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BURSON-MARSTELLER Bm

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see newer content  BM2 (also tag)

saved 6/13 8/17

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together at last: peabody

http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/11/11/peabody-energy-goes-offense-new-pr-campaign-designed-sell-same-old-dirty-coal

==

wise use

PRESS SUPPRESSION:

The Vancouver Sun, the biggest newspaper in British Columbia, with a daily circulation of 260,000, soon fell under the influence of the Alliance. Forest company officials and Alliance members were soon visiting its offices. Before the launch of the BC Forest Alliance, the Sun had five full-time reporters covering forestry, native affairs, and other environmental issues. Soon only one environment journalist remained. The rest were assigned to a category called "resources" in the business section.

Reporters who wrote critically about the forest industry, and those who probed the workings of the Forest Alliance and Burson-Marsteller itself, say they were subjected to pressure. The Sun's forestry reporter, Ben Parfitt, was pulled from environmental issues after writing about Burson-Marsteller and the Forest Alliance, and reporter Mark Hume was grilled by a logging company official and an industry consultant, in the editor’s office, about columns he had written about a pro-logging coalition, while the editor, Hume says, stood by in silence[44].

Ken Rietz of Burson Marsteller produced a seven- part TV series, entitled “The Forest and the People” to spread pro-industry propaganda[45].

==

Foxconn Hires Public Relations Firm Burson-Marsteller — Other Clients Include Bhopal, Blackwater, Multiple Dictatorial Regimes

February 26th, 2012 

Via: TechEye:

There is no doubt that Foxconn is indeed taking things seriously. The Foxconn spokesperson comes from none other than spin masters Burson-Marsteller, which is a global public relations company which specialises in dealing with enormous PR disasters.

Burson-Marsteller has handled Tylenol poisonings, and, according to Corporate Watch, the Bhopal disaster, and the Three Mile Island. It represented the private military group Blackwater which was accused of being gung-ho against the residents of Baghdad.

There can’t be many PR companies which have had clients like the Argentinian military junta led by General Jorge Videla who helped 35,000 people to disappear. Burson-Marsteller looked after the image of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu and Saudi Arabia after it was pointed out that most of the September 11 attackers were from that country.

Anyway, Foxconn is telling us that it has strict recruitment regulations to ensure full compliance with worker age regulations and laws.

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hired to trash google

http://www.slate.com/blogs/scocca/2011/05/12/burson_marsteller_has_another_image_problem.html

BURSON-MARSTELLER HAS ANOTHER IMAGE PROBLEM

Slate

SCOCCA

A BLOG ABOUT POLITICS, SPORTS, MEDIA, STUFFMAY 12 2011 4:32 PM

Burson-Marsteller Has Another Image Problem

By Tom Scocca

Oh, look: the globe-bestriding publicity firm Burson-Marsteller has yet another project for yet another client. The Daily Beast reported :

Somebody, it seems, hired Burson-Marsteller, a top public-relations firm, to pitch anti-Google stories to newspapers, urging them to investigate claims that Google was invading people’s privacy. Burson even offered to help an influential blogger write a Google-bashing op-ed, which it promised it could place in outlets like The Washington Post, Politico, and The Huffington Post.

The stories of Google's privacy invasion, the Daily Beast wrote, were being pushed on behalf ofFacebook.Maybe that led to yesterday's scary-sounding—but confusing—

Gawker post

about a "creepy" and "pretty evil" effort by Google to compete with Facebook by "quietly mining your Gmail contacts database." (Gawker cited a Business Insider story

about Google's quest for a "social graph" of its own.)

Quietly! The Google Social Circle does sound pretty invasive, at first. But unlike the dread Google Buzz—or Facebook's entire turn-a-private-network-into-an-opt-out-data-mine business plan—it doesn't really seem to know anything about you unless you've created a Google Profile and agreed to let Google examine your various social accounts. (And why would you do that? Have you learned nothing from the Facebook experience? Unclick every checkbox

in sight.)

The Daily Beast:

Burson, in its pitch to journalists, claimed Social Circle was "designed to scrape private data and build deeply personal dossiers on millions of users—in a direct and flagrant violation of [Google's] agreement with the FTC."

Also from Burson: "The American people must be made aware of the now immediate intrusions into their deeply personal lives Google is cataloging and broadcasting every minute of every day—without their permission."

Yes, the American people must be made aware of Google's alleged intrusions into their personal lives because Facebook wants to keep the lucrative privacy-violation market to itself.

Is that the story that Mark Zuckerberg was paying Burson-Marsteller to promote? Because that's the story Facebook has ended up buying: the story that Facebook is the sort of deceitful scumbag hypocrite company that would hire Burson for its dirty work.

What's the advantage to hiring Burson anymore? The CEO, Mark Penn, is "best known as the chief strategist in Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign," the Daily Beast wrote. Here's a little refresher on how that went, as

reported by Time magazine:

As aides looked over the campaign calendar, chief strategist Mark Penn confidently predicted that an early win in California would put her over the top because she would pick up all the state's 370 delegates. It sounded smart, but as every high school civics student now knows, Penn was wrong: Democrats, unlike the Republicans, apportion their delegates according to vote totals, rather than allowing any state to award them winner-take-all. Sitting nearby, veteran Democratic insider Harold M. Ickes, who had helped write those rules, was horrified — and let Penn know it. "How can it possibly be," Ickes asked, "that the much vaunted chief strategist doesn't understand proportional allocation?"

In the end, though, it wasn't Penn's incompetence that got him demoted by the campaign—it was his toxic and unethical

entanglement with Burson clients, including "drug companies, a tuna industry group, a tobacco firm and the controversial military contractor Blackwater USA," and finally the government of Colombia, which had hired Burson to push a free-trade deal that Hillary Clinton opposed.

So Facebook was willing to hire a company whose CEO is identified with hilariously bungling tactical failure. And it was willing to join a list of clients and causes that has included, through the decades, Blackwater, the Union Carbide mass methyl isocyanate-gas* poisoning in Bhopal, the murderous Argentine junta, and Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Those last two, a Burson spokesperson has pointed out, predate Mark Penn's time (as does Bhopal), so it is inaccurate and unfair to—

Oh, wait: Foxconn, the Chinese tech supply company where the

workers were killing themselves

last year. Another Burson client.

How will Facebook scrub the stink off itself now? How will Burson-Marsteller, for that matter, get people to stop thinking of poison, corruption, failure, and death when its name comes up? If only there were some sort of company out there that knew how to fix a damaged reputation.

[* Correction: This sentence originally misidentified the toxic gas involved as chlorine.]

Tom Scocca is the managing editor of Deadspin and the author of Beijing Welcomes You: Unveiling the Capital City of the Future.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=ugsnda%20dictator%20burson%20marsteller&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CEIQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slate.com%2Fblogs%2Fscocca%2F2011%2F05%2F12%2Fburson_marsteller_has_another_image_problem.html&ei=sK-BT8WxIKasiQLGpJywAw&usg=AFQjCNF7Vagjc66qqUeTUT8fF-ZqRHpnFA&cad=rja

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corrupt uk MP joins co

Mr MacKay, who was last week asked to repay more than £31,000 in allowances, is to join Burson-Marsteller, one of the world's biggest communications firms. Pension

After leaving his job as MP for Bracknell, he will work as an international consultant and strategic adviser for the firm, which lists HSBC and Danone among its clients in Britain.

News of his decision came two days after Mr Cameron promised a crackdown on lobbyists in Westminster. The Tory leader said the £2 billion lobbying industry "tainted" politics and was the "next big scandal" in Parliament.

Mr Mackay worked as Mr Cameron's parliamentary private secretary before resigning during the height of the MPs' expenses scandal. He was the first MP to lose his job after the Daily Telegraph's investigation began.

It emerged that he had claimed second home allowances for the London property he shared with his wife, Julie Kirkbride, a fellow Tory MP, while she claimed the allowance for their family home in her constituency.

The arrangement meant both the couple's homes were funded by the public, which Mr MacKay admitted was "unacceptable". He announced he would stand down at the election after a bad-tempered public meeting with his constituents.

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Why the change of heart, Golden State? When the chemical industry saw its profits come under regulatory pressure in 2003, it dramatically increased its lobbying in Sacramento, according to Environmental Health News. Albemarle, Israel Chemicals, Chemtura, and Tosoh are the principal manufacturers of flame retardants used to satisfy the 12-second rule. As the threat of regulations loomed, these companies hired the public-relations firm Burson-Marsteller, which over the years has served as apologist for  foreign military juntas and those responsible for the Bhopal Disaster and the Blackwater fiasco.

Burson-Marsteller has also made a name for itself by creating and managing astroturf groups, defined in Campaigns & Elections magazine as corporate grassroots groups that involve “the instant manufacturing of public support for a point of view in which either uninformed activists are recruited or means of deception are used to recruit them.” Journalist and author William Greider simply calls faux-grassroots groups “democracy for hire.” Burson-Marsteller has created astroturf groups for the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries.

After the 2003 bans in California, Burson-Marsteller organized the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum and Citizens for Fire Safety Institute, the PR arm and astroturf group of the flame retardant superfecta. Since 2007, Burson-Marsteller has spent at least $6.6 million on behalf of the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum, while Citizens for Fire Safety spent at least $2.2 million on “other payments to influence.”

According to EHN’s report, Senator Mark Leno, author of four of the failed bills, says he goes office to office to make the case for amending or repealing the dangerous flammability standard. “And almost without exception, as I’m leaving my colleague’s office, there’s a lobbyist for the chemical industry in the waiting room to go in to get the last word. And, of course, there’s a dozen of them and one of me.”

In 2011, Leno championed a bill that offered manufacturers a superior flammability standard. As it languished in committee, the chemical industry and its proxies bought influence. Senators Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro), Bill Emmerson (R-Riverside), Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), Gloria Negrete McLeod (D-Chino), Curren Price (D-Los Angeles), Juan Vargas (D-San Diego), Mimi Walters (R-Laguna Hills), and Mark Wyland (R-Escondido) considered the bill. All but Corbett voted against it—casting a vote for more toxic chemicals with no fire safety benefits.

Between 2007 and 2011, the eight committee members who blocked the bill received more than $100,500 of Big Chem money. Representatives McLeod and Hernandez have the dubious honor of being among the top five recipients over that period, raking in $26,294 and $24,900, respectively. The chemical industry spent an average of $8,000 each on the remaining six ‘no’ votes....

http://daily.sightline.org/2012/02/06/toxic-money/?utm_source=Sightline+Newsletters&utm_campaign=2b6d018b0b-SightlineWeekly&utm_medium=email

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bm GGL 6 26

AI Overview

The connection between the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and Burson-Marsteller centers on high-profile public relations and lobbying campaigns—specifically the "Fix the Debt" initiative.

SourceWatch +1

Specific details regarding their collaboration include:

SourceWatch +1

The Nation

The Nation

SourceWatch +1

Wikipedia +1

-Carmelo Ruiz,

from Burson-Marsteller: PR For the New World Order"

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/27/061.html

is part of  Burson-Marsteller? which is part of WPP?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black,_Manafort,_Stone_and_Kelly

IS SAME AS BLACK MANAFORT?

The firm was one of the first political consulting concerns to work for Ronald Reagan's presidential candidacy in 1980,[[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black,_Manafort,_Stone_and_Kelly#cite_note-nyt1-0), and would later also have extensive connections to the presidential administrations of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.[[2]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black,_Manafort,_Stone_and_Kelly#cite_note-bmsk-1)

The firm has represented numerous foreign governments and heads of state, including Mohamed Siad Barre of Somalia, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, and Jonas Savimbi of Angola. In the 1988 presidential campaign in the United States, it was disclosed that Black, Manafort retained the island nation of the Bahamas was a client at a time its leadership was being attacked for alleged ties to drug traffickers. BMSK officials insisted that they intended only to help the Bahamas obtain more United States aid for efforts to curb drug smugglers.[[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black,_Manafort,_Stone_and_Kelly#cite_note-nyt1-0)

Domestically the firm has represented Bethlehem Steel and Tobacco Institute, and helped elect a slew of lawmakers—including Senators Phil Gramm, Jesse Helms, Charles McC. Mathias Jr., Arlen Specter, Paula Hawkins and David F. Durenberger, and worked on legislation that benefitted the firm's clients.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Principals

[edit] Others

==

A lobbyist can perform no greater favor for a lawmaker than to help get him elected. It is the ultimate political IOU, and it can be cashed in again and again. No other firm holds more of this precious currency than the Washington shop known as Black, Manafort.

Legally, there are two firms. Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly, a lobbying operation, represents Bethlehem Steel, the Tobacco Institute, Herbalife, Angolan "Freedom Fighter" Jonas Savimbi and the governments of the Bahamas and the Philippines. Black, Manafort, Stone & Atwater, a political-consulting firm, has helped elect such powerful Republican politicians as Senator Phil Gramm of Texas and Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Jesse Helms.

The political credentials of the partners are imposing. Charles Black, 38, was a top aide to Senator Robert Dole and the senior strategist for President Reagan's re-election campaign in 1984. Paul Manafort, 36, was the political director of the 1984 G.O.P. national convention. Roger Stone, 33, was the Eastern regional campaign director for Reagan in 1984 and is now one of Congressman Jack Kemp's chief political advisers. Peter Kelly, 48, was finance chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1981 to 1985. Lee Atwater, 34, was Reagan's deputy campaign manager in 1984 and is now Vice President George Bush's chief political adviser. Alone among the firm's partners, Atwater sticks to advising electoral candidates and does not lobby.

