Phil Elwood | Confessions of a Public Relations Operative

“I deserved whatever the opposite of a Pulitzer is.”Phil Elwood is the author of All the Worst Humans, a confessional memoir from the dubious world of public relations.As a PR operative. He helped Qatar win the 2022 World Cup. He spun the release of the Lockerbie bomber into a “positive headline.” Had the Gaddafi family, the Assad regime and plenty more among his clients. Phil speaks with humility and incredible clarity about what he learned from that world. The moral grey zones, the craft behind the spin, and how media manipulation really works in practice.It’s a rare, honest window into an industry that prefers the shadows.How propaganda and PR actually get executed behind closed doorsThe mechanics of “first ink,” astroturfing, and reputation launderingThe moral compromises behind Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bidSportswashing, Liv Golf, and the new global game of influenceWhether the media is more easily manipulated than ever?Whether AI and independent creators can break the old PR machinery00:00 — Who is Phil Elwood?04:57 — Lockerbie bomber: how he manufactured “positive press” for Libya. 11:14 — “Opposite of a Pulitzer” treating the news like a solvable game. 12:30 — What a PR operative really does; “infect a newsroom.”18:28 — First Ink masterclass: Antigua vs USA27:44 — Qatar 2022: going negative on the US bid40:15 — Is Sportswashing PR? Is it all bad? 49:57 — “Buy the printing press”: oligarch media ownership.55:01 — News collapse, AI replacing reporters, and why that’s dangerous. 57:21 — Andrew Callaghan. Do gatekeepers still matter? 01:05:53 — “Digital fentanyl”; treat content as a public-health issue. 01:10:27 — Rebranding Zuckerberg; persona as PR product.01:22:44 — Bots: PR firms pitching bot farms01:34:30 — Practical playbook & media-literacy plus a nice close.

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