Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| campaign aims to polish Sharon's image in America |
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| Safiya |
| 02/17/01 at 19:06:05 |
| New PR campaign aims to polish Sharon's image in America Monday, February 12, 2001 New York - The Israeli consulate in New York, in cooperation with two public relations firms, has launched an "unprecedented" public relations campaign in the American media, to improve Israel's image among the public there. In the coming weeks, the campaign, directed by Consul General Alon Pinkas, will concentrate on rebuffing the ongoing attempts by commentators and columnists to present Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon as a belligerent extremist likely to take a hard line against the Palestinians. The campaign was launched after the consulate signed a contract with Howard Rubinstein and the firm of Morris Corrick Goma (MCG), which together will be responsible for shaping the content of the campaign and dissemination. Rubinstein's company is one of the largest public relations firms in America and will deal with obtaining access to the media; it will and organize appearances by senior Israeli officials on television programs, and interviews with quality newspapers and journals. MCG will deal with planning the goals and strategy of the campaign. At a meeting Pinkas held yesterday with representatives of Howard Rubinstein, it was decided that the central messages would be that there will not be any negotiations for peace as long as the violence continues, and that the responsibility for the current poor state of relations between Israel and the Palestinians would be laid at Arafat's door. Additionally, the Boston firm of Martilla Communications will conduct public-opinion polls to examine views among Americans concerning the Middle East, and specifically, towards Israel and its policies. A senior consular official refused to say how much the campaign would cost. The funding will come from the foreign ministry budget, and according to a senior official, will cost "a few thousands dollars a month." Since Election Day, consul Pinkas has appeared on eight talk shows on local television stations, and has conducted four debriefing sessions with the editors of four leading papers. The public opinion polls will include Jews and non-Jews. In order to prevent political use being made of the results, the pollsters were instructed not to relate to political questions or Israeli politicians. The goal of the pollsters is to pinpoint individuals and audiences interested in foreign news and in the international area, and to examine their preferred sources of information. The polls have so far found that while most columnists have showed an understanding of Sharon's victory - which has been described as the response of the majority in Israel to the Palestinian's recalcitrance - very negative comments have been heard on local radio stations, with a commentator dubbing Sharon a "butcher. |
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