The partners of Black, Manafort say that the lobbying and political- consulting functions are kept separate. "It's like a grocery store and a hardware store," insists Black. "You can't buy eggs at a hardware store and you can't buy tires at the grocery." Yet these are but fine distinctions in Washington, where the firm is considered one of the most ambidextrous in the business, the ultimate supermarket of influence peddling. "You are someone's political adviser, then you sell yourself to a corporation by saying you have a special relationship with Congress," says Democratic Media Consultant Robert Squier, who does no lobbying himself. Is it proper to get a politician elected, then turn around and lobby him? "It's a gray area," sidesteps Squier. Charges Fred Wertheimer, president of the public-interest lobbying group Common Cause: "It's institutionalized conflict of interest."

It certainly is good for business. The partners charge six-figure fees to lobby and six-figure fees to manage election campaigns. As a result, they take home six-figure salaries. (Their stated aim is to make $450,000 apiece each year; they are assumed to have achieved it last year.) They unabashedly peddle their access to the Reagan Administration. The firm's proposal soliciting the Bahamas as a client, for instance, touted the "personal relationships between State Department officials and Black, Manafort & Stone" that could be "utilized to upgrade a backchannel relationship in the economic and foreign policy spheres."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960803,00.html#ixzz0sZQya1Ei

When Savimbi came to Washington last month to seek support for his guerrilla organization, UNITA, in its struggle against the Marxist regime in Angola, he hired Black, Manafort. What the firm achieved was quickly dubbed "Savimbi chic." Doors swung open all over town for the guerrilla leader, who was dapperly attired in a Nehru suit and ferried about in a stretch limousine. Dole had shown only general interest in Savimbi's cause until Black, the Senate majority leader's former aide, approached him on his client's behalf. Dole promptly introduced a congressional resolution backing UNITA's insurgency and sent a letter to the State Department urging that the U.S. supply it with heavy arms. The firm's fee for such services was reportedly $600,000.

The Black, Manafort partners have woven such an intricate web of connections that the strands become entangled at times. Lobbyist Kelly served as finance chairman of the National Democratic Institute, a public-interest organization established by Congress to promote democracy in underdeveloped countries. The institute recently sent observers to try toensure a fair election in the Philippines. Yet Kelly's firm, for a reported $900,000 fee, represents Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, who stands accused of having stolen the vote. Manafort for one sees no conflict. He points out that the firm urged Marcos to try to make the elections more credible to American observers. "What we've tried to do is make it more of a Chicago-style election and not Mexico's," he explained.

As a political firm, Black, Manafort represents Democrats and Republicans alike--and sometimes candidates running for the same seat. Kelly, for instance, is doing some fund raising for Democratic Senate Candidates John Breaux in Louisiana, Bob Graham in Florida and Patrick Leahy in Vermont. Atwater and Black are consultants for the Republican opponents in these contests. In the race for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination, Atwater advises Bush, while Stone advises Kemp. Stone and Atwater's offices are right across the hall from each other, prompting one congressional aide to ask facetiously, "Why have primaries for the nomination? Why not have the candidates go over to Black, Manafort & Stone and argue it out?"

Stone and Atwater present a contrast in styles. Stone, who practices the hardball politics he first learned as an aide to convicted Watergate Co- Conspirator Charles Colson, fancies $400 suits and lawn parties. With his heavy-lidded eyes and frosty demeanor, he openly derides Atwater's client, Vice President Bush, as a "weenie." Atwater, an impish good ole boy from South Carolina, wears jeans and twangs an electric guitar. Both, however, drive Mercedes.

For all its diverse interests, the firm remains "loyal to the President," says Black. "We would never lobby against Star Wars, for example." The firm has nonetheless attacked the President's tax-reform bill on behalf of corporate clients seeking to preserve their loopholes, and it did not hesitate to lobby for quotas on shoe imports on behalf of the Footwear Industries of America, even though Reagan strongly opposed the bill as protectionist. And at times the firm does show some selectivity. A few years back, it turned down Libya's Muammar Gaddafi as a client.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960803-2,00.html#ixzz0sZR7qHZ8

Blackwater USA BKSH was hired through a personal relationship with Blackwater to help with Erik Prince's October 2, 2007 testimony in front of Congress. Handling the case for BKSH was former State Department official, Robert Tappan.

:{The :{Alliance for Abundant Food :(style="background-color:#ffff66ff"):}:and Energy, a front group supporting subsidies for ethanol fuel, with member companies including Archer Daniels Midland and Monsanto. [[2]](http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=BKSH_%26_Associates#cite_note-1)}:

Gulf 2 chalabi?

BKSH & Associates is "a Washington-based bipartisan firm providing government relations services to a select number of domestic and international clients. The firm, a part of the Burson-Marsteller family, is led by Charles R. Black, Jr., who is best known as one of America's leading Republican political strategists, having served as senior advisor to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and as a spokesman for the Republican Party. The firm's lobbyists, lawyers, communications professionals, foreign affairs specialists and researchers design and execute programs to help shape public policy. Clients include Fortune 100 companies, multinationals, small and mid-sized companies, trade and industry associations, foreign governments, state governments and municipalities." [1]

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Burson-Marsteller

BM front group http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=**Foundation_for_Clean_Air_Progress

The Foundation was established to challenge the US Clean Air Act by 'educating' the public about the progress made in air quality over the previous twenty-five years. API, truckers, etc

Created specifically to battle the clean air proposals, the coalition operates out of the offices of the National Association of Manufacturers, a Washington-based trade group. Its leadership includes top managers of petroleum, automotive and utility companies as well as longtime Washington insiders such as C. Boyden Gray, a counsel to former president George Bush.

SEE exposed by shapiro

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charlie black worked for Mccain

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BKSH & Associates Worldwid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from BKSH & Associates)

BKSH & Associates Worldwide| |

Founded1996
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.
Websitehttp://www.bksh.com

Black, Kelly, Scruggs & Healey, also known as BKSH & Associates is a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying firm.

Contents[hide]

[edit] Synopsis

The firm came into being in 1996 through the merger of D.C. firms Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly and Good & Liebengood.

Part of the Burson-Marsteller family, the firm is led by Charles R. Black, Jr., a leading Republican political strategist. Its principals and alumni have had extensive ties to the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. Other clients have included Fortune 100 companies, multinationals, trade and industry associations, foreign governments, state governments and municipalities.

[edit] Controversy

BKSH & Associates, has also represented anti-democratic dictators and regimes in Zaire, Somalia, Nigeria and the Philippines.[[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BKSH_%26_Associates#cite_note-0)

[edit] Company

In 1984, a group of former political campaign strategists and senior Capitol Hill professionals came together to form BKSH.

[edit] Clients

According to records of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, BKSH & Associates is registered to represent 90 clients. (Accessed December 14, 2005.)

[edit] Presidential campaigns

[edit] External links

[edit] References

wiki

OJSC "Yukos Oil Company" (Russian: ОАО Нефтяна́я Компа́ния Ю́КОС,IPA: [ˈjukəs]) was an oil and gas company based in Moscow, Russia. Yukos was acquired from the Russian government by Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky'sBank Menatep during the controversial "loans for shares" auctions of the mid 1990s.Between 1996 and 2003 Yukos became one of the biggest and most successful Russian companies, producing 20% of Russia's oil output, as much as Libya or Iraq, and Khodorkovsky became an advocate of democratization, international co-operation and Russian reform. In October 2003 Khodorkovsky—by then the richest man in Russia and 16th richest man in the world—was arrested, and the company was forcibly broken up for alleged unpaid taxes shortly after and declared bankrupt in August 2006.[1] Courts in several countries later ruled that the real intent was to destroy Yukos and obtain its assets for the government, and act politically against Khodorkovsky. In 2014 the largest arbitration award in history, $50 billion (€37,2 billion), was won by Yukos' former owners against Russia.[2]

From 2003-04 onwards, the Russian government presented Yukos with a series of tax claims totaling US$27 billion (€20,1 billion). As the government froze Yukos' assets at the same time, and alternative attempts to settle by Yukos were refused, the company was unable to pay these tax demands.[3] Between 2004 and 2007, most of Yukos's assets were seized and transferred for a fraction of their value to state-owned oil companies.[4]

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe condemned Russia's campaign against Yukos and its owners as manufactured for political reasons and a violation of human rights.[5] Between 2011 and 2014 several court cases were won by the former company's management and investors against Russia or against the companies that acquired Yukos assets. TheEuropean Court of Human Rights ruled that there had been unfair use of the legal and tax system; the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, an established neutral body used by Russia and the West since the 1970s for trade disputes,[6] concluded that the government's action was an "unlawful expropriation" using "illegitimate" tax bills, whose effect was intended to "destroy Yukos and gain control over its assets"; and the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled unanimously upon awarding compensation of $50 billion for the company's assets, that Yukos was the target of a series of politically motivated attacks by Russian authorities that eventually led to its destruction, and that Russia had expropriated Yukos' assets in breach of the Energy Charter Treaty.[7][8] (The treaty does not stop governments seizing or nationalizing commercial assets, but requires the investors to be fairly compensated if this happens. Russia never ratified the full treaty but these clauses were still legally binding under both the treaty and Russian law until 2029.[9][10])

According to the Permanent Court of Arbitration's ruling, the primary objective of the Russian Federation was not to collect taxes but rather to bankrupt Yukos, appropriate its assets for the sole benefit of the Russian state and state-owned companies Rosneft and Gazprom, and remove Khodorkovsky from the political arena.[11][12]

==

Charles R. Black, Jr.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This **biographical article**needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2008)
Charles R. Black, Jr.Charles R. Black, Jr.
BornUnited States
OccupationChief Presidential campaign adviser for Senator John McCain

Charles R. Black, Jr. (born 1947), is a former chief lobbyist for BKSH & Associates, a lobbying firm associated with Burson-Marsteller. Black also worked for Ronald Reagan's two Presidential campaigns in 1976 and 1980 and he was a senior political adviser to the 1992 re-election campaign of George H.W. Bush. He served as chief campaign adviser for Senator John McCain in the 2008 Presidential election.

Contents[hide]

[edit] Education

Black earned a BA in Political Science from the University of Florida in 1969 and later a JD from American University's law school.

[edit] Political career

Black says that he fell in love in politics when he worked on the presidential campaign of Republican Barry Goldwater as a high school student in 1964.[[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Black,_Jr.#cite_note-pensito-0)

In 1972 he contended with Karl Rove for the leadership of the College Republicans, in a contest so heated that then Republican National Committee (RNC) head George H.W. Bush was forced to intervene.[[2]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Black,_Jr.#cite_note-1)

In the same year, he served as political director for the first senatorial campaign of Jesse Helms, during which he designed a strategy that labeled Helms’ Democratic opponent as too liberal for North Carolina, employing a slogan declaring Helms to be "One of Us."[[3]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Black,_Jr.#cite_note-kozloff-2) In 1996, with Harvey Gantt running against Helms, Black told the *New York Times* that, at the beginning of the race, “everybody knew he was too conservative, he’d never run for office, and couldn’t win. But it was a good conservative cause, so I went down and worked on his campaign for the last six months. And lo and behold, we did win.”[[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Black,_Jr.#cite_note-pensito-0)^[^[4]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Black,_Jr.#cite_note-3)

In 1975, Black co-founded the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC) with Terry Dolan and Roger Stone.[[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Black,_Jr.#cite_note-pensito-0)

Black went on to work for a succession of Republican presidential campaigns from 1976 to 1992, including those of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. His first hire on the Reagan campaign was Lee Atwater, whom he met during the course of his work with the RNC in 1972. He re-emerged as an advisor to George W. Bush's campaigns in 2000 and 2004 and has been quoted in news stories as an unofficial White House spokesman.[citation ^needed]^

A colleague of Black's, Republican media consultant Roger Ailes, attested to his reputation for toughness: "Charlie's the kind of guy who if he came home and found somebody making out with his wife on a rainy day, he'd break the guy's umbrella and ask him to leave, then have him killed a year later. Lee Atwater would blow the house up."[[5]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Black,_Jr.#cite_note-tough-4)

On June 23, 2008 he said in a magazine interview that a terrorist attack on the United States would help his candidate, Senator John McCain.[[6]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Black,_Jr.#cite_note-5)

[edit] Lobbying activity

Black was a founding partner in lobbying powerhouse Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly, and its successor BKSH & Associates. During his time there, Black and his partners the firm did work acted as registered foreign agents for a number of controversial regimes and oppositional figures, including Jonas Savimbi, the Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Nigerian General Ibrahim Babangida, Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the countries of Kenya and Equatorial Guinea, among others.[[7]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Black,_Jr.#cite_note-Shear-6)

According to Black, the United States State Department urged him to work with Seko in holding a democratic election. Mobutu cancelled the election results and Black's firm again terminated their relationship. [[8]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Black,_Jr.#cite_note-7)

Black has also been criticized for work he did for Jonas Savimbi of Angola, who paid his firm some $5 million to lobby to generate favorable U.S. media coverage and political support in Washington. In a 1990 interview, Black defended his work for Savimbi, saying, "Now when you're in a war, trying to manage a war, when the enemy ... is no more than a couple of hours away from you at any given time, you might not run your territory according to New Hampshire town meeting rules."[[9]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Black,_Jr.#cite_note-OnTheTown-8)

Black and his firm were also early supporters of Iraqi politician Ahmed Chalabi as early as 1999,[[3]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Black,_Jr.#cite_note-kozloff-2) and received $200,000 to $300,000 from the U.S. government to provide consulting services to Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress. Black proved highly useful to Chalabi, providing the Iraqi exile with access to high-powered officials in Washington. Black says the firm did "standard kinds of public relations and public affairs, setting up seminars, helping them get speeches covered by the press, press conferences" and says his company can take pride in what they accomplished: "The whole thing was very successful. The INC became not only well-known, but I think the message got out there strongly."[[10]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_R._Black,_Jr.#cite_note-roston-9)

