Guest guest Posted June 29, 2005 Report Share Posted June 29, 2005 29 Jun 2005 15:42:01 -0000 weekly-spin The Weekly Spin, June 29, 2005 THE WEEKLY SPIN, June 29, 2005 --- sponsored by the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy http://www.prwatch.org To support our work now online visit: https://www.egrants.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2344-0|1118-0 --- The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to further information about media, political spin and propaganda. It is emailed free each Wednesday to rs. SHARE US WITH A FRIEND (OR FIFTY FRIENDS) Who do you know who might want to receive Spin of the Week? Help us grow our r list! Just forward this message to people you know, encouraging them to sign up at this link: http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/_sotd.html --- THIS WEEK'S NEWS == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. Democratic Media: A Do-it-Yourself Starter Kit 2. RJR Hoped Tomlinson and Readers Digest Could Rescue Its Dying Cigarette 3. How to Bury a Mad Cow 4. Video News Releases: The Ball's in the FCC's Court == SPIN OF THE DAY == 1. What Would You Do To Stop Fake News? 2. Big Bird as Red Herring 3. K Street Project Online 4. When Is a Commercial Not a Commercial? 5. Do Not Ask for Whom the Poll Trolls 6. Terry Fumbles on Pay-for-Praise TV 7. Gosh, Here's a Shocker 8. Incredulity Gap 9. Interim Propaganda Czar Becomes CPB President 10. Manufacturing Uncertainty, Part II 11. Spin Doctors 12. GuantanaWiki 13. Lobbying Boom in Washington 14. Attack of the Killer Pork Chops 15. Fewer Nuclear Options ---- == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. DEMOCRATIC MEDIA: A DO-IT-YOURSELF STARTER KIT by Sheldon Rampton " I visit the States three or four times a year, and watching the television news in hotel rooms in the last three years has been like witnessing a time-lapse study of emasculation, " writes Henry Porter, the London editor of Vanity Fair magazine, in his ruminations about the unmasking of FBI official Mark Felt as " Deep Throat, " the Watergate whistleblower. " It's not just the unbearable lightness of purpose in most news shows; it's the sense that everyone is rather too mindful of the backstairs influence of the White House in companies such as Viacom and News Corporation that own the TV news, " Porter writes, adding, " The result of this climate of fear and caution is that few Americans have any idea of the circumstances in which 1,600 of their countrymen have lost their lives in Iraq, the hideous injuries suffered by both Iraqi and American victims of suicide bombers, or even the profound responsibility that lies with Rumsfeld for mishandling practically every facet of the occupation. The mission to explain has been replaced by the mission to avoid. If today there was a whistleblower as well-placed, heroically brave and strategic as Mark Felt, one wonders whether he would now find the outlet that Felt did at the Washington Post between 1972 and 1974. " For the rest of this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3782 2. RJR HOPED TOMLINSON AND READERS DIGEST COULD RESCUE ITS DYING CIGARETTE by Bob Burton In January 1989 the R.J.Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR) was desperately trying to salvage its 'smokeless' Premier cigarette from marketing oblivion. On behalf of RJR Matt Swetonic, then a Senior Vice President in Hill & Knowlton's New York office, set out to court Kenneth Tomlinson, the then Executive Editor of Readers Digest, in the hope of garnering favorable media coverage. (These days Tomlinson is the controversial Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting). For RJR the attraction of pitching the Premier story to the Readers Digest was precisely because for decades it had relentlessly highlighted the deadly impact of smoking. Favorable media coverage of Premier could not only undermine tobacco control activists arguments against cigarettes but could help reverse the relentless march to market share dominance of Philip Morris's Marlboro brand. For the rest of this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3789 3. HOW TO BURY A MAD COW by John Stauber Late Friday, June 24, is a perfect time to bury bad news in Washington, DC. That's when Mike Johanns, the United States Secretary of Agriculture held a news conference. He announced that a beef cow suspected last November to be positive with mad cow disease, and finally properly tested, was indeed positive. Even now the USDA is keeping secret which state the cow was from, but Texas has long been mentioned in media articles. The initially-botched finding of a second mad cow in the United States emphasizes the failure of the United States Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration to protect Americans from the deadly dementia called mad cow disease, the subject of my 1997 book with Sheldon Rampton, Mad Cow USA. For the rest of this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3793 4. VIDEO NEWS RELEASES: THE BALL'S IN THE FCC'S COURT by Diane Farsetta Whither the fight against fake news? In April, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published a Public Notice on video news releases (VNRs), video segments designed to be indistinguishable from actual TV news reports. According to the FCC, current regulations mandate that viewers be told the source of a VNR only when stations are paid to air it, or when the VNR deals with a political matter or controversial issue. The Public Notice also asked for further information on the use of VNRs. In response, nine comments were filed by the FCC's June 22 deadline. Two were filed by individuals supporting additional measures to ensure disclosure. Six were filed by VNR companies and associations of broadcasters and public relations practitioners. Not surprisingly, these argued against strengthening disclosure rules. For the rest of this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3790 == SPIN OF THE DAY == 1. WHAT WOULD YOU DO TO STOP FAKE NEWS? http://www.prwatch.org/survey/public/survey.php?name=citizenJournalism3 Want to help the Center for Media and Democracy stop " fake news " - prepackaged TV and radio segments, paid pundits and other media manipulations presented, without disclosure, as independent journalism? Please fill out our brief survey, at the above link. Your input will help us develop our " No Fake News! " campaign. The deadline for completing the survey is Wednesday, July 13, but we encourage you to fill it out today. It will only take a few minutes, and as a small thank you, ten randomly-selected respondents will win a free year's subscription to our award-winning quarterly journal, PR Watch. Survey away to keep fake news at bay! SOURCE: Center for Media and Democracy, June 29, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3802 2. BIG BIRD AS RED HERRING http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/opinion/26rich.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditoria\ ls%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fFran The New York Times' Frank Rich warns that Sesame Street's Big Bird is the " ornithological equivalent of a red herring. " The right's latest assault on public broadcasting is " far more insidious and ingenious " than that seen under Newt Gingrich a decade ago. " The intent is not to kill off PBS and NPR but to castrate them by quietly annexing their news and public affairs operations to the larger state propaganda machine that the Bush White House has been steadily constructing at taxpayers' expense. If you liked the fake government news videos that ended up on local stations - or thrilled to the 'journalism' of Armstrong Williams and other columnists who were covertly paid to promote administration policies - you'll love the brave new world this crowd envisions for public TV and radio, " Rich writes. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting's Kenneth Tomlinson has had a " long career as a professional propagandist, " including currently heading the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the federal body that oversees Voice of America, Radio Sawa, and Al Hurra. " That the administration's foremost propagandist would also be chairman of the board of CPB, the very organization meant to shield public broadcasting from government interference, is astonishing, " Rich writes. SOURCE: New York Times, June 26, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3801 3. K STREET PROJECT ONLINE http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/26/AR2005062600905.\ html The K Street Project - a Republican efforts to pressure Washington lobbying firms to hire only Republicans to top positions - now has its own website: www.kstreetproject.com " The site, open to all, contains news about who was hired in lobby shops, corporate offices and trade associations. It also will carry job postings and a rundown of the political giving patterns of people who are seeking or have taken lobbying jobs. That's the kind of information that lawmakers such as Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) have been sharing privately for years with colleagues and corporate lobbyists of their choice. Now it's out in the open, " the Washington Post's Jeffrey H. Birnbaum writes. SOURCE: Washington Post, June 27, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3800 4. WHEN IS A COMMERCIAL NOT A COMMERCIAL? When is a video news release in danger of looking or sounding like a commercial? " A VNR is aired on the news at the discretion of news personnel, " Amy Goldwert Eskridge of AGE Productions told PR Week. " So it's important to produce a story that looks and sounds like it was done by the station. " The trade publication's PR Toolbox advises potential VNR sponsors, " VNR script should focus on information TV news viewers can use, with a subtle mention of your product as a solution to a problem. ... Avoid anything that looks or sounds staged or over-produced, [Eskridge] says. An experienced VNR producer knows the techniques of getting a newsy shot and can conduct an interview that results in natural-sounding sound bites that impart your key message, while still appearing spontaneous. " SOURCE: PR Week, June 27, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3798 5. DO NOT ASK FOR WHOM THE POLL TROLLS http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/medical/story/13132325p-13976434c.html This spring, a poll that found half of adult Americans have frequent sleeping problems was reported on " by virtually all of the country's major newspapers and television networks, " as well as international media. " Lost in the somber warnings and survey results, however, was that the poll, the proclamations and the press kits that spread the information were paid for by sleeping pill manufacturers, " reports the Sacramento Bee. Although the group that released the poll, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), receives more than half of its income from drug companies, only 17 of 84 newspaper stories " mentioned the foundation's pharmaceutical sponsors. " And while the New York public relations firm Zeno Group was touting the NSF poll, it was also hyping the launch of a new sleeping pill, Lunesta. Zeno Group included " a pitch for coverage of the release of the Lunesta sleeping pill " in the NSF press packets announcing the poll results. SOURCE: Sacramento Bee, June 26, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3797 6. TERRY FUMBLES ON PAY-FOR-PRAISE TV http://prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=239156 & site=3 " For the bargain-basement price of $29,000, our publication could have been touted by the Hall of Fame quarterback in slots on CNBC and MSNBC, " writes PR Week's Julia Hood, about Terry Bradshaw's " Winners Circle " and " Pick of the Week " TV segments. The segments praise companies for their " forward thinking and consistent principles, " in what may seem like " a neutral third-party endorsement, " but is actually " a paid placement that inconsistently identifies itself as such. " The segments are produced by Broadcast News Corporation (BNC), which also pays to air them on MSNBC, CNBC and CNN Headline News. " We're doing this so we can tell a good story about companies, " said one BNC producer. PR Week found that MSNBC either ran " a subtle disclaimer " or none at all marking the segments as paid commercial programming. SOURCE: PR Week (sub. req'd.), June 24, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3796 7. GOSH, HERE'S A SHOCKER http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bal-te.epa25jun25,1,3117938.story?coll=bal-home\ -headlines " President Bush has nominated as chief of enforcement for the Environmental Protection Agency a partner in a law firm defending W.R. Grace & Co. against criminal charges in a major environmental case, " reports Andrew Schneider. " EPA employees were told late Thursday that Bush had nominated Granta Nakayama to lead the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. ... Nakayama, 46, a specialist in environmental law, is a full partner in Kirkland & Ellis LLP. The law firm is defending Grace against multiple criminal charges alleging that the Columbia-based company and seven of its current or former executives knowingly put their workers and the public in danger through exposure to vermiculite ore contaminated with asbestos from the company's mine in Libby, Mont., " a case that one FBI agent has described as " one of the most significant criminal indictments for environmental crime in our history. " SOURCE: Baltimore Sun, June 25, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3795 8. INCREDULITY GAP http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bushiraq26jun26,0,1423729.st\ ory?coll=la-home-headlines " For months, President Bush has struggled to maintain public support for the war in Iraq in the face of periodic setbacks on the battlefield, " reports Doyle McManus. " Now he faces a second front in the battle for public opinion: charges that the administration is not telling the truth about how the war is going. ... Several recent polls have found that a majority of Americans now believe that the United States made a mistake in going to war in Iraq, and increasing numbers - but not a majority - said they want U.S. troops to be withdrawn immediately. 'What's interesting in this decline in support for the war is that it has sprung from the public itself,' said pollster Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center. 'It wasn't led by politicians or by an antiwar movement.' " SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, June 25, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3794 9. INTERIM PROPAGANDA CZAR BECOMES CPB PRESIDENT http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062302074.\ html Over charges of partisanship, the board of directors for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting picked Patricia Harrison to become CPB's new president and CEO. Harrison, a former PR executive and past co-chair of the Republican National Committee, was embattled CPB chair Kenneth Tomlinson's top choice for the post. Harrison had been serving as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs and had the been the interim Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs after the departures of Charlotte Beers and Margaret Tutwiler from the position often labeled the Propaganda Czar. O'Dwyer's PR Daily " target= " _blank " >O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports Harrison co-founded E. Bruce Harrison & Co. in 1973 with her husband, E. Bruce Harrison, a former PR director for the Chemical Manufacturers Association who now specializes in " environmental PR. " SOURCE: Washington Post, June 24, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3792 10. MANUFACTURING UNCERTAINTY, PART II http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-michaels24jun24,0,5513408.s\ tory?coll=la-news-comment-opinions " By definition, uncertainties abound in our work; there's nothing to be done about that, " writes David Michaels about scientists studying epidemiology and climate change. Michaels is a professor at George Washington University School of Public Health, working on occupational disease, and served as an assistant secretary of Energy between 1998 and 2001. " Our public health and environmental protection programs will not be effective if absolute proof is required before we act. The best available evidence must be sufficient. Otherwise, we'll sit on our hands and do nothing. Of course, this is often exactly what industry wants. That's why it has mastered the art of manufacturing uncertainty, of demanding often impossible proof over common-sense precaution in the realm of public health. " SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, June 24, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3791 11. SPIN DOCTORS http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/thrive/2005/jun/16/061607987.html " Hoping to improve its image and boost sagging membership, the American Medical Association is launching a $60 million marketing campaign that includes heartstring-tugging ads that portray doctors as 'everyday heroes.' " The ads, which will be run nationally on television and radio and in magazines, " emphasize the nobility of the profession, " explained an AMA marketing executive. One TV ad features " soaring music " and images of " a tiny premature baby grabbing a doctor's finger. " Other campaign aspects include a logo redesign and " routine meetings with doctors around the country to hear what is on their minds. " AMA's membership has dropped for the past five years. SOURCE: Associated Press, June 16, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3788 12. GUANTANAWIKI