Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Working the PR machinery...

...Syria’s Assads Turned to West for Glossy P.R.
This web of politics and public relations ensnared Barbara Walters recently. After she conducted an aggressive interview with Mr. Assad on ABC News in December, she offered to provide recommendations for Sheherazad Jaafari, the president’s press aide and the daughter of the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, who was applying for a job at CNN and admission to Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Ms. Walters issued a statement on Tuesday expressing regret for her actions, which she called “a conflict.”
This just goes to show how even national media are hand-in-glove with the PR machinery to present a distorted image of the truth. No reporting was done, there was no journalism. If newspapers end up as handmaidens of PR agencies, there should be no reason to cry over their demise.

(PS Frank wrote my recommendations for Columbia's Journalism program. I made it. There was no conflict of interest there, only my absolute certainty that Frank's word will significantly bolster my application.)

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