== BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST ==
1. Help Fight Voter Suppression from Home with the Election Protection Wiki!
== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. Secret Papers Reveal Tony Blair Sold Out to Big Tobacco
2. Edelman’s “Carbon Messaging”: COP15 Means Business
3. Slow Learners
4. Weekly Radio Spin: Rebranding Occupation, from Iraq to Palestine
5. PR Consultant Gave Palin a Boost into the National Spotlight
6. Government Agencies Pre-emptively Spin the Bush Years
7. AIG’s Got the Public’s Money to Burn
8. Pfizer Turns Failure into Success
9. Another Attempt to Change Brand Israel
10. FAIR Got Air, But the Candidates Don’t Care
——————————————————————–
== BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST ==
1. HELP FIGHT VOTER SUPPRESSION FROM HOME WITH THE ELECTION PROTECTION WIKI!
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7840
Volunteers at the Center for Media and Democracy’s Election
Protection Wiki have collected unbelievable reports of voter
suppression nationwide in the nine days since it went online.
Among the reports on the EPWiki:
*In Colorado and New Mexico there are not enough voting
booths or machines for Election Day.
*Students in Virginia are receiving probing questionnaires
from voting officials falsely implying they don’t have the right
to vote there.
*In Ohio alone, more than 600,000 newly-registered voters
are threatened with purging.
*There are reports of sometimes-illegal mass voter roll
purges in Michigan, New Mexico, Florida, Georgia, Colorado
and other states. Several states are even purging voter rolls
of people who are “Bob” on driver’s licenses and “Robert” on
voter registration forms.
*Officials in Indiana are avoiding setting up polling places in
areas of the state heavily populated by minorities.
*The Republican Party in Michigan planned to challenge the
registrations of every voter whose home had been foreclosed
on recently.
*ACORN, which has been held out as a bogeyman for voter
fraud (though only 26 TOTAL cases of voter fraud were prosecuted
nationwide from 2002 – 2005), has bad registration rates below
the California Republican Party’s and a lawsuit alleging fraud in
2004 was dismissed by a judge for lack of merit.
*And, of course, there are ongoing worries across
the country about electronic voting machines.
The Election Protection Wiki (at EPWiki.org) is the only website
trying to document and centralize these reports, which were found
scattered across the Web by volunteers. We are trying to get
everything ready so activists, advocates and the media have a
central place to go on Election Day for immediate information about
these issues.
We need your help to collect more reports. No experience is
necessary and CMD staffers are here to help with ready-to-go simple
tasks and any support you need. Please join us in protecting the
right to vote – go to EPWiki.org and click on “things you can do” to
begin.
== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. SECRET PAPERS REVEAL TONY BLAIR SOLD OUT TO BIG TOBACCO
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7838
Secret documents recently obtained by British reporters under the
United Kingdom’s Freedom of Information Act show that former UK
Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered tobacco sponsorship exempted from
a new law banning tobacco advertising at sporting events. Blair’s
action came immediately after his political party, the Labour Party,
received a secret donation of one million British pounds from Bernie
Ecclestone, the president and CEO of Formula One Motorsports. After
winning the general election in 1997, the Labour Party had pledged
to ban tobacco advertising, and in June 1998, the European Union
formally adopted a directive prohibiting all tobacco advertising and
sponsorship in the EU. The secret papers show, though, that within
hours of his October 16, 1997 meeting with Ecclestone, Blair
demanded the U.K. policy be changed to allow tobacco companies to
sponsor Formula One car races, and that his aides went on to help
him hide the truth behind the change. Philip Morris was the largest
tobacco sponsor of Formula One racing.
SOURCE: The Times Online (UK), October 12, 2008
2. EDELMAN’S “CARBON MESSAGING”: COP15 MEANS BUSINESS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7836
Mark Grundy, who works for the PR firm Edelman, sees business
opportunities in climate change. He writes about the December 2009
COP15 meeting in Denmark, where world governments will try to
negotiate a binding new agreement to follow the Kyoto Protocol,
which ends in 2012. Grundy describes the COP15 meeting as “the
biggest global opportunity for carbon messaging of the next four
years… COP15 is a major opportunity for all my U.S. clients to go
well beyond their European counterparts in the ‘green image wars.'”
