Marshall McLuhan: A media guru reconsidered
Regardless that Marshall McLuhan's name is no longer household fare (unlike, say, Warhol's), his influence remains as significant among cyber-nerds as it was among beatniks. In fact his thinking is arguably more significant today.
Cicero and the limits to spin and rhetoric
Cicero's life demonstrates that what really determines historical outcomes – and always has done – is not merely the power of persuasion, by either spin or the truth well told. No, what matters most - along with luck and circumstance - is the balance of power and how different forces are aligned.
How to defend PR credibly
I know I’m late getting to this story (it’s thanks to a recent Twitter exchange with @josifmck, @prconversations,
Are modern PR thinkers spinning Isocrates' legacy? (revised Dec 2013)
Why are some PR professors trying to turn Isocrates into a role model for modern communicators? Isocrates was an enemy of radical Athenian democracy. He believed in a predetermined social order. He shared Plato's prejudices, but very few of his strengths. Except on the virtues of liberal education.
Co-op: the real fraud is ‘ethical banking’
The Co-op Bank's claim to be more ethical than its rivals was always fraudulent. Its fallen Chairman Reverend Flowers fitted the woke call for firms to appoint role models whose credentials were that their morals were stamped on their dog collars, skin colour, NGO or party membership cards.
UK PR trade bodies all at sea over lobby Bill
The Transparency of Lobbying, non-Party Campaigning, and Trade Union Administration Bill is soon to be debated in the UK'
Getting to grips with corporate and PR ethics
The word ethics derives from the Greek word ethos, which means character. Ethics governs how we ought to behave. To behave as one ought is to behave ethically. Yet modern PR professionals rarely possess a basic grasp of ethical theory or the moral philosophical reasoning that underpins it.
The Beeb, Plod, HMG and PR
By Richard D North
The big picture
Anyone who cares about Britain, its government and its wider official culture is
Muse on Leveson's muddle over police PR
Here is an on the record briefing about Lord Justice Leveson's proposals for "improving" the British police's PR. It begins with the paragraph where Leveson recommends altering the PR lexicon.
Voodoo PR versus "Voodoo Academia"
My beef is not with what Mr. Edelman wants to achieve. I rebel, as do most people who are moderately sceptical of corporate humbug, to his pandering to the more infantile elements; the audience who cannot (supposedly) be told the truth because it would destroy their illusions.
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.
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.
