The Pope's visit to the US, combined with the major presidential candidates being quizzed on faith-related issues, has put religion coverage front and center in recent weeks

Profound changes in the way that advocacy groups interact with mainstream media outlets is on the horizon, yet most organizations have not restructured to take advantage of this new frontier.

Mark Penn needs no introduction. Worldwide CEO of Burson-Marsteller and former chief strategist for Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, he has been making a lot of news lately - most of it negative

The New York Philharmonic's historic trip to North Korea required an extraordinary level of coordination by the comms team

When agencies help their consumer-facing companies select a celebrity spokesperson to promote a product or event, all that's usually required is smooth skin or an engaging personality. Yet for public affairs campaigns, the bar is a bit higher.

Viewers already know not to believe everything they see on TV, but a recent investigation by The New York Times will give them more reason to question those presented as "experts," brought in to pontificate on various topics - particularly, perhaps, matters of war.

Even before protesters started disrupting the Olympic Torch relay on several continents, the Games had long since lost its luster as anything but an extremely big-time professional sports meet. Now it's turning into a big-time PR disaster for the host nation, China, and the feckless International Olympic Committee.

Handling a crisis is part of any PR pro's job. For Vic Beck, a captain in the US Navy reserves who is finishing a nearly year-long tour as head of media operations in Baghdad for the Multi-National Force - Iraq (MNF-I), crises are a 24-7 reality.

After losing last year's election to a "cyberwar," a top politician in Malaysia told his ruling party's candidates to get blogging.

This year, PRWeek will visit eight cities where an industry close to that respective region will be discussed. For each event, leading PR pros from a variety of firms, companies, and other organizations will gather in a roundtable discussion about the issues affecting them and their peers. Keith O'Brien and Aarti Shah were in San Francisco to discuss the technology industry.