MarCom Professional

Hark back to your earliest days as a PR exec and I’m sure there’ll be some mid-level manager harping on at you to make sure you proof the press pack before it goes to the media. Looks like this most elementary facet of common sense slipped those highly-trained hawks at the White House when they issued briefing documents to journalists accompanying President Bush on Air Force One with some pretty damning comments about Italian premier, Silvio Berlusconi.

By Andrew Kenneally

This week, Congressional Quarterly reported that the U.S. Senate’s Ethics Committee added an amendment to housing legislation (HR 3221) that would require senators to disclose the creditor, amount, interest rate and term of any mortgage they have. 

The amendment is the result of news that Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad received sweetheart deals from Countrywide Financial Corporation.  According to the New York Times, both Senators were assigned to the corporation’s “V.I.P. More...

Everton fan Andy Burnham is "in charge" of the media in the UK since he is the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport. However, rumours reach me that he is considering setting up the equivalent of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) for the Internet.

The PCC is an independent body which handles complaints made against newspapers and magazines in the UK. Last year it dealt with more than 4,300 complaints, up 70% on 10 years earlier. But these complaints were mostly made about British newspapers. Consider for a moment the staggering number of complaints that might be made about web sites. More...

The Downing Street petition site is offering UK voters the chance to vote for (12 votes so far) or against (19,500 votes so far) ratifying the Lisbon Treaty. Via Guido Fawkes and various mates by email.

It's like the night after the party. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign has been silenced - ish - after eventually running out of steam in the early hours.

Today we're being treated to Barack Obama's Luther-Kingesque prophesising and Hillary saying she may be out of it but she's still thinking about how best to continue to be in it, albeit in a completely non-potentially presidential way.

And so the debate continues. One certain thing has emerged from the past many months of fevered primary campaigning - media coverage of political leadership races remains utterly dull. More...

Have Americans finally had enough of escalating gas prices?  Will they stay home this weekend in droves?  More important, what does it mean that it takes these kinds of economic pressures on the consumer before the government and market act?  The companies that stand up and leverage their know-how with responsible behavior can solve this problem, create energy independence and make good money.  It’s time they step forward…

And speaking of aligning green with business, get a look at the cover story on General Motors in this week’s BusinessWeek.   The company’s got its future staked on finding the right balance between the environment and business.  Now they just need to take our advice on how to merchandise that in the marketplace of ideas (see our blog posting  from March). More...

Lieutenant General William B. Caldwell, IV, is a highly decorated and very senior commander within the US Army. Not only is he a military hero, he is now a hero for bloggers and those interested in the whole concept of "user-generated content". LTG Caldwell has gone further than any other senior military commander in the USA in his support for blogging. Indeed, he has recently sent out a memorandum to his subordinates saying that "faculty and students will begin blogging as part of their curriculum and writing requirements both within the .mil and public environments". More...

By Cody Barbierri

Last Tuesday, a highly publicized bill known as the GINA (Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act) legislation was passed by the Senate with a 95-0 vote. Close to final approval, this bill is the crucial next step in anti-discrimination laws that will prohibit both health insurers and employers from discriminating against an individual based on their genetic code. Basically, these institutions can’t hold any of your genetic information against you, ask you to participate in any genetic testing or divulge any genetic information.

Though genetic discrimination is relatively unheard of today, the possibility is on the horizon and approaching fast. More...