== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. A Preview of “Stop-Loss”: A Film by Kimberly Peirce
2. Amgen Website Invites Testimonials, Posts Off-Label Claims By Patients
== BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST ==
1. Featured Participatory Project: GlaxoSmithKline, the Diabetes Drug Avandia and Dr. John Buse
== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. Don’t Forget the Falsies!
2. Roving Reporter
3. Bringing the Heat on Warming
4. Fine-Tuning the Sell Job for the Next War
5. Smithsonian: A Museum Acting Strangely
6. Be “Proactive” on Fake News, Broadcasters Told
7. Olympic Sponsors Go for the Green (Forget Darfur and Tibet)
8. Wal-Mart’s Fish Tales
9. The Weekly Radio Spin: Procter & Gamble’s New “Movement”
10. Betting Bigger Bucks on Buzz
11. Unlocking One Think Tank’s Oily Secrets
12. Toxic Sludge Might Not Be Good for You
13. America Might Support You, But Your Bureau Chiefs Don’t
14. Hillary Clinton Follows in FEMA’s Fake Footsteps
——————————————————————–
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. A PREVIEW OF “STOP-LOSS”: A FILM BY KIMBERLY PEIRCE
by Judith Siers-Poisson
On Wednesday, November 14, 2007, Hollywood came to Madison,
Wisconsin. Paramount Pictures sponsored a free pre-release screening
of “Stop-Loss,” which is due to hit theaters nationwide on March 28,
2008. (It will be released in the U.K. on April 18, 2008.) Writer
and director Kimberly Peirce, best known for directing “Boys Don’t
Cry,” was in attendance and took part in an extended questions and
answer session after the screening.
TELLING THE WAR THROUGH SOLDIERS’ EYES
The film centers on the experience of a soldier who has
completed his tour of duty in Iraq, only to find he has been
“stop-lossed.” A postcard for the film distributed at the screening
defines the stop-loss policy as “The retention of soldiers in the
service beyond their expected term. Using a loophole in soldiers’
military contracts to prohibit servicemen and women from retiring
once their required term of service is complete. Also widely known
as a ‘Back Door Draft.'” The character, Brandon King, does not
resist returning because of political convictions about the legality
or validity of the war. Instead, he tried to express to his lifelong
friend, with whom he served, that there is just no more room in his
mind for experiences of seeing his friends who are serving under his
command mutilated and killed.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6733
2. AMGEN WEBSITE INVITES TESTIMONIALS, POSTS OFF-LABEL CLAIMS BY PATIENTS
by Paul Goldberg
To mobilize elderly Americans in an effort to overturn the
new Medicare coverage policy for erythropoiesis-stimulating agents
(ESAs, which boost red blood cell production), Amgen Inc. appears to
have borrowed a strategy from the purveyors of alternative medicine.
The company launched a “Protect Cancer Patients” website,
where visitors were invited to submit testimonials about the healing
powers of ESAs. Also, they could contact members of Congress, or
review the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services coverage
decision and the House and Senate resolutions to vacate it.
Though the Internet designation “.org” suggests that the site
is operated by an advocacy group, the “privacy policy” section notes
that “this site is owned and operated by Amgen Inc.” and can be used
for communications with the company.
On the home page, the site is described as “online
headquarters of a national campaign to protect cancer patients on
Medicare from a decision denying them … coverage for needed
medicines.”
“Amgen’s mission is to serve patients, which is why we openly
support the Protect Cancer Patients website,” Kelley Davenport, an
Amgen spokesman, said in an email. “The site educates cancer
patients on Medicare and their caregivers about a Medicare policy
that impacts cancer patients, so that their voices and concerns are
heard by government policymakers.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6710
== BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST ==
1. FEATURED PARTICIPATORY PROJECT: GLAXOSMITHKLINE, THE DIABETES DRUG AVANDIA AND DR. JOHN BUSE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6738
The United States Senate Committee on Finance has released a
damning staff report titled The Intimidation of Dr. John Buse and
the Diabetes Drug Avandia. The report reviews how in 1999 SmithKline
Beecham, known after the merger with Glaxo Wellcome as
GlaxoSmithKline, reacted when Buse, a professor of medicine at the
University of North Carolina, raised concerns about the potential
for increased heart attacks associated with Avandia. Internal
company documents, the report states, “reveal what appears to be an
orchestrated plan to stifle the opinion” of Buse, in part to
reassure stockmarket analysts. The report provides a powerful case
study of an attempt by a corporation to stifle scientific dissent.
If you would like to help build a SourceWatch article on this, or if this
is your first time editing on SourceWatch, you can go to www.SourceWatch.org
for more information.
