== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. Vote Falsies 2008!
2. Master Settlement Agreement, or a Masterful Status-quo Agreement?
== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. Public Bailout for Private Jets
2. GM’s Champion Stalls
3. Good Money for Goodwin
4. Weekly Radio Spin: Fly Coach? Surely You Jest
5. Green Meets Greenwash
6. The Mormon Proposition
7. Maryland Police See ‘Terrorists’ Everywhere
8. Too Much Information
9. Grassfire’s Blitzkrieg of Fear Aimed at President-Elect Obama
10. Bush Administration Quietly Working to Weaken Clean Air Act
——————————————————————–
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. VOTE FALSIES 2008!
by Judith Siers-Poisson
IT’S YOUR CHANCE TO VOTE FOR THE WORST CANDIDATES — AND
ENJOY IT!
Now’s the time for you to participate in the fifth annual
“Falsies Awards” contest, held by the Center for Media and Democracy
to shine an unflattering light on those responsible for polluting
our information environment.
As you look back at 2008, who stands out, for their shameless
spinning? The ballot includes sneaky spooks, pandering pundits, big
business bullies, and many more.
Click here to cast your vote today!
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7966
2. MASTER SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT, OR A MASTERFUL STATUS-QUO AGREEMENT?
by Anne Landman
November 23, 2008 marks ten years since 46 state Attorneys
General and the major American tobacco companies signed the big
tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA). Besides being the largest
legal settlement in history and resolving an unprecedented onslaught
of litigation against the industry, the MSA required tobacco
companies to pay approximately $200 billion to the states over 25
years (subject to tweaks for inflation and market share).
The devil, however, was in the details. Heralded at the time
as a defeat for the tobacco industry and a victory for public
health, the MSA has actually done little to change the status quo.
It ended some forms of tobacco advertising, for example, but the
restrictions adopted were in reality less important to the industry
than to public health authorities. The industry abandoned billboards
and transit ads, ads in magazines with a high youth readership, and
ads within a certain distance of schools. However, it continued
marketing through high levels of advertising, bar nights, event
sponsorships, direct mail, and retail placements.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7991
== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. PUBLIC BAILOUT FOR PRIVATE JETS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7993
The heads of the Big Three U.S. automakers (General Motors,
Chrysler, and Ford), and the president of the United Auto Workers
(UAW) went to Capitol Hill to ask for a $25 billion bailout loan.
But they didn’t give enough thought to how they got there. Each man
flew separately, on private corporate jets, to ask for help from
U.S. taxpayers. Even industry-funded groups like Citizens Against
Government Waste think the auto industry honchos are out of touch.
“It appears that the senior management of the automakers simply
don’t get it,” said Tom Schatz, CAGW President. Their cavalier
attitude was roundly noted, and criticized. Congressman Gary
Ackerman of New York chided them: “As CEOs of your companies, you
should set the standard here of what the future looks like.” GM’s
CEO Rick Wagoner’s trip cost the company $20,000, compared to a
first-class ticket for the same day that came in at less than $900.
Wagoner also takes a corporate jet from Detroit to his home in
Seattle each weekend. “This is a slap in the face of taxpayers,”
said Schatz. “To come to Washington on a corporate jet, and asking
for a hand out is outrageous.”
SOURCE: ABC News, November 19, 2008
2. GM’S CHAMPION STALLS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7987
Following the election victory of Barack Obama, veteran Democratic
Congressman John Dingell has been ousted as chairman of the House
Committee on Energy and Commerce by Henry Waxman. Prior to the vote,
the director of the Safe Climate Campaign, Dan Becker, described
Dingell as having been the single biggest obstacle for over thirty
years to forcing major U.S. car companies to build more
fuel-efficient cars. “Mr. Dingell,” Becker said, “is literally
married to General Motors.” Dingell’s wife, Debbie Dingell, is
Executive Director of Public Affairs and Community Relations for
General Motors and Vice Chairman of General Motors Foundation. She
was recently described as the company’s “most familiar face in
Washington.” While she doesn’t directly lobby members of Congress or
the administration, the New York Times reported that “she makes the
case for the company, the auto industry and the state of Michigan in
public and in private.”
