Fw: The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, May 26, 2004

[Guest guest]

-

" Frank " <califpacific

<alternative_medicine_forum >

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 4:16 AM

The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, May 26,

2004

 

 

>

>

> 26 May 2004 05:00:00 -0000

> The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, May 26, 2004

> weekly-spin-admin

>

> THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, May 26, 2004

> ---

> sponsored by PR WATCH (www.prwatch.org)

> ---

> The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to

> further information about current public relations campaigns.

> It is emailed free each Wednesday to rs.

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> ---

> THIS WEEK'S NEWS

>

> 1. " Banana Republicans " Wage War at Home

> 2. Brand Name: " War President "

> 3. First, Do No Harm

> 4. As the Coalition Crumbles

> 5. The Depressed Press

> 6. Beware the Big Box Bullies

> 7. The Doors of Perception of Conflicts of Interest

> 8. Economic Protection Agency

> 9. It's a Small OneWorld, After All

> 10. Celebrate (or Protest) Somewhere Else

> 11. Department of the Fourth Estate

> 12. The Decriminalization of Dissent

> 13. Utterly Out of Favor

> 14. Crude Warnings

> 15. GAO Video " News " Rebuttal

> ----

>

>

>

> 3. FIRST, DO NO HARM

>

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108542637575019786,00.html?mod=mm%5Fhs%5Fmark\

eting%5Fstrategy

> " As food companies look for ways to cash in on the nation's

> obsession with healthy eating, an increasing number are copying

> marketing tactics that long have been used by the pharmaceuticals

> industry: They are pitching their products directly to doctors. The

> hope is that doctors will start recommending specific foods - and

> even brand names - to patients, " reports the Wall Street Journal.

> Fruit juice makers, meat and seafood suppliers, and large companies

> like Pepsi and General Mills are " pitching " MDs, with some even

> " rewarding doctors for recommending their products. " The Revival

> Soy snack company " has sales representatives visit doctors' offices

> to drop off samples ... [and] pamphlets encouraging doctors to

> 'pseudo-prescribe Revival.' " Patients aren't the only target

> audience. " Physicians employed by food companies are presenting

> information at medical conferences, " the Journal reports.

> SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available at:

> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085457600

> To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:

> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085457600

>

> 5. THE DEPRESSED PRESS

> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50403-2004May23.html

> The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press' recent survey

> of nearly 550 national and local media workers finds journalists

> " unhappy with the way things are going in their profession these

> days. " The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz writes, " Two-thirds of

> national media staffers, and 57 percent of the locals, believe that

> profit pressures are seriously hurting news coverage. Nearly half

> of national journalists say the press is too timid. " In fact, 55

> percent of national press felt that the media's treatment of George

> Bush was not critical enough. In a perhaps-related finding,

> " national news media ... express considerably less confidence in

> the political judgment of the American public than they did five

> years ago. "

> SOURCE: Washington Post, May 24, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available at:

> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085371201

> To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:

> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085371201

>

> 6. BEWARE THE BIG BOX BULLIES

> http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4127282,00.html

> In its annual list of the most endangered U.S. historic places, the

> National Trust for Historic Preservation included the entire state

> of Vermont, " because of plans for several new Wal-Mart Supercenters

> across the state. " Trust president Richard Moe explained, " Vermont

> is uniquely a state of small towns, and many of these downtowns

> would be decimated, " by plans to quadruple Wal-Mart's presence in

> the state " to at least 1.3 million square feet in seven new

> stores. " Dismissing the Trust's characterization, Wal-Mart's

> community affairs manager Mia Marsten said, " We are asking for and

> getting local input " on the new stores. The Trust encourages

> Vermonters to " persuade Wal-Mart and other large retailers to adapt

> the way they do business so as to enhance existing communities. "

> SOURCE: Guardian Unlimited (UK), May 24, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available at:

> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085371200

> To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:

> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085371200

>

> 7. THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

> http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%7E11676%7E2164693,00.html

> The Denver Post reports that one " hallmark " of the Bush

> administration is a rapidly spinning revolving door. There are

> " more than 100 high-level officials ... who [now] govern industries

> they once represented as lobbyists, lawyers or company advocates.

