The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, September 1, 2004

[Guest guest]

> 1 Sep 2004 05:00:01 -0000

> weekly-spin

> The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, September 1,

> 2004

> weekly-spin-admin

>

> THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, September 1, 2004

>

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> 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.

> It is emailed free each Wednesday to rs.

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> THIS WEEK'S NEWS

>

> 1. GCI Groups Does RNC PR

> 2. Swift Boat Vets' Book Gets PR Help

> 3. PR 101 - How to Slime a War Hero

> 4. Gone Fishing for Publicity

> 5. Keeping Jesus Off Camera

> 6. Ghostwriters for Bush

> 7. Auto Industry Front Group Opposes California

> Clean Air Proposal

> 8. Block the Vote

> 9. Press Conference From Hell

> 10. This Song Is Your Song

> 11. Media to Blame for Swift Boat Hype

> 12. More Ads, Less Journalism

> 13. Lower than Journalists

> 14. Greenwashing Ford's SUVs

> 15. Political Football

>

----

>

> 1. GCI GROUPS DOES RNC PR

>

http://www.holmesreport.com/holmestemp/story.cfm?edit_id=4426 & typeid=1

> " The New York City Host Committee for the

> Republican National

> Convention has retained GCI Group to provide

> on-site media services

> for members of the press throughout the

> convention, " PR trade

> publication the Holmes Report writes. " GCI Group

> will be working

> from the James A. Farley Building, which will

> house 10,000 members

> of the media during the convention. 'The advantage

> of having the

> media covering the convention in one location is

> that it allows the

> Host Committee to provide excellent services to

> the press,' said

> Host Committee president Kevin Sheekey. 'Perhaps

> the most

> important service we will provide to reporters is

> the ability to

> access helpful information about the convention

> and New York City

> quickly and easily, and we are very happy that the

> GCI Group will

> be providing this vital service.' "

> SOURCE: Holmes Report, August 30, 2004

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1093838401

>

> 2. SWIFT BOAT VETS' BOOK GETS PR HELP

> http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0830novak.htm

> " Conservative columnist Bob Novak has touted the

> Swift Boat

> Veterans for Truth book Unfit for Command without

> revealing that

> his son heads marketing and PR for its publisher, "

> O'Dwyer's PR

> Daily reports. The New York Times writes that

> Novak has " lauded "

> the book in his syndicated columns and on CNN's

> 'Crossfire.'

> " Unmentioned in Mr. Novak's columns and television

> appearances,

> however, is a personal connection he has to the

> book: his son, Alex

> Novak, is the director of marketing for its

> publisher, the

> conservative publishing house Regnery, " the Times

> writes.

> SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub. req'd), August 30,

> 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2004.html#1093838400

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1093838400

>

> 3. PR 101 - HOW TO SLIME A WAR HERO

> http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/19695/

> The Swift Boat attack on Kerry uses a classic

> [third party]

> propaganda tactic: have PR professionals [such as

> Merrie Spaeth]

> organize and launch a well-funded smear attack, an

> ad hominem

> barrage against Kerry's integrity, and do it

> through a front group

> with enough separation from the Bush campaign to

> pretend

> independence. Then use the right-wing echo chamber

> to keep the

> issue alive and churning, spitting plenty of mud

> and confusion.

> It's a strategy that is virtually guaranteed to

> hurt Kerry in the

> polls.

> SOURCE: Alternet

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2004.html#1093704619

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1093704619

>

> 4. GONE FISHING FOR PUBLICITY

>

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/archive.html?blog=/politics/war_room/2004\

/08/27/fishing_ad/index.html

> Anglers on their way into the north woods of

> Wisconsin this Labor

> Day weekend won't be seeing one important message

> about the Bush

> administration's environmental record. This month

> Environment 2004

> tried to place an advertisement on two billboards

> along a Wisconsin

> highway that declared, " Mercury. It's what's for

> dinner. Served up

> by the Bush Administration. " The ads were refused

> by the billboard

> company, Lamar Advertising of Central Wisconsin.

