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The MLPA Initiative and Kearns and West: The Manufacture of Consent

by Dave Gurney
In the skewering of the democratic process, Kearns and West, a firm hired with private funds by special interests, was allowed to both interview and select "stakeholders" - who supposedly represented the public - in the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative process to create so-called "marine protected areas" in northern California.
See: http://www.noyonews.net

The MLPA Initiative and Kearns and West: The Manufacture of Consent

by David Gurney

As the MLPA "Initiative" - the bastardized version of the Marie Life Protection Act - moved into Northern California, many locals remarked how the whole show more resembled a hostile corporate takeover than any kind of public process they'd ever seen.

The process was in fact anything but a legitimate public undertaking. The so-called "Initiative" employed the services of a high-powered public relations and management firm called Kearns and West. This private firm exists, according to their literature, to impartially facilitate government and public processes.

Unfortunately, since in this case they were paid for with private corporate dollars, the outcome for non-paying clients (the public) was anything but impartial and democratic. For astute local observers, the whole operation seemed like a totally staged performance with and pre-determined outcomes.

In it's literature, Kearns and West advertises its services as "Collaboration and Strategic Communications." With the following Orwellian language, they claim to:

"ensure there are no surprises for the audiences, and that all efforts are geared toward a desired change in behavior."

And: "We use sound collaboration and strategic communications techniques to develop and implement a comprehensive, coordinated, and structured change management plan, hastening and enhancing an optimal resolution."


In this case, "optimal resolution" refers to the optimal outcome for the paying clients - not the public at large.

In their PR materials, Kearns and West also claims to "address the needs and interests of the audiences with proven, tailored communications vehicles."

Translation: "Audiences will be skillfully manipulated with mind numbing power-point presentations and directed discussions, towards pre-determined outcomes.

And in their statement about media relations:

"Kearns & West knows that the responsibility for effective message delivery lies in our partnership with our clients."

Once again, unfortunately for the public, the clients were not them, but the private funders of the "Initiative."

They go on: "We work directly with the media to ensure our organizations’ voices are heard and/or work indirectly by advising organizations on how best to get their message out. We go beyond practicing key message points - and help organizations prepare, organize, recall and deliver messages to create images and concepts that foster understanding."

In other words, "we will help you handle the media, and train you what to say, and how to say it."

Fears expressed by many local folks, that they were up against an extremely sophisticated and well-oiled PR and management operation, were soon well realized. These fears fueled the expressions of the fatalism everyone felt when facing up to the MLPA Initiative. In this coerced environment, people across the board were saying: "it's here, and the best we can do is to co-operate, and try to get the best deal they are willing to give."

Kearns and West advertises its services as "Collaboration and Strategic Communications." In this era of privatization, and with this illegal "Initiative" in particular, a better way of describing their services would be: "The Manufacturing of Consent."

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Jeff Crumley
Tue, May 3, 2011 11:35AM
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