June 27, 2009
Did one interview doom Michael Jackson’s image ?
The Times of London has an article that suggests Michael Jackson’s image was mainly destroyed by his agreeing to do a single interview with the hope of improving said image. As the Times Online says, it turned out to be “PR suicide.”

The communication war in Afghanistan
Coalition forces in Afghanistan are not only fighting the Taliban with the conventional weapons of war. The Taliban have become much more media savvy, causing concern among western authorities.
“We are being out-communicated by the Taliban,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton admitted to a Senate appropriations subcommittee in Washington earlier this month. Now Canwest reports that the coalition is fight back.

Better late than never
After more than 30 years, Marketing Week has finally introduced its first public relations column. And columnist Susanna Simpson makes the case for why marketing and public relations should be integrated, especially in these times of recession.

Oops, blame it on the intern
Furniture store Habitat faced some strong backlash after an employees used the protests in Iran and Twitter to promote a spring sale.
The employee tagged store twitter feeds with words referencing Iranian protests. The store apologized, said it was the work of an intern who " is no longer associated with Habitat." Sky News has the full story.