PR's "Deleterious Impact on the Democratic Process"

"Every organisation that interacts with other agencies may be said to engage in public relations. Organisations by and large wish to project as good an image as they can, and often wish to communicate a particular message," Corporate Watch UK writes in the introduction to their new online report on the PR industry. "There is nothing essentially wrong in wanting to present one's own case in as effective manner as possible. However, in spite of frequent protestations to the contrary from the PR world, this is only a part of what modern PR does. There is a considerable body of evidence emerging to suggest that modern public relations practices are having a very significant deleterious impact on the democratic process." Corporate Watch's reports looks at how the PR industry has "often engaged in deliberate deception on their clients' behalf and have developed a deeply unhealthy relationship with the 'free press'."