The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, July 21, 2004

[Guest guest]

Spin, the lies that told you that toxic sludge was good for you and that drugs,

hydrogenated oils, and fast foods were healthy choices. Here are

some more in the same vein. F.

 

 

> 21 Jul 2004 05:00:00 -0000

 

> The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, July 21, 2004

> weekly-spin-admin

>

> THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, July 21, 2004

>

---

> sponsored by the Center for Media and Democracy

> (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. Hollywood Confidential -- Party Down with the

> Center in LA

> 2. 1st Quarter 2004 PR Watch Now Online

> 3. Cold War II, CPD III

> 4. Progress or Blue-Washing?

> 5. Vulpes: Caveat Emptor

> 6. PR Takes Blogging Seriously

> 7. An E-Vote and a Prayer

> 8. Moonstruck

> 9. Dumping the Dump

> 10. The Little Think Tank That Could

> 11. Blame, in Canada

> 12. Protesters Entitled to Wear T-shirts

> 13. CSE, Nader and the Hidden Power of the Brothers

> Koch

> 14. Draining the Public Well Dry

> 15. Iraq War Supporters Profit From Reconstruction

> 16. Blog Brand Threat

> 17. Bush Administration Pressures EU On Chemical

> Rules

> 18. Responsible to Whom?

>

----

>

> 1. HOLLYWOOD CONFIDENTIAL -- PARTY DOWN WITH THE

> CENTER IN LA

> We send our thanks to the hundreds of our

> supporters who made our

> June 18th fundraising reception in Madison a

> rousing success. This

> Saturday evening a supporter of ours is hosting a

> fundraising

> houseparty in West Hollywood to assist our work.

> The Center's

> founder, executive director and co-author of

> Banana Republicans,

> John Stauber, will be there to speak and meet

> people. If you are in

> the Los Angeles area and interested in attending

> this Saturday July

> 24th, send an email to DianeATprwatch.org.

> SOURCE: July 21, 2004

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1090382400

>

> 2. 1ST QUARTER 2004 PR WATCH NOW ONLINE

> http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/2004Q1/index.html

> The first quarter 2004 issue of PR Watch is now

> online, featuring

> an update on mad cow disease in the United States

> and " Pumping

> Irony, " an excerpt from Banana Republicans that

> looks at Arnold

> Schwarzenegger's campaign for governor of

> California and the

> growing interpenetration of politics and

> entertainment. (Of course,

> if you are a paying member of the Center for Media

> and Democracy,

> you would gotten this issue several months ago

> when it first came

> out in print. If you want to get PR Watch as soon

> as it is

> published, take a moment now to at:

> http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/.html

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1090381411

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1090381411

>

> 3. COLD WAR II, CPD III

>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63067-2004Jul19.html

> Declaring that " the world war against Islamic

> terrorism is the test

> of our time " and warning, " in this war, our

> enemies do not

> distinguish between Democrats and Republicans, "

> Senators Joe

> Lieberman and Jon Kyl announced the launch of the

> third incarnation

> of the Committee on the Present Danger. In the

> 1950s and 1970s, the

> CPD pushed for massive Cold War military spending.

> " The Committee

> intends to remain active until the present danger

> is no longer a

> threat, however long that takes, " said CPD Chair

> and former CIA

> director James Woolsey. Other CPD 2004 members

> include American

> Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation and

> Boeing Company

> associates.

> SOURCE: Washington Post, July 20, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1090296002

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1090296002

>

> 4. PROGRESS OR BLUE-WASHING?

> http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5466297/

> The United Nations' Global Compact, a

> controversial " voluntary

> corporate citizenship initiative, " now includes

> 1,700 companies and

> several dozen non-governmental organizations and

> labor groups.

> " Some companies are using it for public

> relations, " admitted

> consultant Scott Greathead, but it fosters

> " dialogue between

> companies and their civil society critics " and

> " lends the stature

> of the Secretary General to the concept of

> corporate

> responsibility. " Consultant John Elkington

> contends, " More

> attention should be paid to the extent to which

> corporate lobbying

> by Global Compact members align - or don't align -

> with their

> stated commitment. " Also, the lack of enforcement

> " raises real

> concerns about the longer-term risk to the UN's

> reputation, " he

> warns.