[edit] References

  1. ^ ^a ^b ^c Pensito Review, 10 Thing to Know About Charlie Black
  2. **^** Muriel Kane, Blackwater PR firm aided Chalabi; Works to polish AT&T's image, *The Raw Story* October 23, 2007
  3. ^ ^a ^b Nikola Kozloff, Charlie Black's Play Book
  4. **^** Helms' "Hands" anti-affirmative action campaign ad on YouTube, item KIyewCdXMzk
  5. **^** Robin Toner, "Washington at Work; The New Spokesman for the Republicans: a Tough Player in a Rough Arena", New York Times July 31, 1990
  6. **^** "The evolution of John McCain". CNN. June 23, 2008. http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/20/magazines/fortune/Evolution_McCain_Whitford.fortune/. Retrieved April 28, 2010. 
  7. **^** Shear, Michael D.; Birnbaum, Jeffrey H. (May 22, 2008). "McCain Adviser's Work As Lobbyist Criticized". *The Washington Post*: pp. A01. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052103006.html. Retrieved 2008-08-08. 
  8. **^** Marc Ambinder (May 17, 2008) - Charlie Black On His Lobbying Career
  9. **^** On the town with Jonas Savimbi - huge U.S. lobbying expenditures by Angola | Common Cause Magazine | Find Articles at BNET.com
  10. **^** Adam Roston, Chalabi's Lobby The Nation April 3 2008

[edit] External links

Member of the Board of Civitas Group

    Member of the Board of Prime Policy Group

    Member of the Board of BKSH & Associates

    American Conservative Union Board of Directors

    Americans for Truth in Politics

    America's Foundation

    Ashcroft 2000

    Bluegrass Committee

    Bush-Cheney '04

    Civitas Group LLC

    Every Republican is Crucial PAC

    Friends of Dick Lugar

    Friends of George Allen

    Friends of :{Katherine Harris:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:

    Friends of Roy :{Blunt:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:

    Friends of Senator D'Amato 1998 Committee

    Fund for American Studies Board of Directors

    Fund for a Free Market America

    George W. Bush for President

    John McCain 2008

    Kay Bailey Hutchison for Senate

    KPAC

    Lindsey Graham for Senate

    Mills Corporation

    National Association of Republican Campaign Professionals Board Member

    Republican National Committee Political Director (1990)

    McCain for Senate '98

    National Association of Republican Campaign Professionals Board of Directors

    National Conservative Campaign Fund

    :{National Republican Congressional Committee

    National Republican Senatorial Committee}:

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    Santorum 2006

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    Volunteer PAC

   :{ Young Americans for Freedom Florida state chairman

    Young Republicans}:

    Wedding: James Carville and Mary Matalin (1993)

In 2001, Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber wrote in PRWatch:

"Burson-Marsteller is also behind a deceptively-named group called the 'Foundation for Clean Air Progress' (FCAP). Judging from its name, you might think that FCAP supports measures to control air pollution. In fact, it was formed specifically to pressure the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to adopt tougher air pollution controls. The Washington Post reported on June 17, 1997 that FCAP participates in a 'multimillion-dollar campaign to turn back EPA regulations for smog and soot. ... The nerve center behind the attack is a coalition of more than 500 businesses and trade groups that calls itself the Air Quality Standards Coalition. Created specifically to battle the clean air proposals, the coalition operates out of the offices of the National Association of Manufacturers, a Washington-based trade group. Its leadership includes top managers of petroleum, automotive and utility companies as well as longtime Washington insiders such as C. Boyden Gray, a counsel to former president George Bush. The same industries would likely bear the brunt of the costs for the new regulations, which the EPA estimates at more than $ 6 billion a year. ... Exxon, a member of the coalition, recently sent notices to its credit card customers urging them to oppose the EPA regulations. Other companies helped pay for TV and newspapers ads produced by the Foundation for Clean Air Progress, a nonprofit institute funded by energy, transportation and manufacturing companies that operates out of the offices of the public relations firm, Burson-Marsteller.'

demo undergd

Counted among Barrick directors is Brian Mulroney, former Prime Minister of Canada. Another is Edward Neys, former US Ambassador to Canada and chairman of Burson-Marsteller one of the world's largest and most secretive public relations firms.

Burson-Marstelleris a billion-dollar company that covers for organized crime. They are in the business of "perception management" the latter day term for propaganda. They covered for the Nigerian oil barons and Shell Oil during the Biafran War. They covered for Babcock & Wilcox and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission as the Three Mile Island nuclear melted down and irradiated the American landscape. They managed the public and their perceptions as the Exxon Valdez supertanker greased the Alaskan wilderness with black crude. Burson-Marsteller covered for Union Carbide after the gas massacre in Bhopal in 1984. Burson-Marsteller has run public relations campaigns to shield extensive, state-orchestrated terror by the "governments" of Argentina, Indonesia, South Korea, Sri Lanka, and Singapore.

[RR Bhopal artl says: Dalkon shield (eli lilly prozac, exxon valdez based on Greenpeace Grenwash book 1992: Transnat Corps managed to undermine UN in gen'l (based on 1991 paper by Heritage Fdn

Int Chamber Comm est Biz Council for Sust Dev 48 Ceo's a year before rio summit; UN oversight of TNC weakened in 91. BCSD hired BM (largest indep PR firm in world). good at countering activists (eg So Africa infant formula)

Ceausescu

More here from Raw Story. Seems that BKSH -- a subsidiary of corporate giant Burson-Marsteller -- previously represented Ahmed Chalabi (whose self-serving lies helped justify Bush's illegal invasion of Iraq) and helped coach Blackwater CEO Erik Prince (whose mercenaries recklessly opened fire a few weeks ago in Baghdad, killing innocent civilians, and whose company is facing serious allegations of tax evasion).

Now it turns out that BKSH is also helping AT&T in its efforts to evade liability for cooperation with the Bush Administration in turning over their customers' call records without a court order.

Well, they always say you can tell a lot about someone by the company they keep...

complete article: What do Blackwater, Ahmed Chalabi, and AT&T Have in Common?

Blackwater Aided by PR Giant

By RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press Writer

October 5, 2007

WASHINGTON - Public relations giant Burson-Marsteller has vast experience steering companies through tough times. But there's a limit to how much it can help Blackwater USA, a new client that's been battered by negative publicity.

The State Department, which pays Blackwater hundreds of millions of dollars to protect U.S. diplomats in Iraq, has stringent rules barring the private security contractor from discussing with the media the details of its work, according to those familiar with the arrangement.

Under those limitations, it's difficult to repair a corporate image, said one official close to Blackwater.

.....

Burson-Marsteller was brought aboard by the Washington law firms representing Blackwater _ McDermott Will & Emery and Crowell & Moring.

One of the Burson-Marsteller executives working on the Blackwater account is Robert Tappan, a former State Department official who joined Burson-Marsteller in July and is president of the company's Washington office.

At State, Tappan was deputy assistant secretary for public affairs. While at State, he spent six months in Baghdad as director of strategic communications for the Coalition Provisional Authority, the temporary governing body that disbanded in June 2004.

.....

According to the Center for Media and Democracy, Burson-Marsteller clients have included cigarette maker Philip Morris, nuclear power plant owner Entergy and Allergan, the pharmaceutical company that makes Botox.

Up until 1992, Savimbi, whose UNITA guerrilla forces long battled the Soviet-allied Angolan government, received up to $60 million a year in U.S. aid. Much of it took the form of guns, ammunition and other military supplies shipped by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) via Zaire (whose longtime military dictator. Mobutu, was a $1 million-per-year Black, Manafort client until December 1990).

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1554/is_n1_v19/ai_13571831/

http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb06?BURSON_HAROLD_

Burson-Marsteller is one of the largest public relations agencies in the world. Formed by Harold Burson and Bill Marsteller in 1953,^[^^1]^ it is now a subsidiary of Young & Rubicam, which is owned by London-based WPP Group. The firm has 58 wholly-owned and 45 affiliated offices in 59 countries across six continents.

Contents[hide]

[edit] History

Burson-Marsteller was started by Harold Burson in 1946, which was operated as Harold Burson Public Relations in an office space provided by one of his two clients. Burson initially marketed himself as a business-to-business specialist based on his pre-military three-year association with a large engineer-builder that became his first client.

In January 1953, Harold Burson proposed a merger between his firm and the Chicago-based business-to-business focused advertising firm Marsteller Gebhardt & Reed. He made the merger proposal to the firm's president Bill Marsteller over breakfast at New York's Plaza Hotel. Burson and Marsteller had shared two large accounts during the previous eleven months, Rockwell Manufacturing and Clark Equipment. Marsteller agreed to the merger and the result was the creation of a new public relations firm jointly-owned by the Marsteller agency and Harold Burson.

The firm was the first US public relations firms to establish itself in Europe (1961) and was the first public relations firm to achieve $100 million in revenues (1985), $200 million (1992) and $300 million (2000).[citation ^needed]^

In 1994, Burson-Marsteller executive Thomas J. Mosser was killed by a mailbomb sent by "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski. In a letter to the *New York Times* Kaczynski said he targeted Mosser because the company "helped Exxon clean up its public image after the Exxon Valdez incident" and, more importantly, because "its business is the development of techniques for manipulating people's attitudes."

In 1999, Harold Burson was named by *PRWeek* as the industry's "most influential person of the 20th Century."[citation ^needed]^

Notable current employees of the company include Karen Hughes, former senior aide to US President George W. Bush, Mark Penn, political polling consultant and former chief strategist of the 2008 :{Hillary:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}: Clinton presidential campaign and current CEO of Burson-Marsteller, and former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.^[^^2]^

[edit] Notable clients

[edit] Altria

Altria (formerly Philip Morris Companies Inc.) is a long-term client of Burson-Marsteller's.^[^^3]^ Among their most notable work for Philip Morris, Burson-Marsteller helped organize a response to a 1992 United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report^[^^4]^ which identified secondhand smoke as a Group A human carcinogen, at a time when anti-smoking legislation was gaining momentum.^[^^5]^ Burson-Marsteller's strategy was to build reasonable doubt among consumers about the scientific validity of the EPA report, and to target legislators who supported curbs on smoking.^[^^6]^

One tactic was to support The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition (TASSC), which was created in 1993 by APCO Worldwide, another major public relations firm, with funding from Philip Morris.^[^^7]^^[^^8]^ The stated objectives of TASSC were to: 1) discredit the EPA report; 2) fight anti-smoking legislation; and 3) proactively pass legislation favorable to the tobacco industry.^[^^7]^ The tobacco industry organized the European Science and Environment Forum (ESEF) to fulfill a role similar to TASSC's in Europe. Burson-Marsteller argued its European network of scientists and clients made it the best choice to lead the ESEF campaign.^[^^9]^ Eventually Burson-Marsteller and APCO Worldwide joined forces in this effort.^[^^10]^

Another tactic was the creation of the National Smokers Alliance (NSA) to target politicians who supported anti-smoking legislation.^[^^11]^^[^^12]^^[^^13]^ The NSA was founded with an estimated $4 million in Philip Morris seed money, and help from Brown & Williamson, Lorillard Tobacco Company and some fifty smaller tobacco industry players.^[^^14]^

In all cases, great lengths were undertaken not to reveal the tobacco industry support of these organizations, in order to give the appearance they represented grassroots opposition to anti-smoking laws, and not the business interests of their sponsors.^[^^5]^^[^^15]^

[edit] Argentina

Burson-Marsteller has been criticized for organizing a campaign against human rights organizations at the behest of the last Argentine military dictatorship (1976–1983). These organizations were denouncing state crimes against humanity that were taking place in what later became known as the *Dirty War*. Burson-Marsteller has maintained through the years that it was never asked by its client to defend human rights violations; but researcher Rubén Morales wrote that the company itself created a slogan to that effect in 1979, coinciding with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights' fact-finding visit that September. The slogan stated: «We Argentines are right and humane» (tr: «los argentinos somos derechos y humanos»).^[^^16]^

With full knowledge of and advice from the U.S. State Department, Burson-Marsteller accepted the military junta government of General Jorge Videla as a client to attract industrial investment, market Argentine bonds and promote Argentine products, mainly wine, and to improve the image of the dictatorship around the world. Burson-Marsteller was contacted by the Minister of Economy, José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz, a very well-known multinational company executive. During the Videla government's reign, thousands of Argentine citizens disappeared and many more were tortured for their political beliefs, known as the *Dirty War*. BM did not seek an extension of its four-year contract.

