== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. Broadcasters’ Coalition of the Shilling Objects to Fake News Fines
== BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST ==
1. New Participatory Project: Help Expand our List of Tobacco Company Projects and Operations
== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. A Step Forward for Open Access
2. Orwell Revisited
3. Wired’s Game of Whack-a-Flack
4. Water Exhibit and Oil Money May Not Mix
5. Ethanol Industry Fuels New Ad Campaign
6. Pill Pushers Push the Envelope in Developing Countries
7. Product Safety Officials Get the Lead Out
8. Industry Funding Makes for Weird Science
9. The Weekly Radio Spin: FEMA’s Fake News Furor
10. Coalition of the Killing
11. The Abramoff Files
12. A Cancer on the Presidency
13. Karen Hughes Bids Adieu No. Deux
14. Blackwater’s Repositioning, Real and Imagined
15. Stupidity Spreading Like Wildfire
16. NATO Considers Joining the Media War
——————————————————————–
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. BROADCASTERS’ COALITION OF THE SHILLING OBJECTS TO FAKE NEWS FINES
by Diane Farsetta
Do you remember when the Surgeon General’s warning appeared
on cigarette packs, and everyone stopped smoking? Or when
nutritional information was added to food packaging, and everyone
stopped eating sugary snacks? Neither do I.
Yet lawyers and lobbyists for the Radio-Television News
Directors Association (RTNDA) insist that mounting pressure to
disclose fake news “already has begun to drastically chill speech in
newsrooms across the country, inhibiting broadcasters and
cablecasters from fully serving their viewers.”
That claim is made in RTNDA’s new filing (PDF) with the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The broadcasters’ group is
urging the FCC to stop considering fines for undisclosed video news
releases (VNRs). The FCC has proposed fines totaling $20,000
against Comcast, for its cable channel CN8 having aired five VNRs —
public relations videos designed to look like news reports —
without disclosure.
The FCC fines are an important first step in ensuring news
viewers’ right to know. But rather than roll up its metaphoric
sleeves and address the impact of VNRs on television news, RTNDA is
lobbying against any FCC action.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6647
== BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST ==
1. NEW PARTICIPATORY PROJECT: HELP EXPAND OUR LIST OF
TOBACCO COMPANY PROJECTS AND OPERATIONS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6679
We need help finding out the names of more internal tobacco
company projects and operations. To help with this, go to the
Legacy Tobacco Documents Library and perform searches using phrases
like “confidential project” and “confidential operation.”
“Operation Berkshire” and “Project Brass” are examples of the type
of names you are looking for. Add the names of any new or missing
projects or operations to our list in the TobaccoWiki Projects and
Operations page. Items are listed in alphabetical order. If this
is your first time editing on SourceWatch, you can find more information
at www.SourceWatch.org.
Have fun, and thanks for your help!
SOURCE: TobaccoWiki.org
== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. A STEP FORWARD FOR OPEN ACCESS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6684
The U.S. Congress has approved legislation that would provide free
public access to all published research funded by the National
Institutes of Health, despite a lobbying campaign by the Association
of American Publishers (AAP), which includes leading scientific
publishers like Elsevier, Wiley, and the American Chemical Society.
Earlier this year, AAP hired the PR firm of Dezenhall Resources to
campaign against open access. In August, it launched Partnership for
Research Integrity in Science and Medicine (PRISM), to promote its
claim that open access would undermine peer review.
SOURCE: Center for Science in the Public Interest, October 29, 2007
2. ORWELL REVISITED
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6683
In his classic essay “Politics and the English Language,” George
Orwell described political speech as consisting “largely of
euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.” Six decades
later, several journalism schools are co-sponsoring a conference
titled “There You Go Again: Orwell Comes to America,” to examine
“the tactics of disinformation and manipulation diagnosed by Orwell
… along with new propaganda techniques made possible by advances
in scientific knowledge and modern technology.” A book by the same
title has also been released, discussing topics from “the use of
deceptively murky jargon, to the emotional pull of phrases like “The
War on Terror,” to the rise of infotainment and pseudo-science, to
the disinclination of big media to provide real news.”
SOURCE: www.ThereYouGoAgain.org
3. WIRED’S GAME OF WHACK-A-FLACK
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6682
Some public relations people are in an uproar after Wired magazine
editor Chris Anderson published online the email addresses of 329 PR
people who have sent him unsolicited email messages. “I’ve had it,”
he wrote on his blog. “I get more than 300 e-mails a day and my
problem isn’t spam. … it’s P.R. people.” Angry flacks responded
that Anderson’s behavior was “childish” and “mean-spirited.”
