Richard Berman: When PR Does Nasty Duty

TalentZoo.com | Flack Me | Digital Pivot | Beneath the Brand

Archives | Categories

By: Doug Bedell

Oh dear, Salon has the latest example of why public relations has such a punk image with the public — Richard Berman operating a "think tank" — the "Employment Policies Institute" — out of the offices of his PR firm, Berman and Co. One of its recent "studies" seeks to counter another by scholars at the University of California, Berkeley, on why the wages of fast food industry workers should be raised. The Employment Policies Institute, which, noted the Washington Post on an op-ed piece from a Berman colleague, "receives funding from restaurants, among other sources," sounds rather like the respected Economic Policy Institute. This sort of thing makes one boil, whether you're in PR or outside the profession.

(Salon Photo - Richard Berman, credit to CBS News)

blog comments powered by Disqus

About the Author

Doug Bedell has a background in journalism and PR and is the owner of Resource Relations LLC in Central PA, focusing on organizational and crisis communication. He’s the community manager of SimplyFair.net, a social network on fairness. On the Web, Doug’s at www.ResourceRelations.com. On Twitter, he’s @DougBeetle.

Beyond Madison Avenue on