After waxing lyrical about the “$100 billion commodity carbon
market,” Grundy concludes that if corporate executives still aren’t
persuaded that they should attend, they should ponder one point:
“Where do you think every respected, environmental reporter on the
planet will be between 30 November and 11 December next year?” As
CMD previously reported, Edelman’s London office is assisting EON UK
in its efforts to persuade the UK government to approve the
coal-fired Kingsnorth Power Station. The power station would emit
several hundred million tonnes of carbon dioxide in its working
life.
SOURCE: Environmental Leader, October 8, 2008
3. SLOW LEARNERS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7835
Like many others, New York Times journalist Larry Rohter describes
former Greenpeace activist-turned-industry consultant Patrick Moore
as “the co-chairman of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, a
pro-nuclear group.” (Two weeks earlier, Rohter co-authored a blog
post that used an identical description of Moore.) What Rohter
doesn’t mention is that the coalition is a front group funded by the
Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). After referring to Moore, Rohter
notes that NEI is broadly supportive of plans such as Republican
Presidential candidate John McCain’s commitment to build 45 new
nuclear power stations. An announcement for an upcoming CNBC special
on nuclear power makes a similar mistake. The announcement describes
Moore as an “environmentalist” who “supports America’s nuclear
revival and tells CNBC why he’s made this stunning about face.”
Maybe because that’s what he’s paid to do?
SOURCE: New York Times, October 9, 2008
4. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: REBRANDING OCCUPATION, FROM IRAQ TO PALESTINE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7834
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 the pressure on the Pentagon
pundits, how AIG learned an important PR lesson, and Israel’s new
brand. In “Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin’,” what do ROTC recruiters,
the Nigerian military and the war on drugs have in common? 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, October 10, 2008
5. PR CONSULTANT GAVE PALIN A BOOST INTO THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7832
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s meteoric rise to prominence on the
national political scene after only 21 months in office came about
with the help of a media relations and marketing consulting firm
hired to draw national attention to the state’s proposed natural gas
pipeline project. Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources paid
public relations expert Marcia Brier of Needham, Massachusetts
$31,000 to pitch stories to the national media that promoted Palin
as the driving force behind the pipeline and getting the state
legislature to go along with it. Brier sent press releases to
national media outlets portraying Palin as an “upstart governor” and
crusader against Big Oil, the same story line Palin now uses in her
campaign with John McCain. Some state legislators take exception to
the portayal of Palin as the sole force behind the pipeline, when
many other people worked on the project. Once the PR campaign
began, Palin was away from the Legislature so much that lawmakers
started sporting red and white “Where’s Sarah?” buttons. Among
Brier’s past clients is a 23 year-old Saudi prince, Bader al-Saud,
whom she helped to get a plea deal in a vehicular homicide case
after he was arrested for drinking and driving in Martha’s Vineyard
in 2005.
SOURCE: Washington Post, October 10, 2008
6. GOVERNMENT AGENCIES PRE-EMPTIVELY SPIN THE BUSH YEARS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7831
“An e-mail went out last week to government agencies to get
working on a project to lay out ‘THE BUSH RECORD,'” reports Al
Kamen. The e-mail tells agencies to “provide a one or two paragraph
summary on the overarching communications strategy for your
Department,” listing any plans to produce “a document listing your
Department’s major accomplishments over the past eight years, a
video of Department successes, etc.” It also asks agencies to
categorize accomplishments as one of the “three main themes of ‘Kept
America Safe & Promoted Liberty Abroad,’ ‘Lowered Taxes & Reformed
Government,’ and ‘Stood on Principle / Tackled Tough Issues / Showed
the Way Ahead.'” Asked for comment, White House spokesperson Tony
Fratto said it’s “only natural to collect data” to help reporters
writing retrospectives on the George W. Bush administration.
Otherwise, the public may not be aware that “minority education test
scores went up or that teenage drug use is down 18 percent,” he
added. Kamen concludes, “Looks like a pretty big PR blitz.”
