subjects range from soldiers' experiences to "the latest results for the Army's NASCAR team." The $200 million-per-year campaign is led by McCann-Erickson, along with other Interpublic Group agencies. Army outreach to Hispanic communities is handled by Weber Shandwick, and to African Americans by Carol H. Williams. The Army's racially-targeted outreach includes Spanish-language ads, "participating in Hispanic- or African-American-focused trade association conventions or job fairs," and "awarding research contracts to historically black colleges and universities." Meanwhile, the U.S.-led Multi-National Force-Iraq is seeking a new PR firm, for "rapid reaction information operations support" to encourage Iraqis "to support their fledgling government," reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily. The U.S. government is also "reviewing proposals for a multimillion-dollar PR blitz for its electricity sector rebuilding" in Iraq. Both searches are being conducted via non-public websites, as information about the Iraq PR contracts has been deemed "sensitive."

Several members of Congress are asking about conflicts of interest at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after an FDA spokesman, who previously worked as a public relations representative for pharmaceutical companies, used agency email to attack the research of an independent scientist. Douglas Arbesfeld, a senior communications consultant to the FDA, sent an email to reporters attacking Dr. Steven Nissen, who recently co-authored a study in the New England Journal of Medicine suggesting that the diabetes drug Avandia may increase the risk of heart attacks. The e-mail, titled "What are St. Steven's feet made of? Clay, perhaps?," included a link to an anonymous blog accusing Nissen of playing favorites among drug companies.

B-M also flacks for Entergy's Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York

The dual roles of Mark Penn, as the CEO of the PR firm Burson-Marsteller (B-M) and chief strategist for the campaign of Presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton, has irked some labor leaders. The New York Times reported that Bruce Raynor of UniteHere, and James Hoffa of the Teamsters union, wrote to Clinton expressing their concern about B-M's anti-labor work. "He cannot serve two masters, working for a pro-union candidate and working for anti-union companies," Teamsters President Jim Hoffa said. Subsequently, Penn told Atlantic Online, "I have recused myself from working on any management-side labor relations work." Ari Berman, who has written on Penn's PR work for The Nation, is unimpressed. Penn, he wrote, is "not distancing himself from the money the 'labor relations' wing brings in and the other controversial clients B-M represents in the defense, pharmaceutical and energy industries and the Republican lobbyists he oversees." Berman views Penn's "recusal" pledge as "a phony gesture that fails to address the underlying problems or the reasons prominent labor leaders are upset with Clinton's campaign."

When Coca-Cola announced it would fund a joint water conservation initiative with WWF, it identified seven major water reserves around the world where it would fund projects. But none of the projects will be in India, where the company has been embroiled in controversy. A Coca-Cola plant at Plachimada, in the Indian state of Kerala, was shut down in 2004 following community protests over the depletion of ground water resources. Qu Yongxiang, an analyst at China Pingan Securities, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that "there's no big cost to them [Coca-Cola], since they can save money by reducing water use and they can improve their image." To help boost coverage of their "good deeds," Coca-Cola issued a b-roll video, produced by Multi-Vu, which features both Coke and WWF executives. (B-roll is file video footage and interview soundbites, without the scripted narration used in a video news release.)

A display at a DSEI exhibition

Reed Elsevier, a major publishing company, has bowed to pressure from peace groups and academics, announcing that it will end its role in organizing arms fairs by the end of the year. Reed Exhibitions, a division of Reed Elsevier, organizes events including the Defence Systems and Equipment International (DSEI) in London in September, IDEX in Abu Dhabi and the Latin American Aero and Defence exhibition in Rio de Janeiro. In a media statement, the company stated that "the defence shows are no longer compatible with Reed Elsevier's position as a leading publisher of scientific, medical, legal and business content." The Campaign Against Arms Trade welcomed the decision as did the medical journal The Lancet, which is published by Reed Elsevier. In 2005 the company defended its role in organizing weapons shows on the grounds that the defense industry was "necessary for upholding national security for the preservation of democratic values."

