In an article for Huffington Post on September 21, Tom Squitieri began:

"The rubber stamp storyline out of Bahrain is that it is the latest chapter of the people rising against the evil rulers in the 2011 drama of the Arab Spring. Spend a few days and nights away from the hotels and international clusters and with candidates under the campaign tents and in the small conversations and it is quickly apparent that it's not the same old story."

Squitieri continued his "Bahrain isn't as bad as you think" line inanother article for HuffPo on October 2, headed "A lighter shade of gray", 

"The government has promised reform," he told readers. "Parliament is to introduce laws to tackle concerns about ministerial accountability and corruption. King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has also asked an independent commission to investigate abuses and has formed a compensation fund."

Squitieri noted that the investigating commission is expected to "highlight abuses" by protesters in Bahrain, as well as the security forces.

On October 5, Squitieri was back again on HuffPo – this time putting a positive spin on the recent by-elections for the Bahraini parliament. Of the 18 newly-elected members, he wrote:

"Many have already begun their work, striking independent positions, calling on the government to enact reform and disdaining the mean streets approach to problem solving and democracy."

All three articles ended with this footnote about the author: "Tom Squitieri is a journalist and is also working with the Bahrain government on media awareness." The obvious conclusion to be drawn from that is that the articles were inspired by the regime'snew offensive in "reputation management".

Squitieri's background is that he spent 34 years in journalism, reporting for several American newspapers and winning a number of awards. In 2005, however, he resigned from his job as Pentagon correspondent for USA Today after being accused of lifting quotes from other papers without attribution, and moved into public relations.

According to his website, he "turned his talents into capturing client ideas and crafting them into prose that is smart, creative, unique, seductive and compelling, to say what the clients want to say and connect them to those the clients seek".

One of his earlier clients was the Kurdistan Regional Government which in 2009 was reported to be paying him $8,000 a month, and he now seems to have added the government of Bahrain to his portfolio.

Squitieri's company, TS Navigations, promises clients a "cunning strategy" that "can be adapted quickly, is believable and becomes the path to other goals". It continues:

"In a crisis communication situation, we work to immediately end the negative while building toward a pro-active platform ...

"The world may see bruised tomatoes. We are the chefs who make them into marinara that is irresistible."

So what are we to make of Squitieri's Huffington Post articles? Credible journalism, or just an example of his ability to turn bruised tomatoes into an "irresistible" marinara?

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 9 October 2011.