Photo: The Willis
The Internet can be great for you, with the movshare links and the exciting quiz of 'Which Neighbours character are you', but also consider those psychos in corporate PR and lobbying. These lobbyists are paid handsomely by various types, some of whom are the worst in the world, to ensure that governments see things their way.
In the old days, these prominent dictator-killers and people who have been polluted, have been able to talk to politicians and change their way of thinking for their benefit, during meals with plenty of alcohol in luxurious private clubs. Today, they are forced to do the scuffle watching the harsh glow of a laptop screen instead of the most convincing atmospheric meeting points with candle light and expensive whiskey.
In the world of Twitter rants, citizen journalism (one lobbyist described it as "extremely irritating") and online petitions for a cause, where millions of signatures are collected in a matter of hours, the lobbying game has changed. . A prominent advertising lobbyist is James Bethell, whose firm Westbourne Communications is targeting what he calls 'rebellion tactics' by online campaigners ('rebellion' here means 'having a negative opinion and a blog/Twitter account' and not guerrilla). Among their current clients is Cuadrilla, an oil and gas company that is trying to convince residents in Lancashire and Sussex to buy into the idea of hydraulic fracturing that it plans to impose to extract natural gas, as well as fill the area wells with poisonous water, under their own houses. Westbourne also led the campaign to defend the creation of the HS2 rail line against local communities, who would probably prefer not to have trains passing behind their homes at 125mph. Whether it's a new runway at the airport, a mining license or a €51,5bn rail link, it needs government approval - meaning a company like Westbourne is hired to muffle the protest.
Unfortunately for the lobbyists, "now, almost everyone in the country has become an unscrupulous fighter," as Bethel said in an interview with the radio station Radio4 This makes it a perfect choice for people with diabetes and for those who want to lose weight or follow a balanced diet. 2011. "Everyone has seen it The West Wing and have an account at Google and for that they have the intelligence and the strategy, plus the technology, to set up a campaign on foot,” So how do you fight this scourge of democratic, grassroots activism?
"You have to fight them in every corner of the street," advises Bethell. "You can not sit and see your opponents circulating around and doing what they want. You have to go out in the arena, use their tactics and be in front of them. "
If we try to explain the analogy in military terms, it is clear that the Internet is a crucial battleground. It is actually a useful tool for lobbyists when it comes to discovering who their opponent is. While their tracking techniques may not be on the list of the British secret service GCHQ, corporate citizen-activist monitoring is an ongoing tactic, and investment funds in this area are very important. Today, the lobbyists of the ad use sophisticated tracking systems designed to detect online threats. This means that if you enchanted a big company in 140 characters, chances are they will find it. Their job is then to sift the sea of online unhappy and find those who are "influential".
"The person who makes a lot of noise is probably not the one who exerts influence," said Mike Seymour, former head of crisis management at Edelman, a giant public relations and lobbying firm, to colleagues attending a conference across the street. by the British Parliament in November 2011. "You have to find the one who exerts influence, especially if they are rallying people against us." His view became more convincing due to the events unfolding in the city. As he spoke, protesters of the Occupy movement became the first news in the world. Seymour explained that when influencers are identified, "listening points" are set up outside to "catch the first warning signals" of activism.
Once they have this information, the lobbyists can get a job. Part of Westbourne's response to critics of HS2 was "to turn its attention" and to deal with "unpredictable" press reports, as Bethell explained to high-speed supporters in the US. More generally, Westbourne has stressed to American lobbyists the need to "wipe out" critical voices with "sniper accuracy", "terrorize them," as he explained to a distinguished audience at a 2012 conference. Westbourne is engaging in aggressive defamation campaigns, which include creating a feeling among opponents that they say they're going to be "shuffled." This is an "exhausting but crucial" part of a successful exercise, says Bethell.
Being an internet Malcolm Tucker (the tight-lipped and typing communications manager in the movie "In the Loop") is one thing, but it's generally accepted among lobbyists that the only way to combat the "negative information" of activists on thenetwork is with positive information. This is not as cool as it sounds.
Σήμερα υπάρχουν εκατοντάδες εταιρείες που προσφέρουν τη χειραγώγηση των αναζητήσεων του Google για να κάνουν την εύρεση δημοσιευμάτων κρίσιμου περιεχομένου σχεδόν αδύνατη. Το διαφημιστικό βίντεο για μια τέτοια εταιρεία, την Reputation Changer, υπόσχεται να «εξαφανίσει» το αρνητικό περιεχόμενο που υπάρχει εις βάρος κάποιου. Αυτό γίνεται δημιουργώντας κείμενα με νέο, θετικό περιεχόμενο που ξεγελάει τις μηχανές αναζήτησης, σπρώχνοντας το ‘false' περιεχόμενο πάνω από το αρνητικό, και οδηγώντας έτσι το αποτέλεσμα του συνόλου των επικρίσεων να βρίσκεται χαμηλά στα στατιστικά του Google (βασίζεται στο ότι λίγοι από εμάς κλικάρουμε πέρα από την πρώτη σελίδα των αποτελεσμάτων).
BP, for example, Found that he manipulated Google in the wake of the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. What seems to be working for BP was to promote her message, "Learn more about how BP helps", at the top of Google's oil spill quests. So, NGOs and affected communities that have much smaller pockets could not get their own message: "See how badly BP has jumped us".
Companies doing lobbying are also related to the business that has been set up to optimize search engines. They create false blogs for customers, which seem to have been created by an independent source. Press releases are sent out that will not be seen by a journalist, so there is something else to be read on Google when a client is threatened. "On the Internet, you must constantly invent new content that can help keep negative texts down," advised a lobbyist from his colleagues, Burson-Marsteller, the world-wide 2013, during a debate on how to win "Talk in the leg". "Of course we do it too," says Bell Pottinger, a top veteran bulb and the well-known expert Timbell in an interview. "Everyone wants the best information to appear at the top of the page."
Another favorite technique of stressors is counterfeit Wikipedia, a site that is widely hated in the industry for its unprecedented reach and for the fact that a small community of authors can decide whether a company has "contradictions" on its own wiki page or not. "A ridiculous organism θηκε created by a group of nerds" is the position of Tim Bell. Their company lobbyists are busier than most on Wikipedia. Accounts linked to Bell Pottinger have been found to have shattered the profiles of, among others, The Paramoun tGroup, an arms manufacturer and partner with at least two major financial companies and the founder of Carter-Ruck, who are considered defamation experts.
"It's important for Wikipedia to recognize that we are a valuable source of accurate information," Bell told PR Week. This comes from someone whose company she is famous to repatriate the reputation of dictators, repressive governments, oil companies that have contaminated the environment and arms industries around charges of bribery, and why he won a contract from the US administration in Iraq to promote the idea of democracy.
Attempts by lobbyists to manage information like this are not new. What has changed is the complexity of the technology and the new tactics it provides, such as creating fake blogs or online "front" teams. The scope of so-called "astroturf" campaigns - where lobbyists build false popular support - is also growing on the internet.
According to another top lobbying company in the UK, Tory peer Peter Gummer, lobbyists are trying to make their own digital space. Confirmed delegates at 20th Public Relationships World Congress, 2012 in Dubai: "There is no reason not to do it. This is our moment. "
The Tasmin Cellar and Andy Rowell they wrote a whole book on this subject. It is said A Quiet Word: Lobbying, Crony Capitalism and Broken Politics in Britain and issued by the House Bodley Head. You can buy it here.
