Paul Seaman

Analyst and PR consultant
Dec 05

Open letter to CIPR on implications of Leveson's report

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) should do more to encourage wider debate about the implications of Lord Justice Leveson's recommendations for the great trade of public relations.
6 min read
Dec 02

PRs shouldn't rush to welcome Leveson

PR professionals need to interrogate the Leveson report in great detail. That's because there's the possibility
4 min read
Nov 30

Guest post: RDN says Leveson wasn't liberal

By Richard D North: So far I am with David Cameron and find support in the majority of each of
2 min read
Nov 17

Energy independence: a misguided pipedream

Obama’s and Romney’s trumpeting of energy-autarchy and energy-efficiency during the election campaign reveals how they lack both the policies to build a better future. The real challenge is not to turn the clock back on the globalisation of oil, but to accelerate the globalisation of gas.
13 min read
Oct 27

Poor communication is not a crime

Whenever there is an accident as a result of nature's force or man's activities, or from a combination of both, somebody is likely to be held legally liable. It is as if there is no such thing as an accidental accident. Well, shit happens and the blame game often sucks.
5 min read
Oct 25

Savile and the BBC’s clip-board kings and queens

[This is a guest post by Richard D North.] The most important questions about the BBC and Savile saga are
3 min read
Oct 04
How to make blackouts a thing of the past

How to make blackouts a thing of the past

The key to providing for our energy needs is technological development, not sterile rows about energy sources. This essay by Professor James Woudhuysen, Joe Kaplinsky and Paul Seaman was first published on spiked-online
20 min read
Aug 30
Lonmin's PR credibility gap

Lonmin's PR credibility gap

I want to address Lonmin's politically correct corporate website, which reads as if it were promoting a mine somewhere in Western Europe rather than in troubled South Africa. And I want to issue a warning against the dangers of moral grandstanding that is all too common in South Africa.
4 min read
Jul 18
New moral agenda for PR: updated essay

New moral agenda for PR: updated essay

In the late 20th century PR had to manage an increasing number of controversial issues. Firms were invited – forcefully – to address their reputations the way they once addressed profits. This essay interrogates the response of leading academics and examines the historical roots of the problem.
18 min read
Jul 17

The F-word in the new Cold War

How does a near-European monopolistic vertical supplier (upstream, downstream and in-between) of an expensive fossil fuel from a semi-democratic country
5 min read
Jul 09
The rumble in the jungle: modern PR's Edwardian birth

The rumble in the jungle: modern PR's Edwardian birth

The largely forgotten Peruvian Amazonian Rubber Company scandal gave birth to modern corporate governance. It illustrated how public opinion, which abolished slavery in the British empire in 1833, and later rallied against King Leopold in the Congo, was a positive global force.
6 min read
Jul 02

Essay: Sustainability and WBCSD's myopic Vision 2050

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development's Vision 2050 claims that over the next forty years, corporate environmental efficiency must become a competitive advantage across all industries and regions of the world. How to interrogate this stuff? Sceptically, I suggest.
9 min read