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DoE's) "division in charge of disposal and storage of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste, notably the controversial Yucca Mountain project, is on the hunt for a PR firm to develop its communications and public outreach," reports O'Dwyer's. DoE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management wants "strategic communications support targeting stakeholders and the public, through outreach programs in public schools and communities, and other elements like web work." The PR contract is for one year, with four one-year renewals possible. One objective is to develop "fact sheets and other informational materials including traditional hard copy materials as well as electronic media including but not limited to CDs, DVDs, and on-line streaming video." In 2006, the industry group Nuclear Energy Institute hired the PR firm Hill & Knowlton to promote the Yucca Mountain waste repository, and nuclear power in general.

In an attempt to deflect criticism that its fast food makes children fat, McDonald's is recruiting mothers as "quality correspondents" to observe and report on its operations. In a message sent to "mother-oriented social networks and freebie product sites," McDonald's is offering mothers "behind-the-scenes access to the farms [where] our fresh ingredients are grown." The winning mothers "are expected to participate in as many as three 'field trips' lasting two to three days, and receive payment for 'reasonable travel expenses,'" reports AdAge. A McDonald's spokesperson said the company will then give the mothers "avenues to be able to share their findings." According to Time magazine, McDonald's is also "lobbying dictionary publishers to change the meaning of the word McJob -- or remove it altogether -- on the grounds that it denigrates the company's employees." McJob is commonly used to refer to "an unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects," as defined in the Oxford English Dictionary. McDonald's wants to redefine McJob as "a job that is stimulating, rewarding ... and offers skills that last a lifetime."

Patrick Moore isn't alone

"Who is Professor Robert Boyden Lamb?" asks Corporate Crime Reporter. The New York University professor recently had a letter to the editor published in USA Today which stated, "The American public needs to get behind the nuclear power movement now." He's had similar pro-nuclear letters published by the Washington Times, The Hill and Business Week, all of which identify him only as "a professor at NYU's Stern School of Business." In response to repeated questions, NYU confirmed that "Professor Lamb does indeed consult with nuclear power industry related entities." Corporate Crime Reporter concludes that much of the newfound enthusiasm for nuclear power "originates from sources that are anything but disinterested. ... NYU Stern School of Business should demand that Professor Lamb publicly reveal all his ties to the nuclear industry. And that he stop writing promotional pieces for the industry" until he discloses his nuclear industry connections.

Nike says that its corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaign is no longer just "a risk and reputation management tool," but a core "business objective." Labor rights activist Jeff Ballinger is skeptical. "In the 15-year battle over labor conditions for the 800,000 factory employees -- primarily Asian women younger than 24 -- who have helped turn Nike into a $14.9 billion company, Ballinger argues the activists won Round 1 and Nike staged a comeback in Round 2. The company's Code of Conduct was skimpy, its monitoring of factory conditions ineffective, but the attendant PR campaign was brilliant," reports The Oregonian. Now, Nike "is finally conceding monitoring hasn't worked," but claims "it needs more time." Nike wants until 2011 to eliminate excessive overtime. Ballinger points out that "Indonesian newspapers were writing about it [the overtime problem] in 1988." Nike spends $15 million on CSR annually, when "paying another 75 cents for each pair of shoes -- a yearly outlay of $220 million -- would solve the wage problem."

An Iraqi voter's purple finger (Source: Department of Defense)

In the U.S., fewer than half of eligible voters do vote, elections are determined by big money, sitting politicians almost always win re-election, and opinion surveys show a frightening willingness to sacrifice fundamental human rights for governmental promises of security. It's not surprising, then, that U.S. foreign policy furthers sham democracies abroad. Michael Slackman observes that in the Middle East elections have "increasingly become a tool used by authoritarian leaders to claim legitimacy. ... Countries like Egypt and Syria, which hold elections, also allow a ruling class to hold a monopoly on power, limit freedom of speech and assembly and deny their citizens due process. ... 'Democracy itself has lost credibility as a way of government,' said a Western diplomat based in Algiers. ... 'I think the Iraqi experiment, and the purple finger, didn't help anything.' ... The purple finger had initially been a symbol of pride in what was hoped to be Iraq's nascent democracy. Millions turned out to cast their ballots in the first post-Saddam-Hussein election, dipping a finger in ink to prevent double voting. Rightly or wrongly, the purple finger has become a symbol of failure."