SOURCE: Washington Post, October 8, 2008
7. AIG’S GOT THE PUBLIC’S MONEY TO BURN
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7830
The insurance company American International Group (AIG), which
“vowed to temper spending after hosting a conference at a California
resort amid a federal bailout,” belatedly canceled “a similar event
planned for next week at a $400-a-night hotel.” The U.S. government
loaned AIG $85 billion in September and the Federal Reserve Bank of
New York just loaned the company another $37.8 billion, to
“replenish liquidity.” Members of Congress harshly criticized AIG’s
earlier luxury conference, which cost $440,000. Before AIG canceled
its more recent event, it considered buying ads to explain that such
conferences are necessary to “motivate and educate” independent
agents selling AIG coverage. But AIG’s public relations consultant,
George Sard, warned against the move. Sard, who heads the PR firm
Sard Verbinnen & Co., emailed that “to spend the taxpayer’s money on
an expensive ad campaign to apologize for how you used taxpayer
money leaves you open to further attacks.” However, Sard mistakenly
sent his advice to a Bloomberg reporter.
SOURCE: Bloomberg News, October 9, 2008
8. PFIZER TURNS FAILURE INTO SUCCESS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7829
“Documents and emails released this week … suggest Pfizer’s
marketers influenced” research on the drug Neurontin “by declining
to release or altering the conclusions of studies that found no
beneficial effect from Neurontin for various off-label conditions,”
reports Keith Winstein. The Food and Drug Administration approved
Neurontin for epilepsy and shingles. In 2004, Pfizer’s
Warner-Lambert unit admitted to promoting “off-label” uses.
Companies can’t promote drugs for unapproved uses, though doctors
can prescribe off-label. Pfizer paid $430 million for the offense
and claimed it ensured “there was no improper marketing after it
purchased Warner-Lambert in 2000.” But the new documents, which were
submitted in a lawsuit against Pfizer, detail more recent attempts
to boost off-label sales. After one study showed Neurontin didn’t
lessen diabetic nerve pain, a marketer suggested “delaying the
publication for as long as possible.” One researcher emailed that
she was told “not to publish anything that damages Neurontin’s
marketing success.” Pfizer also failed to publish results that
Neurontin didn’t ease post-operative nerve pain. Lastly, after the
drug was shown to have no effect on bipolar disorder, a Pfizer
consultant writing up the study excluded 16 patients and changed how
other patients were characterized, thus “turning a failure into a
success.”
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub req’d), October 8, 2008
9. ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO CHANGE BRAND ISRAEL
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7828
The British “country brand capital development” firm Acanchi is
crafting a “new image” for Israel. “Our research shows that Israel’s
brand is essentially the [Israel-Palestine] conflict,” explained
Israeli Foreign Ministry official Ido Aharoni. “Even those who
recognize that Israel is in the right are not attracted to it,
because they see it as a supplier of bad news.” Israel previously
worked with the ad firm Saatchi & Saatchi and U.S. political
consultants James Carville and Stanley Greenberg to address its
image problem. The rebranding effort began after September 2001,
when government officials realized “Israel had an opportunity to
escape its image as the main source of conflict with the Islamic
word,” because the “war on Islamic terror” had “gone global,”
reports Haaretz. As part of its rebranding, the Israeli government
has launched an official MySpace page and invited “international
journalists to tour Israel’s wine industry.” The Israeli government
hired Acanchi in August 2008. Acanchi founder Fiona Gilmore recently
toured Israel, as her firm prepares to “launch the new brand.” The
firm will highlight “Israel’s scientific and cultural achievements.”
Acanchi “has helped to rebrand locales ranging from Lebanon to
Northern Ireland.”
SOURCE: Haaretz (Israel), October 5, 2008
10. FAIR GOT AIR, BUT THE CANDIDATES DON’T CARE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7827
The second debate between the major party U.S. presidential
candidates didn’t address immigration policy. That disappointed the
Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which has been
designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In
September, FAIR held its third annual “Hold Their Feet to the Fire”
event, where it brings “dozens of talk radio hosts from around the
country” to Washington DC, to do broadcasts on immigration issues,
while FAIR supporters lobby members of Congress. This year’s radio
hosts included Armstrong Williams, while CNN’s Lou Dobbs broadcast
from the event. “We had talk hosts broadcasting for four hours each
day — 336 hours of radio time across virtually the entire country,”
said FAIR’s Bob Dane. The Republican PR firm Shirley & Bannister
Public Affairs booked the radio guests, including members of
Congress, authors and “other high-profile figures of the immigration
movement.” Although the presidential “candidates are not talking
about” immigration and border security, complained Dane, “this event
is a loud reminder that we aren’t and will not be silent.”
SOURCE: O’Dwyer’s PR Daily (sub req’d), October 7, 2008
——————————————————————–
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