SOURCE: New York Times, November 22, 2008
3. GOOD MONEY FOR GOODWIN
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7985
Psychiatrist Frederick K. Goodwin, who hosts a popular show on
National Public Radio called “The Infinite Mind,” earned “at least
$1.3 million from 2000 to 2007 giving marketing lectures for
drugmakers, income not mentioned on the program,” reports Gardiner
Harris. This revelation and other news about Goodwin’s consulting
work makes him “the latest in a series of doctors and researchers
whose ties to drugmakers have been uncovered by Senator Charles E.
Grassley, Republican of Iowa. … Mr. Grassley is systematically
asking some of the nation’s leading researchers and doctors to
provide their conflict-of-interest disclosures, and he is comparing
those documents with records of actual payments from drug companies.
The records often conflict, sometimes starkly.” Goodwin claims he
informed his program’s producer, Bill Lichtenstein, of his
consulting work for drug companies, a claim that Lichtenstein
strongly denies.
SOURCE: New York Times, November 21, 2008
4. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: FLY COACH? SURELY YOU JEST
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7983
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 CEO gas hogs, unlikely terrorists
and how Mormons spend their money. In “Six Degrees of Spin and
Fakin’,” we look at General Motors. 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 ATprwatchDOTorg to let us know. Thanks!
SOURCE: Center for Media and Democracy, November 21, 2008
5. GREEN MEETS GREENWASH
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7981
Joel Makower of Greener World Media has a new book out, titled
Strategies for the Green Economy, which tells the story of many
(often failed) environmental marketing campaigns. Grist magazine
gives the book a mostly favorable review, but points to the
“question of Makower’s myriad business interests. To his credit, he
discloses obvious conflicts when they arise. Case in point: When
writing about Clorox’s Green Works cleaning product, he informs
readers that he consulted with the company on the rollout. That’s
helpful, but I would have preferred that Makower disclose all
business dealings he’s had with companies mentioned in the book.”
(As we’ve reported previously, there is also some controversy over
the deal that Clorox made with the Sierra Club to promote Green
Works, which was recently highlighted as a marketing case study by
Advertising Age.) In a recent interview, Makower says companies are
“creating fairly sophisticated score-carding systems for developing
their products” to meet environmental standards. … But in large
part we’re treading water. Whatever improvements we’re making are
being offset by the sheer growth of the economy. Yes, we’re seeing
things happening on a much different level than even three years
ago, but it’s still really tinkering at the margins.”
SOURCE: Grist, November 14, 2008
6. THE MORMON PROPOSITION
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7980
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also known as the
LDS or Mormon Church) is facing a public backlash following its
heavy-handed support of Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriages in
California, notes progressive PR pro Michael Fox. “For many years,”
he notes, “the LDS Church has been an active force in the anti-gay
movement, most notably in regard to its sponsorship of the Boy
Scouts of America, but these activities have mostly been below the
media radar and opposition has been directed at the Scouts, not the
LDS Church itself. … Now that will change.” A leaked internal memo
shows how top church leaders egged on rank-and-file Mormons to
donate more than $20 million to support Proposition 8, while members
in Utah made political phone calls to Californians on behalf of the
measure. In response, Fox says, “Gay and lesbian groups and their
allies will challenge the Mormons everywhere, no doubt tapping into
pre-existing anti-Mormon prejudice. … And the Prop 8 boycott, if
sustained, can have a serious impact on businesses owned by Mormons,
such as the Marriott hotel chain, on the careers of LDS members, and
even on the economy of the State of Utah.”
