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Curious Things Mentioned During The Episode
John Perkins – Confessions Of An Economic Hitman
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Phil Elwood | Confessions of a PR Operative
“There’s a six-to-one ratio of PR operatives to journalists — more people spinning the news than reporting it.”
Phil Elwood is the author of a confessional memoir titled ‘all the worst humans’… it stories his life working as a PR operative for… some pretty dodgy guys.
The clientele that he could legally mention includes the Gaddafi family, principally Muammar gaddafi’s son, Mutassim. The recently fallen assad regime of syria, Phil playing a pivotal role in the ‘rose in the desert’ piece of propaganda that vogue famously published, the qatari government in their bid for the 2022 world cup, boko haram in Nigeria, the US government and plenty more here and there between the lines.
What stood out to me so much from this book was just how untrustworthy and easily manipulated the media ecosystem is (though perhaps that misrepresents Phil’s skill).
Phil writes in the book that there is as much as a 6-1 ratio of PR operatives to journalists. Therefore more of those whose interest lie in spinning the news rather than reporting it. And in a rotten race for breaking scoops, the quid pro quo that passes hands between these two parties cannot leave you anything else but cynical. It’s stuff like a PR operative trading a scoop on something unrelated for the right headline for their client.
It is ‘spin’ all the way down. Changing the conversation, crafting the framing, appeals to authority (whether manufactured or real), but never until this book had I heard an explanation for how that spin is actually executed.
You’ll hear terms like astroturfing, first ink, reputation laundering, media gatekeepers. This book is the world of media manipulation… all in the service of driving forward the interests of the client.
Just think now to Trump, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine/Russia, Israel/Palestine, x and y celebrity. The work of PR operatives, noble or otherwise, is seemingly all over the stuff we consume.
But I wonder whether this is a toolkit only applicable to a much older media environment, one where very powerful and influential media names and orgnisations dominated public opinion. and whether all this PR work is still as relevant and powerful when the majority of peoples information is consumed user generated content on facebook, instagram and twitter. How far does a well spun New York Times headline get your clients now?
I’m extremely keen to get into it.
Phil is a self confessed, reformed pr operative, now only doing work for the good guys. He teased me earlier that he might get to talk about one of his current clients (a name you will all be familiar with).
Phil, I loved your book, it was great speaking with you this morning. I hope that introduction doesn’t frame you in too negative of a light…
In this conversation, Ryan speaks with Phil Elwood, the author of All the Worst Humans, a confessional memoir from inside the morally murky world of high-stakes public relations.
Phil spent years managing the reputations of some of the world’s most controversial clients — including the Gaddafi family, the Assad regime, the Qatari government, and more. He helped shape narratives, engineer “first ink” headlines, and even ghost-wrote congressional letters to shift global media perception.
In this episode, Ryan and Phil unpack:
- How propaganda and PR actually get executed behind closed doors
- The mechanics of “first ink,” astroturfing, and reputation laundering
- The moral compromises behind Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid
- Sportswashing, Live Golf, and the new global game of influence
- Why the media is more easily manipulated than ever
- Whether AI and independent creators can break the old PR machinery
A rare, candid look at how the world’s stories get spun — and how much of what you read might be manufactured.
