Posted on Seasoned Posts

Lobby in Portugal: When the PR industry doesn’t succeed in producing social change

Portugal has a 33 years old democracy achieved after a peaceful military revolution that ended a dictatorship that had lasted for several decades. Propaganda was one of the major strengths of our dictatorship (as with all the other similar regimes) and people-to-people grass roots communication was the major weapon of the revolutionary. But Public Relations in Portugal is still to accomplish some important revolutions. Here’s why…

Posted on Seasoned Posts

Weekly callout of PR campaigns, “Touchdowns and Fumbles”

Readers of PR Conversations (particularly those involved in media relations or media coaching) might find the weekly e-newsletter, Touchdowns and Fumbles, produced by Veritas Communications to be just the ticket for a Friday half-time break. Its game is to provide a brief analysis of select news stories from a PR perspective. As indicated in last week’s issue (July 6th), “…we only comment on the communications play, not on the substance of the issue.”

Posted on Seasoned Posts

Anne Gregory on relationships between public relations and journalism

I don’t know how to do this properly, but I would like to recoup the discussion which has been going on in this blog about this evergreen issue because it seems to me that every comment raises new issues. So I will profit from this very welcome contribution from professor Anne Gregory to Judy Gombita’s excellent report on Ira Basen’s recent remarks at the cprs annual general meeting with a warm invitation to all visitors...

Posted on Seasoned Posts

Personal Ethics and Universal Hypocrisy

Recently I reviewed a research thesis written by Anastasia Grynko, a Ukrainian student based in the U.S., titled “Bribery for News Coverage: Research in Ukraine”. Anastasia interviewed 30 “communication leaders” – 15 leading journalists and 15 well-known PR practitioners – and painted a staggering picture, which perfectly illustrates the hypocrisy traditionally surrounding all ethical issues in our profession.

Posted on Seasoned Posts

When image control becomes damage control: are you prepared for difficult questions from journalists? (Webcast opportunity for readers of PRC)

This morning CNW Group sponsored one of its semi-regular “Breakfast with the Media” events, this time featuring investigative reporter, Robert Cribb (see full description below). I registered to attend in person, but as a morning meeting got scheduled too close to the event, I opted to listen to the webcast instead. As is often the case with webcasts, CNW Group announced at the session that it will be archived and available for several months (generally...

Posted on Seasoned Posts

1982 Tylenol case a misleading myth: O’Dwyer takes on Fortune, J& J and the public relations establishment!!

My good and esteemed friend, Jack O’Dwyer, has overturned yet another rug from the dainty sitting room in which our professional community enjoys talking to herself in the mirror in the most onanistic of behaviours (not that, as bloggers, we act differently…) and the air does not smell so good…. Just in case, according to Wikipedia, Onan is a person described in the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. The word onanism, an older...