Michael Moore the follow-up
Hot off the wires from the Canadian �National Post�… �In the days before Cannes, Michael Moore’s Disney criticism whipped festival audiences into a fever for Fahrenheit 9/11. Hollywood cynics called it the usual P.T. Barnum showmanship by Moore, but when the movie finally unspooled, it earned resounding applause at Monday’s press screenings.� Barnum � excellent. […]
Creative PR?
I’ve just come across a blogger called Loic Le Meur who feels that media companies need to adapt in the new world of journalism Traditional press releases are going to die soon. Journalists get hundreds of them everyday by fax and email( DOOH). This is one of the reasons why we (companies) pay PR agencies […]
Piers Morgan Goes and yet another Media Person makes a dignified exit
So Piers steps down. Has anybody noticed that, through all the scandals hitting the headlines during and after the Iraq war, the only resignations have come from the media world? Dyke…Gilligan…Davis….and now Morgan. We’ve yet to see a single Government goon take the pearl-handled revolver. Food for thought?
A Note from my Inbox, circa 2002
It’s funny how interesting this seems two years on….. Saudis spin like a well-oiled machine By Roger Franklin June 23 2002 Even among his rivals in the PR business Washington spinmeister Michael Petruzzello incites mixed emotions. For some, those whose outfits foundered in the wake of the dot-com bomb and September 11th, it’s a simple […]
The vile PR stunt that escalates the hatred
NICHOLAS BERG R.I.P. Stomach-churning, hideous images are the stock-in-trade of the Al Quaeda publicity department. Their cuttings library grows daily. To describe the destruction of four airliners and the World Trade Centre as the world’s blackest-ever PR stunt is not to intend disrespect to its innocent victims; rather it’s to acknowledge that Bin Laden and […]
Rumsfeld's End ?
It was a last ditch PR ploy, but Rumsfeld’s testimony may not save his job. The man squirmed on the spot as he faced difficult questions from the press corps. Gone was the swagger that framed his briefings at the height of ‘Shock and Awe’. Now called Torture-gate, the credibility of the US is below […]
All Quiet on the Soaring Sun Front
Odd how quiet it seems at The Sun this week. Think about it. Surely in the middle of this furore about Piers Morgan’s dodgy atrocitigraphs, and with the Express positively frothing at the mouth, you’d think Sun-readers would be being keenly browbeaten to do something or think something. But no. A gentle hush has descended. […]
PUT ANIMAL IN CHARGE
Lou Grant was an iconic TV show in the late 1970s starring Ed Asner as the eponymous newspaperman extraordinaire. The fictional L.A. Tribune he worked for employed a typical cast of clich�d characters including the Bright Young Reporter Joe Rossi, the septuagenarian female proprietor Mrs Pynchon (echoing Kay Graham who owned Newsweek and The Washington […]
Methods of spin
I picked this up yesterday, it�s a report that suggests that the images of graphic brutality to Iraqi captives were produced by a porn site The conspiracy theorists are being fuelled I suggest by some shadow department in the Pentagon�s spin machine who may be trying to deflect some heat. The published report says the […]
'NOT FIT TO WEAR QUEEN'S UNIFORM!'
When crisis looms, go on the attack. This is exactly what the PR aides did to counter the publication of the shocking pictures printed in the Daily Mirror of British troops apparently urinating on Iraqi prisoners in custody. The Army’s heaviest hitter, Chief of the General Staff General Sir Michael Jackson, was quickly wheeled out […]
The Downfall of the Abu Ghraib Dungeon
For decades Saddam Hussein’s infamous Abu Ghraib dungeon was the scene of terrible cruelty against innocent Iraqi captives. Now the US forces are in charge and it’s business as usual as the torture continues. Images of cruelty against the detainees surfaced last night and were broadcast on ABC’s ‘60 minutes’ programme. The shots showing Iraqis […]
The Rendon Group
I’m always interested in what the Rendon group are up to, and from this week’s PR Watch I find this gem. RENDON GROUPS HELPS AFGHAN GOVERNMENT WITH IMAGE ‘The Pentagon has hired the Rendon Group to counsel and coordinate communications for Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai.’ O’Dwyer’s PR Daily reports. ‘The United States” according to the […]
Cowboys and Angels
Pity poor Peter Wood, Managing Director of B. Delamore Ltd. of Wisbech, and his 12-year-old son Charlie. You see, in their innocence they created a variety of petunia called ‘Charlie’s Angel’ which they took to market. Unfortunately, as their success began to take root, the full wrath of Columbia Pictures descended on this very English […]
The End of Parky
So the doyen of British chat show hosts, Michael Parkinson, has defected from the BBC to ITV – news which has generated metres of coverage in the newspapers this morning, all commenting on how things ain’t what they used to be with the show. It’s generally felt that his best interviews are a thing of […]
Tony's week
I am keen to see how our PM, Bad Boy Blair , manages to spin his way out of his European U-turn this week. The last seven days have been bad for Tony, and the forthcoming seven will be full of deliberate distractions to try and outwit the pursuing pack of snarling, political scribblers.
Beckham free Sunday
Three weeks have passed since the tabloids first outed David Beckham’s alleged affairs. As I survey the red tops today I don’t see a new angle on Goldenballs. The Beckhams have said nothing and eased up on the impromptu photo opportunities. There seems an unholy silence. Perhaps it is accurate to say that the odyssey […]
Returning Coffins
http://www.drudgereport.com for updates (c)DRUDGE REPORT 2004 Since the end of the Vietnam War successive American presidents have worried that their military actions would lose support once the public glimpsed the remains of U.S. soldiers arriving back at air bases in flag-draped caskets. To this problem, the Bush administration has found a simple solution: it has […]
SNAP DRAGONS
Gone are the days of the Palace issuing the latest Snowdon or Litchfield family snap and it smoothly finding its way to prominence in every daily paper. Take yesterday, for instance, the 78th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The anonymous Press Association shot of three horses, or six, depending on your politics (sorry […]
WILL SHILL FOR NUKES
This week’s Spinwatch has this fantastic nib: University of Texas Professor Sheldon Landsberger has admitted that a pro-nuclear column he submitted under his own name to the Austin American-Statesman was actually written by the Potomac Communications Group, a Washington PR firm that works for the nuclear power industry. “For at least 25 years,” reports William […]
Barbie needs a PR facelift
So Barbie’s sales are down despite the spectacular Valentine’s Day publicity, the one where she split from Ken. If Barbie is to survive she must make the news more regularly. She’s one of the most famous women in the world and should be acting like one. Most stars who crave the adrenalin of column inches […]