Anderson says he was “particularly amused when PR people attempted
to organize a class-action lawsuit against me–in my own comments!
That’s in addition to publishing my home address and hacking my
Wikipedia entry.” Even the New York Times covered the brouhaha and
interviewed CMD’s own Sheldon Rampton, who pointed out that the
conflict reflects a “love-hate relationship” between journalists and
PR people. “We are a watchdog organization whose sole purpose is to
critique objectionable P.R. practices, and even we get spammed by
P.R. people,” Rampton added.
SOURCE: The Long Tail, October 29, 2007
4. WATER EXHIBIT AND OIL MONEY MAY NOT MIX
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6670
“The Smithsonian Institution has taken the rare step of putting on
hold a $5 million donation from the American Petroleum Institute
after two members of the museum complex’s Board of Regents …
balked at accepting oil-industry money for a major initiative on the
world’s oceans.” One of the two, former energy industry executive
Roger Sant, explained, “I want to be sure that the sponsor’s
behavior is consistent with the message we’re trying to deliver. It
is a question mark given the record of oil spills in the past two
decades.” The Smithsonian’s “Ocean Initiative” will include a major
exhibit hall and website. American Petroleum Institute’s (API’s)
Karen Matusic said the donation was “offered in the spirit of
encouraging education.” API “is eager to improve the industry’s
image in an era where it is often painted as a villain in the
global-warming debate. In past years, the API has given about
$200,000 to various parts of the Smithsonian.” If accepted, API’s $5
million would go towards the “Ocean Portal” website. The donation
will be discussed at the Smithsonian board’s November 19 meeting.
SOURCE: Washington Post, November 3, 2007
5. ETHANOL INDUSTRY FUELS NEW AD CAMPAIGN
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6667
“Renewable Fuels Now,” a new ethanol industry group, “plans a
splashy ad campaign next week that will appear in popular Capitol
Hill publications, including The Hill and Roll Call,” reports Lauren
Etter. The group, which counts the National Corn Growers Association
and the Renewable Fuels Association among its members, has hired the
PR firm Manning Selvage & Lee. Its ad campaign comes as Congress
debates “whether to increase the so-called Renewable Fuels
Standard,” which currently “requires oil companies to blend 7.5
billion gallons of renewable fuels into the nation’s fuel supply by
2012. Since the number is expected to be reached by next year, the
ethanol industry” wants it increased. Ethanol “has come under fire
from food companies and livestock groups accusing it of driving up
the price of corn. … Jean Ziegler, the United Nations Special
Rapporteur on the Right to Food, said that using food crops for
biofuels amounts to a ‘crime against humanity.'” Oxfam recently
“released a study titled ‘Bio-fuelling Poverty’ that criticized the
European Union for mandating that members’ transportation fuels be
blended with 10% biofuels.”
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub req’d), November 3, 2007
6. PILL PUSHERS PUSH THE ENVELOPE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6664
Pharmaceutical companies “are turning to the developing world as
profits stagnate in the West. But regulation in these countries is
weak,” writes Jeremy Laurance. A new report by Consumers
International titled “Drugs, Doctors and Dinners” (PDF) describes
how companies push their drugs in poorer countries. “In Pakistan,
doctors who wrote 200 prescriptions for one high-price drug were
offered the down payment on a new car. … India was one of the
fastest-growing markets last year, with sales increasing 17.5 per
cent to $7.3 bn. But the health commission, in 2005, labelled 10 out
of the 25 top-selling medicines as being ‘irrational or
non-essential or hazardous.'” Consumers International states that
“doctors are offered everything from mousepads to motorbikes” by
drug marketers. “Pervasive marketing contributes to 50% of medicines
in the developing world being wrongly prescribed.”
SOURCE: The Independent (UK), October 31, 2007
7. PRODUCT SAFETY OFFICIALS GET THE LEAD OUT
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6663
After “several highly publicized recalls of Chinese-made toys that
contained hazardous levels of lead,” the U.S. Consumer Product
Safety Commission (CPSC) has come under increased scrutiny. “Critics
have long charged that the agency has become too close to regulated
industries, opting for ‘voluntary’ standards and repeatedly choosing
not to take legal action against businesses that refuse to recall
dangerous products.” Perhaps it’s because CPSC officials were
traveling on industry’s dime. Records obtained by the Washington
Post “document nearly 30 trips since 2002 by the agency’s acting
chairman, Nancy Nord, and the previous chairman, Hal Stratton, that
were paid for in full or in part by trade associations or
manufacturers. … Some of the trips were sponsored by lobbying
groups and lawyers representing the makers of products linked to
consumer hazards.” CPSC said their ethics officers had OK’d the
trips, after conducting “a full conflict-of-interest analysis.” But
several other agencies, including the Federal Communications
Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission and Food and Drug
Administration, ban travel paid for by regulated companies.
