Guest guest Posted August 10, 2005 Report Share Posted August 10, 2005 10 Aug 2005 15:42:02 -0000 weekly-spin The Weekly Spin, August 10, 2005 THE WEEKLY SPIN, August 10, 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 == SPIN OF THE DAY == 1. Open Source Documentary 2. Countdown to Beijing 3. Radioactive Sludge 4. Democratic Disconnect on Iraq 5. The Enemy is Everywhere 6. If You Pay Them, They Will Blog 7. e-Qaeda 8. Liberal Money 9. Changing Of The Guard At ExxonMobil 10. Drug Industry Embraces Human Rights ... For Ads 11. ALEC Applauds While Bush Dreams 12. Terrorism.net 13. Pay for Play in the UK 14. EPA's Inconvenient Report 15. Hughes in Charge 16. Drug Plan a Placebo ---- == SPIN OF THE DAY == 1. OPEN SOURCE DOCUMENTARY http://www.echochamberproject.com/ Kent Bye's " Echo Chamber Project " is attempting a new type of citizen journalism: an " open source, investigative documentary about the how the television news media became an uncritical echo chamber to the Executive Branch leading up to the war in Iraq. " By " open source, " Bye means that he is sharing both the transcripts and footage from his documentary with anyone who wants to use it or remix it with other footage as they see fit. He is also trying to " develop more sophisticated techniques for citizen journalism, " include new software tools that will enable other collaborative efforts. A preliminary video of the Echo Chamber Project is available on OurMedia.org, a non-profit initiative that provides free storage space and bandwidth to anyone with videos, audio files, text files, or software that they'd like to share with the world. SOURCE: For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3898 2. COUNTDOWN TO BEIJING http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,16182540^28737,00.\ html Three years from now, Beijing will host the Olympic games, giving the " Chinese superpower-in-the-making " an opportunity to " present a progressive, urbane and open face to a world increasingly nervous about its growing might, " writes Catherine Armitage. However, the Beijing Olympics organizing committee (BOCOG) isn't taking phone calls from reporters, for fear that they might get a call from the outlawed spiritual group Falun Gong. " The problem with telephone interviews is that we can't identify the person on the line, which media he represents and whether he is a journalist or not, " explained BOCOG spokesman Jiang Xiaoyu. " For example the Falun Gong cult is illegal in China but they have their own journalists. " BOCOG is planning to hire a leading international PR firm to help manage media coverage of the Olympics. " Hill and Knowlton, Weber Shandwick and Burson-Marsteller are rumoured to be those in contention, " Armitage writes. SOURCE: The Australian, August 8, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3897 3. RADIOACTIVE SLUDGE http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/national/07nuke.html We first wrote about the PR campaign to market sewage sludge as fertilizer in our 1995 book, Toxic Sludge is Good For Your. Now Florida Power and Light, the operator of a Florida nuclear plant, " appears to have shipped radioactive waste to ordinary landfills, municipal sewage treatment plants and some unknown locations in the 1970's and early 80's, " reports the New York Times. " The contaminants were then hauled away with sludge. ... A state document quoted by the plaintiffs says that some contaminated material was transported to a 'cow pasture.' Another state document refers to daily sludge being 'removed by Portolet to unknown site.' The company has concealed the shipments from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, according to the lawsuits. " SOURCE: New York Times, August 7, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3896 4. DEMOCRATIC DISCONNECT ON IRAQ http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry & entry=87810569-E9B0-2C\ 7B-04A934ABE72AE1D2 " On the issue of the Iraq War, the disconnect between the Washington, D.C. Democratic Party establishment and political reality in America is growing by the day, " writes David Sirota. " Case in point is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's attitude towards the tremendous special election run by Paul Hackett in the staunchly Republican Cincinnati suburbs. " Hackett, an Iraq war veteran who sharply criticized Bush's decision to go to war, came close to winning in a district where Republicans traditionally win huge majorities. " Ultimately, the anti-war position defined his candidacy, and was the clear reason he was able to do so well in such a Republican district, " Sirota writes. " Incredibly, however, in a memo sent to all Democratic House Members about what Democrats should learn from the Hackett race, the DCCC makes not one mention of the Iraq War and its effect on the election. Not one. It is as if the party is going out of its way to deny the importance of Democrats taking a strong position against the war. " Democrats will continue to lose elections, he argues, if they " basically ignore almost every serious issue, whether it be the war or economic issues. ... Not only is the D.C. Democratic Establishment removed from the concerns of ordinary Americans, it actually goes out of its way to deny the existence of the messages that actually make campaigns successful. " SOURCE: Sirotablog, August 5, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3895 5. THE ENEMY IS EVERYWHERE http://www.prandmarketing.com/legalpr/news_virtualomnipresent.html The Legal PR Bulletin has posted an article by Richard S. Levick of Levick Strategic Communications on how companies can defend themselves against online critics, titled " A Virtual Omnipresent Enemy. " Levick warns: " It is only a matter of time before blogs become commonplace weapons allowing well-organized adversaries to both disseminate and preserve shrewder anti-corporate messages. One recent blog, for example, attacks a plan by FedEx to build a hub at the Piedmont Triad Airport in Guilford County, North Carolina. Guilford County is a sprawling community that cannot easily convene town meetings to debate development