The Wall Street Journal takes a look at Ben Bernanke’s PR campaign and how it has placed him in the “starring role” as he tries to clearly communcate the Federal Reserve’s role, the paper .

According to Reuters, the Fed is reworking its communications strategy, as part of a transparency push that may include regular news conferences and increased availability of information, possibly online.

In recent months, Bernanke has discussed the economic crisis to audiences ranging from college students and the general public to the media and Congress, and he tells the WSJ: “‘I think it is important for the public to understand what is going on and to know that the government is trying to solve the problem … They should know we have a plan and a strategy.”‘

Yet, the paper also notes that Bernanke may placing himself at the heart of the PR effort to ensure his position as chairman of the Federal Reserve is secure. Within the year, President Barack Obama will decide whether or not to reappoint Bernanke.

Blogs and Twitter are abuzz with , the coined after several books were removed from the ranking system on Amazon.com. The books, largely with homosexual themes, included Brokeback Mountain, Ellen DeGeneres: A Biography, and Heather Has Two Mommies. It seems ranks have now returned to some titles, but some blogs are keeping track of those that were affected.

Mark Probst, the author of gay romance book The Filly, first noticed that his book was de-ranked and contacted Amazon. After receiving a response saying it was due to a policy where “adult” materials were not included in rankings, he blogged about it. But when consumers pointed out that some heterosexual “adult” materials were still included in rankings, Amazon said the original de-ranking was due to a .

The news has quickly spread through social media like Twitter, and some groups are urging a of the retailer. Amazon does not have a press release up on its Web site and representatives from the online retailer and its PR agency OutCast Communications have not yet returned PRWeek’s calls for comment.

UPDATE: Patty Smith, director of corporate communications for Amazon, replied to PRWeek with a statemtn via email, saying “This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error for a company that prides itself on offering complete selection.”

Criticism of AIG’s hiring of PR firms just won’t die. Rachel Maddow and Breakingviews recently took critical looks at the company’s agency roster given its federal funding. This time, it comes in the form of an article from Time: “Is AIG spending too much on public relations?” The author points to recent comments from members of Congress that question “the firm’s p.r. payroll,” as well as a lawyer of former AIG chairman Hank Greenberg. AIG’s SVP of comms, Nick Ashooh - who made PRWeek’s people with the “toughest jobs in PR” 2008 list - broke down the responsibilities of its PR firms to Time.

AIG retained only one full-time p.r. firm when it ruled the insurance world. Today’s four firms, said Ashooh, have different missions: Sard Verbinnen & Co. helps to structure statements on the bailout, Kekst & Co. focuses on sales of assets to pay back federal loans, Burson-Marsteller handles controversial issues and Hill & Knowlton fields inquiries from Capitol Hill and prepares congressional testimony for company officials. “If the criticism was we were running image-advertising or doing sponsorships to make ourselves look better, I could see that,” Ashooh said. “But we’re doing a lot of information-processing. It’s really been just responding to inquiries” from Congress and the media.

When a company faces a crisis so bad that it believes its name is permanently sullied, in enters the rebrand and rename. Witness ValuJet to AirTran, Philip Morris to Altria, Anderson Consulting to Accenture, and Blackwater to Xe.

Now it seems it’s the beleaguered auto industry’s turn to get creative. General Motors’ asset management service unit, General Motors Asset Management, has dropped GM from its name, The Wall Street Journal reports. Instead, it will rebrand as Promark Global Advisors, as it looks to win more “external business.” GM currently accounts for 80% of its funds, WSJ writes.

The re-branding exercise represents a marketing about-face for GMAM, which had previously highlighted its relationship with the auto maker as a strength. Marketing material on its Web site noted: “The investment programs offered to our clients are the same ones in which GM’s benefit plans participate.” Some of GMAM’s senior executive team, including its CFO and chief operating officer, joined from GM or its GMAC financing arm.

I wonder who else will get a new name in ‘09?

In an internal memo by Burson-Marsteller CEO Mark Penn, which PRWeek obtained last week, the agency’s top executive took issue with the way TV host Rachel Maddow characterized its past and current work. At one point in the letter, Penn writes, “Her commentary also significantly mischaracterized the nature of the firm’s past – for example, we never took a dime from Blackwater.”

However, as PRWeek has reported in the past, Burson subsidiary BKSH & Associates has worked for Blackwater. The agency has declined to comment.

Last night, Rachel Maddow returned to the subject. On her she pointed to the statement in the memo, and the seeming contradiction with a previous news report that showed BKSH had in fact worked for Blackwater. Maddow said:

Mr Penn also accused me of getting my facts wrong… If I’m wrong, I’m happy to do a correction… Is it possible that Burson-Marsteller could have worked for Blackwater but not been paid for it… Blackwater is their charity case? …I welcome any further opportunity to clear up the record.

The Web has been abuzz with news that ailing insurer American International Group (AIG) has added Kekst & Company to its list of PR firm representation. AIG is also working with Sard Verbinnen, Hill & Knowlton, and Burson-Marsteller. AIG declined to comment on the PR firms with which they’re working .

AIG has received $150 billion in government funds since September, when the federal government also took an 80% stake in the company. AIG reported fourth quarter net losses totaling $61.7 billion on March 2nd. The company also came under fire during from both members of the Senate Budget Committee and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said that “AIG exploited a huge gap in the regulatory system.” AIG may receive a fourth round of bailout funding to stay afloat.

According to Brad Williams, VP of corporate communications at Yahoo, the company’s corporate communications team hasn’t been impacted by the massive restructuring - yet. “But we’re working [with] incoming CMO, Elisa Steele, to determine how to best align our team to Yahoo’s new organizational structure as it’s fleshed out in the coming weeks,” said Williams, who is acting as head of the company’s corporate communications team since Jill Nash’s departure.

Facebook is taking the of its critics and allowing users to chime in on the way the site is governed. In a blog entry , CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook is going to practice what it preaches on transparency. As a first step, Zuckerberg is inviting user feedback on two documents: , which defines users’ rights and will act as a guiding framework on any policy it considers or discards; and , which will replace its existing Terms of Use. Both groups have about 4,000 members.

“With both documents, we tried hard to simplify the language so you have a clear understanding of how Facebook will be run,” Zuckerberg writes. “We’ve created separate groups for each document so you can read them and provide comments and feedback.”

EW Scripps executives told Rocky Mountain News employees in person today that the company is closing the newspaper, which had been in print since 1859 and in tabloid format since 1942. The four-time Pulitzer Prize winner publishes its last issue on February 27.

Scripps spokeswoman Lee Rose told PRWeek that Scripps officials were conducting a press conference on February 26. The company has not hired an agency for the announcement, she said.

Hearst said this week that The San Francisco Chronicle if its unions do not make concessions.

The head of Yahoo’s news and information division, Neeraj Khemlani, has jumped ship from the troubled company to Hearst Corp. The move has fueled even more speculation that Yahoo’s rumored reorganization could happen as early as tomorrow.  According to a Hearst , Khemlani will be VP and special assistant to the CEO and be “responsible for promoting and coordinating digital content transformation across the company.” Stay tuned for more on Yahoo’s restructuring.