In *The Shock Doctrine*, Naomi Klein states:

“Victor Emmanuel, the Burson-Marsteller public relations executive who was in charge of selling the Argentine junta's new business-friendly regime to the outside world, told a researcher that violence was necessary to open up Argentina's "protective, statist" economy. "No one, but no one, invests in a country involved in a civil war", he said, but he admitted that it wasn't just guerrillas who died. "A lot of innocent people were probably killed", he told the author Marguerite Feitlowitz, but, "given the situation, immense force was required."”
[edit] Babcock & Wilcox

After the Three Mile Island accident of 1979 became the most significant accident in the history of US commercial nuclear power generation, Burson-Marsteller conducted public relations work for the plant's manufacturers, Babcock & Wilcox.^[^^17]^

[edit] Blackwater USA

Burson-Marsteller represented Blackwater USA following a September 16, 2007 incident in which Blackwater employees killed 17 Iraqi civilians, according to the Iraqi government's investigation. Former B-M executive Robert Tappan worked on the firm's Blackwater account. Tappan worked at B-M's lobbying subsidiary, BKSH & Associates, and is a former US State Department official. BKSH helped Blackwater founder and head Erik Prince prepare for his October 2 testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.^[^^18]^

[edit] Colombia

On April 5, 2008 the Colombian government of Álvaro Uribe terminated its business with Penn and his Burson-Marsteller firm.^[^^19]^

[edit] Indonesia

In 1991 the Indonesian military massacred between 250 and 400 protesters during peaceful demonstrations in East Timor, commonly known as the Santa Cruz massacre. Following the massacre, the Indonesian government paid Burson-Marsteller $5 million "to help improve the country's human rights and environmental image," according to the Far Eastern Economic Review. In 1996, Indonesia signed another $5 million contract with Burson-Marsteller. ^[^^20]^

Indonesia had occupied East Timor in 1975 follow the emergence of the revolutionary Fretilin government. The invasion, and subsequent repression and famine, led to an estimated death of 200 000 people, at that time around 1/3rd of the country’s population. ^[^^21]^

[edit] Nigeria

The Ministry of Information of Nigeria employed Burson-Marsteller in the late 60s to assist in counteracting allegations by secessionists that the Nigerian government was committing genocide in the breakaway province of Biafra. Although the civil war brought about enormous suffering on both sides, an international commission reported finding no evidence of systemic genocide or serious human rights violations.[citation ^needed]^

[edit] Romania

Burson-Marsteller assisted totalitarian Romania in gaining Most Favored Nation status for trade with the United States. At the time the US and other western nations regarded Nicolae Ceauşescu as the friendliest of the Soviet bloc leaders to their interests. US President Nixon visited Ceauşescu in Bucharest in 1969 and the Romanian dictator was said to be instrumental in arranging Nixon's visit to China. B-M also promoted trade and tourism for Romania, one result was a week-long visit to Romania by NBC's Today program.[citation ^needed]^

[edit] Saudi Arabia

Burson-Marsteller's relationship with Saudi Arabia dates to the late 1970s when it launched a new petrochemical producer. SABIC (Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation). This activity continued for two decades and was consistent with business-to-business programs undertaken for other industrial clients. In the mid-90s, the King Faisal Foundation retained Burson-Marsteller to gain recognition for several initiatives, including the King Faisal Prize for scientific achievement. This work continued for four years. Its only other engagement for Saudi Arabia was preparing advertisements for major media following the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center.[citation ^needed]^

[edit] Singapore

Burson-Marsteller helped Singapore develop a program to attract overseas investment shortly after its formation as a nation in the mid-60s. This activity continued for approximately ten years and set the stage for Singapore's highly successful high tech manufacturing economy.[citation ^needed]^

[edit] Crisis management

Burson-Marsteller's strong position in crisis management[citation ^needed]^ has resulted in its identification with many major corporate crises of the past half century. It is well known for assisting Johnson & Johnson in the two Tylenol crises in 1982 and 1986.[citation ^needed]^

Burson-Marsteller also has had a close working relationship with many of the global producers and marketers of petroleum products in training their employees how to respond to crises and working on key communications of specific crisis situations such as oil spills and serious accidents. It has also worked with these companies in the development of environmental upgrade programs. Among those served by Burson-Marsteller are Shell, Exxon Mobil, Conoco, Chevron, BP, Repsol, Gulf and numerous smaller entities that were merged into the larger companies.[citation ^needed]^

Burson-Marsteller was awarded a Silver Anvil, the public relations industry's highest honor for a communications program aimed at restoring confidence in the Korean economy during the Asian financial crisis of 1998.

[edit] Bhopal disaster

Burson-Marsteller represented Union Carbide Corporation, jointly responsible for the Bhopal disaster in 1984 that killed some 2,000 employees and nearby neighbors and seriously injured thousands more.^[^^22]^ The plant was a joint venture of Union Carbide Corporation, a long time B-M client, and the Indian government. While originally operated by Union Carbide, it was taken over by local Indian management prior to the accidental discharge of a deadly gas used in the manufacture of insecticides. Burson-Marsteller's first objective was establishing a mechanism that would be helpful to global media representatives in transmitting news from a remote location in India to newspaper, TV and radio outlets. Two B-M executives were sent to Bhopal for this purpose and remained there more than a month. This facilitated daily press conferences that reported on steps taken following the accident.

As a result of B-M's work, the Indian Supreme Court dropped all charges of manslaughter against Union Carbide, although safety mechanisms at the plant were "appallingly inadequate." The company has now left India, leaving most of the responsibility with the Indian government.^[^^23]^

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. **^** Burson-Marsteller: How It Began
  2. **^** Wall Street Journal (2009). Bush Aide Perino to Join Firm Led by Clinton Adviser. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
  3. **^** http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/nus92e00/pdf Burson -Marsteller, "Philip Morris and Burson - Marsteller: A Partnership", http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/nus92e00/pdf, Bates no. 2046875317/5351
  4. **^** http://cfpub2.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=2835 US Environmental Protection Agency, "Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking (Also Known as Exposure to Secondhand Smoke or Environmental Tobacco Smoke ETS)"
  5. ^ ^a ^b http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1446868/pdf/0911749.pdf Bisa K. Ong, MD MS, and Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, "Constructing "Sound Science" and "Good Epidemiology": Tobacco, Lawyers, and Public Relations Firms", American Journal of Public Health, November 2001, Vol 91, No. 11
  6. **^** http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15313097 Muggli M, Hurt R, Becker L. Turning free speech into corporate speech: Philip Morris' efforts to influence U.S. And European journalists regarding the U.S. EPA report on secondhand smoke. Preventive Medicine. 2004
  7. ^ ^a ^b http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/qdf02a00/pdf Ellen Merlo, Philip Morris USA Internal Memorandum to William I Campbell, February 17, 1993, Philip Morris USA, Bates no. 2021183916/3930
  8. **^** Ong EK, Glantz SA (November 2001). "Constructing "sound science" and "good epidemiology": tobacco, lawyers, and public relations firms". Am J Public Health 91 (11): 1749–57. PMID 11684593. PMC 1446868. http://www.ajph.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=11684593. 
  9. **^** http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ywy88e00/pdf J. Lindheim, Memorandum: "Scientist Group in Europe", Philip Morris, Bates no. 2025493128/3129
  10. **^** http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=European_Science_and_Environment_Forum
  11. **^** http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/ttd85e00/pdf "NSA Political Plan Outline", December 1993, Philip Morris, Inc., Bates no. 2023203153/3158
  12. **^** http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/lyo07e00/pdf "National Smokers Alliance 1994 Political Action Plan", February 3, 1994, Philip Morris, Co., Bates no. 2047897334/7347
  13. **^** http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Smokers_Alliance
  14. **^** http://www.no-smoke.org/document.php?id=257 American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, "The National Smokers Alliance Exposed: A Report On The Activities Of Philip Morris' #1 Front Group"
  15. **^** Monbiot, George (September 19, 2006). "The Denial Industry". *The Guardian*. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2006/sep/19/ethicalliving.g2. Retrieved August 11, 2010. 
  16. **^** Morales, Rubén. "Somos derechos y humanos", La publicidad oficial del gobierno militar, Publicidad Política.
  17. **^** Vidal, John (January 8, 2002). "Anti-GM warrior Melchett joins PR firm that advised Monsanto". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2002/jan/08/gm.activists. Retrieved April 27, 2010. 
  18. **^** Burson-Marsteller To Help Blackwater out of Hot Water
  19. **^** John M. Broder, "Colombia to Penn: You’re Fired", New York Times, April 5, 2008 http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/colombia-to-penn-youre-fired/
  20. **^** -http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/2005Q1/indo.html
  21. **^** -http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1504243.stm
  22. **^** "What's Wrong with: Burson-Marsteller?". *Corporate Watch*. http://archive.corporatewatch.org.uk/magazine/issue2/cw2f2.html. Retrieved 2008-06-13. 
  23. **^** http://archive.corporatewatch.org.uk/magazine/issue2/cw2f2.html External links

CA prop 54 racist

The California Recall and Proposition 54

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson

Oakland, California

Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., founder and President of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition issued the following statement regarding the California Recall and Proposition 54 -- August 10, 2003

On October 7 an election will be held that is critical to the integrity and stability of our democracy. The extremists' plan to control our vote, our government, and disrupt the orderly process of democracy, is at work.

There are two issues that will affect the nation that are at stake. Thus the historic civil rights movement and labor, religious leadership, the medical and health care community, and devotees of democracy, must speak out. There are two issues that compel us to Vote NO in October: the election recall, an attempt to torpedo our democratic process; and Proposition 54, the Connerly information ban initiative, whichattempts to ban race as a factor in pursuit of research, law enforcement, and other legitimate quests. Racial inclusion is an imperative, but we continue to confront historic patterns of racial exclusion. Tyrants would rather burn the books of history's library than seek the more difficult challenge of remedy and fairness.

We oppose the recall. It undermines order and the stability of our government. It is another attempt to overturn a legitimate democratic election by using an archaic law established in the early 20th century as a precautionary measure to fight against political corruption. The motive of the recall is to destroy rather than to build. This leads to democratic anarchy. The atmosphere may be a circus, but the ramifications are much too serious. As Stanford Professor David Kennedy states, "The recall is really a nuclear weapon in the political arsenal."

There is a standard for removing elected officials from office. If there is malfeasance, corruption or treason, or if someone is shown to be unfit for office based upon the standard, there should be orderly succession and the people's government continues. A privately funded, multimillion dollar petition drive to initiate a recall election is not the answer. The state is facing an historic budget deficit (as does nearly every other state), as well as the largest federal budget deficit in history. In part, this has been triggered by a massive cut in taxes without the corresponding capacity to generate revenue.

In the last three years, nearly every state has gone from surplus to deficit, and every state has suffered a net loss of jobs. All have felt the impact of the corporate exploitation and thievery of Enron, Halliburton, Harken, MCI, and WorldCom. Corporations are allowed to go offshore to avoid paying taxes, while getting no-bid contracts.

...

http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/opin/jj_recall.html

Burson-Marsteller is the world's fifth largest PR company (Source: Council of PR Firms, 2002) and part of the WPP Group. According to a 2004 profile in The Hill, a Washington, DC newspaper, "This multinational PR behemoth has an active public-affairs practice led by Richard Mintz, who ran the media shop at the Department of Transportation during the Clinton administration. He also served as staff director for Hillary Clinton during the 1992 campaign. B-M has won awards recently for its work for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the "No on Proposition 54" campaign in California. Its public-affairs practice is bolstered by its affiliation with Direct Impact (grassroots marketing) and BKSH & Associates (lobbying)." [1]

Contents[hide]

Pushing Ethanol

Burson-Marsteller's Neil Grace works with Monsanto, Dupont, Archer Daniels Midland pushing their front group the Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy, announced July 24, 2008. The Washington Post reports, "A group of the world's biggest agribusiness companies announced it will use lobbyists on Capitol Hill and national ads to build the case for fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, even as grain prices climb worldwide. The biofuels industry has blossomed under federal mandates requiring the United States to increase alternative fuel usage by 2009. The mandates are under attack from groups who blame the new industry for rising food prices that have sparked riots and hoarding in several countries. ... The alliance has a budget of several million dollars for the campaign, but it did not disclose the exact amount." [2]

Hillary Clinton

In May, 2007, the Nation magazine ran an article about the relationship between Burson-Marsteller's top executive world-wide, Mark Penn, and Hillary Clinton. "As Hillary Clinton charges toward the Democratic nomination for President, her campaign has a coterie of influential advisers. ... But perhaps the most important figure in the campaign is her pollster and chief strategist, Mark Penn, a combative workaholic. ... Yet Penn is no ordinary pollster. Beyond his connections to the Clintons, he not only polls for America's biggest companies but also runs one of the world's premier PR agencies [Burson-Marsteller]." [3]

The Wall Street Journal first reported on April 4, 2008, that Penn "met with Colombia's ambassador to the U.S. on Monday to discuss a bilateral free-trade agreement, a pact the presidential candidate (Clinton) opposes." Burson-Marsteller "has a contract with the South American nation to promote congressional approval of the trade deal." The New York Times later noted that Penn apologized for his conflict of loyalty saying "the meeting was an error in judgment." [4]

U.S. Government PR contracts

According to the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform Minority Office, Burson-Marsteller received the following amounts per year, for federal PR contracts: [5]

According to the Public Relations Society of America's Silver Anvil award records and global public affairs chief Richard Mintz, Burson-Marsteller's federal contracts have included work for the Census Bureau, on participation rates; Bureau of Engraving and Printing, on “Introducing the New Color of Money” (the $20 bill redesign); Department of the Treasury, on money laundering enforcement; and Postal Service, on “Managing Communication During the Anthrax Crisis.”

