Guest guest Posted June 22, 2005 Report Share Posted June 22, 2005 1. MANUFACTURING UNCERTAINTY http://chronicle.com/free/v51/i42/42a01501.htm>http://chronicle.com/free/v51/i42\ /42a01501.htm There is a growing concern that occupational- and environmental-health research is in crisis. With funding for this type of research a low priority at government agencies, researchers have had to turn to industry for information and money. " Critics of industry-sponsored research argue that even the most forthright agreements between researcher and industry carry risks of bias in results or interpretation that benefit the sponsors, " the Chronicle of Higher Education writes. " Even under the best of circumstances, there's some understanding that future funding depends at least in part on the results you find this time, " Anthony Robbins, a professor of public health and family medicine at Tufts University and a former director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, told the Chronicle. But industry's influence doesn't stop at funding issues. " Industry has found it worthwhile to challenge all of the studies that suggest there might be a link between some exposure and some kind of disease or illness, " Robbins told the Chronicle. " Industry is in the business of manufacturing uncertainty. " SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education, June 21, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3781 2. SCIENCE UNDER SIEGE http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=18445 & c=39 The American Civil Liberties Union has issued a new report which charges that the Bush administration is using the war on terror as a pretext to tighten restrictions on information. It states that the administration " has sought to impose growing restrictions on the free flow of scientific information, unreasonable barriers on the use of scientific materials and increased monitoring of and restrictions on foreign university students. ... The government is seeking to graft the values of security agencies - secrecy, control and confinement of information - onto the world of science, where information must be uncontrolled, open to all and distributed as broadly as possible. " SOURCE: American Civil Liberties Union, June 21, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3780 3. THE JUNK FOOD LOBBY WINS AGAIN http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/22259/ Last week, Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell vetoed " what would have been the nation's strongest school-based nutrition law, " writes Michelle Simon. " With one stroke of the pen, she put to rest an extremely contentious three-year battle to rid Connecticut schools of soda and junk food. Similar scenarios are being played out in state capitals all over the nation, where high-paid lobbyists of multi-national corporations such as Coca-Cola are swooping in to foil the efforts of local nutrition advocates, educators. With rising rates of childhood obesity and diabetes, state legislatures have become a major battleground over the sale of junk food in public schools. " SOURCE: AlterNet, July 17, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3778 4. CAMPUS CRUSADER http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=69 Bill Berkowitz reports on the latest activities of [[David Horowitz]], the former Marxist turned right-wing ranter who is now campaigning for an " Academic Bill of Rights " that could, if passed, require university biology professors to teach " alternatives " to the theory of evolution and would allow students to sue their professors if they feel the professors are not sufficiently respectful of their views. " For a biologist for whom evolution is no more a theory than is the law of gravity, to have to present 'alternative' religiously-oriented or inspired views would be contrary to his very understanding of the scientific method, " responds a Florida professor who opposes the bill. " That would be comparable to Galileo being forced to recant his scientific observations that the earth revolved around the sun, and not the opposite as ordained by the Church. " SOURCE: Media Transparency, June 16, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3777 5. PROPAGANDA'S WAR ON HUMAN RIGHTS http://www.tiger-tail.org/propaganda.htm British public relations consultant [[Liz Harrop]], who specializes in " public awareness activity for human rights campaigning organisations and humanitarian projects, " has written a report that analyzes the relationship between war propaganda and human rights, focusing on the U.S. and British governments in relation to the Iraqi rabbit hole. " States wage war in the name of peace and democracy, " she writes. " Yet war propaganda can violate human rights and undermine the democratic principles it seeks to champion. Despite this it is rarely acknowledged, by the media, governments, or even anti-war campaigners, that war propaganda is illegal under international human rights law. ... As a point of optimism, although war propaganda diminishes human rights, so respect for human rights can diminish the effects of war propaganda. Accurate and timely human rights investigations can dispel the propaganda and rumours which fan the flames of conflict. " SOURCE: Tiger Tail Communications For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3775 6. DEALS ON WHEELS http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/perks-of-the-job-a-halfprice-car/2005/06/20/\ 1119250928016.html At a preview of Hyundai's new Sonata sedan last week the company's local boss, Bong Gou Lee, announced a special offer for Australian motoring journalists in attendance: " Half price for journalists, tonight only. " Sydney Morning Herald reporter Tony Davis, who was not present, confirmed that " several journalists gave credit card numbers and specified models and colours on a deal that would have saved more than $A17,000 and delivered a new car at below cost. " After Davis began making inquiries Lee withdrew the offer. Hyundai's spokesman, Richard Power, said the offer was a joke. One anonymous journalist told Davis " there's no way people joke about things like that and take names and colours ... I bought one. Plenty of people did. " Hyundai now insist that journalists would only be eligible for the " conventional six-month long-term evaluation " loan of a car. SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald, June 21, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3774 7. SINGERS OFF-KEY ON DEBT-RELIEF http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1510808,00.html The British journalist George Monbiot warns the dangers of the upcoming G8 summit in Scotland are not that the public protests will be dangerous, " but that they will be far too polite. Let me be more precise. The danger is that we will follow the agenda set by Bono and Bob Geldof. " While Monbiot acknowledges the pair are " genuinely committed to the cause of poverty reduction " and have raised money and awareness in support of it, Monbiot points to the singers' response