Guest guest Posted June 15, 2006 Report Share Posted June 15, 2006 14 Jun 2006 15:37:01 -0000 weekly-spin The Weekly Spin, June 14, 2006 THE WEEKLY SPIN, June 14, 2006 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 " The Weekly Spin " ? 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. Confronted with Disclosure Demands, Fake News Moguls Cry " Censorship! " == SPIN OF THE DAY == 1. Big Dose Of PR For Pfizer 2. America's Slip is Showing 3. Big Tobacco's Covert Witness Program 4. How Big Tobacco 'Protects' Non-Smokers 5. Spinning to their Graves 6. Ann Coulter's PR Formula: Hate Speech + Media Coverage = Best-Seller 7. Antibiotic Trial Continues Despite Reported Threat to Children 8. Burson-Marsteller Lands Tuna Account 9. Red-Faced Broadcast Execs Resist Reform -- == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. CONFRONTED WITH DISCLOSURE DEMANDS, FAKE NEWS MOGULS CRY " CENSORSHIP! " by Diane Farsetta Be afraid, be very afraid! If television stations are required to abide by existing regulations and label the corporate and government propaganda they routinely pass off as " news, " the First Amendment will be shredded, the freedom of the press repealed, and TV stations will collapse overnight! At least, that's what the public relations firms that produce and distribute video news releases (VNRs) and other forms of fake news would have you believe. PR firms are banding together and launching lobbying and PR campaigns to counter the growing call for full disclosure of VNRs, the sponsored video segments frequently aired by TV newsrooms as though they were independently-produced reports. For the rest of this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/4867 == SPIN OF THE DAY == 1. BIG DOSE OF PR FOR PFIZER http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0613pfizer.htm Pfizer has hired Clark & Weinstock, a New York and Washington D.C. based " management consulting firm " that " specializes in reputation and crisis management " and " the development of business ethics and corporate responsibility programs. " O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports that the company has been hired as a lobbyist " for general representation and issues concerning Medicare/Medicaid and pharmaceutical research & development. " The 11-person team assigned to the account includes former Minnesota Republican Congressman, Vin Weber. Weber is also Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy and a board member of both the Aspen Institute and Citizens Against Government Waste. He was also involved with the neo-conservative network, the Project for a New American Century. In mid-June two men announced they were suing Pfizer, alleging serious side effects from the anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor. SOURCE: O'Dwyers PR Daily, June 13, 2006. (Sub req'd.) For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/4882 2. AMERICA'S SLIP IS SHOWING http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/14/world/14pew.html " As the war in Iraq continues for a fourth year, the global image of America has slipped further, even among people in some countries closely allied with the United States, " reports Brian Knowlton, citing a new opinion poll by the Pew Research Center. The poll found significant declines in esteem for the United States in countries including Spain, India, Russia, Indonesia and Turkey, and smaller declines in France, Germany and Jordan. " Obviously, when you get many more people saying that the U.S. presence in Iraq is a threat to world peace as say that about Iran, it's a measure of how much Iraq is sapping good will to the United States, " said Pew president Andrew Kohut. SOURCE: New York Times, June 14, 2006 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/4881 3. BIG TOBACCO'S COVERT WITNESS PROGRAM http://tobaccodocuments.org/landman/TI11871006-1025.html In a February 1989 speech to the Executive Committee of the now-defunct Tobacco Institute, the group's Senior Vice President, Charles Powers, sought to save the industry's covert " Scientific Witness " program from impending budget cuts. The program, he said, featured experts " who are our front line of defense in tax, public smoking and advertising hearings every day. " Powers complained that " scientists will not buck for love " the scientific consensus on the link between environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and health impacts. " It takes money, " he said. " The Institute can't do it and be taken seriously. We need people who have earned reputations as serious researchers...who can review and critique articles, publish and act as peer reviewers, " he said. Powers estimated that it cost an average of $40,000 and took six weeks to identify and train a single expert. SOURCE: Anne Landman's Collection, June 11, 2006 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/4879 4. HOW BIG TOBACCO 'PROTECTS' NON-SMOKERS http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/14799268.htm The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company has contributed $10,000 to an Arizona group, the Non-Smoker Protection Committee. The group is proposing a ballot initiative in favour of The Arizona Non-Smoker Protection Act which it claims would create " a balanced, reasonable, consistent, statewide non-smoking law, protecting minors and preserving private property rights. " In fact, the initiative would overturn existing smoking bans in cities such as Tempe and would prevent other cities from instituting them. Dr. Leland Fairbanks, a retired doctor, told Associated Press that the name of the tobacco-friendly proposal has fooled some people into signing the petition supporting the initiative being placed on the ballot. " There's a lot of deception going on, " Fairbanks said. " Many people think they're signing the health one, but they're signing the R.J. Reynolds one. They're mad, and they should be. " Tobacco control groups are proposing an alternative initiative, the Smoke-Free Arizona Act. SOURCE: Charlotte Observer, June 12, 2006. For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/4877 5. SPINNING TO THEIR GRAVES http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/washington-shrugs-off-guantanamo-suicides-as-me\ rely-good-pr/2006/06/12/1149964470426.html The three recent suicides by detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, referred to as “the gulag of our times†by Amnesty International, are apparently not what they would seem. Administration officials rejected suggestions the three had killed themselves out of despair at their indefinite confinement. “It does sound like this is part of a strategy in that they don’t value their own lives … they certainly don't value ours and they use suicide bombings as a tactic,†Colleen Graffy, the deputy assistant secretary of state for public diplomacy, told the BBC on Sunday. “Taking their own lives was not necessary, but it certainly is a good PR move to draw attention.