In March 2005, PR Week reported that Burson-Marsteller won a $4.6 million contract, through the U.S.Department of Homeland Security's **Urban**Area Security Initiative grant program. The contract, for two to seven months' work, was "for the development and implementation of a regional public awareness and education campaign for a major emergency or disaster, such as a terrorist act," in Washington DC. "The effort's goal is to have 50% of people in the national capital area report that they've taken steps to be prepared," reported PR Week. "In addition to conducting PR and research, Burson will partner with ad and community-outreach agencies," Burson-Marsteller's Chris Simko told PR Week, adding that "33% to 50% of the budget will go toward advertising." [6]

History

Nuclear industry

In February 2008, the nuclear company Exelon paid Burson-Marsteller $230,627.05, coded as "public affairs." Exelon said the work involved the Exelon-funded pro-nuclear group New Jersey Affordable, Clean, Reliable Energy Coalition (NJ ACRE) and strengthening local support for "the renewal of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant's operating license." The payments covered Burson-Marsteller's work between June and November 2007, which included carrying out a poll and setting up "speaking engagements and events for Patrick Moore." ^[1]^

B-M has worked for the nuclear company Entergy for several years. "In April 2002, Entergy's communications director told O'Dwyer's PR Daily that the firm had been hired 'mainly for the Indian Point issues' -- the security and environmental concerns raised by the company's Indian Point nuclear power plant, located outside New York City -- 'but its work now includes handling the overall image of the company.' In 2003, Entergy created the 'Coalition Against Shutting Down Vermont's Electricity Options' and spent $200,000 to oppose a citizen campaign to close the company's Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in 2012." ^[2]^

Burson Marsteller, the tobacco industry and campaigns on secondhand smoke

Burson-Marsteller (B-M) has had a close relationship with cigarette maker Philip Morris (PM), having organized the smokers' rights group the National Smokers Alliance (NSA) for PM in the early 1990s. The purpose of the group was to mobilize smokers on behalf of the tobacco industry to protest clean indoor air laws, increased cigarette taxes and other legislated efforts that would affect cigarette consumption. The smoke-free advocacy organization Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights compiled a report exposing NSA's links to Philip Morris and showing that Philip Morris funded the NSA with $4 million in seed money.[7][8] PM was not the only tobacco company that helped support the NSA. In 1997, Brown & Williamson donated $500,000 in support of NSA.[9]

After the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruled in 1993 that secondhand tobacco smoke should be ranked as a Group A Human Carcinogen (the same rating EPA gives to asbestos, radon gas and vinyl chloride), Thomas Humber of Burson Marstellar wrote a memo to Ellen Merlo, Senior Vice President of Philip Morris Corporate Affairs, urging PM to put into action list of strategies to fight public health authorities on the issue of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS).

Humber's objectives included discrediting the EPA and its report, working to prevent private businesses from voluntarily enacting smoking bans, portraying the agency publicly as corrupt, encouraging other businesses to jump in and oppose EPA, to portray EPA as an agency under siege, and "blunt[ing] the thrust of employer and manufacturer liability suits" over employees' exposure to secondhand smoke in the workplace. Humber urged PM to "Sue the bastards!" (meaning the EPA) to "at the very least, delay or cloud precipitous actions against us," and to help "regain some percentage of industry credibility." Humber also postulated that suing the EPA would help "stimulate other [businesses], who have heretofore been too timid to fight back against the EPA, to summon up their own courage for their own battles." Humber recommends these activities be carried out through others, rather than by PM directly. Humber wrote,

...[I]n the interests of overall strategy, all activities...require the recruitment of outside organizations or individuals...against ETS specifics or more general objectives."

Humber said Philip Morris needed to keep major employers from voluntarily stampeding towards smoke-free workplace policies, while at the same time the company should position itself as a defender of democratic principles and protector of "rights for all."

Humber listed agencies through which PM could apply the listed strategies, and proposed that these groups be used to "achieve a rapid start and broadscale umbrellas under which other specific operations can be unfolded."

Humber's memo also reveals his awareness of the risk of potential lawsuits against PM from exposure of employees to ETS in the workplace. To help defray such suits, Humber suggested the immediate establishment of a sort of ETS legal-aid group he called the "ETS Defense Resources Council." Humber claimed this strategy has been effective for other companies, saying,

While [forming such a legal advisory group] will obviously not prevent new laws nor stop employers from imposing workplace smoking bans based on the threat of litigation, the rapid institutionalization of...such a [legal consulting] center would...signal the antis and plaintiffs bar that there will be no free ride on this tobacco issue either.[10]

PM eventually carried out Humber's "sue the bastards" strategy. In 1993, the same year Humber wrote the memo, PM filed a lawsuit in North Carolina before Judge William Osteen claiming the EPA's ruling on secondhand smoke was invalid. Judge Osteen ruled against the EPA, saying the agency had used bad science. The EPA stood by its report and appealed. On December 11, 2002--almost 10 years after the EPA first issue its report on secondhand smoke--the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in the EPA’s favor, and vacated Judge Osteen's opinion.

This memo also reveals the power of major public relations firms to shape the American political landscape. Humber boasts how, through front groups like Citizens for a Sound Economy" and the Institute for Regulatory Policy, B-M arranged a symposium where the vice-president of the U.S. was a keynote speaker, then assured that the media surrounding the event was dominated by the corporate message of "overregulation."

Humber also discusses partnering with ventilation businesses, since they too could profit from PM's stance that ventilation was the singular solution to problems caused by secondhand smoke.

Founding

According to a brief introductory note on the Burson-Marsteller website, Harold Burson recounted that the catalyst for the formation of the company was a phone call in January 1952 from Harry Leather, "a close friend at The New York Times". According to Burson, Leather called "to alert me that he had recommended our firm to a Bill Marsteller, owner of an industrial advertising agency in Chicago and Pittsburgh. Marsteller needed a small public relations firm to handle a project for his agency's largest client, Rockwell Manufacturing Company (now Rockwell International). Rockwell wanted to publicize that its chairman, W.F. (Al) Rockwell Jr., had purchased a helicopter for executive travel--a first." [11]

Mergers

In 1979, Burson-Marsteller became a part of the Young & Rubicam company which was in turn bought by the WPP Group in October 2000.

Media

Speaking to a 1997 Public Affairs Council conference Jim McAvoy, who went on to work as the head of B-M Media Practice summed up the news media's prioritization as "If it bleeds, it leads." [12]

Fake news

In July 2006, Burson-Marsteller announced a new partnership with the broadcast PR firm The NewsMarket, which produces video news releases and b-roll footage for clients.

"This partnership enables Burson to offer its clients a highly scalable, fully integrated solution to market and deliver digital content to journalists, new and emerging news platforms, and direct-to-consumers globally in local languages," read the press release. "This marks the first time a PR agency will offer a comprehensive, integrated strategic counsel capability with a digital content management and distribution platform that will enable turn-key execution for clients." [13]

Propaganda via Wikipedia entries

As described in the Swiss newspaper Wochenzeitung on 21.12.06, the Bernese office of Burson most probably copied their clients websites (propaganda in favour of nuclear energy and genetic engineering in Switzerland) as (German language) Wikipedia entries. [14]

Crisis management

In a listing of PR companies with crisis capabilities, the American Meat Institute listed B-M as having "made its name in crisis communications during the Tylenol tampering case. Other clients for whom Burson has managed crises include Schwan's (Salmonella), Jewel Supermarkets (Salmonella contamination of milk), Perrier (worldwide product recall and relaunch), McDonald's (BSE monitoring) and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association (BSE/CJD issues, Jeremy Rifkin)".[15]

Timeline

In 2001 B-M also developed a close working relationship with Leeds Metropolitan University, prompting protests from student groups. According to the Leeds Student Campaign "Burson-Marsteller will provide input into LMU's courses, share research, provide visiting lecturers and offer undergraduate and graduate training programmes. In the summer Harold Burson will be receiving an honourary degree from Leeds Metropolitan University, at a time when most students have gone home".[16]

In 2003, the Public Relations Society of America awared B-M was a co-winner for a campaign it ran for the U.S. Postal Service. According to the PRSA media release "the campaign helped restore public trust and confidence during and after the anthrax crisis almost two years ago. As a result of these efforts, a public opinion poll taken in December 2001 reflected positive ratings for the Postal Service for its overall handling of the crisis. In fact, a year later, mail volumes were running at pre-crisis levels of 700 million pieces a day." [[17]](http://www.prsa.org/_News/press/pr060603.asp "http://www.prsa.org/_News/press/pr060603.asp")

European women for front groups

In January 2004, theObserver (UK) reported that European Women for HPV Testing was a front group being run by B-M campaign for the US biotechnology company Digene. The Observer reported that some of the celebrities cited as endorsing the campaign on the groups website were not aware of the links of the group with Digene. [18]

Following the article B-M the list of celebrity names on the website was substituted with a message that those previously listed were being "re-contacted to confirm their continued support". B-M also sent a letter to The Observer claiming the articles was 'seriously defamatory'. [19] However, six weeks later B-M confirmed that no legal action would be taken. [20]

Carmelo Ruiz, in his article available in a link below, mentions many ventures B-M has spearheaded for clients in the past. They created a citizen group named the Coalition for Clean and Renewable Energy to create a positive image for the James Bay 2 hydroelectric dam project in Canada. They were hired by Philip Morris and then created the National Smokers Alliance to combat oncoming smoking restrictions. They infiltrated activist groups opposing the use of rBGH in dairy cows when hired by Eli Lilly and Nutra-Sweet, a subsidiary of Monsanto, to promote the benefits of the hormone. They were hired by A.H. Robbins after their Dalkon Shield IUD failed, damaging thousands of women. They also employed the talents of Otto Reich, former ambassador to Venezuela and head of Reagan's State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy (OPD) which was responsible for spreading disinformation about the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and blocked critical coverage of the Contras. The GAO found their activities to be illegal and Congress shut the office down in 1987.

Burson and Bush men

In April 2005, Jack O'Dwyer's Newsletter reported that Burson-Marsteller had joined with**Quinn Gillespie** & Associates to launch 360 Advantage, a public affairs shop filled with "key players in George W. Bush's successful presidential campaigns."

360 Advantage is headed by Russ Schriefer, who did advertising with the Bush/Cheney 2000 and 2004 campaigns and produced the 2004 Republican National Convention, and by Stuart Stevens, a "Bush adman and veteran political strategist." Schriefer and Stevens were also partners in the Stevens & Schriefer Group in Washington, DC, and have worked on presidential campaigns in the Czech Republic, Nigeria, the Philippines and Congo (Jack O'Dwyer's Newletter, Vol. 38, No. 17, April 27, 2005).

Blackwater USA

Burson-Marsteller has been hired by the two firms representing PMC Blackwater USA, McDermott Will & Emery and Crowell & Moring, to help with the account. [21]

According to *PRWeek*, Burson subsidiary, BKSH & Associates, was hired through an internal connection at Blackwater to help with Erik Prince's October 2, 2007 testimony to Congress and that this "temporary engagement has ended". ^[3]^

Political action committee

According to the Center for Responsive Politics database, Burson-Marsteller's federal political action committee had raised more than $69,000 as of October for the 2004 election cycle, with 37% of the donations given at that point going to Democrats, and 58% to Republicans. In the 2002 election cycle, the PAC gave 41% of the $92,500 raised to Democrats, and 58% to Republicans. In 2000, 56% of the $83,500 raised went to Democrats, 44% to Republicans. In 1998, 31% of the $70,300 raised was given to Democrats, 69% to Republicans. [22]

Clients

B-M does not publicly provide a list of its past or current clients. However, a selection of its client list, laregly based on O'Dwyers PR Daily database and other public sources (referenced separately), includes:

Personnel

Employees include:

The Executive Board, as of December 2005, consists of:

According to O'Dwyers PR Daily profile of the company, B-M has over 1,600 employees around the world.

In March 2009, Burson-Marsteller hired "former Fannie Mae communications spokesperson Jason Lobo as a director in its U.S. public affairs practice." Lobo "will manage the team servicing Burson-Marsteller client Ginnie Mae and will lead the team’s media relations, executive speech writing, marketing materials development, web site overhaul and third-party outreach activities." Before working at mortgage giant Fannie Mae, Lobo was at the Ketchum PR firm. ^[7]^

Contact information

B-M offices has 46 wholly owned offices as well as another 46 affiliates companies in 52 countries. Office contact information can be accessed at bm.com/overview/offices.html.

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

Other SourceWatch articles on BM activities can be found by looking under B on the list of article titles.

References

  1. ↑ Sam Stein, "Mark Penn Tied To Controversial Nuclear Firm," The Huffington Post, February 14, 2008.
  2. ↑ Diane Farsetta, "Moore Spin: Or, How Reporters Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Nuclear Front Groups," Center for Media and Democracy / PR Watch, March 14, 2007.
  3. ↑ http://www.prweek.com/us/news/article/743606/Blackwater-incident-sheds-light-crises/
  4. ↑ Hillary's Marlboro Man. New York Observer (December 19, 2005). Retrieved on August 13, 2008.
  5. ↑ Colin Barraclough, "Chile plans to dam Patagonia wilderness," San Francisco Chronicle, April 7, 2008.
  6. ↑ "B-M Recruits Keeton," O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), July 31, 2008.
  7. ↑ "Housing Expert Lobo Joins Burson Public Affairs Practice," The Holmes Report (sub req'd), March 23, 2009.

External resources

External articles

See Burson-Marsteller:External articles for a list of news articles and commentaries on the firm.

This article may include information from Tobacco Documents Online.

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Company Snapshot:

Burson-Marsteller (B-M) offers the full range of PR services including government relations, crisis management, issues and reputation management, brand building, product marketing, and communications training. These services are delivered by seven ‘practice’ areas within the company: advertising/creative, brand marketing, corporate/financial, healthcare, media, public affairs and technology. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP.

