ABSTRACT
In this chapter I argue that when governments are engaged in environmental conflict, place-branding can be instrumentalised as publicly funded tourism offices try simultaneously to promote the brand and shield it from media scrutiny. However, I also reveal factors that can contribute to an alternative outcome. I begin the chapter by exploring ways in which Tasmania's Visiting Journalist Program (VJP) in the early 2000s can be theorised as an attempt to secure control over the flow of information. I then analyse a broader marketing response that relies for its effectiveness on blurred editorial boundaries between advertising and journalism. Following this, I consider networks and structures that can contribute to the absence of controversy in travel journalism that does not rely on financial support from tourism offices or commercial tourism operators.
