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Hill & Knowlton

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Hill+Knowlton Strategies is a global public relations (WP) company, headquartered in New York City (WP)

The company has frequently been criticized for its work to keep entities accused of malfeasance of various kinds out of the consequences of democratic process, public scrutiny, and legal implications. They have not merely represented companies, but governments accused of human rights violations such as Indonesia, Turkey, and the Maldives,[1] to improve their reputation. They have gotten bad publicity themselves, most notably when their deception of the US congress and manipulation of the media was exposed while they were acting as a war lobby for Kuwait.

This article contains content from Wikipedia. Current versions of the GNU FDL article Hill & Knowlton on WP may contain information useful to the improvement of this article WP


Government of Kuwait[edit]

In 1990, H&K led over 20 other American PR firms in what has been called the "largest foreign-funded campaign ever aimed at manipulating American public opinion," according to the liberal Wikipedia:Center for Media and Democracy.[2] H&K earned over $10.8 million for their work, paid by "Wikipedia:Citizens for a Free Kuwait," an organization funded almost entirely by the Kuwaiti government.[2]

One controversial maneuver was the arrangement[3] of the testimony of the Kuwait ambassador's daughter as “Wikipedia:Nurse Nayirah” to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus on October 10, 1990. Nayirah falsely testified that she had witnessed Iraqi soldiers killing hundreds of premature babies at the al-Addan hospital in Kuwait City.[4] This lie had an enormous emotional impact on the decision in US-American politics and public to support the war against Iraq.[5] It was mentioned several times by president Wikipedia:George H.W. Bush and other war-supporting people to manipulate the public opinion.[6][7]

While the agency as a whole was closely connected to the Congressmen that began the hearings, Gary Hymel, H&K vice president, arranged for the creation of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.[3] See #Government of Turkey and #Government of Indonesia

Government of Turkey[edit]

Hill & Knowlton attempted to persuade the daughter of an art collector, arrested in Turkey for removing Turkish artifacts from the country, to stop writing a book[8] about her imprisonment,[8] and failing that, to not make a deal to turn it into a TV movie,[9] Dark Holiday[10] That a privileged alleged art thief was jailed is not in all justice deserving of sympathy in comparison to the grievous, many and various crimes by Turkey, but to her monied peers that read about the story,[11] it could well have been the crack in the eggshell of their ignorance around the rot in Turkey:

"Millions of Kurds are forbidden speak their own language, wear their own dress, and listen to their own music. The Helsinki Watch report states that there are tens of thousands of political prisoners in Turkey today, and that torture is still being practiced in the prisons."Letters from the same New York Magazine that told her story[12]

Gary Hymel, H&K vice president, defended the human rights record of Turkey that might more effectively be called a human rights abuses record.[3] See #Government of Kuwait and #Government of Indonesia sections

Government of Indonesia[edit]

Gary Hymel, H&K vice president, represented Indonesia, with a record of killing 100,000 inhabitants of East Timor (see ETAN) (WP), in years of armed occupation, politicide (WP), other mass killings and abuses of military and police power including the Dili massacre (WP).[3] See #Government of Kuwait and #Government of Turkey sections

Government of Maldives[edit]

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's government is about as bad as it gets for press freedom, the rights of activists and even opposition parties,[13] with its excesses numbing the mind and thereby drawing either vitriol[14] or understatement; it was also represented by H&K public relations people, including Tim Fallon[15]

Democracy was restored to the Maldives long enough for the widely publicized career[16] of elected reform candidate Mohamed Nasheed (WP), imprisoned more than twenty times for his opposition to long-time President Gayoom, to come to global attention, before he was removed in a coup and the same regime resumed power. Nasheed may have gotten even more attention than intended, with a good deal of screen time in an award-winning documentary film confronting the global warming issue: The Island President.

