Time: Sat Apr 05 07:20:18 1997
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Date: Sat, 05 Apr 1997 07:19:15 -0800
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: "Top 10 Censored Stories of 1996"

from: "Who Will Tell the People?" by Christine Stavem,
Tucson Weekly, Volume 14, Number 5, April 3-9, 1997

...

#4.  THE PR INDUSTRY'S SECRET WAR ON ACTIVISTS

("The Public Relations Industry's Secret War on Activists,"
CovertAction Quarterly, Winter 1995/96, and "Public Relations,
Private Interests," Earth Island Journal, Winter 1995/1996,
both by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton)

   The degree to which PR firms manipulate
public opinion and policy is almost impossible
to determine, wrote journalists Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber.  But what's
indisputable is that the industry -- by dipping
into the deep pockets of its multi-million-dollar
corporate clients -- has vast power to direct and 
control thought and policy.  Of late, the 
preponderance of public relations firms have
leveraged that influence against activists and
proposed legislation that threaten big business.

   The latest deceptive strategy entails
creating anti-public-interest -- or "astroturf" --
campaigns to generate the false impression of
public support in the name of citizen activism.
The result?  At its worst, dissenting voices have
been muffled, unhealthy chemicals and
practices have been legalized and public 
opinion has been profoundly influenced.

   And how have the media -- charged with
sifting fact from fiction -- responded?  "Media
have become complicit in the way they deal
with PR," Rampton said.  So complicit, in fact,
that reporters and producers who rely on this
type of information for stories -- rather than 
doing their own, independent reporting -- are
more the norm than the exception.

....

[end]

========================================================================
Paul Andrew, Mitchell, B.A., M.S.    : Counselor at Law, federal witness
email:       [address in tool bar]   : Eudora Pro 3.0.1 on Intel 586 CPU
web site:  http://www.supremelaw.com : library & law school registration
ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech,  at its best
             Tucson, Arizona state   : state zone,  not the federal zone
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