SOURCE: Washington Post, November 2, 2007
8. INDUSTRY FUNDING MAKES FOR WEIRD SCIENCE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6658
A study in the September 2007 issue of the journal Ecological
Complexity claims that concerns of global warming’s impact on polar
bears are “highly premature.” But the study wasn’t peer reviewed,
and it was funded by ExxonMobil. “If the polar bear is listed under
the Endangered Species Act, steps to protect its habitat could
directly hurt ExxonMobil’s economic interests,” notes New Scientist.
Alaska used the study to argue against protections for the polar
bear. In other science news, the Environmental Protection Agency has
“awarded two grants to develop tests to measure toxic chemical
exposure risk to non-profit research institutes indirectly supported
by companies that make the chemicals.” One grant went to the Hamner
Institutes, which is “almost entirely funded by chemical and
pharmaceutical companies” and counts the American Chemistry Council
among its major supporters. The other EPA grant went to the Chemical
Industry Institute of Technology, which is part of Hamner, along
with the LifeLine Group, which has ties to Monsanto.
SOURCE: Center for Science in the Public Interest, November 5, 2007
9. THE WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: FEMA’S FAKE NEWS FUROR
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6649
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 cover Karen Hughes’s public diplomacy
legacy, NATO’s plans to get into movies, and what happens when
government employees play reporter. In “Six Degrees of Spin and
Fakin’,” we tell you how many steps it takes to get from defenders
of killer smokes to defenders of privatized troops. 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, November 2, 2007
10. COALITION OF THE KILLING
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6646
Its reputation in tatters, the Blackwater private military firm
has hired “a bipartisan stable of big-name Washington lawyers,
lobbyists and press advisers,” report John Broder and James Risen.
In addition to the Burson-Marsteller PR firm, the hired guns who
have worked for Blackwater include Kenneth D. Starr (previously
famous for his Whitewater prosecution of Bill Clinton); White House
counsel Fred F. Fielding; PR specialist Mark Corallo; and lobbyist
Paul Behrends, who previously worked at the Alexander Strategy
Group, a Republican firm with close ties to the jailed lobbyist Jack
Abramoff. “Blackwater is pursuing a bold legal strategy,” report
Broder and Risen, “going so far in a North Carolina case as to seek
a gag order on the lawyers for the families of four Blackwater
employees killed in an ambush in Falluja in 2004. The company argues
that the dead men had signed contracts that prohibited them from
talking to the press about Blackwater and that this restriction
extended to their lawyers and their estates even after death.”
SOURCE: New York Times, November 1, 2007
11. THE ABRAMOFF FILES
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6645
When lobbyist Jack Abramoff pled guilty last year to multiple
counts of fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy, White House officials
and George W. Bush were quick to insist that they barely knew the
guy. Since then, congressional investigations led by Rep. Henry A.
Waxman have found that senior officials including former White House
political affairs director Matt Schlapp “had monthly contact with
Jack Abramoff on subjects that often involved official government
business,” and that his company was “viewed by many as a very
respected lobbying team.” Waxman is asking the White House to turn
over 600 pages of documents that it is withholding, which document
the details of its relationship with Abramoff.
SOURCE: Washington Post, November 1, 2007
12. A CANCER ON THE PRESIDENCY
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6644
The fact-checkers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the
University of Pennsylvania have taken the trouble to check out radio
ads by Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, in which he
falsely claims that only 44 percent of men with prostate cancer
survive under England’s “socialized medicine” system. In reality,
they report, this statistic is merely “the result of bad math by a
Giuliani campaign adviser, who admits to us that his figure isn’t
‘technically’ a survival rate at all. Furthermore, the co-author of
the study on which Giuliani’s man based his calculations tells us
his work is being misused, and that the 44 percent figure is both
wrong and ‘misleading.’ … Actually, men with prostate cancer are
more likely to die sooner if they don’t have health insurance,
according to a recent study published in one of the American Medical
Association’s journals. Giuliani doesn’t mention that.”