Have fun, and thanks for your help!
SOURCE: United States Senate Committee on Finance, November 2007
== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. DON’T FORGET THE FALSIES!
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6739
DO YOUR CIVIC DUTY — VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FALSIES!
At the end of each year, CMD issues the “Falsies Awards,” to
recognize the people and players that take spin and propaganda to
new lows. WE NEED YOU TO HELP IDENTIFY THE WORST OF THE WORST HARD
AT WORK IN 2007. We have put together a juicy selection of nominees
— but we need you to vote and tell us who deserves the Falsies this
year.
Follow this link to fill out your ballot. CELEBRATING
THANKSGIVING? GET YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO VOTE TOO! THE DEADLINE
FOR ENTRIES IS 5:00 P.M. CST ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2007, SO VOTE
TODAY!
SOURCE: The Falsies survey
2. ROVING REPORTER
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6737
Former Bush administration political advisor Karl Rove has signed
on as a columnist for Newsweek magazine, with his first column
titled “How to Beat Hillary (Next) November.” Charles Kaiser notes
the irony in Rove’s decision to join the mainstream media: “In
public, Rove is one of dozens of conservatives who assiduously bash
the press. Last summer, channeling Agnew, Rove told Rush Limbaugh
that ‘the people I see criticizing [Bush] are sort of elite effete
snobs.’ But at the same time, Rove was constantly massaging big-time
Washington journalists over long lunches at the Hay Adams Hotel.”
SOURCE: Radar Online, November 19, 2007
3. BRINGING THE HEAT ON WARMING
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6736
Chicago Sun-Times Business Editor Dan Miller, who previously used
his editorial position to promote the writings of corporate
pollution-apologist Steven Milloy, is now lending his name to a bit
of global warming skepticism disseminated by the Heartland
Institute, a corporate-funded think tank where he used to work.
Miller’s cover letter accompanies a mailing to journalists in which
Heartland public affairs director Tom Swiss trashes Al Gore’s
documentary about the issue, “An Inconvenient Truth,” as an
“alarmist or kind of an extreme example” of reporting on the issue,
while “The Great Global Warming Swindle,” which takes the opposite
view, is praised as “a European documentary by Martin Durkin that
won a lot of awards.” (Evidently Swiss didn’t think to mention
Gore’s awards, which include an Academy Award and the Nobel Prize.)
Bob Steele, an ethics scholar at the Poynter Institute for media
studies, sees some problems with Miller’s eagerness to flack for
anti-environmentalist causes. “He is actively urging a particular
examination, and I would suggest a point of view, on a substantive
public policy issue,” Steele said. “He’s also pitching it in a
problematic way to other journalists, using his journalistic
connections in doing so.”
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, November 18, 2007
4. FINE-TUNING THE SELL JOB FOR THE NEXT WAR
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6730
“The basis of the whole thing was, ‘we’re going to go into Iran
and what do we have to do to get you guys to go along with it,'”
said Laura Sonnenmark, a participant in a recent focus group
apparently funded by the Republican-associated lobbying group
Freedom’s Watch. Sonnenmark, a “focus group regular,” said the
moderator “used lots of catch phrases, like ‘victory’ and ‘failure
is not an option.'” She added, “I’ve never seen a moderator who was
so persistent in manipulating and leading the participants.” The
final questions of the session were: “How would you feel if Hillary
[Clinton] bombed Iran? How would you feel if George Bush bombed
Iran? And how would you feel if Israel bombed Iran?” Neither the
firm involved, Martin Focus Groups, nor Freedom’s Watch would
confirm that the organization funded the focus group. But focus
group participants were handed a flier with a Freedom’s Watch logo,
and the group has advocated for confronting Iran, organizing forums
on the “threat” posed by the country, and running ads calling the
Iranian president a “terrorist.”
SOURCE: Mother Jones, November 19, 2007
5. SMITHSONIAN: A MUSEUM ACTING STRANGELY
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6729
After two Smithsonian Institution board members questioned the
appropriateness of accepting oil industry funding for its “Ocean
Initiative,” the American Petroleum Institute (API) withdrew its $5
million funding offer. “Circumstances within the Smithsonian have
changed, to say the least,” said an API spokesperson. It’s not the
museum’s only contentious exhibit. A 2006 exhibit on the Arctic was
changed to add “the idea of scientific uncertainly about climate
research,” reports the Washington Post. “You know that I am not an
alarmist,” one NASA scientist who objected to the changes wrote,
“but I will say that a museum can’t do an honest exhibit about what
is happening in the Arctic without causing people some serious
concern.” Exhibit plans were reviewed by Bush administration
political appointees. The exhibit’s title was changed from “Arctic
Meltdown” to “The Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely.” Its sequence
was changed, so that “the more dramatic temperature changes in the
past 50 years” were “moved farther back.” And its script was
changed, deleting sentences like: “If you want to see what the rest
of the planet is going to see in the next generation, watch out for
the Arctic in the next five to 10 years.”