> SOURCE: Salon.com, August 28, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2004.html#1093665601

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1093665601

>

> 5. KEEPING JESUS OFF CAMERA

>

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/08/28/MNG\

4G8G43C1.DTL

> " Don't expect to see the reverends Jerry Falwell,

> Pat Robertson or

> Franklin Graham at the podium during next week's

> Republican

> National Convention, whose planners hope to keep

> fire, brimstone

> and the Christian Right offstage at Madison Square

> Garden. About

> the only big name Christians making prime-time

> noise at Madison

> Square Garden at next week's Republican gathering

> will be Third

> Day, a popular [pro-Bush] evangelical Christian

> rock band. .. .

> Some say the prominent role of Christian

> conservatives at the 1992

> convention turned moderate voters away from the

> Republican ticket.

> This year, President Bush's campaign strategists

> have made

> extraordinary efforts to mobilize conservative

> evangelical and

> conservative Catholic voters -- hoping the

> president's stand

> against abortion rights and same-sex marriage will

> get them to the

> polls and into the Republican column. But the

> four-day convention

> that opens in New York on Monday will highlight

> moderate

> Republicans -- such as California Gov. Arnold

> Schwarzenegger and

> Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "

> SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, August 28, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2004.html#1093665600

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1093665600

>

> 6. GHOSTWRITERS FOR BUSH

>

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=\

1000619873

> The Daily Kos recently uncovered an astroturf

> (fake grassroots)

> initiative by the George W. Bush campaign, which

> generated

> ghostwritten letters to the editor that found

> their way into at

> least 60 newspapers. This isn't the first time

> that the Bush

> administration has tried this trick, as we've

> reported in the past.

> According to Editor and Publisher, however, the

> National Conference

> of Editorial Writers (NCEW) is now taking the

> issue seriously. " On

> its NCEW e-mail listserv, some 600 rs who

> are mostly

> editorial page writers and editors, can alert one

> another of

> suspicious letters, " writes Charles Geraci. " In

> fact, this is the

> most consistent topic on the listserv. " Meanwhile,

> the Columbia

> Journalism Review's Campaign Desk critiques the

> Washington Post's

> coverage of the topic, showing how an " obsession

> with

> 'even-handedness' " led the Post to falsely claim

> that the Kerry

> campaign is doing the same thing.

> SOURCE: Editor and Publisher, August 27, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2004.html#1093579200

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1093579200

>

> 7. AUTO INDUSTRY FRONT GROUP OPPOSES CALIFORNIA

> CLEAN AIR PROPOSAL

>

file:///Users/lauramiller/Desktop/Ad%20Firm%20Targets%20Emissions%20Proposal.htm\

l

> " A public relations firm with ties to the

> automobile industry has

> launched ads suggesting that a proposed California

> rule to cut

> carbon dioxide exhaust could cause more people to

> die in traffic

> accidents, " the Los Angeles Times reports.

> " Starring 'Squeezy the

> Clown,' the radio and newspaper advertisements by

> the Sport Utility

> Vehicle Owners of America use humor to make a

> questionable claim:

> The regulation to combat global warming will

> compel auto companies

> to make smaller vehicles, forcing California

> families into

> diminutive cars and trucks that could endanger

> their lives. ... But

> SUV Owners of America is not a grass-roots

> organization. It is run

> by Strat@comm, a Washington, D.C., public

> relations firm whose

> clients have included General Motors,

> DaimlerChrysler and Ford, as

> well as the auto industry's two major trade

> groups. "

> SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, August 26, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2004.html#1093492802

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1093492802

>

> 8. BLOCK THE VOTE

>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33798-2004Aug25.html

> The National Association for the Advancement of

> Colored People

> (NAACP) and other civil rights leaders say the

> Republican Party is

> mounting a campaign to keep African-Americans and

> other minority

> voters away from the polls this November. " In

> recent years, many

> minority communities have tended to align with the

> Democratic

> Party, " states a new report cosponsored by the

> NAACP and People for

> the American Way. " Over the past two decades, the

> Republican Party

> has launched a series of 'ballot security' and

> 'voter integrity'

> initiatives which have targeted minority

> communities. ...Voter

> intimidation is not a relic of the past, but a

> pervasive strategy

> used with disturbing frequency in recent years.

