A Century Of Spin: How Public Relations Became The Cutting Edge Of Corporate Power

A Century of Spin How Public Relations Became the Cutting Edge of Corporate Power DAVID MILLER and WILLIAM DINAN Pluto P Press LONDON • ANN ARBOR, MI Miller 00 pre iii 23/10/07 16:26:01 First published 2008 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 839 Greene Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 www.plutobooks.com Copyright © David Miller and William Dinan 2008 The right of David Miller and William Dinan to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Hardback ISBN-13 978 0 7453 2689 4 ISBN-10 0 7453 2689 7 Paperback ISBN-13 978 0 7453 2688 7 ISBN-10 0 7453 2688 9 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services Ltd, Fortescue, Sidmouth, EX10 9QG, England Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Printed and bound in the European Union by CPI Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne, England Miller 00 pre iv 23/10/07 16:26:01 Contents List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. The Cutting Edge of Corporate Power Public Relations: The Zelig Complex The Hidden History of Corporate Propaganda, 1911–30 The Second Wave of Corporate Propaganda, 1936–50 The Case for Capitalism – the Third Wave, to the 1980s The Real Rulers of the World The Global PR Industry Pulling Labour’s Teeth Blair and the Business Lobby Cameron and the Neo-cons Corporate Propaganda and Power: The Manufacture of Compliance? Appendix: Labour MPs’ Business Interests, 2007 Notes Index Miller 00 pre v vi ix 1 12 29 50 67 78 99 125 139 161 173 183 189 219 23/10/07 16:26:01 List of Abbreviations AEI AFL Aims AISI APPC ASI BAP BCSD BCU BEU BF B-M BRT BYC CBI CEO CER CFR CIA CIO CIPR CND CPS CSR EEF ERT FBI GATS GATT GDP GE H&K HMC ICC ICFTU IEA American Enterprise Institute American Federation of Labor Aims of Industry American Iron and Steel Institute Association of Professional Political Consultants Adam Smith Institute British American Project Business Council for Sustainable Development British Commonwealth Union British Empire Union British Fascists Burson-Marsteller Business Roundtable British Youth Council Confederation of British Industry chief executive officer Centre for European Reform Council on Foreign Relations Central Intelligence Agency Congress of Industrial Organizations Chartered Institute of Public Relations Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Centre for Policy Studies corporate social responsibility Engineering Employers Federation European Round Table of Industrialists Federation of British Industries General Agreement on Trade in Services General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade gross domestic product General Electric Hill & Knowlton Hobsbawm Macaulay Communications International Chamber of Commerce International Congress of Free Trade Unions Institute of Economic Affairs vi Miller 00 pre vi 23/10/07 16:26:01 List of A