The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, May 26, 2004

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26 May 2004 05:00:00 -0000

The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, May 26, 2004

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THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, May 26, 2004

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sponsored by PR WATCH (www.prwatch.org)

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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

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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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