I yield to no man in my appreciation for the Dark Arts of Public Relations. It is, after all, how I made a living for four decades. In that time, I created ersatz “grass roots” organizations that propounded the very views of the clients. We distributed Video News Releases to television stations that, for all the world, looked and sounded just like actual news reports from a proper journalistic source. They were not. I ghostwrote Op-Ed pieces that put my masters craven corporate needs into softer, more approachable terms. I once hustled a big name CEO down a back staircase because he was terrified to be confronted by reporters. There were rewards both economic and social to this work and I was never cynical about it. I followed the State Department rule - “Never lie, never tell the whole truth and never miss a chance to go to the bathroom”. All that is to say, I recognise propaganda when I see it. Today bought an especially piquant example.
© 2024 John Oliver
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