> SOURCE: Business Week, July 20, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1090296001

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1090296001

>

> 5. VULPES: CAVEAT EMPTOR

>

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109027556196467837,00.html?mod=us%5Fbusiness%\

5Fbiz%5Ffocus%5Fhs

> " Four years ago, more Americans said they got

> their political news

> from the broadcast evening news than cable news,

> according to a

> study by Pew Research Center. ... This year, the

> study shows that

> the cable channels have eclipsed the nightly

> network news. " Perhaps

> noting that trend, MoveOn and Common Cause filed a

> Federal Trade

> Commission complaint regarding Fox News Channel's

> slogan. The " fair

> and balanced " slogan is deceptive advertising, say

> the groups,

> given what they call Fox's " deliberately and

> consistently

> distorted " reporting. Common Cause's president

> said, " Fox has no

> obligation under the law to be fair and balanced,

> just not to

> market itself as fair and balanced. "

> SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, July 20, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1090296000

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1090296000

>

> 6. PR TAKES BLOGGING SERIOUSLY

>

http://steverubel.typepad.com/micropersuasion/2004/07/paul_holmes_pr_.html

> PR industry writer Paul Holmes has written a

> lengthy essay arguing

> that PR people need to take blogging seriously.

> " The people who

> read blogs are the opinion leaders and the early

> adopters,” says PR

> pro Steve Rubel. iThey are people who pass on what

> they learn to

> other people. And these sites are being read every

> day by the

> journalists who cover your industry. It's amazing

> how many stories

> start on the Internet and then make into the

> mainstream media.”

> SOURCE: Micro Persuasion, July 19, 2004

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1090209601

>

> 7. AN E-VOTE AND A PRAYER

> http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1624654,00.asp

> As " voters took to the streets in 19 states ... to

> protest

> paperless electronic voting machines " at " The

> Computer Ate My Vote "

> rallies, the high-tech industry lobby group

> Information Technology

> Association of America fought back. ITAA head

> Harris Miller

> suggested that " critics who claim to be concerned

> about the issue

> are really pushing a political agenda on behalf of

> the open-source

> software community. " Furthermore, asking

> open-source proponents

> about electronic voting " is like asking a bunch of

> clergymen what

> they think of premarital sex, " said Miller. An

> ITAA-funded poll

> found that 77 percent of registered voters aren't

> concerned about

> the security of e-voting systems.

> SOURCE: EWeek, July 19, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1090209600

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1090209600

>

> 8. MOONSTRUCK

>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60670-2004Jul18_2.html

> Ken Grubbs has been fired as director of the

> conservative National

> Journalism Center after he wrote a piece

> criticizing the Washington

> Times and its founder, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon.

> Grubbs, a former

> employee of the Times, criticized its coverage of

> a bizarre event

> where Moon proclaimed himself the Messiah,

> declared that Marx,

> Lenin, Hitler and Stalin had converted to his

> religion in the

> " spirit world, " and then had himself crowned by a

> congressman.

> SOURCE: Washington Post, July 18, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1090123200

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1090123200

>

> 9. DUMPING THE DUMP

>

http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,10160225%255E2682,00.html

> After years of trying to build an unpopular

> nuclear waste dump in

> South Australia, Prime Minister John Howard has

> reversed himself

> and abandoned the project, fearing a voter

> backlash. " As he pressed

> the flesh in four key marginal seats, Mr. Howard

> became acutely

> aware of the resentment in the community over a

> nuclear dump being

> forced on the state and the potential electoral

> fallout, " report

> Paul Starick and Leanne Craig. " Having declared

> repeatedly that his

> government is only eight seats from oblivion, Mr.

> Howard needed to

> shake off the dump as an electoral liability. ...

> It has been

> estimated that $620,000 was spent on public

> relations and marketing

> consultants to try and win support for the dump, "

> plus another $10

> million for an environmental impact statement. A

> senator for the

> South Australia's opposit Labor Party called the

> money wasted on

> the dump a " disgrace, " adding, " For the cost of

> the EIS ... and the

> use of PR consultants, John Howard could have

> funded 400,000

> doctors' consultations. " The PR firms hired to the

> flack for the

> dump were Hill & Knowlton and Michels Warren.

> SOURCE: News.com.au (Australia), July 17, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1090036800

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1090036800

>

> 10. THE LITTLE THINK TANK THAT COULD

>

http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108994396555065646,00.html?mod=todays_us_page\

_one

> Joining industry lobbyists in the battle against

> government

> regulations is a small think tank based at George

> Mason University

> in Arlington, Va. The Mercatus Center is earning a

> reputation as a

> heavyweight in the business of rolling back and

> softening unpopular

> rules, responsible for picking 14 of 23 rules

> targeted by the Bush

> White House for elimination or modification.

