Public relations experts are manipulating information in favour of companies, governments and the rich at blinding speeds. Many communities are so resigned to this spin-doctoring that governments and officials who get caught-out lying still get elected. While conservative organizations are permitted to tear away at the truth, ordinary people are left on the sidelines wondering what to believe. This week’s program opens the PR briefcase and examines their tools of trade.

• John Stauber, whose organization publishes PR Watch in the United States, talks about the experts and scientists who are prepared to mortgage their professional souls to companies… and sell short the public interest in the process.  
  

• Eminent Australian historian, Henry Reynolds, tells us how conservative governments are rewriting history and the impact that this has on what we value and believe.
  

• New Zealand investigative reporter and author Nicky Hager lifts the lid on how political parties around the world deceive their publics in ways which still land them votes.
  

And on the musical front this week, we dipped into the CD Sahara performed by Javier Ruibal. He’s a highly regarded singer-songwriter in Spain, blending more relaxed North African sounds with passionate flamenco.

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