Readers of Cold River take to spirit of democracy like a fish to water ...
Public corruption, unfortunately, will never be totally eradicated. But the will of people to fight it, so as to preserve our freedoms and protect our democracy, is strong The Reasoning Behind Logic Puzzles: Congress Online Newsletter
The Blog, The Press, The Media: People and PR Power
Astroturfing is evil. Astroturfing is always unethical and usually illegal. It corrodes democracy which relies on transparency. It is usually undertaken by people who are afraid, or lack the skills, to engage in open and honest public debates.
Sometimes it is excused because the other side (NGOs and activists) are unreasonable or claim to represent more people than they really do. That excuse doesn't cut it.
Astroturfing is a blight on the PR profession.
Paull Young's blog post this week brought home the disgrace of this ineffectual approach to me once again.
So why not use the power of blogging to campaign on this issue and to at least make people aware of what's so bad about astroturfing and why good PR people need to take a stand against it?
Paull has created a page on the newPR wiki which tells you all about astroturfing, this campaign, and what you can do to help.
• PR bloggers urged to fight against astroturfing [ Trevor Cook's post introducing the campaign AntiAstroturfing / ; From Wired, a cover story on Rupert Murdoch and MySpace Perched on the edge of a bright white power sofa ; Six trends driving the global economy. First, steam power replaced muscle power and launched the Industrial Revolution ; Human relationships were basically variants on the dynamic between master and slave ]
• · From Media Matters, a look at the top falsehoods about The New York Times and the Bush bank-tracking program. Warrantless domestic surveillance program ; Muddler as he was, Charles Dickens's character in David Copperfield, Mr Micawber, understood how sixpence could be the difference between happiness and misery: if your income is sixpence more than you spend, that's happiness; if it is a sixpence less, misery. The same lesson applies to BBC story
• · · Google making Microsoft irrelevant? With its new spreadsheet application, Google continues on its path toward world domination All Hail ; PDF version: Compendium of Innovative E-government Practices: a compilation of case studies of innovative e-government solutions
• · · · Are you a Howard hugger or a Howard hater? Conventional political wisdom holds that one must either love John Howard and loathe Paul Keating, or vice versa. The Longest Decade ; It will surprise no-one who lived in New South Wales during the 1970s and 1980s that a book called The Wran Era focuses almost completely on Neville Wran. David Hill headed Wran’s Ministerial Advisory Unit, inevitably dubbed the Mau-Mau after Kenyan terrorists. Wran’s most obvious asset was his mastery of the media The Wran era: ‘A sometimes volatile period’
• · · · · ECCENTRIC to the last, John Marsden left an estate valued at between $8 million and $10 million - and he left nothing to chance. He even left instructions on the future home for his collection of ornamental ducks Marsden has a final word ; Jim Ritchie - Whistleblower's tragic end Police warm up to unique approach to cold cases
• · · · · · AUSTRALIANS could use electronic voting systems in next year's federal election if a proposed trial goes ahead ... We are prepared to live with that downside because it is a huge step forward Blind to lead way in e-voting ; E-mail is so last millennium...Young people see it as a good way to reach an elder _ a parent, teacher or a boss _ or to receive an attached file. But increasingly, the former darling of high-tech communication is losing favor to instant and text messaging, and to the chatter generated on blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. E-mail losing its clout in the world of text-driven communication