Corporations

Monsanto Hid Decades of Pollution

Washington Post reporter Michael Grunwald uncovers a decades-long campaign by Monsanto to hide its extremely toxic PCB pollution in Anniston, Alabama. Monsanto held a monopoly on PCB production in the United States until they stopped making them in 1977. For nearly 40 years while producing PCBs at the Anniston plant, Grunwald reports, Monsanto knew that the PCBs they were dumping into an Anniston creek and open-pit landfills were toxic and they concealed that knowledge.

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The Enron Blame Game

A subtle blame game may be developing between two former executives most widely suspected of playing key roles in Enron Corp.'s collapse. Former Chief Executive Jeff Skilling and ousted Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow have both made carefully controlled media appearances in the company of the attorneys representing them in scores of civil lawsuits and government inquiries extending all the way to Congress. In both instances, the men or their lawyers distanced themselves from blame, suggesting others were responsible.

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Denying Global Warming Bad For ExxonMobil's Reputaion

PR trade publication O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports: "Robert Monks, Chairman of LENS Investment Management and Ram Trust Services, has filed a resolution calling for the separation of the Chairman and CEO positions at ExxonMobil because he believes the current holder of the posts, Lee Raymond, and his denial of the global warming problem is destroying the reputation of the energy giant. Monks says Raymond's 'extreme position' and negative public image is the reason that ExxonMobil's stock is 'undervalued compared to its peer group when it should be at a premium.'"

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Omnicom Enters Corporate Spying Game

PR trade publication O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports: "Omnicom has established SafirRosetti to spearhead its foray into the 'business intelligence' and 'executive and personal protection' arenas. Former New York City Police Commissioner Howard Safir and ex-Kroll Assocs. and IBM Security Director Joe Rosetti head the operation that Omnicom CEO John Wren calls a 'natural extension' of the communications combine's business."

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Enron Overshadowed

"If there was no Afghanistan story," writes Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz, "the press would be going nuts over Enron. It's the biggest corporate collapse ever, the firm employed some top administration officials and the CEO was a Dubya pal. Enron has been a big business story, but hasn't drawn the kind of daily-drumbeat political treatment that often surrounds corporate chicanery with a strong whiff of scandal."

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What Recession?

"The American economy has officially entered what promises to be the worst recession since the early 1980s and, conceivably, the worst since World War II," writes economist Robert J. Samuelson. "But you'd hardly know from the media, which have treated the economic story as a sideshow. ... Editors have subconsciously delegated their jobs to Wall Street," which refuses to stop hyping over-valued stocks. "Editors would no doubt resent being cast as Wall Street's lackeys. But that is the effect."

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Enron Hires And Fires PR Firms

Energy trading corporation Enron has hired "two of the nation's most respected strategic communications firms--Kekst & Company and The Brunswick Group" according to the Holmes Report. The firms have been working with Enron to assist with crisis communications as the company begins bankruptcy proceedings. Holmes reports Kekst has handled numerous projects requiring crisis management for Enron over the years, starting with a crisis involving the company's Puerto Rican water operations. This time Kekst was called in when Enron's financial troubles became public.

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Downsizing the News

Corporate decisions to slash the budget of news organizations have created a media environment that invites public relations manipulations. Now Jon Snow, one of Britain's most respected journalists, has launched a furious attack on his own TV network for "reducing its commitment" to news and current affairs. Ten years ago, ITV spent

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The UN's Rio+10 Summit: Banking on Feelgood PR

In October 2001, captains of industry from around the world marked the tenth anniversay of the United Nation's environmental summit in Rio de Janiero by gathered in Paris for a major strategy meeting, hosted by Business Action for Sustainable Development (BASD).

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