Businesses use PR consultants to place stories with papers and to influence coverage every day. It's legal and accepted, although not much talked about. I suggested to a local conservation group about 3 years ago that they hire such a group. Not a lot of traction. Whether Legal or PR, sport fisherman have been slow to embrace the tools that businesses use to get what they want. The exception is the hiring of a state government lobbyist, which sport fishing groups have done, and which overall has been successful (notwithstanding this current NOF fiasco).