projects. The blog is a natural substitute. ... The FedEx experience is illustrative for a larger reason as well. NGOs have often been marginalized as radicals. But because blogs are pure stealth warfare, people who might never choose to ally themselves with activists are more susceptible to their messages. " And " NGOs are but one possible adversary. Labor unions and plaintiffs’ counsel are others. ... Tactically, blogs pose far greater threats than any other kind of online attack. " SOURCE: Legal PR Bulletin For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3894 6. IF YOU PAY THEM, THEY WILL BLOG http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/careers/sales2/061905ccwcCareersSalesmai\ n.2b0553b2.html Corporations have begun hiring bloggers to put out their messages and to promote products, writes Mary Jacobs. Examples: " Stonyfield Farm Inc., a dairy products maker in Londonderry, N.H., hired a corporate blogger to write company-hosted blogs on nutrition and health as well as organic farming. Microsoft Corp. plans to hire bloggers to generate excitement about an upcoming product release. Electronic Data Systems Corp. of Plano last week launched its " Next Big Thing " blog at www.eds.com/blogs to discuss the future of technology. " And Hill & Knowlton, one of the world's largest PR firms, is encouraging its employees all to blog & mdash;after they pass a quiz. Question #1: " Why do you want to blog? " is multiple choice, with the following options for answers: a) Get promoted; b) Get noticed; c) Get fired; d) Get headhunted; e) All of the above; f) None of the above; g) I don't know. SOURCE: Dallas Morning News, August 4, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3893 7. E-QAEDA http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2005/08/05/CU2005080501141.h\ tml?whichDay=1 The Washington Post has produced an impressive special report, " e-Qaeda, " which shows how al Qaeda and allied groups are using the Internet to recruit more fighters, spread their message and train their followers to commit acts of terror. The site includes samples of terrorist manuals and screenshots of jihadist web sites. It includes an interview with Evan Kohlmann, an expert in jihadists' use of the web. Kohlmann says security analysts who study cyberterrorism have been " going at this all wrong. We've been talking about these guys taking out air traffic control towers or sabotaging computer systems that control sewer systems. That's not what they're doing. They're using this in order to win the propaganda war. " SOURCE: Washington Post, August 7, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3892 8. LIBERAL MONEY http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1544680,00.html " Scores of the US's richest people have pledged $1 million or more towards a new attempt to reinvigorate the American left and counter the powerful Republican political machine, " writes David Teather. " The money will be funnelled through an organisation called the Democracy Alliance which, according to a report in the Washington Post, will help fund a network of thinktanks and advocacy groups seeking to halt the shift to the cultural and political right. " Democratic strategist Rob Stein, who organized the effort, thinks " there is a big imbalance in the amount of cash that goes into left and rightwing thinktanks. Over the past two years, he said, think tanks pushing the conservative agenda had received $295 million, while leftwing institutions were given just $75 million. " SOURCE: Guardian (UK), August 8, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3891 9. CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT EXXONMOBIL http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/04/business/04cnd-exxon.html?hp & ex=1123214400 & en=\ 64cdc9755849666b & ei=5094 & partner=homepage The chairman of ExxonMobil, Lee R. Raymond, has announced that he will retire at the end of the year. Kert Davies, research director at Greenpeace U.S.A. told the New York Times that " there is a spectrum of corporate behavior on global warming and Exxon is the epitome of denial and deception. Raymond is unrepentant on global warming and has boxed himself so far in that corner that there's no going back for him. " Many conservative groups such as think tanks like the Pacific Research Institute and Frontiers of Freedom will be hoping for little policy change under Raymond's replacement, Rex W. Tillerson, who is currently the company's president. In 2004 ExxonMobil gave $6.4 million from its " public information and policy research " program to groups, many of which promote the views of climate change sceptics. SOURCE: New York Times, August 4, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3890 10. DRUG INDUSTRY EMBRACES HUMAN RIGHTS ... FOR ADS http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001002068 Mediaweek reports that new voluntary guidelines issued by the Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) on Direct-to-consumer advertising " contain few requirements that will add to marketers' ethical and legal burdens in creating drug ads. " The guidelines, it reports " do little to go beyond a press release PhRMA issued on July 21, which merely 'encouraged' the industry to better target its audience " . Nor do they contain any penalty or enforcement provisions. According to the Wall Street Journal, PhRMA's attempt to pre-empt a review of the ads by the Food and Drug Aministration seems doomed to fail. In June former Republican congressmen and now PhRMA president Billy Tauzin told Brandweek that he opposed prohibiting companies from some forms of promotion as " we're in a free speech area…to me that's a human rights abuse " if the rules were to prohibit companies from certain types of communications, he said. SOURCE: Mediaweek, August 02, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3889 11. ALEC APPLAUDS WHILE BUSH DREAMS http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050803.html This week George W. Bush spoke at annual conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council which serves as a meeting point for conservative