Number of employees worldwide:

1,600 (2002)

Chief executive officer:

Mark J. Penn, Worldwide President and CEO

Website:

Burson Marsteller

Corporate accountability

Environment and product safety:

Deceptive tactics: Bovine Growth Hormone

In the 1980s recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) also called bovine somatatrophin (BST) was Monsanto’s flagship biotechnology product. As one of the first biotech products to be commercialized, it drew attention from the whole biotech industry. A genetically engineered substitute for the cow growth hormone, rBGH was developed to increase the milk yield of dairy cows. In 1985, Monsanto CEO R.J. Mahoney estimated the market for the artificial hormone at $1bn a year. The main barriers to sales were gaining approval for commercial use and overcoming unfavorable scientific opinions. Monsanto’s own tests showed that the milk soured more quickly, and treated cows were at increased risk of mastitis (udder infection), which could lead to higher levels of pus in the milk. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientist Dr. Richard Burroughs concluded from analyzing test data that Monsanto was manipulating the figures. In 1989 he was fired after telling a Congressional investigatory committee that his superiors were suppressing his accusations. To deal with the expected controversy, Monsanto assembled a force of PR companies, including B-M, to disseminate pro-rBGH information to the dairy industry, the press, and the general public. They created a coalition, purportedly grassroots in origin, to carry out extensive lobbying of legislators. In two cases, B-M employees were exposed as working covertly during the pro-rBGH campaign.

Just before the release of his report on rBGH, Michael Hansen of the Consumers Union was contacted by a woman claiming to be a scheduler for ABC television’s show “Nightline.” She asked for a preview copy of the report and Hansen’s CV. Hansen's inquiries revealed that no one from ABC had called him and that the "scheduler's "fax number" rang at B-M.

B-M also tried to infiltrate the campaign against rBGH run by academic, author, and environmental campaigner Jeremy Rifkin. A B-M employee, claiming to represent the non-existent Maryland Citizen Consumers Council, attended anti-rBGH meetings. After her manner aroused suspicions, the activists exposed her. B-M disavowed all knowledge of her activities, suggesting that she was attending in her free time.

Europe's biotech campaign

Burson-Marsteller also devised the PR strategy for Europabio, the European biotech industry association. B-M famously advised the European industry to avoid the “communications killing fields” of “public issues of environmental and human health risk,” i.e., to avoid participating in any public debate on biotech issues. The strategy recommended leaving it to regulatory bodies and other third parties to deal with these issues; communicating through symbols and stories, not logic; and creating a positive image of biotechnology through highlighting new products and potential beneficiaries; and developing a very close relationship with the media; “Europabio must turn itself into the journalist's best and most reliable continuing source of biotechnology/bioindustries inspiration and information -- the first-stop help desk where they get no industry propaganda but practical, editor-pleasing, deadline-beating, connect to interesting stories and personalities -- even adversarial -- relevant to their readerships.”

Climate change

B-M helped to set up the Business Council on Sustainable Development which successfully prevented the 1992 Rio Earth from dealing with climate change, and orchestrated many other anti-emissions control campaigns.

Foundation to oppose tougher air pollution controls

Burson-Marsteller is behind a deceptively-named "Foundation for Clean Air Progress" (FCAP), founded in 1995. Describing itself as “Your source for public information and education about improving air quality in America,” the group pressures the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to adopt tougher air pollution controls. The Washington Post reported on June 17, 1997, that FCAP participated in a "multimillion-dollar campaign to turn back EPA regulations for smog and soot. ... The nerve center behind the attack is a coalition of more than 500 businesses and trade groups that calls itself the Air Quality Standards Coalition. Created specifically to battle the clean air proposals, the coalition operates out of the offices of the National Association of Manufacturers, a Washington-based trade group. Its leadership includes top managers of petroleum, automotive, and utility companies as well as long-time Washington insiders such as C. Boyden Gray, a counsel to former president George Bush. The same industries would likely bear the brunt of the costs for the new regulations, which the EPA estimates at more than $ 6 billion a year.”

Anti-fossil fuel tax campaign

In 1993 Burson-Marsteller led a $1.8m campaign to defeat a proposed tax on fossil fuels. President Clinton’s BTU (British Thermal Unit) Tax was the U.S.'s most ambitious measure to combat climate change. The BTU Tax was to be levied on fossil fuels, specifically on the heat generating capacity of fossil fuels. (A BTU is a measure of how much heat a given mass of fuel releases.) A $.25 per gallon gasoline tax and other levies were at the center of Clinton’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2000. The National Association of Manufacturers (a sponsor of the Global Climate Coalition), the American Petroleum Institute, more than 1,600 large and small companies, as well as farmers organized to create the American Energy Alliance (AEA), specifically to derail the BTU tax.

The AEA hired B-M to orchestrate the campaign. Deploying some 45 staff in 23 states, B-M organised a "grassroots" letter writing and phone-in campaign. It placed anti-BTU articles and editorials in the press, commissioned sceptical economists to write reports, and obtained media access for businesspeople to express their views. It also lobbied against the tax in Washington, D.C. Congressional support for the BTU tax quickly withered and Clinton’s plan was defeated. Congress voted for the tax to be kept below $.05 per gallon. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen described the BTU campaign as “one of the most sophisticated jobs I've seen by lobbyists in a long time.”

Rio Earth Summit

In the early '90s, Burson-Marsteller was instrumental in setting up, and subsequently representing, the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD), whose members include Chevron, Volkswagen, Ciba-Geigy, Mitsubishi, Dow Chemicals, Du Pont, and Shell. B-M’s mission was to greenwash the image of big business in the run-up to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and to ensure that the meeting passed no binding regulations to restrict transnational corporations.

The BCSD was headed by Stephen Schmidheiny. The Swiss billionaire industrialist was a close friend of the secretary-general of the UN Council on Environment and Development (UNCED). BCSD heavily lobbied UNCED at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, pushing for participants not discuss or even circulate proposals drawn up by the UN's own Center for Transnational Corporations concerning the environmental impact of these large companies and issues of corporate responsibility and accountability. The efforts help kill efforts to impose accountability on the TNCs, and kept climate change off the agenda.

In 1994 the BCSD merged with the World Industry Council for the Environment. WICE was another industry front group created by the International Chamber of Commerce to promote the industry agenda at Rio. It became the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, which continues to oppose enforceable environmental legislation, and pushes for voluntary corporate action on environmental issues. (Europe Inc., Pluto Press, p151)

Rumored involvement in anti-environmental movement

The "Wise Use Movement" is a loose network of groups within the U.S. joined by opposition to environmental pressure groups and environmental legislation, and promotion of an agenda stressing the rights of private property owners to decide to how best to exploit natural resources on their lands. The movement unites workers in the extractive industries, libertarian free marketers, and the extreme right. Many commentators believe that B-M was instrumental in setting up the Wise Use movement. They point to the fact that some of B-M’s clients have sponsored Wise Use groups, and in the 1980s when the movement began, 36 of the companies known to be sponsoring Wise Use groups were B-M clients. Direct proof of B-M’s involvement remains elusive.

B-M's public front for Canada's forestry industry

In late 1990 B-M was hired to re-engineer the public image of Canada’s forest industries. The cornerstone of its campaign was a new front group, the British Columbia Forest Alliance. Launched in April 1991, the Alliance was headed Jack Munro, formerly the chairperson of the International Wood Workers of America Union. Gary Ley, of B-M, was appointed executive director. In its first year the alliance received $1m from corporate sponsors.

The Vancouver Sun, British Columbia's biggest newspaper, with a daily circulation of 260,000, drew visits from forest company officials and alliance members. Before the launch of the BC Forest Alliance, the Sun had had five full-time reporters covering forestry, native affairs, and other environment-related issues. Soon only one environment journalist remained. The rest were assigned to a category called "resources" in the business section. Reporters who wrote critically about the forest industry, and those who probed the workings of the Forest Alliance and Burson-Marsteller itself, say they were subjected to pressure. The Sun's forestry reporter, Ben Parfitt, was pulled from environmental issues after writing about Burson-Marsteller and the Forest Alliance. A logging company official and an industry consultant grilled reporter Mark Hume in the editor’s office, about columns he had written about a pro-logging coalition, while the editor, Hume says, stood by in silence. The BC Forest Alliance now claims a membership of 10,000 individuals and 300 companies and industry groups.

Forest Protection Society (Australia)

Throughout the 1980s the Australian timber industry was targeted by ecological campaigns and direct action. In response, the industry spawned a new front group, the Forest Protection Society (FPS), with start-up money from the Forest Industry Campaign Association.

Employing Wise Use-style rhetoric, the FPS got itself listed as an environmental protection organization in the Directory of Australian Associations. The FPS promotes a “balanced use” of Australia’s forests, and claims that the best way to protect forests is to extract the wood and sell it. From the start the FPS aimed to build a large "grassroots" membership to suggest an independent standpoint. The FPS involves itself in numerous forest campaigns, fighting for the rights of local communities to exploit the forests, and supporting the interests of the timber industry. By April 1998 the FPS had 56 local branches across Australia.

Other tactics used by the FPS include taking over local environmentalist meetings, with the result that activists became distracted from their ongoing campaign. Like many groups associated with the American Wise Use movement, the FPS is a client of Burson-Marsteller.

Big Tobacco

The National Smokers Alliance (NSA) is a front group, formed by B-M, which mobilized the support of smokers around the US to oppose new anti-smoking legislation. Members were recruited through direct marketing, free phone hotlines, and on-the-street canvassing. By 1995 the NSA claimed 3 million members whom it encourages to oppose smoking bans and other restrictions on smoking.

Fighting for Environmental Pollution

In India in 1984, B-M handled crisis management for U.S. company Union Carbide when its pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked more than 40 tons of toxic gas. The poison killed 2,000 people instantly, 5,000 after three days; at least 20,000 have died since, with hundreds of thousands more are suffering lung, eye, and gastric complaints. Tuberculosis incidence in Bhopal is three times the Indian average. Following B-M’s PR and lobbying work, in 1989, as part of a court settlement, Union Carbide paid $470m on condition that it not be held liable in any future criminal or civil proceedings, and that the Indian Supreme Court drop manslaughter charges against Union Carbide, despite evidence of its lack of safety precautions. The company has now decamped from India, leaving most of the responsibility for the disaster with the Indian Government.

Exxon Valdez oil spill

Burson-Marsteller has officially denied conducting PR crisis management over the Exxon Valdez oil spill, but confirms that after the accident, Exxon hired the PR firm to conduct a study of the case.

Californians for Realistic Vehicle Standards

Burson-Marsteller is also behind the front group "Californians for Realistic Vehicle Standards," formed to oppose restrictions on automobile emissions of nitrogen oxide and other polluting gases.

Three Mile Island - Crisis PR

B-M conducted crisis management PR for Babcock & Wilcox, the company that built the Three Mile Island reactor. The plant itself, operated by Metropolitan Edison, was a client of PR giant Hill & Knowlton.

Keep America Beautiful

B-M works for the best-known anti-littering campaign in the USA, Keep America Beautiful (KAB). KAB, which attempts to educate and motivate the American public to reduce littering, is funded by many corporate interests. In the 1970s and 1980s, environmental and consumer groups accused it of opposing various state and national efforts to establish mandatory bottle and can recycling. The proposed legislation would have helped the litter problem, but did not serve the interests of some of KAB's corporate sponsors including Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch, and the Reynolds Metal Company. The implicit message is that littering, along with other environmental issues, is the responsibility of the individual citizen. KAB -- which also receives funding from the four largest U.S. tobacco companies, Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard -- has ignored the issue of cigarette butt littering.

Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment

In Europe, B-M set up the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment, in "defense of the beverage carton against environmental and regulatory pressures." Aimed at making disposable cartons look environmentally friendly, the Alliance is sponsored by packaging interests such as Tetra Pak, Elopak, Bowater (now called REXAM), and Weyerhauser.

BP’s Torrey Canyon oil spill

In the wake of the 1967 Torrey Canyon oil spill that devastated wildlife along the Cornish coastline, B-M handled crisis management for its long-standing client, BP (formerly British Petrolem, which merged with Amoco, formerly Standard Oil of Indiana, and in December 1998, becoming BPAmoco).

Czech Mining

B-M conducted a PR campaign in the Czech Republic on behalf of TVX Gold, a Canadian mining corporation. Encountering local opposition, TVX needed help renewing its exploration license for a gold deposit near the town of Kaperske Hory. The project posed a substantial threat to the unique environment of the Sumava Mountains, and became a major controversy in the Czech Republic. In January 1997, TVX halted pre-mining exploration in Kasperske Hory when authorities would not renew its drilling license.

B-M’s campaign began as a relatively modest attempt to allay fears about the environmental impact of the project, but grew into a blatant attempt to replace the mayor of Kapserske Hory, Frantisek Stibal. Along the way B-M hired Czech celebrities to promote the project and published a free local newsletter in the area. Vojtech Kotecky, of Friends of the Earth Czech Republic, described the campaign as unscrupulous, full of dirty personal attacks, sophisticated, and well-directed propaganda, combined with offers of financial support to the local community. After two years of fierce campaigning from both sides, the Czech government cancelled TVX’s concession after Stibal was re-elected in landslide victory.

Human rights:

Nigeria

B-M represented both the Nigerian government and Royal Dutch/Shell during and after the Biafran war. With reports of instability and genocide marring Nigeria’s international image, it hired B-M to discredit the information. The relationship continued long after the Biafran war. From 1991-92 the Nigerian military junta paid B-M’s lobbying subsidiary, Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly (acquired in 1991) more than $1m in fees.

Indonesia

After the invasion of East Timor, around 200,000 people -- one third of the population -- was killed, sparking charges of attempted genocide. The Indonesian government has also been accused of many other human rights abuses, including genocidal policies against the peoples of Irian Jaya,. In 1996, Jakarta hired B-M to clean up its image. B-M says it did not handle the issue of genocide in East Timor.