> ... In at least 20 cases, those former industry advocates have

> helped their agencies write, shape or push for policy shifts that

> benefit their former industries. " These include " a former

> meat-industry lobbyist who helps decide how meat is labeled; a

> former drug-company lobbyist who influences prescription-drug

> policies; a former energy lobbyist who, while still accepting

> payments for bringing clients into his old lobbying firm, helps

> determine how much of the West those former clients can use for oil

> and gas drilling. "

> SOURCE: Denver Post, May 23, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available at:

> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085284800

> To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:

> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085284800

>

> 8. ECONOMIC PROTECTION AGENCY

>

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-plywood21may21,1,7550783.st\

ory?coll=la-headlines-frontpage

> " EPA decisions now have a consistent pattern: disregard for

> inconvenient facts, a tilt toward industry, and a penchant for

> secrecy, " said longtime Environmental Protection Agency official

> Eric Schaeffer, who quit the agency in protest in 2002. He was

> responding to a new decision to exempt wood products plants from

> controls on emissions of formaldehyde, a chemical linked to cancer

> and leukemia. In making the decision, the EPA " relied on a risk

> assessment generated by a chemical industry-funded think tank, and

> a novel legal approach recommended by a timber industry lawyer. The

> regulation was ushered through the agency by senior officials with

> previous ties to the timber and chemical industries, " reports the

> Los Angeles Times.

> SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, May 21, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available at:

> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085112002

> To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:

> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085112002

>

> 9. IT'S A SMALL ONEWORLD, AFTER ALL

> http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20040521-0019-ca-sierraplan.html

> The Department of Agriculture ruled that the U.S. Forest Service

> did not violate federal law when it paid $90,000 to PR firm

> OneWorld Communications to promote increased logging in

> California's Sierra Nevada forests. The " Forests with a Future "

> campaign claimed that today's forests have denser tree growth than

> in the past, and that increased logging is needed to reduce

> wildfire threats. The department's general counsel wrote, " The

> Forest Service seems to be explaining and defending its policies

> and responding to arguments against those activities - a legitimate

> activity. " Two members of Congress had questioned whether the PR

> firm contract violated a federal ban on public funds going " to pay

> a publicity expert. "

> SOURCE: Associated Press, May 21, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available at:

> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085112001

> To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:

> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085112001

>

> 10. CELEBRATE (OR PROTEST) SOMEWHERE ELSE

>

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/05/21/bostons_party_gets_a_new_sp\

in/

> The Boston Globe reports that the Democratic National Convention

> Host Committee's message has changed over the past month, from

> " Celebrate Boston " to " Let's Work Around It. " " The desire to make

> the convention a community celebration is rubbing up against

> security precautions ordered for the first political convention

> since the Sept 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, " the Globe writes.

> Protest restrictions at both the Boston Democratic and New York

> Republican conventions are raising concerns. An American Civil

> Liberties Union senior staff counsel remarked, " It's a false

> premise to say protest equals terrorists or a security risk. " But

> security - and the desire " to avoid the sort of image fallout

> sustained from riots at Chicago's 1968 Democratic convention and

> from the activist free-for-all at Seattle's 1999 World Trade

> Organization meeting " - is driving the restrictions.

> SOURCE: The Boston Globe, May 21, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available at:

> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085112000

> To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:

> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085112000

>

>

> 12. THE DECRIMINALIZATION OF DISSENT

> http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/8709124.htm

> In a rare " directed verdict " issued less than three days into the

> trial, the environmental group Greenpeace was found not guilty of

> the 19th century crime of " sailor mongering. " A Miami federal judge

> found that activists who boarded a ship six miles from the Port of

> Miami-Dade did not break the 1872 law, which requires the ship be

> " about to arrive. " The ship was carrying some 70 tons of mahogany

> from the Brazilian rain forest. One lawyer remarked that the case

> brought against Greenpeace by the U.S. Department of Justice " must

> be woefully inadequate. " Greenpeace director John Passacantando

> called the ruling " a victory for the American tradition of peaceful

> protest " but warned the case " showed the extent to which the

> government will go to criminalize free speech. "

> SOURCE: Miami Herald, May 20, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available at:

> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085025603

> To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:

> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085025603

>

> 15. GAO VIDEO " NEWS " REBUTTAL

> http://thehill.com/news/052004/medicare.aspx

> Congress' investigative arm, the General Accounting Office,

> determined that video news releases (VNRs) touting the new Medicare

> law, which ran as news reports on some 40 stations, violated a ban

> on government funded " publicity and propaganda. " The Hill notes,

> " VNRs are standard practice in the public-relations industry and

> local news reports often rely on them. ... However, the GAO said in

> its decision, 'our analysis of the proper use of appropriated funds

> is not based upon the norms in the public relations and media

> industry.' " O'Dwyer's PR Daily writes, " Video PR pros said many

> reports [of the Medicare VNR scandal] were off base or simply

> ignorant as to how TV news is produced ... [or] somewhat

> hypocritical, in that VNRs are simply video versions of written

> press releases, which are widely used. "

> SOURCE: The Hill, May 20, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available at:

> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085025600

> To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:

> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085025600

>

>

> ----

>

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