legislators. Bush praised ALEC because of its " results-oriented nature " . The role of government, Bush said, " is to create an environment in which the entrepreneurial spirit can flourish, in which dreamers can be -- realize big dreams " . ALEC is funded by some conservative " dreamers " including the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation and corporations such as ExxonMobil. In his speech Bush said he was working to promote " personal accounts " for Social Security as well as " safe, clean nuclear power " and the " wise " burning of coal " so that we can protect our environment. " SOURCE: White House, August 3, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3888 12. TERRORISM.NET http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/terrorism/july-dec05/online_8-02.html Neil Doyle, an author who studies the way terrorists use the internet, says they've developed an effective propaganda machine that can't easily be stopped. Among other uses, they post gruesome videos celebrating terrorist attacks. " Quite often these films come out within hours of the attacks taking place, " Doyle says. " And yeah, they hot foot it back to upload the video to the Internet, and it gets beamed and broadcasted to essentially millions of people around the world. " One suspect in the recent London bombings is running a " virtual online Jihad training camp. And it's a complete indoctrination course. And you can effectively become a terrorist by distance learning. " Shutting down the sites is almost impossible because as soon as it gets taken down, it pops up again at a new location. " It almost becomes a matter of whacking the mole or chasing our own tail if we pursue that as our principal method, " says internet security expert Michael Vatis. SOURCE: PBS Online News Hour, August 2, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3887 13. PAY FOR PLAY IN THE UK http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1720488,00.html The popular Richard and Judy show on British television has been fined £5,000 after regular viewers suspected it included product placement. The Times reports that " editorial control ... was practically handed over to the energy drinks company, Red Bull. " Viewers had complained that one segment on the show " seemed like an advertisement for Red Bull with celebrity endorsements " and " a sponsored advert for the coffee and Red Bull industry. " The show also featured a health " expert, " Louise Reyner, without disclosing that she had received a research grant from Red Bull. Reyner told viewers, " An energy drink such as Red Bull is particularly good because it has always got 80mg of caffeine and we are recommending that people take about 160mg of caffeine, so that equates to two cans. " SOURCE: Times (UK), August 4, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3886 14. EPA'S INCONVENIENT REPORT http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/28/business/28fuel.html?pagewanted=print " With Congress poised for a final vote on the energy bill, the Environmental Protection Agency made an 11th-hour decision Tuesday to delay the planned release of an annual report on fuel economy, " reports Danny Hakim. The report shows that " loopholes in American fuel economy regulations have allowed automakers to produce cars and trucks that are significantly less fuel-efficient, on average, than they were in the late 1980s. " According to the Sierra Club's Daniel Becker, " Something's fishy when the Bush administration delays a report showing no improvement in fuel economy until after passage of their energy bill, which fails to improve fuel economy. It's disturbing that despite high gas prices, an oil war and growing concern about global warming pollution, most automakers are failing to improve fuel economy. " SOURCE: New York Times, July 28, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3885 15. HUGHES IN CHARGE http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/26/AR2005072601551.\ html With little fanfare and only two senators even bothering to show up at her confirmation hearings, Bush political advisor Karen Hughes has been confirmed as U.S. undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs - the state department's top public relations job. One of the questions raised during the hearings (but avoided by Hughes) had to do with her possible role in the Valerie Plame affair. During the buildup to war in Iraq, Hughes was part of the White House Iraq Group, which coordinated strategy for selling the war to the American people. She now inherits the job previously held by Charlotte Beers, in which she is responsible for improving the way the U.S. is perceived in other countries, including the Muslim and Arab world. SOURCE: Washington Post, July 27, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3884 16. DRUG PLAN A PLACEBO http://www.commercialalert.org/news-releases.php?article_id=772 & subcategory_id= & \ category= & year=2005 & month=08 & day=02 Consumer groups are blasting the pharmaceutical industry's new plan to self-police its drug ads. At Commercial Alert, Gary Ruskin says the new " guiding principles " released by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America is " are utterly lacking in principle. They are a public relations exercise that cloaks doing nothing in a stream of verbiage that sounds like doing something. They will cause no inconvenience for the drug industry and no real change of behavior. Their aim is to shield the profits of the drug companies, not the health of Americans. Nor will they stop the fleecing of taxpayers, through excess demand for prescription drugs. ... The new PhRMA policy is even soft on erectile dysfunction ads. Parents shouldn’t have to shield their children from raunchy drug ads. " Consumers Union called the plan " a placebo that will have little impact on informing consumers about the real effectiveness of drugs or their possible safety risks. " SOURCE: Commercial Alert, August 2, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3883 ---- 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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