SOURCE: Salon.com, November 18, 2008
7. MARYLAND POLICE SEE ‘TERRORISTS’ EVERYWHERE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7979
In November 2005, activists from the Chesapeake Climate Action
Network peacefully protested against the failure by then-Gov. Robert
L. Ehrlich Jr to significantly curb pollution from coal-fired power
stations in Maryland. After their protest, Maryland police
categorized them as terrorists and added them to a federal database
of people to be monitored. Lisa Rein and Josh White report that
other groups spied on by an undercover police operation included
those opposing the death penalty, the Iraq war, “the manufacture of
cluster munitions, globalization and the government’s expansion of
biodefense research at Fort Detrick.” The American Civil Liberties
Union of Maryland, which has been acting for some of those spied
on, commented that records made public so far reveal the
“infiltration of activist meetings, dossiers on activists’ political
affiliations … and more spying on individuals who have never
committed any crime and were never suspected of committing any
crimes.”
SOURCE: Washington Post, November 19, 2008
8. TOO MUCH INFORMATION
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7978
The Associated Press recently conducted a study of news
consumption by young people which found that participants “showed
signs of news fatigue; that is, they appeared debilitated by
information overload and unsatisfying news experiences.
… Ultimately news fatigue brought many of the participants to a
learned helplessness response. The more overwhelmed or unsatisfied
they were, the less effort they were willing to put in.” News
nowadays, observes Bree Nordenson, “finds us in airport lounges and
taxicabs, on our smart phones and PDAs, through e-mail providers and
Internet search engines. …Edward Hallowell, a Boston-area
psychiatrist, believes many of us suffer from what he calls an
attention-deficit trait, a culturally induced form of
attention-deficit disorder.” In an environment where people are
bombarded with more information than they can possibly absorb, she
argues, journalism needs to reinvent itself, not as the place where
people simply obtain information, but as a source of “people to
assimilate, understand, and make sense of it. … The most valuable
journalism is the kind that explains.”
SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, November/December 2008
9. GRASSFIRE’S BLITZKRIEG OF FEAR AIMED AT PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7976
Analyst Meg White examines the “blitzkrieg of fear mongering and
misinformation” being whipped up against President-elect Barack
Obama. “One phalanx in the fight belongs to Grassfire.org. …
Grassfire sent out an e-mail designed to scare people into joining
its ‘army that is ready to take on Obama’s agenda.’ … The e-mail
lists nine ‘threats to our liberties’ presented by the incoming
administration. The common thread through all of these threats is
alarmism. … Grassfire is anything but grassroots. The 501(c)4
is listed as a front group on the (SourceWatch) site, and
SourceWatch notes that public relations for Grassfire are handled by
Shirley & Banister Public Affairs, whose president, Craig Shirley,
was part of the team that created the infamous Willie Horton ad.
Shirley and Banister represent like-minded clients such as Ann
Coulter, the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, and the National
Rifle Association. Grassfire is one of many groups amassing armies
to fight everything Obama tries to do, no matter where it falls on
the political spectrum.”
SOURCE: Buzzflash website, November 19, 2008
10. BUSH ADMINISTRATION QUIETLY WORKING TO WEAKEN CLEAN AIR ACT
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7975
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working to relax air
quality rules and make it easier to build coal-fired power plants,
oil refineries and other pollution-emitting enterprises near
national parks and wilderness areas, even though half of the EPA’s
ten regional administrators have formally opposed the plan. The push
to weaken the Clean Air Act involves changing the method used to
measure air pollution near national parks so that pollution is
averaged over much longer periods, effectively diluting large spikes
and protecting polluters from violating the law. Mark Wenzler, who
directs clean-air programs for the National Parks Conservation
Association, remarked that “The Bush administration’s staunch
commitment to coal is so deep that they’re willing to sacrifice our
national parks on the way out the door.” Jeffrey R. Holmstead, who
served as chief of EPA’s air and radiation office, helped initiate
the change. Holmstead has since left EPA and now works at the power
industry legal and lobbying firm Bracewell & Giuliani.
SOURCE: Washington Post, November 19, 2008
——————————————————————–
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