== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. Jed Babbin: The Pentagon’s Most Prolific Pundit
== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. China’s Gold Medal Spin
2. Has Fake News Become the Real News?
3. Canada’s Oilsands Tarred with the “Greenwash” Brush
4. Foxes Invited to Guard the Endangered Species Coop
5. Medialink’s Meltdown
6. Penn’s Tentacles
7. The Ghost of Jack Abramoff
8. Weekly Radio Spin: It’s Not Easy, Defining “Green”
9. Fridays with Tory
10. Another Ghost-Written Op/ed Traced to LMG
11. Buried Soldiers, Buried Coverage
12. Philip Morris Caught in Second Concert Sponsorship in Philippines
13. Wal-Mart: We’re Green, Just Don’t Ask How Green
14. Gasoline: Like a Healthy Lifestyle
15. All’s Fair in Love and Political Ads
16. Faking Reality in the Name of National Interest
17. Toxic Smoke and Mirrors
——————————————————————–
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. JED BABBIN: THE PENTAGON’S MOST PROLIFIC PUNDIT
by Daniel Haack
The morning of June 20, 2006, an email message circulated
amongst U.S. Defense Department officials.
“Jed Babbin, one of our military analysts, is hosting the
Michael Medved nationally syndicated radio show this afternoon. He
would like to see if General [George W.] Casey would be available
for a phone interview,” the Pentagon staffer wrote. “This would be a
softball interview and the show is 8th or 9th in the nation.”
Why would the Pentagon help set up a radio interview? And how
did they know that the interview would be “softball”?
From early 2002 to April 2008, the Defense Department offered
talking points, organized trips to places such as Iraq and
Guantanamo Bay, and gave private briefings to a legion of retired
military officers working as media pundits. The Pentagon’s military
analyst program, a covert effort to promote a positive image of the
Bush administration’s wartime performance, was a multi-level
campaign involving quite a few colorful characters.
Flipping through the over 8,000 pages of documents released
in connection with the program, one Pentagon pundit arguably steals
the spotlight: Jed Babbin.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7677
== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. CHINA’S GOLD MEDAL SPIN
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7674
In a scathing review of the Chinese government’s handling of the
Olympics, Jacquelin Magnay writes “there has been the fake singer,
the fake fireworks, the fake minority kids (they were all Han, and
not from the 55 different ethnic groups as portrayed), the fake
press freedoms, fake internet access, fake promises. … Beijing
Olympic vice-president Wang Wei and other International Olympic
Committee officials repeatedly claim the press is free to report on
the Olympic Games, yet venue managers, under instruction from the
organisers, will not allow reporters to ask topical non-sporting
questions of Georgian or Russian athletes. Transcripts of the press
conference questions about censorship are themselves heavily
censored.” But, regardless of the edicts from the Chinese
government’s propaganda unit, “global headlines … have detailed
the screech of armoured personnel carriers, human rights issues,
visa restrictions, protest parks, military thuggery, deceptions and
trickery.”
SOURCE: The Age (Australia), August 16, 2008
2. HAS FAKE NEWS BECOME THE REAL NEWS?
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7672
An article in the New York Times asks whether Jon Stewart of
Comedy Central’s Daily Show has become the most trusted man in
America, pointing out that his fake news comedy show has emerged in
recent years as a “genuine cultural and political force.” While
24-hour news networks like FOX, MSNBC and CNN have been pumping out
infotainment-style news about topics like dead celebrities and
sexual predators, the Daily Show has been critically tracking the
cherry-picking of prewar intelligence, the politicization of the
Department of Justice and the efforts of the Bush Administration to
increase the power of the executive branch. Stewart has proven to be
a master at calling out government and corporate spin, hypocrisy and
red herrings, and helping his audience see them, too. A 2008 study
from the Project for Excellence in Journalism at the Pew Research
Enter for the People and the Press found that the Daily Show has had
an impact on American dialogue and that it is “getting people to
think critically about the public square.”