SOURCE: Washington Post, November 17, 2007
6. BE “PROACTIVE” ON FAKE NEWS, BROADCASTERS TOLD
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6728
A public relations trade publication has editorialized in favor of
video news release (VNR) disclosure … sort of. “The Federal
Communications Commission is correctly serving the US citizens’
right to know where footage originates,” writes PR Week. “And no
amount of rhetoric will change the fact that a corporate-produced
video is less likely to be critical of a particular subject than an
independent, news-produced video.” The magazine suggests that
“broadcasters and news producers” agree on “a universal VNR
disclosure standard. … The news organizations must realize either
through proactive means or via the brunt force of the FCC,
tomorrow’s VNRs will be broadcast with labels.” In other words, the
PR and broadcast industries still might be able to forestall
independent oversight if they promise, once again, to do a better
job of policing themselves.
SOURCE: PR Week, November 12, 2007
7. OLYMPIC SPONSORS GO FOR THE GREEN (FORGET DARFUR AND TIBET)
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6725
Human rights, environmental, health and labor campaigns around the
Beijing 2008 Olympics that seek to change China’s behavior are
increasingly targeting Olympic sponsors. “Companies operating in
China are ‘absolutely focused’ on minimizing their potential
exposure to issues such as Darfur and Tibet during the Olympics,
says Richard Edelman, president and chief executive of Edelman
Public Relations,” whose clients include Olympic sponsors General
Electric and Coca-Cola. Some sponsors “appear to be hoping to avoid
the red flags by going green, focusing on environmental projects in
China. … Coke is playing up its water-conservation efforts on the
Yangtze River,” and has also partnered with World Wildlife Fund and
Greenpeace. “Since March, Volkswagen has been planting thousands of
trees in Inner Mongolia. GE is touting its role selling ecofriendly
products such as solar-power and water-filtration systems for the
Olympic venues.” Edelman calls it a “win-win” strategy, saying the
companies avoid addressing difficult issues while currying the favor
of the Chinese government.
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub req’d), November 15, 2007
8. WAL-MART’S FISH TALES
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6724
“Two years ago, Wal-Mart chief executive H. Lee Scott Jr. outlined
ambitious goals to turn the world’s largest retailer into a more
environmentally friendly company,” reports the Washington Post.
“Wal-Mart yesterday released its first report on its progress in
meeting those goals, and showed mixed results.” Among Wal-Mart’s
supposedly “significant gains” was “selling 22 seafood products that
have been certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship
Council” (MSC). But, as the Center for Media and Democracy’s Bob
Burton has written, the MSC’s environmental record is questionable.
One independent review, “commissioned by three U.S. foundations,
concluded that MSC’s claim to certify ‘sustainable’ fisheries ‘in
most cases is not justified,’ and fisheries ‘that are not in
compliance with the law can be, and have been, certified,'” states
an excerpt from Burton’s new book, “Inside Spin.”
SOURCE: Washington Post, November 16, 2007
9. THE WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: PROCTER & GAMBLE’S NEW “MOVEMENT”
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6722
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 U.S. military interrogators, the
importance of asking where questions come from, and the “My Black is
Beautiful” marketing campaign. In “Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin’,”
we tell you how many steps it takes to get from supporting the
troops to sending them overseas. 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 16, 2007
10. BETTING BIGGER BUCKS ON BUZZ
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6720
Spending on word-of-mouth marketing “has increased from $76
million in 2001 to $981 million in 2006 and is expected to grow to
approximately $3.7 billion by 2011,” according to a report by PQ
Media. Still, word-of-mouth marketing accounts for just 0.4% of the
estimated $254 billion spent on all marketing services, which
includes direct marketing, branded entertainment and public
relations. The new report defined word-of-mouth marketing as
“supported by research and technology that encourages consumers to
dialogue about products and services.” Word-of-mouth may be more
effective than traditional advertising. Nearly 80 percent of those
polled in a recent Nielsen Global Survey ranked “recommendations
from consumers” as the most credible source for product information.
Newspapers were ranked second-most credible.
