David Fenton (born 1953) is the Chairman and founder of
Fenton Communications Fenton Communications is a public relations firm that was founded by David Fenton in 1982. They describe themselves as the "largest public interest communications firm in the country", and maintain offices in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Fr ...
, created in 1982 to promote issue-oriented public relations campaigns focusing on the environment, public health and human rights. Since founding the company, he pioneered the use of professional P.R. and advertising techniques by nonprofit public interest groups in the United States and around the world. The company has offices in New York, Washington, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Fenton also co-founded three independent nonprofit organizations:
Environmental Media Services, which coordinated communications activities for environmental groups; New Economy Communications, which works on human rights issues in the global economy; and
Death Penalty Information Center, which helps journalists cover evidence of innocence and racial bias in the death penalty. He also helped incubate
Climate Nexus
Climate Nexus is a non-profit journalism and climate communication
Climate communication or climate change communication is a field of environmental communication and science communication focused on the causes, nature and effects of anthropogeni ...
, which works with journalists on climate change, and J Street, the pro-Israel, pro-peace group working for a two-state solution.
Fenton was formerly director of
Public Relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
at ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' magazine in 1978. He was co-producer of the "
No Nukes
Musicians United for Safe Energy, or MUSE, is an activist group founded in 1979 by Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Harvey Wasserman and John Hall. The group advocates against the use of nuclear energy, forming shortly after the Th ...
" concerts with Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor and many others in New York City, 1979. In the late 1960s, he was a photojournalist, for
Liberation News Service while also publishing in the NY Times, Life, Newsweek and others. His book of photographs SHOTS: An American Photographer's Journey was published in 2005. Published on November 1, 2022, Fenton's book "The Activist’s Media Handbook" discusses how to organize social media campaigns.
[{{cite web , url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/leonard-lopate-at-large-on-wbai-radio-in-new-york/id1420197433?i=1000586218903 , title=Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI Radio in New York: David Fenton on the Activist's Media Handbook on Apple Podcasts ]
Fenton is a native of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. He and his wife divide their time between New York and Berkeley.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Company website
{{Authority control
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fenton, David
Living people
Businesspeople from New York City
American public relations people
1953 births
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