A based on hundreds of leaked public relations papers, the book shows how PR consultants think and act when they are being paid to try to influence politics. It shows the range of techniques used by PR companies to manufacture political support for their clients and dirty tricks they use to stop their client’s opponents being heard.
“One of the most important books ever written on PR.… Revelations about the secretive Shandwick, one of the dominant PR firms in the United States, provide one of the most eye-opening examinations of corporate propaganda and contempt for democracy that has ever been produced.”
–– Robert W. McChesney, author of Rich Media, Poor Democracy.
“An invaluable study of how PR is used by corporations to manipulate public opinion and subvert democracy. It is about events in New Zealand, but the PR firm behind the dirty work is now US-based, illustrating the globalization of dirty tricks.”
–– Edward S. Herman, author of The Myth of the Liberal Media: An Edward Herman Reader.
“What Secrets and Lies describes is happening every day, in similar ways, on every controversial and political issue…. One of the most important political exposés you will ever read.”
–– John Stauber, editor of PR Watch
Order US edition from www.commoncouragepress.com
Read the Introduction to the United States edition
Read the Afterword in the United States edition
Appendix “A brief guide to leaking”