The Falsies Awards

[Guest guest]

This year marks the beginning of a new tradition for the Center for

Media and Democracy. To remember the people and players responsible

for polluting our information environment, we are issuing a new

year-end prize that we call the " Falsies Awards. " The top ten

finalists will each receive a million bucks worth of free coupons, a

lifetime supply of non-fattening ice cream, an expenses-paid vacation

in Fallujah, and our promise to respect them in the morning. The

winners of the Falsies Awards for 2004 are:

 

1. I'M KAREN RYAN, REPORTING

 

Let's hear it for video news releases finally getting a smattering of

the public scrutiny they deserve. A video news release or VNR is a

simulated TV news story. Video clips paid for by corporations,

government agencies, and non-governmental organizations are commonly

passed off as legitimate news segments on local newscasts throughout

the United States. VNRs are designed to be indistinguishable from

traditional TV news and are often aired without the original

producers and sponsors being identified and sometimes without any

local editing.

 

When a VNR touting the controversial Medicare reform law ended with

" In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan, reporting, " Senate Democrats called

foul. The VNR, which aired on 40 stations between January 22 and

February 12, 2004, was paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services. Ryan, the " reporter, " was in fact employed by a

production company contracted by the Ketchum PR firm to create the

VNR for HHS. An investigation by the U.S. General Accounting Office

concluded that the VNR had violated a ban on government funded

" publicity and propaganda. " According to The Hill, a newspaper based

in Washington, D.C., " VNRs are standard practice in the

public-relations industry and local news reports often rely on them.

.... However, the GAO said in its decision, 'our analysis of the

proper use of appropriated funds is not based upon the norms in the

public relations and media industry.' "

 

Karen Ryan was back in the news in October, when the liberal-leaning

People for the American Way identified another Ryan VNR. This time

Ryan " reported " on the Bush Administration's No Child Left Behind

law. A Freedom of Information Act investigation revealed that the

U.S. Education Department paid $700,000 to the PR firm to produce two

VNRs as well as to rate newspaper coverage according to how favorably

reporters described No Child Left Behind. " A number of local stations

ran the VNR as is, and added a local twist by simply having their own

reporter read the script, " reported CampaignDesk.org, a journalist

watchdog website. " The stations that took the time to have their own

reporters record the script of the No Child Left Behind VNR had to

have been fully aware of what they were doing: knowingly deceiving

their viewers about the origins of the story -- not to mention

committing plagiarism -- by passing off as their own original

reporting words actually written by a PR company hired by the Bush

administration. "

 

2. WAR IS SELL

 

The formerly exiled Iraqi Ahmed Chalabi and his Iraqi National

Congress were exposed as hucksters who befriended powerful men in

Washington and played an instrumental role in selling the Iraq War.

The U.S. major media finally examined the extent to which the INC and

Chalabi used funding provided by the U.S. Congress to position

themselves as a central source for much of the now-discredited

" intelligence information " that the Bush administration used to

justify the March 2003 invasion.

 

" The former Iraqi exile group that gave the Bush administration

exaggerated and fabricated intelligence on Iraq also fed much of the

same information to newspapers, news agencies and magazines in the

United States, Britain and Australia, " Knight Ridder reported in

March 2004. " A June 26, 2002, letter from the Iraqi National Congress

to the Senate Appropriations Committee listed 108 articles based on

information provided by the Iraqi National Congress's Information

Collection Program, a U.S.-funded effort to collect intelligence in

Iraq. The Information Collection Program was financed out of the at

least $18 million that the U.S. Congress approved for the Iraqi

National Congress, led by Ahmed Chalabi from 1999 to 2003. "

 

" Chalabi appears to have recognized that the neocons, while ruthless,

realistic and effective in bureaucratic politics, were remarkably

ignorant about the situation in Iraq, and willing to buy a fantasy of

how the country's politics worked. So he sold it to them, " John Dizard

wrote for Salon.com in May 2004. In a detailed profile of Chalabi and

the INC, the New Yorker's Jane Mayer included some fairly candid

admissions by Francis Brooke, the INC's PR guru. Without Chalabi, he

said, " This war would not have been fought. " Beginning in the late

1990s, Chalabi and Brooke had designed a campaign to influence " only

a couple of hundred people " in Washington with the ability to shape

Iraq policy -- people like Trent Lott, Newt Gingrich, Richard Perle

and Dick Cheney. Following 9/11, their marketing strategy switched to

terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Brooke claimed, " I sent out

an all-points bulletin to our network, saying, 'Look, guys, get me a

terrorist, or someone who works with terrorists. And, if you can get

stuff on WMD, send it!' "

 

Following the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the U.S. gave Chalabi one

of the 25 seats on its hand-picked new Iraqi Governing Council. The

Pentagon's $335,000 monthly payments to the INC's intelligence

program continued until May 2004, when U.S. intelligence agencies

began reporting that Chalabi may have actually been a double agent

working for Iran. American troops raided Chalabi's headquarters and

home in Baghdad, arrested two of his aides, and seized documents.