Argentina

B-M worked for the Argentinian military junta led by Gen. Jorge Videla, who seized power in a 1976 coup. B-M’s job was to improve the country's international image, and create the impression of stability to attract foreign investment. During Videla's rule, 35,000 people "disappeared" and thousands of political prisoners were tortured. Videla is now serving a life sentence for murder.

Saudi Arabia, et al.

B-M has worked for a host of regimes with appalling human rights records including the notoriously repressive and corrupt government of Saudi Arabia, that of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, and the governments of Sri Lanka and Singapore. Three days after the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York, in which 13 of the 16 alleged suicide bombers were Saudis, Saudi Arabia again hired B-M to ensure that its national image remained untarnished.

Anti-competitive and consumer protection:

Campaign to save silicon breasts

In 1991 B-M began a crisis PR campaign for Dow-Corning to handle the growing public health controversy over silicone breast implants. Dow Corning had been retaining B-M for years, but as the controversy exploded in late 1990 and early 1991 so did B-M’s account fees. In 1990 B-M billed Dow-Corning just $6,000, but from May 1991 to Feb 1992 that fee rose to nearly $3.8m. While Dow-Corning and the wider medical industry had known about the problems with breast implants since the 1970s, it and the multi-million dollar cosmetic surgery industry had managed to ignore them until the issue gained significant TV coverage in December 1990. B-M organized an astro-turf (false grassroots) campaign to save silicone breast implants. The PR firm organized women who had opted for silicone implants for reconstruction after breast cancer surgery into an effective and very public campaign. In 1992, the FDA banned silicone implants except for use with cancer patients.

Campaigns in Mexico for free-trade

Hired by the Salinas administration in 1990 to promote Mexico's North America Free-Trade Association (NAFTA) agenda, B-M spearheaded a successful campaign to sell NAFTA in the U.S. The Center for Public Integrity estimates that the government of Mexico spent in excess of $25m on the NAFTA campaign in the U.S. alone. To secure passage of the agreement, B-M prepared numerous reports and press and video news releases. Generally, its public relations work focused on the themes of jobs, the environment, and support for NAFTA among Latin Americans. B-M targeted newspapers, radio and TV stations, civic groups, public officials, press services, educational institutions, and industry groups for dissemination of pro-NAFTA information. B-M also marginalized NAFTA opposition coming from groups concerned with economic justice and human rights issues in Mexico, by portraying their objections as "Mexico-bashing." This spin was later refined to combat the Zapatista PR crisis by portraying the rebellion and the trade deal as two unconnected issues.

B-M picked up plenty of work from the Mexican government before and after the NAFTA campaign. When Mexico’s challenge to the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act was upheld in August 1991, public outrage erupted in the US, prompting B-M to immediately issue press and video releases proclaiming Mexico’s commitment to dolphin protection. By the mid-1990s Young & Rubicam, B-M’s parent company, was making more than $100m a year from contracts in Mexico.

Animal Industry Foundation

In response to mounting criticism from animal rights and environmental activists, the U.S. agricultural industry fought back with SLAPP suits (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation), which used or threatened libel and defamation laws to gag critics. Big Ag also lobbied successfully for "food disparagement laws," which strengthen the corporate legal position against public criticism. One group that conducted much of the campaign for food disparagement laws and other protections for the agricultural industry was the B-M funded Animal Industry Foundation[61], replaced in 2001 by the Animal Agriculture Alliance.

CTN

The Corporate TV Network began life as a joint venture between B-M and ITN, making extra profits for ITN by using its staff and equipment to make videos for the corporate market. There have been allegations that the link between ITN and CTN may effect the reporting of stories about CTN clients on ITN News, particularly regarding ITN’s reporting of Shell’s involvement in the repression of the Ogoni people in Nigeria[63]. Bruce Whitehead of ITN felt that his investigation of the Ogoni controversy may have been dropped owing to a conflict of interests: CTN was also making a film on the same subject on behalf of Shell, to present the oil company’s side of the story.

Clients of Burson Marsteller include: Comcast, Century 21, Sony Ericsson, Hormel, U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing Countrywide Financial, Costa Rica Tourism Board, Merrill Lynch and Telefonica

History

Founded in 1953 by Harold Burson, a freelance PR man and Jim Marsteller, owner of Marsteller Advertising, Burson-Marsteller has grown to become one of the largest PR agencies in the world and a market leader in all of the major areas of PR services. Harold Burson’s original vision for the new company was to model it on Hill & Knowlton, then the clear leader in the PR sector. He quickly took the company into new fields of PR wanting to diversify from his original specialty in business-to-business communications. B-M quickly set up offices across the U.S. and began to pursue larger and more prestigious clients. By 1959 revenues had reached nearly half a million dollars.

Although not yet a top tier PR firm, B-M took the gamble of moving into the European marketplace in the 1960s, a move that only Hill & Knowlton had previously taken. B-M established offices in London and Paris as well in Washington DC, and Los Angeles during the sixties. Throughout the 1970s B-M continued to expand. In 1970 it entered the field of consumer public relations with its acquisition of Theodore R. Sills Inc. And it opened further offices in Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Sao Paolo, Bahrain and in Russia. In 1979 B-M was acquired by the Young & Rubicam group of companies, and could thus begin to integrate its services with a family of other companies practicing PR, lobbying and advertising.

In 1983 B-M’s revenues exceeded those of Hill & Knowlton and in 1985 it was the first PR company to earn $100m in a year. The company’s expansion was relentless and yet more offices opened across the United states and around the world. After years as the premier public relations agency, a position that became unquestionable after H&K’s partial collapse in the early nineties, B-M saw its leadership position erode throughout the ‘90s, thanks to internal problems and the fact that several other agencies improved dramatically over the same period. With recent restructuring however it has shown string growth and in 2000 earned $303m placing it fourth in the league table of global PR firms. In 2000 Young & Rubicam was itself acquired by the WPP Group. So now Burson-Marsteller works in an even larger family of companies including its old rival Hill& Knowlton.

Financial information

Major lines of business/segments:

Deceptive tactics: Bovine Growth Hormone

In the 1980s recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) also called bovine somatatrophin (BST) was Monsanto’s flagship biotechnology product. As one of the first biotech products to be commercialized, it drew attention from the whole biotech industry. A genetically engineered substitute for the cow growth hormone, rBGH was developed to increase the milk yield of dairy cows. In 1985, Monsanto CEO R.J. Mahoney estimated the market for the artificial hormone at $1bn a year. The main barriers to sales were gaining approval for commercial use and overcoming unfavorable scientific opinions. Monsanto’s own tests showed that the milk soured more quickly, and treated cows were at increased risk of mastitis (udder infection), which could lead to higher levels of pus in the milk. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientist Dr. Richard Burroughs concluded from analyzing test data that Monsanto was manipulating the figures. In 1989 he was fired after telling a Congressional investigatory committee that his superiors were suppressing his accusations. To deal with the expected controversy, Monsanto assembled a force of PR companies, including B-M, to disseminate pro-rBGH information to the dairy industry, the press, and the general public. They created a coalition, purportedly grassroots in origin, to carry out extensive lobbying of legislators. In two cases, B-M employees were exposed as working covertly during the pro-rBGH campaign.

Just before the release of his report on rBGH, Michael Hansen of the Consumers Union was contacted by a woman claiming to be a scheduler for ABC television’s show “Nightline.” She asked for a preview copy of the report and Hansen’s CV. Hansen's inquiries revealed that no one from ABC had called him and that the "scheduler's "fax number" rang at B-M.

B-M also tried to infiltrate the campaign against rBGH run by academic, author, and environmental campaigner Jeremy Rifkin. A B-M employee, claiming to represent the non-existent Maryland Citizen Consumers Council, attended anti-rBGH meetings. After her manner aroused suspicions, the activists exposed her. B-M disavowed all knowledge of her activities, suggesting that she was attending in her free time.

Europe's biotech campaign

Burson-Marsteller also devised the PR strategy for Europabio, the European biotech industry association. B-M famously advised the European industry to avoid the “communications killing fields” of “public issues of environmental and human health risk,” i.e., to avoid participating in any public debate on biotech issues. The strategy recommended leaving it to regulatory bodies and other third parties to deal with these issues; communicating through symbols and stories, not logic; and creating a positive image of biotechnology through highlighting new products and potential beneficiaries; and developing a very close relationship with the media; “Europabio must turn itself into the journalist's best and most reliable continuing source of biotechnology/bioindustries inspiration and information -- the first-stop help desk where they get no industry propaganda but practical, editor-pleasing, deadline-beating, connect to interesting stories and personalities -- even adversarial -- relevant to their readerships.”

Climate change

B-M helped to set up the Business Council on Sustainable Development which successfully prevented the 1992 Rio Earth from dealing with climate change, and orchestrated many other anti-emissions control campaigns.

Foundation to oppose tougher air pollution controls

Burson-Marsteller is behind a deceptively-named "Foundation for Clean Air Progress" (FCAP), founded in 1995. Describing itself as “Your source for public information and education about improving air quality in America,” the group pressures the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to adopt tougher air pollution controls. The Washington Post reported on June 17, 1997, that FCAP participated in a "multimillion-dollar campaign to turn back EPA regulations for smog and soot. ... The nerve center behind the attack is a coalition of more than 500 businesses and trade groups that calls itself the Air Quality Standards Coalition. Created specifically to battle the clean air proposals, the coalition operates out of the offices of the National Association of Manufacturers, a Washington-based trade group. Its leadership includes top managers of petroleum, automotive, and utility companies as well as long-time Washington insiders such as C. Boyden Gray, a counsel to former president George Bush. The same industries would likely bear the brunt of the costs for the new regulations, which the EPA estimates at more than $ 6 billion a year.”

Anti-fossil fuel tax campaign

In 1993 Burson-Marsteller led a $1.8m campaign to defeat a proposed tax on fossil fuels. President Clinton’s BTU (British Thermal Unit) Tax was the U.S.'s most ambitious measure to combat climate change. The BTU Tax was to be levied on fossil fuels, specifically on the heat generating capacity of fossil fuels. (A BTU is a measure of how much heat a given mass of fuel releases.) A $.25 per gallon gasoline tax and other levies were at the center of Clinton’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2000. The National Association of Manufacturers (a sponsor of the Global Climate Coalition), the American Petroleum Institute, more than 1,600 large and small companies, as well as farmers organized to create the American Energy Alliance (AEA), specifically to derail the BTU tax.

The AEA hired B-M to orchestrate the campaign. Deploying some 45 staff in 23 states, B-M organised a "grassroots" letter writing and phone-in campaign. It placed anti-BTU articles and editorials in the press, commissioned sceptical economists to write reports, and obtained media access for businesspeople to express their views. It also lobbied against the tax in Washington, D.C. Congressional support for the BTU tax quickly withered and Clinton’s plan was defeated. Congress voted for the tax to be kept below $.05 per gallon. Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen described the BTU campaign as “one of the most sophisticated jobs I've seen by lobbyists in a long time.”

Rio Earth Summit

In the early '90s, Burson-Marsteller was instrumental in setting up, and subsequently representing, the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD), whose members include Chevron, Volkswagen, Ciba-Geigy, Mitsubishi, Dow Chemicals, Du Pont, and Shell. B-M’s mission was to greenwash the image of big business in the run-up to the 1992 Rio Earth Summit and to ensure that the meeting passed no binding regulations to restrict transnational corporations.

The BCSD was headed by Stephen Schmidheiny. The Swiss billionaire industrialist was a close friend of the secretary-general of the UN Council on Environment and Development (UNCED). BCSD heavily lobbied UNCED at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, pushing for participants not discuss or even circulate proposals drawn up by the UN's own Center for Transnational Corporations concerning the environmental impact of these large companies and issues of corporate responsibility and accountability. The efforts help kill efforts to impose accountability on the TNCs, and kept climate change off the agenda.

In 1994 the BCSD merged with the World Industry Council for the Environment. WICE was another industry front group created by the International Chamber of Commerce to promote the industry agenda at Rio. It became the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, which continues to oppose enforceable environmental legislation, and pushes for voluntary corporate action on environmental issues. (Europe Inc., Pluto Press, p151)

Rumored involvement in anti-environmental movement

The "Wise Use Movement" is a loose network of groups within the U.S. joined by opposition to environmental pressure groups and environmental legislation, and promotion of an agenda stressing the rights of private property owners to decide to how best to exploit natural resources on their lands. The movement unites workers in the extractive industries, libertarian free marketers, and the extreme right. Many commentators believe that B-M was instrumental in setting up the Wise Use movement. They point to the fact that some of B-M’s clients have sponsored Wise Use groups, and in the 1980s when the movement began, 36 of the companies known to be sponsoring Wise Use groups were B-M clients. Direct proof of B-M’s involvement remains elusive.

B-M's public front for Canada's forestry industry

In late 1990 B-M was hired to re-engineer the public image of Canada’s forest industries. The cornerstone of its campaign was a new front group, the British Columbia Forest Alliance. Launched in April 1991, the Alliance was headed Jack Munro, formerly the chairperson of the International Wood Workers of America Union. Gary Ley, of B-M, was appointed executive director. In its first year the alliance received $1m from corporate sponsors.

