The fact-checkers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania have taken the trouble to check out radio ads by Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, in which he falsely claims that only 44 percent of men with prostate cancer survive under England's "socialized medicine" system. In reality, they report, this statistic is merely "the result of bad math by a Giuliani campaign adviser, who admits to us that his figure isn't 'technically' a survival rate at all. Furthermore, the co-author of the study on which Giuliani's man based his calculations tells us his work is being misused, and that the 44 percent figure is both wrong and 'misleading.' ... Actually, men with prostate cancer are more likely to die sooner if they don't have health insurance, according to a recent study published in one of the American Medical Association's journals. Giuliani doesn't mention that."

Karen Hughes in IndonesiaU.S. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes is leaving the Bush administration. Hughes, a long-time confidant of President Bush's, served as a counselor during Bush's first term, then officially left the White House in 2002, only to return as the nation's PR czar in 2005. Her last day will be in December. In announcing her resignation, Hughes stressed that improving the U.S.'s image around the world is a "long-term challenge." At the State Department, Hughes increased the number of "interviews with Arabic media," and "set up three rapid public relations response centers overseas to monitor and respond to the news. She nearly doubled the public diplomacy budget, to nearly $900m annually, and sent U.S. sports stars Michelle Kwan and Cal Ripken abroad as unofficial diplomats. But polls show no improvement in the world's view of the U.S. since she took over. A Pew Research survey earlier said the unpopular Iraq war is a persistent drag on the U.S. image and has helped push favorable opinion of America in Muslim Indonesia, for instance, from 75% in 2000 to 30% last year." Hughes' key deputy, Dina Habib Powell, left the State Department earlier this year, "to become director of global corporate engagement for Goldman Sachs Group," notes PR Week.

As investigations into its shootings of Iraqi civilians continue, the private military contractor Blackwater USA is softening its public image. "The company's roughneck logo — a bear's paw print in a red crosshairs, under lettering that looks to have been ripped from a fifth of Jim Beam — has undergone a publicity-conscious, corporate scrubbing," reports Paul Von Zielbauer. Blackwater says the redesign was planned before September 16, when its employees killed 17 Iraqis, but "the new logo did not appear" on the company's website until afterwards. Gone are "the rifle-scope crosshairs," and the paw print and logo lettering also look less menacing. One graphic designer commented, "The old logo suggests that they're targeting people. The new logo is a more ambiguous, safe corporate logo." The company is also changing its name to Blackwater Worldwide. But it's not forming a "Department of Corporate Integrity," as a spoof press release from the peace group Code Pink claimed. CBS, Politico and other news outlets were fooled by the satirical release, which also claimed that Blackwater was working to "put the mercy back in mercenary," reports Editor & Publisher.

From the Allstate wildfire VNRThe U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) fake news conference — where FEMA staffers played reporter, asking FEMA's deputy administrator softball questions — has cost one person his job. Former FEMA Director of External Affairs John Philbin was slated to start a new job under the Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell. However, following the FEMA debacle, McConnell issued a statement that "Mr. Philbin is not, nor is he scheduled to be, the director of public affairs." (FEMA has also removed Philbin's bio from its website.) Other questionable responses to the California wildfires include promoting former FEMA director Michael Brown to media outlets, "as an expert on disaster and recovery efforts." Brown is now the "corporate strategy director for Cotton Cos., a disaster recovery outfit that saw duty in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina." Cotton's PR firm, 5W Public Relations, is pitching "Brownie," reports O'Dwyer's. On Fox News, Brown did a "heckuva job," blaming the fires on environmentalists opposed to "controlled burns." Lastly, Allstate put out a wildfire-related video news release. The fake news piece features an Allstate employee (standing in front of an Allstate logo) telling viewers the insurance company is "doing everything we can ... to help our customers start the recovery process."

"At the end of a two-day informal meeting of defence ministers in the Netherlands, NATO's secretary general reiterated ... that the alliance needs to do a better job in public relations both in home countries and Afghanistan." To that end, Denmark pledged one million Euros for "video equipment that will ultimately be used to deliver documented Taliban outrages to a television near you — or to the popular video website YouTube." NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer previously suggested declassifying "video surveillance shot by NATO forces throughout the Afghan conflict," in part to shore up public opinion in member countries for the Afghan mission. Hoop Scheffer rejected characterizations of the videos as propaganda, saying any declassified footage will be "unmanipulated." He described one still-classified video of "an insurgent who pulled a burka from a backpack and draped himself in the head-to-foot robe to take on the appearance of a woman," before opening "fire with an AK-47 on western troops."

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