http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,67966,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_3 Online volunteers are " using collaborative wiki software to expedite the process of perusing thousands of pages of complex documents related to detainees held by the U.S. government at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. " On dKosopedia, a wiki associated with the liberal group blog Daily Kos, some 80 people have signed up, " each taking responsibility for a specific set of documents and for publicly posting the results of their review. " The 4,000 pages of documents were obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union through a Freedom of Information Act request. Clay Shirky, a professor in New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program, said the effort is " changing the way leverage is applied. The historical dilemma of democracies is that it's very hard to get large groups organized. So, paradoxically, the more widely distributed an opinion is, the harder it is to turn its adherents into an interest group. " SOURCE: Wired News, June 22, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3786 13. LOBBYING BOOM IN WASHINGTON http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/21/AR2005062101632.\ html Lobbying is a thriving business these days. The number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled since 2000 and " amount that lobbyists charge their new clients has increased by as much as 100 percent, " the Washington Post reports. " The lobbying boom has been caused by three factors, experts say: rapid growth in government, Republican control of both the White House and Congress, and wide acceptance among corporations that they need to hire professional lobbyists to secure their share of federal benefits. " According to the Post, political historians see this as a problem for U.S. democracy. " The growth of lobbying makes even worse than it is already the balance between those with resources and those without resources, " Allan Cigler, a political scientist at the University of Kansas, told the Post. SOURCE: Washington Post, June 22, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3785 14. ATTACK OF THE KILLER PORK CHOPS http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0621/p25s01-stin.html " To mark the 60th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, " London's National Archives launched an online exhibit of " 250 images created for Britain's Ministry of Information during the Second World War - images intended to 'inform and inspire' the nation, as well as influence overseas opinions. " The Art of War exhibit's propaganda section " breaks its material into 'Home Front' (featuring such themes as warnings against 'careless talk'), 'Allied Unity,' 'The Fighting Forces,' 'Personalities' (including a complimentary portrait of the temporarily 'rehabilitated' Josef Stalin), and 'Production - Salvage.' " Images in the last section address " such timeless subjects as littering " and give " the helpful advice that, 'a single chop bone, weighing 2oz, could supply two rounds of ammunition for RAF Hurricane guns.' " SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor, June 21, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3784 15. FEWER NUCLEAR OPTIONS http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-nukes22jun22,0,846582.story\ ?coll=la-home-headlines In " the first time a president has stepped inside a nuclear plant since Jimmy Carter rushed to Three Mile Island in 1979 to calm public fears, " George Bush visited Maryland's Calvert Cliffs plant to promote " a new era of nuclear power. " Part of the president's plan is to subsidize new plants. " Three consortiums of utilities are getting $539 million in taxpayer subsidies ... to seek nuclear construction licenses. " The Senate energy bill would provide a further $10.1 billion to the nuclear industry, according to Public Citizen. Another sign of nuclear resurgence, writes the Los Angeles Times, is decreased opportunities for public input. " Under the old system, a nuclear utility first had to apply for a construction license and then seek a separate operating license after completing the plant. It gave protesters two chances to tie up a utility. Now, a single license is granted at the beginning. " SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, June 22, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3783 ---- The Weekly Spin is compiled by staff and volunteers at the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), a nonprofit public interest organization. To or unsubcribe, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/_sotd.html Daily updates and news from past weeks can be found at the " Spin of the Day " section of the Center website: http://www.prwatch.org/spin/index.html Archives of our quarterly publication, PR Watch, are at: http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues CMD also sponsors SourceWatch, a collaborative research project that invites anyone (including you) to contribute and edit articles: http://www.sourcewatch.org PR Watch, Spin of the Day, the Weekly Spin and SourceWatch are projects of the Center for Media & Democracy, a nonprofit organization that offers investigative reporting on the public relations industry. We help the public recognize manipulative and misleading PR practices by exposing the activities of secretive, little-known propaganda-for-hire firms that work to control political debates and public opinion. Please send any questions or suggestions about our publications to: editor Contributions to the Center for Media and Democracy are tax-deductible. Send checks to: CMD 520 University Ave. #227 Madison, WI 53703 To donate now online, visit: https://www.egrants.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2344-0|1118-0 ______________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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