This is Your Brain on Public Relations

The Environmental Working Group has obtained and analyzed documents from a briefing book assembled by Frank Luntz, a top public opinion researcher for corporate lobbyists. The briefing book offers a PR playbook on how to frame the current wholesale rollback of environmental and public health protections while avoiding a stinging public backlash. "It can be helpful to think of environmental and other issues in terms of 'story,'" Luntz advises. "A compelling story, even if factually inaccurate, can be more emotionally compelling than a dry recitation of the truth. ... The facts are beside the point. It's all in how you frame your argument."