Sheldon Rampton | |
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| Occupation(s) | Editor, author |
Sheldon Rampton is an American editor and author. He was editor of PR Watch , and is the author of several books that criticize the public relations industry.
Sheldon Rampton | |
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| Occupation(s) | Editor, author |
Sheldon Rampton is an American editor and author. He was editor of PR Watch , and is the author of several books that criticize the public relations industry.
In 1995, Rampton teamed with John Stauber as co-editors of PR Watch, a publication of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). They were described as liberal, [1] and their writings are regarded by some members of the public relations industry as one-sided and hostile, but their work drew wide attention. [2] ActivistCash, a website hosted by Washington lobbyist Richard Berman, has castigated them as "self-anointed watchdogs," "scare-mongers," "reckless" and "left-leaning." [3] Rampton and Stauber have in turn argued that the ActivistCash critique contains a number of "demonstrably false" claims. [4] According to a review in the Denver Post, their 1995 book, Toxic Sludge Is Good for You, offered "a sardonic, wide-ranging look at the public relations industry." [5]
After leaving the Center for Media and Democracy in 2009, Rampton became a website developer, joining an open government initiative led by New York State Senate chief information officer Andrew Hoppin. [6] [7] In 2010, Hoppin and Rampton co-founded NuCivic, an open source software company, [8] [9] which they sold in December 2014 to GovDelivery, a software services company now known as Granicus. [10] [11] Rampton currently works as a software engineer at Granicus. [12] He also serves on the board of directors of Global Energy Monitor (GEM), a non-governmental organization that catalogs fossil fuel and renewable energy projects worldwide in support of clean energy. [13]
Junk science is spurious or fraudulent scientific data, research, or analysis. The concept is often invoked in political and legal contexts where facts and scientific results have a great amount of weight in making a determination. It usually conveys a pejorative connotation that the research has been untowardly driven by political, ideological, financial, or otherwise unscientific motives.
John Stauber is an American writer. Stauber has co-authored five books about government propaganda, private interests and the public relations industry. His work includes one book about how industry manipulates science, one about the history and current scope of the public relations industry, and one about mad cow disease, which predicted the surfacing of the disease within the United States.
In public relations and politics, spin is a form of propaganda, achieved through knowingly providing a biased interpretation of an event or campaigning to influence public opinion about some organization or public figure. While traditional public relations and advertising may manage their presentation of facts, "spin" often implies the use of disingenuous, deceptive, and manipulative tactics.
Edward Louis Bernays was an American pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda, and referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations". While credited with advancing the profession of public relations, his techniques have been criticized for manipulating public opinion, often in ways that undermined individual autonomy and democratic values.
A video news release (VNR) is a video segment made to look like a news report, but is instead created by a PR firm, advertising agency, marketing firm, corporation, government agency, or non-profit organization. They are provided to television newsrooms to shape public opinion, promote commercial products and services, publicize individuals, or support other interests. News producers may air VNRs, in whole or in part, at their discretion or incorporate them into news reports if they contain information appropriate to a story or of interest to viewers.
Citizens for a Free Kuwait (CFK) was an astroturf operation established by the Kuwaiti government to persuade the American public to look favourably at US military action in the Persian Gulf. Its principal payment was to public relations firm Hill & Knowlton, who was associated with the false testimony to the US Congress given by Nayirah al-Ṣabaḥ.
Trust Us, We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future is a book written by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber. It is published by Jeremy P. Tarcher Inc. of the Penguin Group. The book focuses on the role experts hired by public relations firms play in quieting public fear with inaccurate or incomplete information when dangerous toxins from industrial processes are released into the environment.
The NCTE George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language is an award given since 1975 by the Public Language Award Committee of the National Council of Teachers of English. It is awarded annually to "writers who have made outstanding contributions to the critical analysis of public discourse."
Steven J. Milloy is a lawyer, lobbyist, author and former Fox News commentator. Milloy is the founder and editor of the blog junkscience.com.
The Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC) is a non-profit think tank working on social and lifestyle issues. It is based in Oxford, but is not part of, and has no relationship to, Oxford University.
Sheldon Whitehouse is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Rhode Island since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island from 1993 to 1998 and as the 71st attorney general of Rhode Island from 1999 to 2003. In 2006, he won his first term to the Senate, defeating Republican incumbent Lincoln Chaffee. Whitehouse was reelected in 2012, 2018, and 2024.
David Steinman is an environmentalist, journalist, consumer health advocate, publisher and author. He has published five books focusing largely on environmental, dietary, and consumer safety issues, including Diet for a Poisoned Planet in 1990. He is the founder of the publishing company, Freedom Press, which publishes Healthy Living Magazine, and he also operated an online radio show entitled, Green Patriot Radio.
David Scott Dibble is an American politician serving as a member of the Minnesota Senate since 2003. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Dibble represents District 61, which includes parts of Minneapolis in Hennepin County. From 2001 to 2003, he served in the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Robert Mullen Company was a public relations company in Washington DC. The firm was founded in 1952 by Robert R. Mullen, who was a campaign press secretary for Dwight D. Eisenhower and information director for the Marshall Plan. A Watergate committee report revealed that the Robert Mullen Company had in at least two instances been a front for CIA operations abroad, in addition for former CIA intelligence case officer and head of the White House plumbers E. Howard Hunt.
The Shared Values Initiative was a public relations campaign created by the U.S. State Department and directed by Charlotte Beers, a former Madison Avenue advertising executive, to persuade viewers to be more aware, open and accepting of America by dispelling myths about the treatment of Muslims. The propaganda campaign was launched soon after September 11, 2001 and was intended to sell a “new” America to Muslims around the world by showing that American Muslims were living happily and freely in America without persecution. Although initially thought to be a success by the U.S. Government and Charlotte Beers’ team, the $15 million initiative was regarded as a failure.
Vista Equity Partners Management, LLC is an American private equity firm that invests in software, data, and technology-enabled businesses. With over $100 billion in assets under management (AUM), it is one of the largest private equity firms in the world. Vista Equity Partners has invested in hundreds of technology companies, including Citrix, SentinelOne, and Marketo, and has achieved many accolades in the space, most recently being named as 2023's Global Technology Private Equity Firm of the Year by Private Equity International.
The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes ExposedbyCMD.org, SourceWatch.org, and ALECexposed.org.
The following is a list of public relations, propaganda, and marketing campaigns orchestrated by Edward Bernays.
Vocus was a public relations software company based in Beltsville, Maryland, United States, serving clients worldwide from 1992 to 2014. In addition to its web-based PR software suites, the company owns the online publicity services, PRWeb and Help a Reporter Out (HARO). Vocus was founded in 1992 by Rick Rudman and Bob Lentz and was a publicly held company until June 2014 when it was taken private by Chicago-based private equity company GTCR. The company operates additional offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Since late 2014, the company merged with Cision AB to form Cision Inc. as the succeeding company.
Andrew Kerwin Maloney is a former senior U.S. government official and government affairs executive and the president and CEO of the American Investment Council, an industry association for private-equity investors and firms. He previously served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Legislative Affairs.
There isn't likely to be much corporate support there. These guys come from the far side of liberal. Saying so is not to detract from their exhaustively detailed reportage and calmly convincing tone; indeed, the book is generally light on rhetoric, and there's hardly a radical quoted.Chisun Lee, "The Flack Catchers", Village Voice , April 10, 2001.
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