SOURCE: FactCheck.org, October 30, 2007
13. KAREN HUGHES BIDS ADIEU NO. DEUX
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6643
U.S. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes is
leaving the Bush administration. Hughes, a long-time confidant of
President Bush’s, served as a counselor during Bush’s first term,
then officially left the White House in 2002, only to return as the
nation’s PR czar in 2005. Her last day will be in December. In
announcing her resignation, Hughes stressed that improving the
U.S.’s image around the world is a “long-term challenge.” At the
State Department, Hughes increased the number of “interviews with
Arabic media,” and “set up three rapid public relations response
centers overseas to monitor and respond to the news. She nearly
doubled the public diplomacy budget, to nearly $900m annually, and
sent U.S. sports stars Michelle Kwan and Cal Ripken abroad as
unofficial diplomats. But polls show no improvement in the world’s
view of the U.S. since she took over. A Pew Research survey earlier
said the unpopular Iraq war is a persistent drag on the U.S. image
and has helped push favorable opinion of America in Muslim
Indonesia, for instance, from 75% in 2000 to 30% last year.” Hughes’
key deputy, Dina Habib Powell, left the State Department earlier
this year, “to become director of global corporate engagement for
Goldman Sachs Group,” notes PR Week.
SOURCE: Associated Press, October 31, 2007
14. BLACKWATER’S REPOSITIONING, REAL AND IMAGINED
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6642
As investigations into its shootings of Iraqi civilians continue,
the private military contractor Blackwater USA is softening its
public image. “The company’s roughneck logo — a bear’s paw print in
a red crosshairs, under lettering that looks to have been ripped
from a fifth of Jim Beam — has undergone a publicity-conscious,
corporate scrubbing,” reports Paul Von Zielbauer. Blackwater says
the redesign was planned before September 16, when its employees
killed 17 Iraqis, but “the new logo did not appear” on the company’s
website until afterwards. Gone are “the rifle-scope crosshairs,” and
the paw print and logo lettering also look less menacing. One
graphic designer commented, “The old logo suggests that they’re
targeting people. The new logo is a more ambiguous, safe corporate
logo.” The company is also changing its name to Blackwater
Worldwide. But it’s not forming a “Department of Corporate
Integrity,” as a spoof press release from the peace group Code Pink
claimed. CBS, Politico and other news outlets were fooled by the
satirical release, which also claimed that Blackwater was working to
“put the mercy back in mercenary,” reports Editor & Publisher.
SOURCE: New York Times, October 22, 2007
15. STUPIDITY SPREADING LIKE WILDFIRE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6640
The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) fake news
conference — where FEMA staffers played reporter, asking FEMA’s
deputy administrator softball questions — has cost one person his
job. Former FEMA Director of External Affairs John Philbin was
slated to start a new job under the Director of National
Intelligence, Mike McConnell. However, following the FEMA debacle,
McConnell issued a statement that “Mr. Philbin is not, nor is he
scheduled to be, the director of public affairs.” (FEMA has also
removed Philbin’s bio from its website.) Other questionable
responses to the California wildfires include promoting former FEMA
director Michael Brown to media outlets, “as an expert on disaster
and recovery efforts.” Brown is now the “corporate strategy director
for Cotton Cos., a disaster recovery outfit that saw duty in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.” Cotton’s PR firm, 5W Public
Relations, is pitching “Brownie,” reports O’Dwyer’s. On Fox News,
Brown did a “heckuva job,” blaming the fires on environmentalists
opposed to “controlled burns.” Lastly, Allstate put out a
wildfire-related video news release. The fake news piece features
an Allstate employee (standing in front of an Allstate logo) telling
viewers the insurance company is “doing everything we can … to
help our customers start the recovery process.”
SOURCE: New York Times, October 30, 2007
16. NATO CONSIDERS JOINING THE MEDIA WAR
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6639
“At the end of a two-day informal meeting of defence ministers in
the Netherlands, NATO’s secretary general reiterated … that the
alliance needs to do a better job in public relations both in home
countries and Afghanistan.” To that end, Denmark pledged one million
Euros for “video equipment that will ultimately be used to deliver
documented Taliban outrages to a television near you — or to the
popular video website YouTube.” NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer previously suggested declassifying “video surveillance shot
by NATO forces throughout the Afghan conflict,” in part to shore up
public opinion in member countries for the Afghan mission. Hoop
Scheffer rejected characterizations of the videos as propaganda,
saying any declassified footage will be “unmanipulated.” He
described one still-classified video of “an insurgent who pulled a
burka from a backpack and draped himself in the head-to-foot robe to
take on the appearance of a woman,” before opening “fire with an
AK-47 on western troops.”
SOURCE: The Canadian Press, October 25, 2007
——————————————————————–
The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
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