†The camp's commander, Rear Admiral Harry B. Harris, Jr., said the suicides were an al-Qaeda tactic. “They have no regard for life, neither ours nor their own,†he said. “I believe this was not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.†SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald, June 13, 2006 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/4876 6. ANN COULTER'S PR FORMULA: HATE SPEECH + MEDIA COVERAGE = BEST-SELLER http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/12/business/media/12carr.html David Carr examines Ann Coulter's simple PR formula for marketing her best-selling books: vile hate speech echoed in the mainstream media. In her five books Ann Coulter has " suggested wistfully that Timothy McVeigh should have parked his truck in front of the New York Times, joked that a Supreme Court justice should be poisoned, and said that America should invade Muslim countries and kill their leaders. " Bob Wietrak of Barnes & Noble observes Ann Coulter's " fan base is phenomenal and she is in the media constantly. When she is in the media, it creates more media coverage. And every single day, the book sells more. " TV loves Ann Coulter Carr concludes because " seeing hate-speech pop out of a blonde who knows her way around a black cocktail dress makes for compelling viewing. ... You can accuse her of cynicism all you want, but the fact that she is one of the leading political writers of our age says something about the rest of us. " SOURCE: New York Times, June 12, 2006 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/4874 7. ANTIBIOTIC TRIAL CONTINUES DESPITE REPORTED THREAT TO CHILDREN http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/science/08drug.html?_r=1 & oref=slogin A new antibiotic that has been found to cause four times the average rate of acute liver failure in adults continues in a trial for more than 900 children worldwide, despite criticism from a U.S. Food and Drug Administration official and a study consultant. The drug, Ketek (internationally known as Telithromycin) is manufactured by Sanofi-Aventis, a French pharmaceutical firm with U.S. headquarters in New Jersey. The company has defended the antibiotic as safe when used as directed. " How does one justify balancing the risk of fatal liver failure against one day less of ear pain? " asks Dr. Rosemary Johann-Liang, of the FDA's Office of Drug Safety, in a memo uncovered by the Times. Duke University infectious disease specialist Dr. Danny Benjamin echoes the concern, calling the pediatric trial " hard to support. " Benjamin is especially critical of testing the antibiotic for routine ear infections at a time when antibiotics are less frequently recommended for pediatric treatment. Yet, the FDA's own website continues to promote the pediatric trial. SOURCE: The New York Times, June 8, 2006 (reg req'd) For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/4873 8. BURSON-MARSTELLER LANDS TUNA ACCOUNT http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0608tuna.htm The PR firm Ruder Finn has lost the account working for the U.S. Tuna Foundation to defend human consumption of canned tuna containing high levels of mercury. Burson-Marsteller has landed the account. " Amid the transition, Burson is working to challenge a widely cited Consumer Reports study published this month which found canned light tuna can contain higher levels of mercury than other tuna and could pose serious problems to an unborn child, " O'Dwyer's reports. The foundation has also appointed Anne Forristall Luke, a former " principal at Washington, D.C. firm MGN and former public affairs practice head for Ketchum, " to head the organization. SOURCE: O'Dwyers PR Daily (sub req'd), June 8, 2006 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/4872 9. RED-FACED BROADCAST EXECS RESIST REFORM http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/index_media_notes.htm The President of the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), Barbara Cochran, has conceded the accuracy of the recent Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) report, Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed. " We had good reason to think that many of the video examples posted on the CMD website were simple errors, not deliberate attempts to fool the public, but the similarities between newscast stories and video news releases (VNRs) were embarrassing, " Cochran said in a statement. While RTNDA may be red-faced, they are still resisting reforms that would mandate disclosure of VNRs to viewers. Meanwhile, the owner of KEF Media Associates, Kevin E. Foley, has abandoned even referring to VNRs, preferring to call them " TV press releases " instead. The Federal Communications Commission investigation into undisclosed use of VNRs, he complains, represents a threat to " the free speech rights of my corporate clients. " SOURCE: O'Dwyers PR Daily (sub req'd), June 8, 2006 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/4871 -- 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 in the " Spin of the Day " section of CMD's website: http://www.prwatch.org/spin 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. For more information, visit: 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 Avenue, Suite 227 Madison, WI 53703 To donate now online, visit: https://www.egrants.org/donate/ _____________ Weekly-Spin mailing list Weekly-Spin http://two.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/weekly-spin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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