The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, June 23, 2004

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23 Jun 2004 05:00:01 -0000

The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, June 23, 2004

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THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, June 23, 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.

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THIS WEEK'S NEWS

 

1. Thompson Spreads 'Gospel of Personal Responsibility'

2. Not Wrong, Just Misunderstood

3. Exxon's Secret Sponsorship of Climate Skeptics

4. Industry Warned of Activist Threat

5. Fact-checking Michael Moore

6. What the President Said

7. War Is Still Sell

8. Clamping Down, Down Under

9. The CIA's Secret Failings

10. 'NRA News' Seeks to Pistol-Whip McCain/Feingold Law

11. Mac Attack Down Under

12. A Load of Manure

13. Another Setback for the E-voting Lobby

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1. THOMPSON SPREADS 'GOSPEL OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY'

http://www.informedeating.org/newsletters/040615.htm

The media giants have taken interest in America's obesity epidemic

- recently sponsoring a three-day conference - but the food

industry appears to be calling the shots when it comes to dealing

with the issue. " What I found most striking at the [Time/ABC News

Obesity Summit] was the utter lack of leadership from our federal

government officials, " writes Center for Informed Food Choice's

Michele Simon. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy

Thompson's keynote speech " had all the cheerleading you might

expect, but none of the substance. He was long on showing off

government programs ostensibly addressing the problem, but short on

acknowledging how they could do better. The chilling call to go out

and 'spread the gospel of personal responsibility' is still ringing

in my ears. Just as disturbing was the glowing praise for industry,

including at least one mischaracterization of their promises.

Contrary to Thompson's statement, Coca-Cola has not vowed to end

exclusive contracting in schools, and certainly has not done so.

Moreover, the secretary's glee over the increasing 'low-carb' menu

options in restaurants (he referenced this 'good news' more than

once) was especially startling for its nutritional dubiousness, "

Simon writes.

SOURCE: The Informed Eating Newsletter, June 2004

More web links related to this story are available at:

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/June_2004.html#1087940682

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

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1087940682

 

 

3. EXXON'S SECRET SPONSORSHIP OF CLIMATE SKEPTICS

http://www.exxonsecrets.org/

Despite the best PR efforts of industry, global warming is a

growing concern to an increasing number of people in the world.

That's because corporate propaganda addresses only the perception

of climate change, distorting science and corrupting regulatory

processes, and not the reality. The new website ExxonSecrets.org

explores the links between Exxonmobil, think tanks, corporate

friendly scientists, and government officials. The interactive

website, sponsored by Greenpeace and based on the research of CLEAR

(Clearinghouse on Advocacy and Environmental Research), illustrates

how Exxonmobil has funneled over $12 million dollars since 1998 to

influencing the global debate on climate change. For example,

Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works chair James Inhofe

(R-OK), who once suggested that global warming " could be the

greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people, " has ties to

both the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Annapolis Center

for Science-Based Public Policy, which jointly account for over $2

million of Exxonmobil largess since 1998.

More web links related to this story are available at:

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/June_2004.html#1087858783

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

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1087858783

 

4. INDUSTRY WARNED OF ACTIVIST THREAT

http://www.prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=214332 & site=3

" One of the most compelling speakers at the recent Biotechnology

Industry Organization conference ... wasn't a researcher or a

venture capitalist, but a representative of a special agency with

the FBI, " Paul Holmes writes for PR Week. Conference attendees were

warned that " most of their companies were on a list of more than

1,000 potential corporate targets circulating among activists " and

urged " to take a more public stand on the issue. " Radical animal

rights groups were described as " the country's leading domestic

terrorist threat. " While industry trade groups like BIO are

confronting activists, Holmes writes, they " are often reduced to

responding to angry rhetoric and graphic images with dry facts

about the benefits of research. To counter the emotional appeal of

the activists, the industry needs individuals - both researchers

and the patients whose lives they have saved - to tell their

equally powerful stories. " Corporate activist and PR guru Ross

Irvine suggests that PR people have taken the " easy way out " by

avoiding confrontations with activists. Ross advises PR folks to

take a look at how " activists take a much broader and more complex

approach to communicating issues than corporate PR folks. ... It

shows what can and needs to be done to if corporate PR folks want

to battle activists successfully. "

SOURCE: PR Week, June 21, 2004

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

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1087790400

 

8. CLAMPING DOWN, DOWN UNDER

http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/minister1.nsf/content/government_ngo_relationshi\

p.htm

The Australian government is using a report by the right-wing think

tank Institute for Public Affairs to determine " the most effective

ways to ensure that the transparency of the growing engagement

between Government and Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) is

maintained. " The report, titled " Managing Relations with

Non-Government Organisations, " maintains that NGOs enjoy

" privileged positions which are not accorded to other members of

the community. " It suggests that " information [be] made public

about both the relationship itself, and about the NGO with which

the Department has a relationship. " Report co-author Gary Johns

wrote in an opinion piece, " If the far more complex matter of

corporate performance can be presented in simple terms, the same

can be achieved for charitable NGOs. "

SOURCE: Press release, Australian Family and Community Services, June 16, 2004

More web links related to this story are available at:

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/June_2004.html#1087358403

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

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1087358403

 

 

11. MAC ATTACK DOWN UNDER

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/06/13/1087065034025.html

In Australia, McDonald's launched an unprecedented, multi-million

dollar advertising and PR campaign to counter the release of the US

documentary " Super Size Me, " which follows filmmaker Morgan

Spurlock on a month long McDonald's binge. Until recently, the

fast-food giant chose to ignore the hit movie. But McDonald's now

fears for its reputation. Its advertisements feature McDonald's

Australia chief Guy Russo, saying Spurlock's 30-day McDonald's diet

is " stupid. "

SOURCE: The Age, June 14, 2004

More web links related to this story are available at:

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/June_2004.html#1087185604

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

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1087185604

 

12. A LOAD OF MANURE

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/6/prweb133293.htm

A university study comparing the amount of bacteria on

conventionally-grown and organically-grown produce found that the

level of the common bacteria E. coli on certified organic produce

was " not statistically different from that in conventional

samples. " Alex Avery, of the right-wing Hudson Institute's project

the Center for Global Food Issues, attacked the researchers for

their pro-organic " bias " in an editorial posted on the USDA's Food

Safety Research Information Office's website. Avery claims, " The

concern about manure and bacterial contamination of organic foods

was originally raised in 1997 by a physician with the Centers for

Disease Control. " That would be Dr. Robert Tauxe, who told the New

York Times in August 2000, " The big question is how to properly

compose manure ... but our concern applies to both organic and

conventional farms. "

SOURCE: June 14, 2004, PR Web

More web links related to this story are available at:

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/June_2004.html#1087185603

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

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1087185603

 

13. ANOTHER SETBACK FOR THE E-VOTING LOBBY

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-06-14-leagu\

e-women-voters-redux_x.htm

Bowing to the demands of hundreds of angry members, the League of

Women Voters has rescinded its support of paperless voting

machines. About 800 delegates who attended LWV's biennial

convention in Washington voted overwhelmingly in favor of a

resolution that supports " voting systems and procedures that are

secure, accurate, recountable and accessible. "

SOURCE: Associated Press, June 14, 2004

More web links related to this story are available at:

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/June_2004.html#1087185602

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

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1087185602

 

 

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