SOURCE: New York Times, August 15, 2008
3. CANADA’S OILSANDS TARRED WITH THE “GREENWASH” BRUSH
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7670
The UK Advertising Standards Authority ruled that a Shell ad that
repeatedly referred to extraction from Canada’s oilsands as
“sustainable” was “misleading.” The advertising regulator noted the
“considerable social and environmental impacts” of oilsands
development, adding that Shell has not explained how it will manage
“carbon emissions from its oilsands projects in order to limit
climate change.” The World Wildlife Fund filed a complaint accusing
Shell of “greenwashing,” after the ad appeared in the Financial
Times. Shell agreed not to run the ad again. Oilsands development
“uses enormous amounts of fresh water and natural gas and produces
about three times as much greenhouse gas emissions as conventional
oil output.” The Canadian province of Alberta, where the oilsands
are located, “launched a three-year, $25-million campaign” earlier
this year, “to market Alberta and correct what the government
insists is misinformation about the oilsands.” Calgary Herald
business editor Charles Frank opined, “We have to reframe the debate
… if we are to have even the faintest hope of making sure this
province’s most valuable resource isn’t sabotaged by people and
organizations who do not have our best interests at heart.”
SOURCE: Calgary Herald (Canada), August 14, 2008
4. FOXES INVITED TO GUARD THE ENDANGERED SPECIES COOP
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7669
Currently, the Endangered Species Act requires independent
scientific assessment by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the
National Marine Fisheries Service of proposed construction projects.
But the Bush administration has proposed allowing construction to
proceed, if the agency whose project it is sees no problem — even
if the agency has no biologist on staff. Interior Secretary Dirk
Kempthorne “described the new rules as a ‘narrow regulatory change’
that ‘will provide clarity and certainty to the consultation process
under the Endangered Species Act.'” Others see it differently. Rep.
Nick J. Rahall II, the chair of the House Natural Resources
Committee, said, “I am deeply troubled by this proposed rule, which
gives federal agencies an unacceptable degree of discretion to
decide whether or not to comply with the Endangered Species Act.
Eleventh-hour rulemakings rarely, if ever, lead to good government
— this is not the type of legacy this Interior Department should be
leaving for future generations.” Bob Irvin of Defenders of Wildlife
called the change “a case of asking the fox to guard the chicken
coop.”
SOURCE: Washington Post, August 12, 2008
5. MEDIALINK’S MELTDOWN
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7666
Medialink Worldwide — the largest producer of fake news products
such as video news releases (VNRs) — is in financial meltdown.
Almost two years ago the Center for Media and Democracy reported
that Medialink had placed its faith in selling off assets, trying to
boost international income and investing in the digital watermarking
system Teletrax. The company’s latest quarterly report reveals that,
faced with accelerating losses, the company has agreed to sell
Teletrax to Philips Electronics and sold “certain assets of its
UK-based media communications services operation” to World
Television Group. Not surprisingly, Medialink’s share price has
collapsed to an all-time low of just 30 cents, down from $3.65 at
the start of the year. PR Week reports that, according to industry
sources, Medialink is “considering offering itself up for sale.”
SOURCE: Medialink Worldwide, August 14, 2008
6. PENN’S TENTACLES
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7665
The senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly, Joshua Green, thinks
some commentators may be too quick in claiming that a political
consulting career is over for Mark Penn, the CEO of Burson
Marsteller and former “chief strategist” for Hillary Clinton’s
presidential campaign. Penn has been widely criticized after an
internal memo he wrote for the Clinton campaign was recently made
public. In it, Penn suggested that Clinton criticize Barack Obama’s
“lack of American roots.” Penn wrote, “I cannot imagine America
electing a president during a time of war who is not at his center
fundamentally American in his thinking and in his values.” Obama is
reportedly considering Indiana Senator Evan Bayh as a possible
vice-presidential running mate. However, Green notes that “for
years, Penn and his wife, Nancy Jacobson, have been close advisers”
to Bayh. If Obama picks Bayh, Green writes, “Penn is right back in
the presidential race — if not in an official capacity, then
certainly in a functional one.”