" Only five months ago, " observed Andrew Cockburn, " Chalabi was a

guest of honor sitting right behind Laura Bush at the State of the

Union. What brought about this astonishing fall from grace of the man

who helped provide the faked intelligence that justified last year's

war? " According to Newsweek, " Bush administration officials say the

latest intelligence indicates [Chalabi] may have been supplying the

Iranians with information on U.S. security operations in Iraq that

could 'get people killed.' "

 

Chalabi responded by demanding that the U.S. leave Iraq. " Let my

people go, " he said, adding, " It is time for the Iraqi people to run

their affairs. " More recently he has aligned himself with Muqtada

al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric whose militia battled U.S. troops

in August in the Iraqi city of Najaf.

 

3. THE HIDDEN (IN PLAIN SIGHT) PERSUADERS

 

Stories of so-called " guerrilla marketing " abounded in 2004. From

martinis to cell phones to TV programs, this stealthy form of

advertising usually features paid agents subtly promoting a product

to an unsuspecting audience. According to Shawn Prez of the marketing

agency Power Moves, stealth techniques are especially effective with

teens. " By the time the message gets out, they don't even know

they've been hit; they don't know that theyve been marketed to. All

they know is that their interest has been piqued, " Prez said. Our

favorite examples of guerilla marketing include the following:

 

* In New York, attractive men and women flashed their underwear at

strangers outside Grand Central Terminal to promote a local health

club. The underwear featured the logo of the club along with the

words " Booty Call " to promote an exercise class that works the butt

muscles. (We swear we're not making this up.)

 

* A fictional blogger, invented by an ad agency, posted blog entries

claiming that a new Sega video game caused him to suffer blackouts

and uncontrollable fits of violence.

 

* At Fourth of July cookouts throughout the United States, guests

brought Al Fresco chicken sausages to throw on the grill, without

telling the other guests that they were actually working to earn

premiums from a PR firm that was hired to promote sales of the

product.

 

" This idea -- the commercialization of chitchat -- resembles a

scenario from a paranoid science-fiction novel about a future in

which corporations have become so powerful that they can bribe whole

armies of flunkies to infiltrate the family barbecue, " observed Rob

Walker in the New York Times.

 

4. FOOD INDUSTRY FOXES GUARD THE FDA HEN HOUSE

 

Food industry lobbyists met repeatedly and privately with Bush

administration officials while the administration was drafting rules

to protect the nation's food supply from bioterrorism. " The resulting

regulations don't fully protect the public interest, " stated the

Center for Science in the Public Interest. The Grocery Manufacturers

of America, Altria Group (formerly Philip Morris) and others lobbied

to weaken proposed regulations requiring importers to notify the Food

and Drug Administration before food shipments arrive from overseas.

One GMA lobbyist explained, " We all want regulations to protect

against bioterrorism, but in a way to achieve the goals and allow the

business to operate in an efficient manner. " The Bush administration's

Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson had nothing to

say about the problem until after the 2004 presidential election,

when he announced his resignation plans. In his departure speech in

December, Thompson warned of possible health-related terrorist

attacks. " For the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists

have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do, " he

said.

 

5. SHELL GAME WITH HUMAN RIGHTS

 

Corporate lobby groups such as the International Chamber of Commerce

(ICC) launched a fierce counter-campaign against the proposed Norms

on Business and Human Rights, which were developed by a subcommission

of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. The Norms require

businesses internationally to refrain from activities that violate

human rights, coonstraints that have been vigorously opposed by the

ICC and a the Royal Dutch/Shell oil company, a self-proclaimed leader

in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement. " Is this not

the kind of campaign one could expect only from companies lagging

behind and from free-riders refusing to adapt to social and

environmental concerns? " asked the Corporate Europe Observatory

(CEO). The motive behind Shell's opposition, CEO suggested, is that

" the company generally gets away easily with its inflated claims

concerning its social responsibility record. " A 2004 report by

Christian Aid documented that Shell's operations in the Niger Delta

(Nigeria) are still causing serious problems for local communities.

The report also found that most of the community development projects

presented in various glossy Shell reports on CSR are in fact failing.

" Hospitals, schools and water supply systems are built but never

start working, and roads are mainly used to boost oil production, "

reported CEO. " But beyond the debate about the extent to which

Shell's CSR claims are actually greenwash and poor-wash, it is clear

that the company is determined to prevent the emergence of

international mechanisms through which communities could hold it

accountable to its pledges. "

 

6. GHOSTWRITERS FOR BUSH

 

In August, the Daily Kos weblog uncovered an astroturf (fake

grassroots) initiative by the George W. Bush reelection campaign,

which generated ghostwritten letters to the editor that found their

way into at least 60 newspapers. This wasn't the first time that the

Bush administration 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. "

 

7. FRANK TALK

 

