Governments and PR consultants

Am I the only who sees something wrong with this?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/aug/03/london-public-relations-reputation-laundering

It has a strong claim to be the world capital of everything from finance to design, but now London can add a new, more dubious distinction: it has become the reputation laundering destination of choice for foreign heads of state whose controversial activities may have stained their countries' public images.

An investigation by the Guardian has revealed that the capital's public relations firms are earning millions of pounds a year promoting foreign regimes with some of the world's worst human rights records, including Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka.

They are earning as much as £2m per contract to provide communications advice to governments whose records on issues such as torture, corruption and free speech have been attacked by international organisations including the United Nations and the Commonwealth.

Politicians from Russia, Madagascar and China are among those to have sought out British PR firms to help burnish their image in what the Public Relations Consultants Association has identified as "a growing market" within Britain's £7bn a year PR industry.

Even Omar Bashir, the president of Sudan, wanted by the international criminal court on suspicion of crimes against humanity relating to the Darfur genocide, has approached two London firms, via representatives, asking for their help in managing his image.

"Autocratic governments are realising they need to be more sophisticated in the way they act rather than just telling people how it is," said Francis Ingham, chief executive of the PRCA. "There is great growth in the former communist bloc and in China."

One of the leading firms, Chime plc, headed by Lord Bell, Margaret Thatcher's former adviser, earned almost half of its £67m income last year from foreign contracts, up from 37% in 2008.

But some of the lucrative deals may breach the industry's voluntary code of conduct, drawn up by the PRCA, which requires that "political consultants must advise clients where their activities may be illegal, unethical or contrary to professional practice, and to refuse to act for a client in pursuance of any such activity".

Portland PR, headed by Tim Allen, Tony Blair's former deputy press secretary, and Hill & Knowlton, among others, contested a recent contract said to be worth more than £1m a year to advise the oil-rich Kazakhstan government. Earlier this year the regime was accused by Amnesty International of failing to address its human rights commitments under international law.

Bell Pottinger Sans Frontières, the division of Chime which works most with foreign regimes, has not signed up to the industry code, although Portland and Hill & Knowlton have.

A spokesman for Portland said they abide by the code and "certainly do not agree to any communications activities that are illegal, unethical or contrary to professional practice, nor have we ever been asked to pursue any such activities by clients".

Paul Taaffe, chairman and chief executive of Hill & Knowlton, said his firm "complies fully with locally applied rules and codes of conduct".

The Kazakh contract was won by London-based BGR Gabara, which is not a PRC member. The firm's list of "representative clients" on its website does not include the Kazakh government, which is currently facing a complaint of police torture filed with a UN investigative committee.

"More and more PR firms are moving from representing companies to representing countries, whatever their records," said Paul Farrelly MP, a member of the Commons culture, media and sport select committee. "PR companies should take an ethical stance rather than the first shilling that is on offer. Any self-respecting professional should ask themselves if this is a regime they should be representing."

Bell Pottinger was one of the firms approached by Bashir to try and improve his reputation. Bell Pottinger declined. The firm is working for the Sri Lankan government after it allegedly bombed civilians and carried out executions during the final stages of its war against separatist Tamil rebels in 2009. That behaviour caused the EU to drop Sri Lanka from a programme granting preferential access to its markets in exchange for the adoption of international conventions on human rights.

Chime has also represented the Zambian government, which in May was accused by human rights organisations of harbouring Rwandan genocide suspects.

"I am not an international ethics body," said Lord Bell. "We do communications work. If people want to communicate their argument we take the view that they are allowed to do so."

Portland PR works directly for the Kremlin providing advice on relations with the UK parliament and advising on handling negative stories in the UK media, while Racepoint PR promotes the government of Rwanda to UK and international audiences despite a 2009 report from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative which concluded the country's human rights record was "very poor".

The PRCA said its members must disclose every client and firms "who work with countries that people may take issue with must accept the risk to their own reputation".