SOURCE: The Atlantic Monthly, August 2008
7. THE GHOST OF JACK ABRAMOFF
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7664
While Jack Abramoff serves a six-year prison sentence stemming
from his role in one of the most elaborate corruption standals in
American politics, one of his most prominent former lobbyist
associates, Ralph Reed, is raising funds for Republican presidential
candidate John McCain. Previously, notes Alexander Lane, Reed “was
credited as a key operative in George W. Bush’s sharp-elbowed effort
against McCain in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary
in 2000. McCain, in turn, chaired the Senate Indian Affairs
Committee in 2006 when it investigated and unveiled Reed’s deep
personal and business ties to Abramoff, a lobbyist who pleaded
guilty to three felonies.” Apparently all is forgiven. The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution recently published an email by Reed, inviting
recipients to a McCain fundraiser and praising his commitment to
“economic growth and opportunity, the dignity of life and
traditional values.”
SOURCE: Politifact.com, August 13, 2008
8. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: IT’S NOT EASY, DEFINING “GREEN”
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7663
Listen to THIS WEEK’S EDITION of the “Weekly Radio Spin,” the
Center for Media and Democracy’s audio report on the stories behind
the news. This week, we look at not-so-endangered species, burying
media access, and why it doesn’t matter what “green” means. In “Six
Degrees of Spin and Fakin’,” how to boost your image after the
world’s worst industrial accident. The Weekly Radio Spin is freely
available for personal and broadcast use. Podcasters can subscribe
to the XML feed on www.prwatch.org/audio or via iTunes. If you air
the Weekly Radio Spin on your radio station, please email us at
editor@prwatch.org to let us know. Thanks!
SOURCE: Center for Media and Democracy, August 15, 2008
9. FRIDAYS WITH TORY
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7661
Canada’s Tory government is taking heat for using Friday
afternoons to release negative news to the public. “The Tories took
office promising clean, open governance and vowing not to practice
the same old politics as previous government,” reports the Canadian
Press. “But they’ve stuck to one tried and true tactic — releasing
negative news when it will get the least media attention.” Recent
examples include a Foreign Affairs report on the misplacement of
government documents and a major climate change report that
questioned Conservative claims about greenhouse gas reductions.
Public relations professional have long understood that releasing
unwanted news late on Friday helps minimize bad press, although some
are saying that the internet and the rise of a 24/7 news cycle has
made this tactic less effective.
SOURCE: CTV News, August 5, 2008
10. ANOTHER GHOST-WRITTEN OP/ED TRACED TO LMG
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7660
If there’s a questionable opinion column promoting a corporate
viewpoint, chances are the secretive Washington DC public affairs
firm LMG — also known as LawMedia Group — is involved. As the
Center for Media and Democracy reported previously, LMG helped place
a column attributed to the president of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference, which he didn’t write and which criticized
some SCLC donors. Now, it appears LMG is behind another column. The
author supposedly was Mel King, a community organizer and network
neutrality advocate. However, his column questions the need for net
neutrality provisions. King admitted that LMG was involved and
refused to say whether “he was paid for the use of his name,”
reports Declan McCullagh. LMG’s clients include Comcast, which
opposes net neutrality, and Microsoft, which hired LMG in an attempt
to block a Google-Yahoo advertising deal. Another strange aspect of
King’s anti-net neutrality column is that “portions are identical to
a Rainbow Push coalition statement attributed to the Rev. Jesse
Jackson and dated three months before.” A source told McCullagh that
“LMG has a relationship with Jackson that includes ghost-written
articles on behalf of corporate clients.”
SOURCE: CNET News, August 14, 2008
11. BURIED SOLDIERS, BURIED COVERAGE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7659
“The former spokeswoman for Arlington National Cemetery says the
facility’s No. 2 official has been calling military families to try
to talk them out of media coverage of their loved ones’ funerals,
despite his denials that he does so,” reports William H. McMichael.
