This piece comes with a health warning. It is a bit rude about a very prevalent fashion. I want to diss the idea that PR online strategies must be nice, non-judgmental, inclusive, blah blah. Read on ›

It is easy to dismiss Tim Berners-Lee as seeking to create a Ministry of Truth or Ministry of Trust on the internet as if he had taken Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty Four or The Inquisition as a blueprint. But he’s not that extreme and PR has an interest here. Read on ›

Today’s Observer reports that president-elect Obama is about to appoint a technology Tsar. It says that the new President will be updating Americans weekly on Youtube, a development as revolutionary as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s introduction of regular folksy radio broadcasts. This is to be welcomed. But we should not get carried away. Read on ›

There are those in the PR industry who argue that Obama is a communications pioneer. They note that he mobilised five million volunteers to attract funds and communicate via social media. That shows communications becoming democratic, decentralized, interactive, more word-of-mouth – even tribal. These fans of Web 2.0 overlook one very big detail. Read on ›

The Times reports that of the estimated 400,000 people who heard the BBC Radio 2 segment of Brand and Ross leaving lewd messages on Andrew Sachs’ answer phone only two saw fit to complain to the BBC, one of them Sachs himself. But the story gained momentum after it was picked up in the weekend newspapers. The BBC today registered its 30,000th complaint. Read on ›

It is good to see Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and other interested parties working together to protect free speech online. Yesterday their Global Network Initiative introduced a code of conduct that boosts the credibility of self-regulation on the Web. Read on ›