By Greg Hazley
Former Fenton Communications VP Trevor FitzGibbon is building PR support for Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier being held by the U.S. military on charges he transferred data to WikiLeaks.
FitzGibbon runs his own three-year-old, Washington, D.C.-based shop, FitzGibbon Media, with a handful of consultants around the country and recently handled media strategy for the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law, which is defending detainees who were allegedly tortured at CIA "black sites."
Pfc. Bradley Manning |
FitzGibbon told O'Dwyer's that Manning's plight drew his interest and he signed on to work on the soldier's PR through the Bradley Manning Advocacy Fund. He is paid for his services through the fund, which is supported mostly by small donations.
"I saw what was going on with him and there was nobody helping this kid," said FitzGibbon, who has visited Manning about once a week at the Marine Corps. brig in Quantico, Va., since starting the assignment in late January. "Every American deserves humane treatment and due process."
Providing some PR leverage for Fitzgibbon, Manning's nine-month detention is a contentious issue for the military and Obama administration as human rights groups and media criticize what are said to be the harsh conditions of his detainment.
State Department public affairs head P.J. Crowley lost his job over the weekend after he called the Pentagon's treatment of Manning "ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid" at an event.
FitzGibbon, who said he can't discuss the legal case, said a key aspect of his PR work over the past month has been to show Manning's true persona, which had been previously ill-defined. "He's clearly not an anti-war activist," he said. "So the first thing we needed to do was present an accurate view of who he is – an independent kid who's very much pro-military."
That effort involved lining up supporters including former JAG attorneys, Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers, and other ex-military and credible spokespeople to express support for Manning. In addition, FitzGibbon said he is working to organize grassroots supporters for the detained soldier. He has also met with Manning's attorney, David Coombs of Massachusetts, a former Army trial attorney who specializes in court martial defense and frequently updates a blog on his work for Manning.
The PR pro said he has detected a positive change over the past few weeks in support of Manning, bolstered by Crowley's reprimand and particularly evidenced today by a scathing editorial in the New York Times titled "The Abuse of Private Manning."
The Times compared Manning's treatment to the "creepy memories of how the Bush administration used to treat terror suspects," while Ellsberg penned a Guardian op-ed on March 11 decrying the "shameful abuse of Bradley Manning" as "abusive and illegal."
Added FitzGibbon: "I think in the last month there's been a tangible shift."
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