PR Watch

Designed to educate and expose “manipulative and misleading” public relations practices, PR Watch (prwatch.org) is a Web site that posts information, articles, and book reviews about the public relations industry. The Web site is sponsored by the Center for Media and Democracy, a nonprofit public interest group dedicated to investigative reporting of the public relations industry and informing the public, journalists, and researchers about current public relations practices. The Center for Media and Democracy challenges public relations communicators' “spin” on issues and attempts to present accurate and unbiased accounts of the news. The organization has received widespread media attention, including coverage in The New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.

Through its quarterly publication PR Watch, the Center for Media and Democracy tackles issues that it considers have become propagandized by the public relations industry. Since 1994 PR Watch has addressed public relations issues involving O. J. Simpson, Philip Morris, Mad Cow disease, breast implants, global warming, and terrorism. Each issue begins with an overview of the public relations industry's latest success in spinning news events, followed by in-depth articles that present different perspectives about news events initially “spun” by public relations practitioners. In addition to its quarterly publication, PR Watch also offers an e-mail newsletter titled The Weekly Spin. The free e-newsletter is a “compendium of current news tips about public relations, propaganda and media spin.”

On its Web site, PR Watch pulls quotes from other media sources around the country that recognize the effect of public relations on current events in a section called Spin of the Day. The quotes pulled from media sources date back to 1994 and include publications such as the Wall Street Journal, http://Salon.com, Editor & Publisher, and O'Dwyer's PR Daily. In addition to posting the media's quotes about “spun” stories, the Spin of the Day section allows users to engage in discussion about the quotes and news stories. Called “Let's Talk About Flacks, Baby,” Spin of the Day's discussion is an active and up-to-date forum for users and members of the media to discuss how public relations practitioners shape the news. Let's Talk About Flacks, Baby also allows users to discuss books written by the PR Watch editorial staff.

In addition to serving as a watchdog on current events, PR Watch monitors and reviews organizations in its Impropaganda Review section. This section of the Web site is dedicated to exposing industry front groups and anti-environmental think tanks. Impropaganda Review has examined organizations such as the American Council on Science and Health, the Center for Tobacco Research, and the Global Climate Coalition. Each in-depth review of these organizations provides a history of the organization, key personnel, and funding sources and a case study of how public relations practitioners use these organizations to advance their “propaganda” goals.

Although PR Watch is dedicated to providing journalists and researchers with information and examples of the public relations influence on the news, the site also includes links to several other Web sites, including public relations organizations, search engines, government institutions, and other activist Web sites.

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