“Gina Gray, who was fired June 27 after 2 1/2 months on the job, said
Deputy Director Thurman Higginbotham told her in early May that he
had been making such calls for about a year — while denying he did
so at least three times, including once in an April 30 meeting with
Pentagon reporters to discuss the cemetery’s media policy.” Gray
said she reviewed the cemetery’s paperwork for troops killed in Iraq
or Afghanistan since 2001 and found that 63 percent of the families
agreed to media coverage. She says that her support for granting
media access “led her supervisors to limit her authority, constantly
track her comings and goings, occasionally refuse to reply to her
e-mails or even speak to her and, finally, to fire her.”
SOURCE: Army Times, August 11, 2008
12. PHILIP MORRIS CAUGHT IN SECOND CONCERT SPONSORSHIP IN PHILIPPINES
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7658
Last month, when pop singer Alicia Keys protested Philip Morris
International’s (PMI) sponsorship of her concert in Jakarta,
Indonesia, PMI was forced to pull down posters and billboards that
promoted the event. That debacle was hardly over when health
advocates started pushing for PMI to end its involvement in yet
another concert, the August 30 reunion of the Filipino group
Eraserheads, a band so popular in this part of the world that it has
been dubbed the “Beatles of the Philippines.” People seeking tickets
to the free concert are directed to www.marlboro.ph, a Web site run
by PMI’s Philippine subsidiary. To obtain tickets and information,
visitors must provide personal contact information that allows PMI
to send them promotional materials for cigarettes. The Eraserheads
concert is generating tremendous buzz on the Internet that often
mentions the Marlboro web site and brand name, conferring
substantial positive publicity upon PMI and its best-selling
cigarette brand. But last week, the Philippines Department of Health
warned PMI that it is violating the country’s tobacco regulation
law, which, as of July 1, 2008 prohibits all forms of tobacco
advertising in mass media, including the Internet, places strict
restrictions on other tobacco promotional activities and bans
tobacco company sponsorship of concerts and other events.
SOURCE: MarketWatch, the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, August 12, 2008
13. WAL-MART: WE’RE GREEN, JUST DON’T ASK HOW GREEN
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7656
“Wal-Mart has been taking many major steps [to] go green in recent
years,” writes Eoin O’Carroll. “So you can imagine my surprise when
I came across Wal-Mart’s comment on the Federal Trade Commission’s
attempts to standardize carbon offsets.” As the Center for Media and
Democracy reported previously, the FTC is revising its environmental
advertising guidelines, prompted by the booming trade in carbon
offsets, environmental “credits” that can be purchased to balance
the impact of activities (like plane flights) that emit greenhouse
gases. The FTC plans to issue guidelines for carbon offsets and
renewable electricity credits (RECs). Wal-Mart suggested to
the FTC, “rather than attempting to define offsets or RECs, the
Commission should rely on the flexibility inherent in the
‘reasonable basis doctrine.’ … Different authoritative and expert
institutions have adopted different, but reasonable approaches.”
O’Carroll summarizes, “Wal-Mart is arguing that we should not seek
to come up with a firm definition … because there doesn’t yet
exist a firm definition.” In response, Wal-Mart told O’Carroll that
standards for RECs and offsets should be determined by “governmental
entities and highly technical experts with vast environmental
expertise,” not the FTC.
SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor’s “Bright Green” blog, August 7, 2008
14. GASOLINE: LIKE A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7654
BP North America recently launched “its first full-scale lifestyle
effort,” to promote its new gas with “Invigorate.” Unlike a
traditional product launch, which “simply discusses gas,” BP’s
“Younger for Longer” campaign will compare its new gas formula to
older athletes. The oil company says its new gas “cleans and extends
the use of engine parts, in the same way a healthy lifestyle
contributes to a longer lifespan.” The campaign will run for five
years, with support from the GolinHarris firm. It will include ads,
“a mobile tour and interactive Web site.” The tour — of BP’s
“Invigoration Station” — will visit 15 cities, offering “the chance
to participate in activities related to the athlete spokespeople,
such as rock climbing.” The “older” athletes featured in the
campaign are a 53-year-old mountain climber, a 55-year-old marathon
runner and a 31-year-old surfer. Golin’s Gary Rudnick said the goal
of the campaign “is to build a relationship with our target
consumer, and create the awareness and loyalty.”