> Sustaining the

> bright promise of the civil rights era, and

> maintaining the dream

> of equal voting rights for every citizen requires

> constant

> vigilance, courageous leadership, and an active,

> committed and

> well-informed citizenry. " (We've reported

> ourselves on efforts at

> voter suppression in our latest book, Banana

> Republicans: How the

> Right Wing Is Turning America Into a One-Party

> State.)

> SOURCE: Washington Post, August 26, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2004.html#1093492801

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1093492801

>

> 9. PRESS CONFERENCE FROM HELL

> http://www.back-to-iraq.com/archives/000810.php

> " I don't know what the news is from the rest of

> Iraq or even what's

> going on with the governor of Najaf, " writes Chris

> Albritton, a

> freelance journalist who has been covering the

> fighting in Iraq. " I

> do know what's happening with the police

> department, however.

> They're raiding the Sea of Najaf hotel and

> rounding the 100 or so

> journalists at gunpoint and subjecting them to

> mass arrest. "

> Albritton describes his recent experience, when

> police " raided the

> hotel and forced all the journalists out onto the

> street. We were

> terrified. The cops yelled at us and pointed their

> weapons toward

> us. Several large trucks were waiting and knew we

> would be loaded

> onto them. Then they started shooting. ... BANG

> BANG! They fired

> their weapons just over our heads forcing us to

> crouch. " The

> reporters were hauled off to the police station,

> where they were

> treated to what Albritton describes as " the most

> bizarre press

> conference of my life. " The police chief informed

> them that " The

> Shrine would be stormed tonight, ... and we would

> be allowed to get

> on a bus and go visit it tomorrow to see the

> damage the Mahdi Army

> had done to it. The Sistani protesters in Kufa

> were really Mahdi

> guys and they had to be killed. Oh, and thank you

> for coming. "

> Albritton says the Najaf police are " like the old

> regime, only less

> disciplined. They're terrifying and they're the

> most dangerous

> element in this conflict. ... The police here have

> been engaging in

> a systematic intimidation of us for three weeks

> now. The governor

> of Najaf has reportedly threatened to jail

> journalists who don't

> write down exactly what he says when he says it in

> interviews. "

> SOURCE: Back to Iraq, August 26, 2004

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1093492800

>

> 10. THIS SONG IS YOUR SONG

>

http://news.com.com/JibJab+beats+copyright+rap/2100-1026_3-5322970.html?tag=st.p\

op

> Ludlow Music, a humor-challenged company that

> claimed to own the

> rights to Woody Guthrie's " This Land is Your

> Land, " has dropped its

> lawsuit against JibJab Media, the Web animators

> who adapted

> Guthrie's song to create a wildly popular parody

> of the U.S.

> presidential campaign.

> SOURCE: CNET, August 25, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2004.html#1093406403

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1093406403

>

> 11. MEDIA TO BLAME FOR SWIFT BOAT HYPE

> http://www.campaigndesk.org/archives/000851.asp

> While the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth may have a

> questionable

> grasp of the facts, it has been extraordinarily

> sophisticated in

> its manipulation of the media, " observes the

> Columbia Journalism

> Review's Campaign Desk weblog. " To understand why

> this campaign has

> been hijacked by a small group of veterans bearing

> a thirty-year

> old grudge, it's worth examining the institutional

> susceptibilities

> of a campaign press corps that allowed the SBVFT's

> accusations to

> take on a life of their own. The SBVFT may have

> put themselves in

> the game, but it's a flawed media that made them

> stars. Campaign

> Desk has written many times about the perils of

> 'he said/she said'

> journalism, the practice of reporters parroting

> competing rhetoric

> instead of measuring it for veracity against known

> facts. In the

> wake of the first SBVFT spot early this month,

> cable news programs

> for the most part offered viewers two talking

> heads, one on each

> side of the issue, to debate the merits of the

> claims. Verifiable

> facts were rarely offered to viewers -- despite

> the fact that

> military records supporting Kerry's version of

> events were readily

> available. Instead of acting as filters for the

> truth, reporters

> nodded and attentively transcribed both sides of

> the story,

> invariably failing to provide context, background,

> or any sense of

> which claims held up and which were misleading.

