Corporate Representatives for Ethical Wikipedia Engagement.Here's the Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/crewe.group/
I see a pile of Wikimedians engaging with them, which is promising.
I visited WMUK on Tuesday and chatted with Stevie Benton (the new media person), Richard Symonds and Daria Cybulska about this topic. The approach we could think of that could *work* is pointing out "if you're caught with *what other people* think is a COI, your name and your client's name are mud." Because in all our experience, even sincere PR people seem biologically incapable of understanding COI, but will understand generating *bad* PR.
- d.
Yes, good point. Newt's communications director, who edited his and Callista's article did not do much, and did try in good faith to disclose his interest and follow our guidelines once he became aware of them, but by then the damage had been done and he was "exposed".
Compared to some of the really nasty PR editing I've seen he did nothing. Big mainstream media plays a major role. If conflict of interest editing becomes a story on the evening news there is nothing we or the PR person can do. They're toast, responsible editing and disclosure or not.
Fred