PR firm pushing anti-Google message for undisclosed client

Don't see how this is a "scandal" of any kind. These tactics aren't uncommon.

"Caught" seems like a funny word to use.

They pretty clearly lay out a case that this is an interesting story, and all's fair in love and PR.

In fact the email they're sending seems relatively benign compared to what I expected to see.

And the juiciest part of the story - who's paying the PR person - is missing.

Wondering why this wound up @ the top of HN as a result?

EDIT - Slightly more interesting (err, predictable) if MSFT is the culprit? http://www.catchingflack.com/2007/09/burson-marsteller-outed...

John Mercurio is the the Director of the Media practice in Burson-Marsteller and more interestingly, "a leading political expert on national politics, campaigns and Capitol Hill"

http://www.burson-marsteller.com/newsroom/lists/PressRelease...

Seems like a good time to revist Paul's essay "The Submarine:"

PR is not dishonest. Not quite. In fact, the reason the best PR firms are so effective is precisely that they aren't dishonest. They give reporters genuinely valuable information. A good PR firm won't bug reporters just because the client tells them to; they've worked hard to build their credibility with reporters, and they don't want to destroy it by feeding them mere propaganda.

If anyone is dishonest, it's the reporters. The main reason PR firms exist is that reporters are lazy. Or, to put it more nicely, overworked. Really they ought to be out there digging up stories for themselves. But it's so tempting to sit in their offices and let PR firms bring the stories to them. After all, they know good PR firms won't lie to them.

A good flatterer doesn't lie, but tells his victim selective truths (what a nice color your eyes are). Good PR firms use the same strategy: they give reporters stories that are true, but whose truth favors their clients.

http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

More likely to be Facebook, since Social Circles seems to be directly competing with them, not Microsoft.