A leaked memo by Republican advisor Frank Luntz advised GOP

politicians to avoid the words " preemption " and " war in Iraq "

when

talking about the Bush administration's pre-emptive war in Iraq. " To

do so is to undermine your message from the start, " he advised. " Your

efforts are about 'the principles of prevention and protection' in the

greater 'War on Terror.' " According to the June 2004 Washington Post

story, Luntz also recommended that " No speech about homeland security

or Iraq should begin without a reference to 9/11. "

 

8. NOT-SO-DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION

 

" One cannot conceive of other elements [that could be] put in place

to create a space that's more of an affront to the idea of free

expression, " said U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock, after touring

the Democratic National Convention's " free speech " protest zone in

Boston. The zone is " bordered by cement barriers, a double row of

chain-line fencing, heavy black netting, and tightly woven plastic

mesh, " with " coils of razor wire " along elevated train tracks, the

Boston Globe reported. A lawyer for activists challenging the zone

compared it to " a maximum security prison, Guantanamo Bay, or a zoo "

-- comparisons Woodlock called " an understatement, " although he

upheld the zone for security reasons. That's not to say the

Republican National Convention in New York City was a celebration of

civil liberties. The New York Police Department engaged in

pre-emptive arrest tactics to stop activities planned by

demonstrators.

 

9. IRAQ WAR SUPPORTERS PROFIT FROM RECONSTRUCTION

 

Several key advocates for the invasion of Iraq are now profiting from

Iraq's reconstruction. " 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, " reported Walter F. Roche Jr.

and Ken Silverstein in the Los Angeles Times. " 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. " Among the profiteers are:

 

* former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, Jr., a founding member of the

Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI) who used his Pentagon

connections to help arrange for a debriefing of a Iraqi defector

provided by the Iraqi National Congress who gave false information

about Iraqi biological warfare laboratories (see award-winner #2

above);

 

* Randy Scheunemann, founding president of the CLI; and

 

* Washington lobbyist K. Riva Levinson, who while at

Burson-Marsteller's BKSH & Associates did PR work for the INC on the

U.S. State Department's tab.

 

10. WAL-MART GETS PR HELP FROM HILL & KNOWLTON

 

" Wal-Mart is working with Hill & Knowlton on a PR campaign designed

to rehabilitate the much-maligned company's reputation in California

and pave the way for 40 new Wal-Mart Supercenters in the state in the

next few years, " PR Week reported in October. The world's largest

retailer published an " open letter to California residents " in 15

California newspapers on September 23. " As the company has grown,

we've become a target for negative comments from certain elected

officials, competitors and powerful special interest groups, "

Wal-Mart wrote. PR Week reported that several of H & K's California

offices had been working with Wal-Mart for several months on the PR

effort, " primarily handling media relations tasks. " Wal-Mart has

announced plans to increase retail space by 8 percent. The company,

which is also facing a class action suit for sex discrimination, had

a record setting in net sales for the six months ended July 31, 2004.

 

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS

 

PR and advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather tied Fleishman-Hillard,

another global PR firm, for sheer audacity at draining the public

well.

 

* The U.S. indicted executives from Ogilvy and Mather for

participating in an " extensive scheme to defraud the U.S. Government

by falsely and fraudulently inflating the labor costs that Ogilvy

incurred " for its work on a media campaign for the Office of National

Drug Control Policy. According to O'Dwyer's PR Daily, O & M's anti-drug

media campaign work was part of a five-year $684 million dollar

project. The government said it was overcharged by O & M from May 1999

to April 2000.

 

* Several former employees of Fleishman-Hillard say F-H routinely

overbilled the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power some $30,000

a month. According to the Los Angeles Times, 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).

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS

 

The Center for Media and Democracy would also like to recognize the

following efforts to expose and counter spin in 2004:

 

* The post-debate media feeding frenzy where campaign officials talk

up their candidates has come to be called Spin Alley. Comedian Jon

Stewart of Comedy Central's " The Daily Show " appeared on CNN's

Crossfire in October, calling it as he saw it. " You go to Spin Alley,

the place called Spin Alley, " he said. " Now, don't you think that, for

people watching at home, that's kind of a drag, that you're literally

walking to a place called deception lane? " On Jay Rosen's PressThink

weblog, Lisa Stone offered an illuminating history of Spin Alley.

Stewart, she wrote, " was hitting on a practice that had grown more

and more disreputable. As a designated spot for the practice of spin,

the Alley only fell from legitimacy when an alternative practice rose

up and called out to conscience of the press. It was one lesson of

Campaign 2004: Forget about spinning the outcome, just fact check the

debates. "

 

* Tami Silicio and the Seattle Times brought the first images of U.S.

military casualties to the American mass media in April 2004. Silicio,

a Kuwait-based cargo worker whose photograph of flag-draped coffins of

fallen U.S. soldiers was published in the Times, was fired along with

her husband. Her employer, a private contractor, said it decided to

fire her after receiving a complaint from the military about her

violation of the Pentagon's ban on images of soldiers' caskets.

 

For additional details, including links to further information about

the recipients of the 2004 Falsies Awards, visit this story online

at:

 

http://www.prwatch.org/node/3144