SOURCE: PR Week, July 31, 2008
15. ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE AND POLITICAL ADS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7653
The CEO of the public relations firm Burson Marsteller, Mark Penn,
likes John McCain’s TV ad likening Barack Obama to celebrities like
Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. “Hillary Clinton’s former top
strategist wrote the ad tries to ‘portray Obama’s leadership for
change as something fluffy and useless.’ It bears a Republican
political trademark ‘attacking a candidate’s strengths rather than
the candidate’s weaknesses.'” In an essay posted on Politico.com,
Penn contends that “clever negative ad can be devastatingly
effective.” He says that like the McCain ad, “Some negative ads
crystallize voters’ opinions without presenting any new
information.” Penn isn’t troubled by that. “This year, you can
expect a tough political season and plenty of negative ads. Done
fairly, they serve a legitimate role.” As CMD reported previously,
Mark Penn was demoted from his role as “chief strategist” with the
Hillary Clinton campaign after several embarrassing conflicts of
interest came to light.
SOURCE: O’Dwyer’s PR Daily (sub req’d), August 12, 2008
16. FAKING REALITY IN THE NAME OF NATIONAL INTEREST
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7652
First the organizers of China’s spectacular Olympic opening
ceremony admitted that they digitally faked the dazzling “footprint”
fireworks that viewers saw on TV leading up to the Bird’s Nest
stadium. Now it has emerged that the cute little girl who sang a
patriotic song in the ceremony was lip synching for another little
girl who, officials decided at the last minute, was not cute enough
to adequately represent China’s national image. Nine-year-old Lin
Miaoke became an instant star in one of the most memorable moments
of China’s opening show, as she stood in her red dress and white
shoes singing “Ode to the Motherland.” But her voice was dubbed with
that of Yang Peiyi, another little girl with crooked teeth who was
originally chosen to sing the song. Chinese officials apparently
felt the original little girl did not look perfect enough to
adequately represent the country. Chen Qigang, musical director of
the opening ceremonies, explained the last-minute switch by telling
Beijing Radio, “The performer was Lin Miaoke, but the sound was Yang
Peiyi. The reason…is this: One was for the benefit of the country.
The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings,
and expression, and Lin Miaoke meets our requirements in those
aspects.”
SOURCE: ABC News, August 12, 2008
17. TOXIC SMOKE AND MIRRORS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7650
Overexposure to manganese has caused Parkinson’s-like symptoms for
thousands of welders, but the makers of manganese-containing welding
wire and electrodes are avoiding liability by manipulating science.
Jim Morris writes that “the welding companies paid more than $12.5
million to 25 organizations and 33 researchers, virtually all of
whom have published papers dismissing connections between welding
fumes and workers’ ailments. … The pattern doesn’t surprise George
Washington University epidemiologist David Michaels, author of Doubt
Is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your
Health. Corporate-funded research articles are often ‘advocacy
documents that are being produced purely for use in court cases,’ he
says. ‘It’s unfortunate, because it really pollutes the scientific
literature.'” Industrial toxicologists have known since the 1930s
that manganese exposure damages the brain and central nervous
system. Morris notes that “if you were to graph out the welding
industry’s spending on science, you’d see a dramatic uptick in 2003
— the year an Illinois jury awarded $1 million to a welder named
Larry Elam.” Since then, mounting lawsuits by injured welders have
driven a funding boom for pro-industry scientists.
SOURCE: Mother Jones, July/August 2008
——————————————————————–
The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
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