SOURCE: Advertising Age, November 15, 2007
11. UNLOCKING ONE THINK TANK’S OILY SECRETS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6718
Why would the John Locke Foundation, a “conservative North
Carolina-based think tank” launch a “series of scathing attacks”
against the Center for Climate Strategies (CCS), a
Pennsylvania-based “nonprofit group of scientists, engineers,
business strategists and policy experts who guide states in figuring
out how to best reduce greenhouse gas pollution”? Sue Sturgis
follows the money, and finds that Locke “received at least $126,500
from outfits with ties to the fossil-fuel industry between fiscal
[year] 2002 and 2005.” Locke funders include DCI Group, Atlas
Economic Research Foundation and Reason Foundation. In September,
Locke and the Heartland Institute (which has received funding from
ExxonMobil) hosted a conference call on CCS’s alleged “hijacking of
climate policy.” During the call, Locke’s Michael Sanera suggested
discrediting “CCS’s Sponsoring Organization (State environmental
bureaucracy)” and demanding “cost-benefit analysis by academic
economists.” Later, Locke released a “peer review assessment” of
CCS’s methods, drawn up by the Beacon Hill Institute. Not disclosed
was the fact that Beacon’s clients include several oil
industry-funded climate change skeptics, such as DCI Group, Heritage
Foundation and Pacific Research Institute.
SOURCE: Facing South (Institute for Southern Studies blog), November 13, 2007
12. TOXIC SLUDGE MIGHT NOT BE GOOD FOR YOU
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6717
In Canada, “a leading toxicologist has called for an urgent study
on the potential health hazards posed by biosolids — or human
sewage sludge — that is being spread on farming fields in
Northumberland County.” The sludge is offered as a free fertilizer
by the local water and waste treatment plant. About 120,000 tons of
sludge are spread on 6,000 acres of farmland in Ontario.
Toxicologist Dr. Anne Mildon is treating four couples who live near
fields sprayed with sludge. “They’re all non-smokers are were in
very good health until this past year. Then suddenly they get very
sick and their blood tests show incredibly high levels of various
metals,” said Dr. Mildon. “Without a scientific study, you cannot
definitely link their health problems directly to the biosolids but
I have a growing sensation in my stomach that they are probably
connected,” she added. The affected families, who have experienced
sudden weight loss, headaches, reduced kidney function, respiratory
and other illnesses, have stopped using their properties’ well
water. They are petitioning their local and regional governments.
SOURCE: The Independent (Ontario, Canada), November 14, 2007
13. AMERICA MIGHT SUPPORT YOU, BUT YOUR BUREAU CHIEFS DON’T
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6715
“If we can’t get our own people to release public documents, why
should we expect the military to cooperate?” asked the Europe bureau
chief of the military newspaper Stars and Stripes. He and other
bureau chiefs have called on the paper’s acting publisher, Max
Lederer, to resign, “saying he has refused to release information on
the extent of the paper’s relationship with America Supports You,” a
Pentagon PR campaign. The Defense Department Inspector General’s
Office recently widened its investigation of America Supports You
(ASY), which was initially focused on ASY’s fundraising, to include
ASY’s apparent funneling of funds through Stars and Stripes. The
newspaper “issued a $499,000 purchase agreement for the public
relations firm Susan Davis International” for ASY work, and “awarded
a $311,650 contract for Semel Media to develop and design Web sites”
for ASY and the Defense Department (DOD). Stars and Stripes’
managing editor echoed the bureau chiefs’ concerns, saying “any
involvement between Stripes and DOD public affairs that are outside
the newspaper’s core mission of providing editorially independent
news to the troops” should be fully disclosed.
SOURCE: Stars and Stripes, November 14, 2007
14. HILLARY CLINTON FOLLOWS IN FEMA’S FAKE FOOTSTEPS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6714
After a November 6 speech at a biodiesel plant in Iowa, Senator
Hillary Clinton took questions. But “some of the questions from the
audience were planned in advance,” reports Patrick Caldwell.
Grinnell College student Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff said that “one of
the senior [Clinton campaign] staffers told me what” to ask. She
said that “staffers prompted Clinton to call on her and another
[person] who had been approached before the event.”
Gallo-Chasanoff’s question was: “As a young person, I’m worried
about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan
combat climate change?” Clinton responded: “You know, I find as I
travel around Iowa that it’s usually young people that ask me about
global warming.” A campaign spokesperson told FOX News, “A member of
our staff did discuss a possible question. … However, Senator
Clinton did not know which questions she was calling on during the
event. This is not standard policy and will not be repeated.” In
related news, CBS has obtained a picture “of the now infamous fake
FEMA press conference held during the California wildfires.” The
press gallery seats are occupied by “high-level agency employees.”
SOURCE: Scarlet and Black (Grinnell College newspaper, Grinnell, Iowa), November 9, 2007
——————————————————————–
The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
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