The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, June 2, 2004

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2 Jun 2004 05:00:01 -0000

The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, June 2, 2004

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THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, June 2, 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. Celebrate With Us on June 18th in Madison

2. Public Radio, by the Numbers

3. Why AARP Sold Out Seniors

4. The Manipulator

5. Is America Being America?

6. Miller's Crossing

7. Blame It On Your Genes

8. Taking a Break from Message Discipline

9. Coming Clean at the Times

10. Mad Cow Flack Gets a Platinum Trumpet

11. Eco-Terrorism Is as Eco-Terrorism Does

12. Out on a Limb, Looking for Votes

13. Dying for a Bacon-Wrapped Cheeseburger

14. Color Code Me Surprised

15. The O'Franken Factor

16. Trading Places?

17. Be All That You Can Afford To Be

18. Lend Me Your Ears

19. Weapons of Mass Communication

20. It's About Times ...

21. Asking Questions to Power

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3. WHY AARP SOLD OUT SENIORS

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root & name=ViewPrint & articleId=7702

Last year, as the debate over a Medicare prescription-drug bill

heated up, the American Association for Retired Persons (AARP)

sided with the Republican plan, which marked a major step toward

the party's goal of privatizing Medicare and decimating

employer-based health coverage. Why did AARP support the plan,

which will cause millions of seniors to lose more generous employer

and state-coordinated drug benefits while providing only limited

help to others? Barbara T. Dreyfuss looks at the role played by

William Novelli, who went from heading the Porter-Novelli PR firm

to heading the AARP, thanks in part to conservative agitator Grover

Norquist, whose " K Street Project " worked to help get him the job.

SOURCE: American Prospect, June 7, 2004

More web links related to this story are available at:

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/June_2004.html#1086062402

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

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1086062402

 

 

7. BLAME IT ON YOUR GENES

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1227918,00.html

Secret documents reveal that British-American Tobacco has spent

millions of pounds funding university research to back the

controversial theory of " genetic predisposition, " which argues that

some people are more susceptible to lung cancer than others because

they have " bad genes. " The environmental group Gene Watch has

obtained internal memos from BAT showing that research into " bad

genes " was by far BAT's largest area of university funding in the

early 1990s. " In conjunction with the anti-smoking group Ash,

GeneWatch is preparing to publish a list of UK scientists who have

received BAT funding but not declared it in their research papers,

something which opens them up to the accusation that they failed to

declare a conflict of interest, " reports Jamie Doward. Ash and

GeneWatch are also preparing to release a major new collection of

tobacco industry documents.

SOURCE: The Observer (UK), May 30, 2004

More web links related to this story are available at:

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085889602

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

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085889602

 

 

10. MAD COW FLACK GETS A PLATINUM TRUMPET

http://www.publicity.org/trumpet2004gold.htm

The Publicity Club of Chicago, a PR industry trade association, has

given its " Platinum Trumpet " award to Sarah Sarosi of the

Burson-Marsteller PR firm, which worked on behalf of the National

Cattlemen's Beef Association in the U.S. and " responded immediately

when a Canadian case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (or 'Mad

Cow' disease) was diagnosed. "

More web links related to this story are available at:

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085862522

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

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085862522

 

11. ECO-TERRORISM IS AS ECO-TERRORISM DOES

http://counterpunch.org/potter05292004.html

" The War on Terrorism has come home, " warns Will Potter. " FBI

agents rounded up seven American political activists ... and the

U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey " announced " 'terrorists' have

been indicted. " The seven are charged under the Animal Enterprise

Terrorism Act of 1992 and could face up to three years in prison

and $250,000 fines. The activists are with Stop Huntingdon Animal

Cruelty, which uses " demonstrations, phone and email blockades, and

.... aggressive rhetoric to pressure companies to cut ties " with

Huntingdon Life Science, an animal testing lab that's " been exposed

multiple times for violating animal welfare laws. " On May 26, the

Greenpeace environmental group marked the anniversary of the French

government's 1985 bombing of their Rainbow Warrior boat, as it

protested French nuclear testing in the South Pacific. The sunken

ship is now an artificial reef in New Zealand's Matauri Bay.

SOURCE: Counterpunch, May 29, 2004

More web links related to this story are available at:

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085803200

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

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085803200

 

12. OUT ON A LIMB, LOOKING FOR VOTES

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/108574570588130.xm\

l

Bush-Cheney campaign chair Marc Racicot announced " the formation of

a natural resources coalition ... to counter environmental groups'

grass-roots effort to turn out anti-Bush voters " in Oregon, a swing

state. " We believe President Bush has a very strong environmental

record, " said Racicot. The Superior Lumber Company president heads

the coalition, which " includes several other people connected with

the state's forestry industry as well as business people and

legislators. " Bush-Cheney's Oregon volunteer director, a pesticide

industry lobbyist, said Bush's environmental policies have " given

these people hope. " But Greenpeace, an environmental group, is

establishing a " forest rescue station " in southern Oregon. " This

whole area is emblematic of some of the most important ancient

forests left on public lands. This area is representative of the

Bush rollback of environmental policies, " said Greenpeace

spokeswoman Celia Alario.

SOURCE: The Oregonian, May 28, 2004

More web links related to this story are available at:

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085716802

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

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085716802

 

13. DYING FOR A BACON-WRAPPED CHEESEBURGER

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=525609

Saying " he was seduced 'with a bacon-wrapped cheeseburger', "

Florida millionaire Jody Gorran filed a lawsuit against Atkins

Nutritionals and the estate of the late Dr. Atkins. Gorran required

surgery to open a 99 percent blocked coronary artery after

following the high-fat, high-protein Atkins diet for two years. In

addition to $28,000 in damages, Gorran is " seeking an injunction to

prevent [Atkins Nutritionals] from selling their products, books,

or having their website without a warning, because they know

one-third of the people on the diet will have what Atkins referred

to as 'less favorable cholesterol'. " The Physicians Committee for

Responsible Medicine, which Atkins Nutritionals called an

" extremist animal rights vegan group, " is assisting with the

lawsuit. Atkins Nutritionals called the suit a " scare tactic ...

designed to convince the American public to stop eating animal

protein of any sort. "

SOURCE: Independent (UK), May 28, 2004

More web links related to this story are available at:

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085716801

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

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085716801

 

 

17. BE ALL THAT YOU CAN AFFORD TO BE

http://news.findlaw.com/ap_stories/a/w/1152/5-27-2004/20040527011501_8.html

In a May 11 memo obtained by the Associated Press, the head of the

Army's Installation Management Activity command, Major General

Anders Aadland, announced that the Army will " take additional risk

in environmental programs; terminate environmental contracts and

delay all non-statutory enforcement actions " until after October,

the start of the 2005 fiscal year. AP reports that commanders were

also told to " implement these actions now and ensure resources are

best used to support the war effort. " Jeff Ruch, who heads the

group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, noted,

" the Pentagon is now the planet's most prolific and persistent

polluter " and said the memo authorized the " pollution of American

soil, when it saves money. "

SOURCE: Associated Press, May 27, 2004

More web links related to this story are available at:

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2004.html#1085630400

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

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1085630400

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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