> " Staffed by veterans

> of the White House office that reviews and often

> scales back

> proposed rules, Mercatus, with its free-market

> philosophy, has

> become a kind of shadow regulatory authority, "

> writes the Wall

> Street Journal. Mercatus' $10,000-plus funders in

> 2002 include

> ExxonMobil, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, General

> Motors, Gillette,

> Microsoft, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, the New

> York Stock Exchange

> and Pfizer. Also key to Mercatus is Koch

> Industries. " A Koch family

> foundation has given Mercatus and George Mason

> University a total

> of $14.4 million since 1998, according to public

> documents analyzed

> by the Public Education Center, a Washington group

> that tracks

> environmental issues. A Koch spokesman says about

> half of the money

> went to Mercatus. In addition, the company's chief

> executive,

> Charles Koch, donated interests in limited

> partnerships to Mercatus

> that the think tank sold last year for $6.1

> million. Mr. Koch is a

> Mercatus director, " the Journal reports.

> SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, July 16, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089950400

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089950400

>

> 11. BLAME, IN CANADA

>

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews & storyID=5684541

> The Canadian government fired three scientists who

> have taken

> high-profile stances critiquing livestock feed

> regulations to

> address mad cow disease, against Monsanto's milk

> hormone BGH and

> against new uses for Eli Lilly's antibiotic

> tylosin for livestock.

> A government official said, " This is not because

> of anything they

> may have said publicly. " A union representative

> rebutted, " The fact

> that it's three [people fired] on the same day is

> unusual, and it

> also, I believe lends credence to the argument

> we're putting

> forward that [the firings are] a result of them

> being

> whistle-blowers. "

> SOURCE: Reuters, July 15, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089864003

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089864003

>

> 12. PROTESTERS ENTITLED TO WEAR T-SHIRTS

>

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2004/July/15/update.htm

> Trespassing charges have been dropped against

> Nicole and Jeff Rank,

> who wore anti-Bush T-shirts to the president's

> July 4 rally in

> Charleston, West Virginia. " Law enforcement

> officers told the

> couple to take the shirts off, cover them or get

> out, " reports

> Jennifer Bundy. " When they refused and sat down,

> they were

> arrested. " According to Charleston Mayor Danny

> Jones, the couple

> was arrested for their own safety. (Apparently the

> Republicans at

> the rally couldn't be trusted to refrain from

> physically assaulting

> people whose T-shirts say things they don't like.)

> " We'll continue

> to exercise our right to free expression when we

> see fit, " said

> Jeff Rank after the charges were dismissed.

> SOURCE: Associated Press, July 15, 2004

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089864002

>

> 13. CSE, NADER AND THE HIDDEN POWER OF THE BROTHERS

> KOCH

>

http://www.publicintegrity.org/oil/report.aspx?aid=347

> Center for Public Integrity examines the hidden

> power of the Koch

> brothers, the billionaires who launched the

> corporate front group

> Citizens for a Sound Economy. " CSE has found

> itself in hot water in

> recent weeks over charges it has been working

> illegally to get

> consumer activist Ralph Nader on the presidential

> ballot in Oregon.

> On June 30, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics

> in Washington

> filed a complaint with the Federal Election

> Commission alleging

> that groups, including Citizens for a Sound

> Economy, the

> Bush/Cheney campaign and the Nader campaign, had

> violated federal

> campaign laws through the use of prohibited

> in-kind contributions.

> In its complaint, CREW said CSE directed employees

> to call members,

> using prepared scripts, to encourage them to sign

> a petition that

> allowed Ralph Nader to put his name on the

> November ballot in the

> presidential election. ... Since CSE is a

> corporation, it is

> prohibited from making contributions to federal

> campaigns, CREW

> said in its complaint. The costs of creating the

> scripts as well as

> the costs of the telephone calls constitute

> prohibited in-kind

> contributions. " Not to be deterred, CSE is

> bragging about its work

> for Nader in Michigan.

> SOURCE: Center for Public Integrity, July 15, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089864001

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089864001

>

> 14. DRAINING THE PUBLIC WELL DRY

>

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fleishman15jul15,1,7364308.story?coll=la\

-home-headlines

> Several former employees of the giant public

> relations firm

> Fleishman-Hillard say F-H routinely overbilled the

> Los Angeles

> Department of Water and Power some $30,000 a

> month. One described

> F-H's attitude as, " Get as much as you can because

> these accounts

> may dry up tomorrow. " Questionable charges include

> $50 for leaving

> a phone message and $850 for a two-hour business

> lunch (not

> including the cost of the meal). A former

> executive said that

> Douglas Dowie (then head of F-H's L.A. office; now

> a senior

> vice-president and partner) " made it clear that

> Fleishman-Hillard's

> corporate headquarters counted on collecting every

> penny every

> month " from its contract with the country's

> largest public utility.

> SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, July 15, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089864000

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089864000

>

> 15. IRAQ WAR SUPPORTERS PROFIT FROM RECONSTRUCTION

>

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-advocates14jul14,1,614346\

..story?coll=la-news-politics-national

> Several key advocates for the invasion of Iraq are

> now profiting

> from Iraq's reconstruction the Los Angeles Times

> reports. " As

> lobbyists, public relations counselors and

> confidential advisors to

> senior federal officials, they warned against

> Iraqi weapons of mass

> destruction, praised exiled leader Ahmad Chalabi,

> and argued that

> toppling Saddam Hussein was a matter of national

> security and moral

> duty. Now, as fighting continues in Iraq, they are

> collecting tens

> of thousands of dollars in fees for helping

> business clients pursue

> federal contracts and other financial

> opportunities in Iraq, "

> Walter F. Roche Jr. and Ken Silverstein write.

> Among the profiteers

> are former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, a

> founding member of the

> Committee for the Liberation of Iraq who used his

> Pentagon

> connections to help arrange for a debriefing of an

> Iraqi defector

> provided by the Iraqi National Congress; Randy

> Scheunemann,

> founding president of the CLI; and Washington

> lobbyist K. Riva

> Levinson, who while at Burson-Marstellar owned

> BKSH & Associates

> did PR work for the INC.

> SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, July 14, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089777602

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089777602

>

> 16. BLOG BRAND THREAT

>

http://prmachine.blogspot.com/2004/07/pr-to-be-put-in-control-of-new-blog.html

> According to the " PR Machine " blog, " blogging

> threatens the power

> of brands and their message control because blogs

> facilitate open

> dialogues with customers. ... The exact threat?

> Meta-sites, blogs,

> wikis, and the proliferation of RSS and related

> site syndication

> technologies, have all rapidly given a voice to

> people who

> previously had no way of expressing their

> opinions. ... Disruptive

> messages that campaigns like 'Super Size Me' and

> 'Fahrenheit 9/11'

> send out to audiences threaten brands (be it

> McDonalds or the

> Republican Party). " What's a threatened company to

> do? More PR.

> " Any Fortune 1000 company that has a threat

> (blogs) also therefore

> has a need to meet the threat. PR can fill that

> need with reactive

> and proactive blogging. " (Um...okay, but shouldn't

> someone tell PR

> Machine that " Super Size Me " and " Fahrenheit 9/11 "

> are movies, not

> blogs?)

> SOURCE: PR Machine, July 14, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089777601

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089777601

>

> 17. BUSH ADMINISTRATION PRESSURES EU ON CHEMICAL

> RULES

> http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000154.php

> It used to be that the U.S. chemical industry

> lobbied lawmakers in

> Washington. Now the White House is aggressively

> lobbying on the

> industry's behalf in Brussels, opposing new

> European Union

> regulations on chemicals. The EU's proposed

> Registration,

> Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals or

> REACH would require

> chemical makers to publicly report the potential

> harmfulness of

> their products - both for new chemicals being

> introduced and those

> already available. " The Bush administration, which

> has consistently

> favored policies beneficial to the U.S. chemical

> industry, has

> teamed up with American chemical companies to

> lobby against REACH

> and has already succeeded in weakening some of the

> proposed rules.

> Earlier this year, U.S. Secretary of State Colin

> Powell himself

> stepped up pressure on the EU when he cabled U.S.

> diplomats with a

> list of talking points, urging them to voice these

> objections to

> European officials, " BushGreenWatch reports. The

> latest U.S. ploy

> is to threaten that REACH violates WTO agreements,

> parroting

> chemical industry statements that the new rules

> would be too

> " burdensome " and " costly " for U.S. chemical makers

> who export to

> Europe. " Once again, we have the U.S. position

> equals the chemical

> industry position, " said Joe DiGangi, a scientist

> with the

> Environmental Health Fund.

> SOURCE: BushGreenWatch, July 14, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089777600

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089777600

>

> 18. RESPONSIBLE TO WHOM?

>

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1152193.htm

> " A little known U.S. group headed by an advisor to

> President George

> W. Bush has attacked copycat drugs makers at the

> world AIDS forum,

> accusing them of exaggerating claims about the

> costs, safety and

> effectiveness of their products. " On the first day

> of the

> International AIDS Conference, the AIDS

> Responsibility Project took

> out a full-page ad in the Bangkok Post critical of

> cheaper, generic

> versions of AIDS drugs, which are mostly

> manufactured in India,

> Thailand and Brazil. Abner Mason, a member of

> Bush's HIV/AIDS

> advisory council, is the founder and head of the

> AIDS

> Responsibility Project, which HIV/AIDS policy

> activists have called

> " a drug industry-funded front group. "

> SOURCE: Agence France-Presse, July 12, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089604802

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089604802

>

>

>

----

>

> The Weekly Spin is compiled by staff and volunteers

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