Spin doctoring for the rich and corrupt

Late in their careers, journalists with well-known bylines tend to write memoirs.

- JIM WINDOLF

These books are all the same. Early on, they have plenty of entertaining character studies of the scamps and scoundrels who populate newsrooms. That is followed by scenes of boozy evenings in exotic locations, usually with some gunfire in the distance. On page 100 or so comes the step-by-step narrative of how the reporter, despite some deep-seated personal failings, plays a key role in exposing this or that corrupt politician, business leader or institution.

All the Worst Humans, a pithy, anecdote-rich memoir by Phil Elwood, has a lot in common with those books. But it tells a story from journalism's shadow side, the realm of high-level public relations. And so, while the book has plenty of scoundrels, cocktails and guns, it comes with no cathartic recounting of how the author exposed wrongdoing. That is because Elwood has devoted himself to the dubious pursuit of drumming up positive news coverage for dictators and other malefactors.

It starts with the crack of a Jack Reacher thriller. It is 2018, and FBI agents are about to knock on Elwood's door. Nearly 20 years into a career of shaping public opinion, he has served so many bad guys that he cannot be sure just what the investigators are after.

"It could be the Israelis," Elwood writes. "Or Muammar Gaddafi. Or Bashar al-Assad. Or the Iranians. Or because of what I pulled in Antigua. Or the bank transfers to accounts in tax havens all over the world. Or Project Rome."