The Vancouver Sun, British Columbia's biggest newspaper, with a daily circulation of 260,000, drew visits from forest company officials and alliance members. Before the launch of the BC Forest Alliance, the Sun had had five full-time reporters covering forestry, native affairs, and other environment-related issues. Soon only one environment journalist remained. The rest were assigned to a category called "resources" in the business section. Reporters who wrote critically about the forest industry, and those who probed the workings of the Forest Alliance and Burson-Marsteller itself, say they were subjected to pressure. The Sun's forestry reporter, Ben Parfitt, was pulled from environmental issues after writing about Burson-Marsteller and the Forest Alliance. A logging company official and an industry consultant grilled reporter Mark Hume in the editor’s office, about columns he had written about a pro-logging coalition, while the editor, Hume says, stood by in silence. The BC Forest Alliance now claims a membership of 10,000 individuals and 300 companies and industry groups.

Forest Protection Society (Australia)

Throughout the 1980s the Australian timber industry was targeted by ecological campaigns and direct action. In response, the industry spawned a new front group, the Forest Protection Society (FPS), with start-up money from the Forest Industry Campaign Association.

Employing Wise Use-style rhetoric, the FPS got itself listed as an environmental protection organization in the Directory of Australian Associations. The FPS promotes a “balanced use” of Australia’s forests, and claims that the best way to protect forests is to extract the wood and sell it. From the start the FPS aimed to build a large "grassroots" membership to suggest an independent standpoint. The FPS involves itself in numerous forest campaigns, fighting for the rights of local communities to exploit the forests, and supporting the interests of the timber industry. By April 1998 the FPS had 56 local branches across Australia.

Other tactics used by the FPS include taking over local environmentalist meetings, with the result that activists became distracted from their ongoing campaign. Like many groups associated with the American Wise Use movement, the FPS is a client of Burson-Marsteller.

Big Tobacco

The National Smokers Alliance (NSA) is a front group, formed by B-M, which mobilized the support of smokers around the US to oppose new anti-smoking legislation. Members were recruited through direct marketing, free phone hotlines, and on-the-street canvassing. By 1995 the NSA claimed 3 million members whom it encourages to oppose smoking bans and other restrictions on smoking.

Fighting for Environmental Pollution

In India in 1984, B-M handled crisis management for U.S. company Union Carbide when its pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked more than 40 tons of toxic gas. The poison killed 2,000 people instantly, 5,000 after three days; at least 20,000 have died since, with hundreds of thousands more are suffering lung, eye, and gastric complaints. Tuberculosis incidence in Bhopal is three times the Indian average. Following B-M’s PR and lobbying work, in 1989, as part of a court settlement, Union Carbide paid $470m on condition that it not be held liable in any future criminal or civil proceedings, and that the Indian Supreme Court drop manslaughter charges against Union Carbide, despite evidence of its lack of safety precautions. The company has now decamped from India, leaving most of the responsibility for the disaster with the Indian Government.

Exxon Valdez oil spill

Burson-Marsteller has officially denied conducting PR crisis management over the Exxon Valdez oil spill, but confirms that after the accident, Exxon hired the PR firm to conduct a study of the case.

Californians for Realistic Vehicle Standards

Burson-Marsteller is also behind the front group "Californians for Realistic Vehicle Standards," formed to oppose restrictions on automobile emissions of nitrogen oxide and other polluting gases.

Three Mile Island - Crisis PR

B-M conducted crisis management PR for Babcock & Wilcox, the company that built the Three Mile Island reactor. The plant itself, operated by Metropolitan Edison, was a client of PR giant Hill & Knowlton.

Keep America Beautiful

B-M works for the best-known anti-littering campaign in the USA, Keep America Beautiful (KAB). KAB, which attempts to educate and motivate the American public to reduce littering, is funded by many corporate interests. In the 1970s and 1980s, environmental and consumer groups accused it of opposing various state and national efforts to establish mandatory bottle and can recycling. The proposed legislation would have helped the litter problem, but did not serve the interests of some of KAB's corporate sponsors including Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch, and the Reynolds Metal Company. The implicit message is that littering, along with other environmental issues, is the responsibility of the individual citizen. KAB -- which also receives funding from the four largest U.S. tobacco companies, Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard -- has ignored the issue of cigarette butt littering.

Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment

In Europe, B-M set up the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment, in "defense of the beverage carton against environmental and regulatory pressures." Aimed at making disposable cartons look environmentally friendly, the Alliance is sponsored by packaging interests such as Tetra Pak, Elopak, Bowater (now called REXAM), and Weyerhauser.

BP’s Torrey Canyon oil spill

In the wake of the 1967 Torrey Canyon oil spill that devastated wildlife along the Cornish coastline, B-M handled crisis management for its long-standing client, BP (formerly British Petrolem, which merged with Amoco, formerly Standard Oil of Indiana, and in December 1998, becoming BPAmoco).

Czech Mining

B-M conducted a PR campaign in the Czech Republic on behalf of TVX Gold, a Canadian mining corporation. Encountering local opposition, TVX needed help renewing its exploration license for a gold deposit near the town of Kaperske Hory. The project posed a substantial threat to the unique environment of the Sumava Mountains, and became a major controversy in the Czech Republic. In January 1997, TVX halted pre-mining exploration in Kasperske Hory when authorities would not renew its drilling license.

B-M’s campaign began as a relatively modest attempt to allay fears about the environmental impact of the project, but grew into a blatant attempt to replace the mayor of Kapserske Hory, Frantisek Stibal. Along the way B-M hired Czech celebrities to promote the project and published a free local newsletter in the area. Vojtech Kotecky, of Friends of the Earth Czech Republic, described the campaign as unscrupulous, full of dirty personal attacks, sophisticated, and well-directed propaganda, combined with offers of financial support to the local community. After two years of fierce campaigning from both sides, the Czech government cancelled TVX’s concession after Stibal was re-elected in landslide victory.

Nigeria

B-M represented both the Nigerian government and Royal Dutch/Shell during and after the Biafran war. With reports of instability and genocide marring Nigeria’s international image, it hired B-M to discredit the information. The relationship continued long after the Biafran war. From 1991-92 the Nigerian military junta paid B-M’s lobbying subsidiary, Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly (acquired in 1991) more than $1m in fees.

Indonesia

After the invasion of East Timor, around 200,000 people -- one third of the population -- was killed, sparking charges of attempted genocide. The Indonesian government has also been accused of many other human rights abuses, including genocidal policies against the peoples of Irian Jaya,. In 1996, Jakarta hired B-M to clean up its image. B-M says it did not handle the issue of genocide in East Timor.

Argentina

B-M worked for the Argentinian military junta led by Gen. Jorge Videla, who seized power in a 1976 coup. B-M’s job was to improve the country's international image, and create the impression of stability to attract foreign investment. During Videla's rule, 35,000 people "disappeared" and thousands of political prisoners were tortured. Videla is now serving a life sentence for murder.

Saudi Arabia, et al.

B-M has worked for a host of regimes with appalling human rights records including the notoriously repressive and corrupt government of Saudi Arabia, that of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, and the governments of Sri Lanka and Singapore. Three days after the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York, in which 13 of the 16 alleged suicide bombers were Saudis, Saudi Arabia again hired B-M to ensure that its national image remained untarnished. Campaign to save silicon breasts

In 1991 B-M began a crisis PR campaign for Dow-Corning to handle the growing public health controversy over silicone breast implants. Dow Corning had been retaining B-M for years, but as the controversy exploded in late 1990 and early 1991 so did B-M’s account fees. In 1990 B-M billed Dow-Corning just $6,000, but from May 1991 to Feb 1992 that fee rose to nearly $3.8m. While Dow-Corning and the wider medical industry had known about the problems with breast implants since the 1970s, it and the multi-million dollar cosmetic surgery industry had managed to ignore them until the issue gained significant TV coverage in December 1990. B-M organized an astro-turf (false grassroots) campaign to save silicone breast implants. The PR firm organized women who had opted for silicone implants for reconstruction after breast cancer surgery into an effective and very public campaign. In 1992, the FDA banned silicone implants except for use with cancer patients.

Campaigns in Mexico for free-trade

Hired by the Salinas administration in 1990 to promote Mexico's North America Free-Trade Association (NAFTA) agenda, B-M spearheaded a successful campaign to sell NAFTA in the U.S. The Center for Public Integrity estimates that the government of Mexico spent in excess of $25m on the NAFTA campaign in the U.S. alone. To secure passage of the agreement, B-M prepared numerous reports and press and video news releases. Generally, its public relations work focused on the themes of jobs, the environment, and support for NAFTA among Latin Americans. B-M targeted newspapers, radio and TV stations, civic groups, public officials, press services, educational institutions, and industry groups for dissemination of pro-NAFTA information. B-M also marginalized NAFTA opposition coming from groups concerned with economic justice and human rights issues in Mexico, by portraying their objections as "Mexico-bashing." This spin was later refined to combat the Zapatista PR crisis by portraying the rebellion and the trade deal as two unconnected issues.

B-M picked up plenty of work from the Mexican government before and after the NAFTA campaign. When Mexico’s challenge to the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act was upheld in August 1991, public outrage erupted in the US, prompting B-M to immediately issue press and video releases proclaiming Mexico’s commitment to dolphin protection. By the mid-1990s Young & Rubicam, B-M’s parent company, was making more than $100m a year from contracts in Mexico.

Animal Industry Foundation

In response to mounting criticism from animal rights and environmental activists, the U.S. agricultural industry fought back with SLAPP suits (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation), which used or threatened libel and defamation laws to gag critics. Big Ag also lobbied successfully for "food disparagement laws," which strengthen the corporate legal position against public criticism. One group that conducted much of the campaign for food disparagement laws and other protections for the agricultural industry was the B-M funded Animal Industry Foundation[61], replaced in 2001 by the Animal Agriculture Alliance.

CTN

The Corporate TV Network began life as a joint venture between B-M and ITN, making extra profits for ITN by using its staff and equipment to make videos for the corporate market. There have been allegations that the link between ITN and CTN may effect the reporting of stories about CTN clients on ITN News, particularly regarding ITN’s reporting of Shell’s involvement in the repression of the Ogoni people in Nigeria[63]. Bruce Whitehead of ITN felt that his investigation of the Ogoni controversy may have been dropped owing to a conflict of interests: CTN was also making a film on the same subject on behalf of Shell, to present the oil company’s side of the story. While Burson-Marsteller recently slipped from the number-one spot, it remains one of the world's largest PR firms, and, with restructuring, looks set for strong growth in the coming years. Since 1979 the company has been a part of the Young & Rubicam Inc. advertising conglomerate, which in turn was acquired in October 2000 by WPP Group plc, the global communications services company. Its revenues for 2000 totaled $175m in the U.S. and $303m worldwide, the highest in its history.

Today Burson-Marsteller employs 2,000 people in more than 60 offices in 35 countries around the world. That structure gives it a more international presence than any other agency, which is both an advantage (the firm is still the first choice for clients looking for global reach) and a disadvantage.

B-M’s reliance on international business makes it vulnerable to economic downturns or under-performing offices, as well as to currency fluctuations. In recent years the Asian market was under-performing, then Europe. Hoping to spur growth, B-M has reversed its five-year-old practice area commitment and in Europe has now moved back to a geographic structure--more suited to local conditions. Meanwhile, the firm is picking up high-profile wins in Asia, such as the Hong Kong government's economic development program, and is expanding in Latin America, where it has a strong e-commerce practice.

B-M structures its business around seven key practices or specializations: Advertising/creative, brand marketing, corporate/financial, healthcare, media, public affairs and technology. Activities within the advertising/creative practice are conducted by three subsidiary companies. According to B-M’s website:

Marsteller Advertising is a “full-service advertising agency specializing in corporate, business-to-business, and issue-related (or public information) communications.”

Burson-Marsteller Productions handles event management, and TPS “offers a wide range of communications services, from designing and producing websites, interactive CD-ROMS and presentation graphics to providing video production and broadcast services.”

The Brand Marketing practice employs around 150 people under the leadership of Linda Recupero. The practice offers a wide range of services toward the end of increasing market share for clients’ brands.

The Corporate/Financial practice handles all aspects of a client company's “perception management” – “to help top management understand, enhance, and manage the perceptions of their corporation held by key audiences, including shareholders and the investing community, the media and, by extension, the general public, employees and opinion makers.”

The extraordinary growth and sophistication of the healthcare industry has prompted B-M to set up a separate practice just for healthcare companies. The Healthcare practice offers the complete range of PR services to healthcare companies from product marketing, to crisis management, to long term issues management around complex and controversial subjects such as biotechnology. B-M boasts that it can manage and even create “scientific and political consensus around issues” in the healthcare sector.

The Media practice is B-M’s pool of expertise in using the media to deliver chosen messages, and making "media relations" an essential part of any effective PR strategy. As well as media relations, the media practice also deals with internet-based PR, and communications training. Specialists with backgrounds in a wide range of media are employed to ensure access to as many media sources as possible.

Public Affairs/Government Relations work in the U.S. and Europe is carried out by B-M’s wholly owned subsidiary, BKSH. In the rest of the world it is undertaken by B-M’s own offices.

Formed in 1994, Technology, the first of the "practices," concentrated mostly on electronic technologies. Like the healthcare practice, the technology practice provides a broad range of services that might otherwise be provided by other practices, specifically to companies that need specialist knowledge of technology issues.

Sources

Watchdogs and related campaigns:

PR Watch (Center for Media and Democracy)

Source Watch profile of B-M

Corporate Watch (UK) profile of B-M

Related reading:

Toxic Sludge is Good for You! Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton

The Power of Corporate Communication: Crafting the Voice and Image of Your Business by Paul Argenti and Janis Forman

Bending Science by Thomas Mcgarity and Wendy Wagner

PR Week

O'Dwyer's PR.com

"What's Wrong with Burson-Marsteller?" (Corporate Watch UK, 1996)

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