Manipulation of this kind might seem less likely, were it not for the fact that it has already been committed by Gayoom's government, on the infamous Black Friday. Having banned political parties,[15][14]pg 23 and popular prodemocracy meetings having proved too popular, Gayoom ostensibly offered a truce, inviting political opponents to talks, whereupon the assembled were set upon by his NSS forces, 1000 people of both genders and all ages beaten and/or arrested and/or put into solitary confinement.[14]pg 23

This commentary by a would-be reformer of, who in hindsight was more of a collaborator with, the Gayoom regime, is of interest in showing just how wrong the Tools are in trusting and capitulating to evil. And this one, in a similar situation, albeit lower in the hierarchy, in showing what kind of airheads infest the political community. Sad to say, the account does not reflect well on Nasheed either. Luncheons and symbolic ceremonies, while the world burns. No wonder nothing gets done.


Church of Scientology and Prozac[edit]

The Church of Scientology was a client of H&K. In 1989 the Church started a campaign against medicament Wikipedia:Prozac, manufactured by Wikipedia:Eli Lilly and Company. But in 1991 a very negative article about the Church was featured in Time magazine's cover, and a few days later H&K dropped the Church's account. It turns out that Lilly was an important client of Wikipedia:James Walter Thompson, another PR company also owned by the WPP group. The Church sued Lilly, the WPP group and its two subsidiaries, alleging that Lilly had pressured the PR companies to drop its account in order to curtail its anti-Prozac campaign. The Church asked for $40 million in damages, alleging that H&K dropped their account just when the Church needed to defend itself against the Time article. The Church also alleged that "H&K's advice to CSI was distorted because of its strong ties to the pharmaceutical industry.".[17] In 1994 it was settled confidentially out of court for an undisclosed amount.[18]


Bank of Credit and Commerce International[edit]

H&K represented the Wikipedia:Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) following its drug-money laundering indictment. According to the BCCI affair report to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate, H&K's actions raised questions concerning a conflict between H&K as a public relations firm and the public interest.[19][20]

Fracking and the Gas & Oil Industry[edit]

In 2009, members of ANGA (America's Natural Gas Alliance), a lobbying organization for the gas industry, spread $80 million in funds across several agencies that included Hill & Knowlton to try to influence decisions on the process of gas extraction known as Wikipedia:hydraulic fracturing[21] Similar to the strategy used for the pro-cigarette campaigns run in the 50s and 60s, the tactic the company is using for the issue is to simply raise doubt in the public's mind about the dangers of the fracking process.

Tobacco industry[edit]

In 1953, members of the tobacco industry hired the firm to help counteract findings that suggested cigarette smoking led to Wikipedia:lung cancer. As a result, a statement was released to nearly every major newspaper and magazine, which suggested that cigarettes had no verifiable links to cancer.[22] The tobacco industry remained a Hill & Knowlton client until 1968.[23][24]

Wikipedia editing[edit]

Wikipedia:Wikiscanner found that a Hill & Knowlton employee added a reference to a company blog post in the Wikipedia article on internal communications.[25]

Constitution and membership[edit]

Hill & Knowlton Communications is a member of Wikipedia:The International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC)

It was founded in Wikipedia:Cleveland, Ohio in 1927 by John W. Hill and is today led by Chairman & CEO, Wikipedia:Jack Martin. It is owned by the Wikipedia:WPP Group. It has 85 offices in 46 countries.

History[edit]

Hill, a former reporter and financial columnist, started the firm in Cleveland in 1927; it became Hill & Knowlton when a public relations director for a defunct bank, Donald Knowlton, joined shortly thereafter.

In 1946, Hill and Knowlton dissolved their partnership and Knowlton took over the direction of Hill & Knowlton Cleveland, which closed shortly after Knowlton’s retirement in 1962.[26]

In 1952, Hill established a network of affiliates across Europe.[27] Hill & Knowlton was acquired by JWT Group Inc. in 1980. In 1987, JWT was acquired by WPP Group.[28]

Hill moved the headquarters to New York in 1934 and managed the firm until 1962.

