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Mexico’s Committee of Tourism and Conventions for the image-tarnished Mexican State of Baja California has hired Allison & Partners for a six-figure PR effort as the roster of firms that have worked on the crisis grows larger.
President Obama last night officially declared combat operations are over in Iraq. Who is he kidding? Teddy Roosevelt made a similar declaration on July 4, 1902, saying "the insurrection against the authority and sovereignty of the United States is now at an end."
Roosevelt, who gets unfairly tarred as a war-mongering imperialist, was referring to the Philippine-American War, which gets very short-shrift in U.S. text books. Bloodshed in the Philippines went on for at least four years. To his credit, Roosevelt acknowledged during his "war is over" proclamation that hostilities continue in certain areas under insurgent control. Does anybody believe that Iraq, a cauldron of sectarian hatred, is to be transformed into a peaceful and democratic oasis within four years?
Obama was not as upfront as TR.
Evan Thomas, author of "The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the Rush to Empire," sees many parallels between the U.S. wars in the Philippines and Iraq. The Philippines action was an outgrowth of the Spanish-American War. The White House and cheerleading media snookered America into both conflicts.
[Thomas, who is stepping down from Newsweek after a 25-year run, admitted his own cheerleading, in an interview with Guernica.
He called former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld a "great war leader" shortly after the invasion of Afghanistan and wrote a March 2002 Newsweek article about the Bush Administration's "growing consensus" that Saddam Hussein stacked up as the next target in the war.]
Seeking a measure of redemption, Thomas wrote in War Lovers:
"Just as the threat of weapons of mass destruction turned out to be bogus in Iraq, the sinking of the Maine-the pretext for intervention in Cuba—was caused not by a Spanish plot but rather almost certainly by a shipboard accident."
Once the U.S. gained political control of the Philippines from Spain in 1898, the war "turned dangerous and ugly."
The U.S. abandoned its former Filipino rebel allies and plunged into a counterinsurgency that ultimately cost 4,234 American lives. The final U.S. death toll in Operation Iraqi Freedom, which began in 2003, is 4,416. An American has not yet died in "Operation New Dawn."
In a 1907 letter to Secretary of War William Taft, Roosevelt wrote:
"I don't see where they are of any value to us or where they are likely to be of any value… The Philippines form our heel of Achilles. They are all that makes the present situation with Japan dangerous…. Personally I should be glad to see the islands make independent."
When will Obama be as forthright about the value of Iraq and Afghanistan to the U.S.?
The Philippines became a U.S. commonwealth in 1935 and independent in 1946. The last U.S. military installation in the Philippines, Clark Air Base, shut in 1991.
Will it be 93 years until the last American base closes in Iraq?
The preliminary agenda for the PRSA Assembly Oct. 16 sets aside the afternoon session, from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m., for a Town Hall on "Defining the role of PR professionals of the future."
The session from 8:30 a.m. to noon will include reports from the chair, COO and treasurer and discussion of bylaw amendments.
Arthur Yann, VP-PR of PR Society of America, has contradicted himself twice in moves to impede coverage of the 2010 Society conference in D.C. by O'Dwyer staffers.
He told this website via e-mail Aug. 26 that this reporter and a D.C. writer hired by us could attend the Assembly Oct. 16 but each would have to pay the full fee of $1,275 to attend the conference. When we asked if this was a policy applied only to the O’Dwyer Co., he answered via e-mail, "The policy has not been applied selectively. No."
We called up Scott Van Camp, editor of PR News, who said he is being given full conference registration at no cost and that he was accepting this even though we might be barred.
Relaying this to Yann, he then e-mailed us that under a new policy, "Any trade publication that attended last year’s conference but never wrote about it, is not being given a complimentary conference registration, but instead is being asked to pay for their registration this year if they wish to attend. Jack O’Dwyer’s Newsletter falls into this category."
O’Dwyer media have extensively covered conference speakers for many years, including 2008 featured speakers Penelope Trunk who gave career tips, and Craig Newmark, founder of CraigsList.
Yann said on Aug. 26 that John O’Dwyer, who has both editorial and sales duties, could attend the Assembly. "A credential for John to attend the Assembly is not a problem; I’ll add him to the list," he wrote.
But later in the same day, he wrote: "I checked John's role at the O'Dwyer Co. and your website notes that he is the 'Advertising Manager and Webmaster.' Press credentials are for working press, not ad sales reps. Unless he's on the editorial side, it would not be appropriate for him to attend the Assembly. I'm sorry but I cannot add him to the list."
John O'Dwyer, as his title says, is both editorial and ad sales. "Webmaster" is an editorial title. John O'Dwyer covers public affairs, lobbying and FARA news in the nation's capital.
PRSA's 'No Comment' Policy Described
Yann is directing Twitter users to the Society's “Media Policy” that bars anyone connected with the Society from talking to the media for or about the Society unless "specifically authorized to do so by the president and chief operating officer or VP of PR."
Says the policy:
PRSA members and volunteers at all levels of the organization should refrain from speaking with the media as a representative of PRSA and/or on PRSA's behalf.
This policy applies equally to national board members (other than the chair/CEO), national staff members, national task force and committee leaders; College of Fellows inductees; chapter and district officers and board members; section and affinity group chairs and executive committee members; PRSSA national committee members, and PRSSA and PRSA at-large members.
Individual members may speak to the press but "care should be taken to label the viewpoint expressed in such a way that it cannot be construed as an official stance on PRSA’s business operations, policies, thoughts or positions."
All media inquiries are to be directed to the VP-PR or other members of the Society's PR department.
Sarah Lawrence College, once considered the "preeminent progressive liberal arts college in the U.S.," is looking for a PR partner to "burnish the brand."
As the big ad and PR agency conglomerates reported robust earnings for the first half of 2010, many pinned their profit turnarounds at least partially on the ability to do more with less overhead.
This reality in ad/PR-land came from drastic job cuts in 2008 and 2009 and new research from Edelman suggests the greater "efficiency" gained across the U.S. business landscape may be taking a toll on staff.
Edelman's StrategyOne polling unit conducted some research on Americans' attitudes toward their work/life balance amid the "Great Recession" and found that 4 in 10 said the situation has become worse, defying any expectations that many of those with jobs "should be happy and not complain" amid high unemployment.
Notably, nearly half of American workers (43%) among the 1,043 polled said their company is not doing enough to address work/life balance issues.
"Workers are being asked to do 'more with less' and the strain on them is clearly showing," said Bradley Honan, VP of StrategyOne.
Roosevelt, who gets unfairly tarred as a war-mongering imperialist, was referring to the Philippine-American War, which gets very short-shrift in U.S. text books. Bloodshed in the Philippines went on for at least four years. To his credit, Roosevelt acknowledged during his "war is over" proclamation that hostilities continue in certain areas under insurgent control. Does anybody believe that Iraq, a cauldron of sectarian hatred, is to be transformed into a peaceful and democratic oasis within four years? 
He told this website via e-mail Aug. 26 that this reporter and a D.C. writer hired by us could attend the Assembly Oct. 16 but each would have to pay the full fee of $1,275 to attend the conference. When we asked if this was a policy applied only to the O’Dwyer Co., he answered via e-mail, "The policy has not been applied selectively. No."
This reality in ad/PR-land came from drastic job cuts in 2008 and 2009 and 