> ... There have been

> dozens of press failures during this presidential

> campaign. But

> this one ... has to rank as a low point. "

> SOURCE: Campaign Desk, August 25, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2004.html#1093406402

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1093406402

>

> 12. MORE ADS, LESS JOURNALISM

> http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=11504

> " Continuing a twenty-year trend that has seen

> advertising expenses

> skyrocket as traditional political party

> organizing has fallen by

> the wayside, the total for political ads this

> election year is

> estimated by most industry analysts at over $1.5

> billion, $400

> million of which will be spent by the presidential

> campaigns, "

> report Sakura Saunders and Ben Clarke. " Over the

> last 24 years,

> broadcast TV advertising alone has increased from

> $90 million to

> over a $1 billion. At roughly the same pace that

> advertising

> revenue has grown, broadcast TV coverage of

> substantive electoral

> issues has dwindled. Network convention coverage,

> for example, has

> fallen from around 100 hours in 1980 to

> approximately 18 hours this

> year. "

> SOURCE: Corpwatch, August 25, 2004

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1093406401

>

> 13. LOWER THAN JOURNALISTS

>

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/story.jsp?story=554501

> Among the professions " less popular than

> journalism, " notes Bill

> Hagerty, the " furtive world of public relations "

> is considered by

> many people to be " a black art, inferior only to

> child

> slave-trading or body-snatching. " He cites a

> recent survey showing

> that British journalists hold PR people in

> especially low esteem.

> Nevertheless, he notes, " indications are that PR

> and publicists are

> becoming increasingly more influential and

> powerful. "

> SOURCE: Independent (UK), August 24, 2004

> More web links related to this story are available

> at:

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2004.html#1093320002

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1093320002

>

> 14. GREENWASHING FORD'S SUVS

> http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0823-11.htm

> " The launching of the 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid this

> fall marks an

> auto industry first: the coupling of a hybrid

> electric engine,

> containing the most energy-efficient fuel system

> available, with an

> SUV, the least efficient class of passenger

> vehicle, " writes

> Geoffrey Johnson. The Escape Hybrid won't do much

> to improve the

> environment, and Ford isn't expected to make money

> on it either.

> Johnson concludes that Ford, which has the worst

> fleetwide fuel

> economy of any major U.S. auto manufacturer, is

> engaged in " a

> clear-cut case of 'greenwashing.' Ford hopes to

> mold a public

> perception that Ford has gone green, that the

> company is a model of

> corporate responsibility. ... In the end, the

> slick images and

> exaggerated claims of greenwashing by Ford and

> others divert our

> attention from the corporate-fueled environmental

> destruction

> taking place all around us. And that means that

> greenwashing, far

> from promoting a better world, is itself a serious

> environmental

> problem. "

> SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, August 22, 2004

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1093147200

>

> 15. POLITICAL FOOTBALL

>

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/olympics/2004/writers/08/19/iraq/

> Iraqi soccer players at the Olympic games in

> Greece are angered at

> the Bush campaign for using the Iraqi Olympic team

> in Bush's latest

> re-election campaign advertisements. " Iraq as a

> team does not want

> Mr. Bush to use us for the presidential campaign, "

> said Iraqi

> midfielder Salih Sadir. Another player, Ahmed

> Manajid, had even

> stronger words: " How will he meet his god having

> slaughtered so

> many men and women? " Manajid said. " He has

> committed so many

> crimes. " Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl

> interviewed the

> players. " To a man, " he reports, " members of the

> Iraqi Olympic

> delegation say they are glad that former Olympic

> committee head

> Uday Hussein, who was responsible for the serial

> torture of Iraqi

> athletes and?was killed ?four?months?after the

> U.S.-led coalition

> invaded Iraq?in March 2003, is no longer in power.

> But they also

> find it offensive that Bush is using ?Iraq for his

> own gain when

> they do not support his administration's actions. "

> SOURCE: Sports Illustrated, August 19, 2004

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

>

>

http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1092888001

>

>

>

----

>

> The Weekly Spin is compiled by staff and volunteers

> at the

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