Hill, a pro-business Republican (WP), made his mark representing steel companies in labor disputes during the 1930s.[1]


See also[edit]

Articles on the below organizations can be found at Sourcewatch.org . Their articles were removed from Wikipedia when Sourcewatch material was added directly, except in the case of articles whose material was rewritten

Further reading[edit]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Citizens_for_a_Free_Kuwait&oldid=234920217

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Goodell, Jeffrey (9 September 1990). "What Hill & Knowlton Can Do for You, (And What It Couldn't Do for Itself)". Wikipedia:New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/09/magazine/what-hill-knowlton-can-do-for-you-and-what-it-couldn-t-do-for-itself.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm. Retrieved 10 January 2011. </li>
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 (1995) "How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf" Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry, Common Courage Press.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 books.google.com/books?id=v_t43lXkDGMC&pg=PA136#v=onepage&q&f=false The Iraq War Reader: History, Documents, Opinions, Micah L Sifry, Christopher Cerf, page 136
  4. ↑ "Deception on Capitol Hill" (New York ed.). New York Times. January 15, 1992. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/15/opinion/deception-on-capitol-hill.html. </li>
  5. ↑ "When contemplating war, beware of babies in incubators". Christian Science Monitor. September 6, 2002. http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0906/p25s02-cogn.html/%28page%29/2. </li>
  6. ↑ John R. MacArthur, "Remember Nayirah, Witness for Kuwait?", Op-Ed, New York Times, A17, January 6, 1992.
  7. ↑ Knightley, Phillip (October 4, 2001). "The disinformation campaign". London: Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2001/oct/04/socialsciences.highereducation. </li>
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Never pass this way again Gene LePere
  9. ↑ Publicists of the Damned Spy magazine, link to article on Google Books.
  10. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097157/ Dark Holiday on Internet Movie Database IMDb
  11. ↑ books.google.com/books?id=DuYCAAAAMBAJ "Daylight Express", New York Magazine Feb 6, 1984
  12. ↑ books.google.com/books?id=heUCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA9 Letters, New York Magazine Feb 27, 1984
  13. ↑ books.google.com/books?id=sBaH8j_Qs-IC&pg=PA6#v=onepage&q&f=false Inside Spin: The Dark Underbelly of the PR IndustryBy Bob Burton
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 http://books.google.com/books?id=D9ZBUFG05jAC&pg=PA23#v=onepage&q&f=false Maldives
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 http://books.google.com/books?id=XanqAAAAMAAJ&q=Hill+%26+Knowlton+maldives&dq=Hill+%26+Knowlton+maldives&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DcXnT_iGOKiU2gXj58TaCQ&ved=0CEMQ6AEwAQ The Economist, volume 381, page 55
  16. ↑ books.google.com/books?id=Qn4fr59VIRUC&pg=PA252 Interpreting Islamic Political Parties By Mohamed Abdel Rahim Mohamed Salih
  17. ↑ , {{{first}}} (30 march 1994). H&K's dropping of church account lands firm in court, B9. {{{publisher}}}. The cited Time article is Richard Behar, {{{first}}} (May 6, 1991). The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power, . {{{publisher}}}. , featured in the cover
  18. ↑ James Garcia, {{{first}}} (July 7, 1994). Church of Scientology settles suit with PR firm, 1.E. {{{publisher}}}.
  19. ↑ http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/Ethics/ProfessionalStandardsAdvisories
  20. ↑ http://fas.org/irp/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/
  21. ↑ "AdWeek: Grey Energizes America's Natural Gas Alliance By Noreen O'Leary
  22. ↑ "Hill & Knowlton: 1994 Waxman Committee
  23. ↑ Text from H&K's smoking release "A Frank Statement to Cigarette Smokers"
  24. ↑ Richard W. Pollay, "Propaganda, Puffing and the Public Interest", Public Relations Review, Volume XVI, Number 3, Fall 1990.
  25. ↑ PR Week http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/733126/
  26. ↑ [Knowlton, Donald Snow - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: http://ech.case.edu/ech-cgi/article.pl?id=KDS]
  27. ↑ [Timetoast-History of Hill and Knowlton Public Relations: http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/history-of-hill-and-knowlton-public-relations]
  28. ↑ [1]
  29. ↑ http://www.prwatch.org/books/tsigfy10.html How PR Sold the War in the Persian Gulf] PR Watch. Excerpted from Toxic Sludge Is Good For You, Chapter 10

    30. </ol>

External links[edit]

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