Philip Dewhurst
|
This article is part of the Nuclear Spin project of Spinwatch. |
Philip Dewhurst is a well-known heavyweight lobbyist, currently senior partner at The College Group, which he joined in October 2009 after three years as head of public relations at Gazprom. [1]
Background
Dewhurst was British Nuclear Fuels's Group Corporate Affairs Director from April 2001 and Chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association for two years (Dec 2004 until Dec 2006), and a board member for three years.
Ex-President of the Institute of Public Relations. He is a Visiting Fellow of the Media School of Bournemouth University. Before joining BNFL, Philip was UK Chief Executive of Shandwick International.[2]
He has also been chairman of Dewhurst Consulting since 2009. Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag
Spreading the Message Via Third Parties
Interviewed by PR Week in February 2006, Dewhurst, admitted that BNFL had been using the classsic PR technique of using a third party to push the nuclear message. He said that it had taken considerable effort to persuade the public to reconsider the nuclear option. Said Dewhurst: "five years ago the reputation of nuclear was at an all-time low. MI5 said a terrorist attack on Sellafield with a hijacked aircraft 'could not be prevented', and that destroyed public confidence."
Dewhurst added: "Now we use a company called Strategic Awareness, which uses in-depth research to help us develop our message. We spread that via third-party opinion because the public would be suspicious if we started ramming pro-nuclear messages down their throats".[3]
Affiliations
- Chairman, GPRP Charitable Trust - Guild of Public Relations Practitioners
- BH Live
References
- ↑ Alec Mattinson, Russian firm Gazprom's Philip Dewhurst takes College Hill role, prweek.com, Friday, 23 October 2009, acc 25 June 2012
- ↑ Nuclear Industry Association, website
- ↑ Alex Black, "Issues Management: How Nuclear Power got its Groove Back", PR Week, March 2, 2006.