to the G7 finance ministers' debt-relief package for the world's poorest countries. " Anyone with a grasp of development politics who had read and understood the ministers' statement could see that the conditions it contains - enforced liberalisation and privatisation - are as onerous as the debts it relieves. But Bob Geldof praised it as 'a victory for the millions of people in the campaigns around the world' and Bono pronounced it 'a little piece of history'. Like many of those who have been trying to highlight the harm done by such conditions - especially the African campaigners I know - I feel betrayed by these statements. Bono and Geldof have made our job more difficult, " Monbiot writes. SOURCE: The Guardian (UK), June 21, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3773 8. OLD-FASHIONED PAID PUNDITRY http://spinwatch.server101.com/modules.php?name=NukeWrap & page=/plog/index.php?op\ =ViewArticle%26articleId=42%26blogId=4 SpinWatch's Eveline Lubbers recently read Karen S. Miller's 1999 book The Voice of Business, Hill & Knowlton and Postwar Public Relations. While Hill & Knowlton's work for the tobacco industry in the fifties has been covered by PR Watch and others, the PR firm's earlier work for the steel industry is not as widely known. Miller, who teaches PR and media history at the University of Georgia, documents that H & K " took part in preparation for testimony before a congressional committee investigating the industry’s record of suppression of labor’s civil rights in June 1936. This subcommittee of the Senate and Labor Committee, chaired by Robert La Follette, exposed four antiunion practices which had frustrated labor organization for decades: espionage, industrial munitions, strikebreaking, and private police, " Lubbers writes. " The committee revealed that Hill and Knowlton sponsored antiunion messages appearing in the news media. George Sokolsky, a columnist for the New York Herald Tribune and periodicals such as the Atlantic Monthly received $28,599 from H & K from June 1936 to February 1938, chiefly for consultation to the American Iron and Steel Institute. When writing against the steelworkers union, the articles failed to mention his connection to H & K or the Institute. " SOURCE: SpinWatch.org, June 15, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3772 9. BIOTECH INDUSTRY USES FAKE FAMINE TO PROMOTE GM FOOD http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.asp?id=339 " The PR exploitation of drought and hunger in Zambia shows that for the [genetically modified (GM) food] lobby there are no limits, even when it involves rewriting history and manufacturing crimes against humanity, " GM Watch's Jonathan Matthews writes. In 2002, Zambia sparked a firestorm when it refused to accept U.S. donations of GM corn to offset a looming famine. The Zambia government had concerns about the safety of GM foods. Industry-friendly experts, the U.S. State Department and U.S. trade officials began savaging the Zambian government and the environmental movement. For example, the Hudson Institute's Alex Avery attacked Dr. Charles Benbrook, a former Executive Director of the Board on Agriculture for the US National Academy of Sciences, for having the " blood of the starvation victims " on his hands. " Benbrook's crime had been to tell the Zambian scientists during their fact-finding mission that there was no shortage of non-GM foods which could be offered to Zambia and that, 'To a large extent, this ‘crisis' has been manufactured ... by those looking for a new source of traction in the evolving global debate over agricultural biotechnology,' " Matthews writes. SOURCE: Freezerbox.com, June 20, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3771 10. BRUSHING UP ON PR http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-06/20/content_452869.htm Liu Xu, a staffer with Burson-Marsteller in China, told a reporter that in mid-April he only managed a few hours sleep a night while he helped Colgate reassure Chinese government agencies on the safety of using the suspected human carcinogen triclosan in toothpaste. Reporting for ''China Business Daily'' on the growth of the PR industry in China, Liu Jie noted that Colgate were not alone in calling on international PR firms for their crisis management skills. " Similar cases have involved Lipton, of Unilever; SKII, of P & G; and Nestle. Their contracted PR companies, such as Profuture, Hill & Knowlton and Ketchum Newscan, have played major roles in combating the crises, " Liu Jie notes. In March this year a delegation from the Public Relations Society of America met with China International Public Relations Association and offered suggestions to help China's emerging PR industry " in terms of legislation, self-discipline and talent training. " SOURCE: ChinaDaily.com, June 20, 2005. For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3770 11. THE RISE OF 'NEWSVERTISEMENTS' http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_384\ 6857,00.html " Don't you love local TV news stories about critical topics like Supernanny, The Apprentice or Survivor? " Cause Communications' Jason Salzman asks in his Rocky Mountain News column. Salzman lists several examples of stories produced by Denver's local TV news programs and finds that most of the stories focused on entertainment programming run by the stations' respective networks. " I think what's more obvious is that journalists at local outlets should give their news judgment an extreme makeover and drop most entertainment news tie- ins, " Salzman writes. " f the local TV outlets insist on broadcasting 'news' about entertainment programming, they should inform viewers when they have a financial interest in the success of the show mentioned. Without proper disclosure, these local stories should be seen by viewers as advertisements embedded in the newscasts. I can't decide whether to call them 'advernewsments' or 'newsvertisements.' " SOURCE: Rocky Mountain News, June 11, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3768 12. VIEWERS SAY LABEL FAKE NEWS http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA608087.html?display=Breaking+News & ref\ erral=SUPP " Eight out of 10 viewers would not be turned off if news programs always disclosed the source of third-party video--i.e., video news releases, " Broadcasting and Cable writes about a recent poll by VNR distributor D S Simon Productions. Out of a phone poll of 1000 respondents, 42 percent say they would be even more likely to watch a program that disclosed video sources. " If news directors or TV producers fear using or disclosing third-party video to viewers, the survey indicates that disclosing the source of footage could actually boost ratings, not threaten them, " said Doug Simon, who supports labeling on a voluntary basis. VNR producers and distributors are currently trying to head off new regulations that may require mandatory labeling of their products. Join the Center for Media and Democracy and Free Press in our campaign to expose VNRs and other kinds of fake news. Visit our " No Fake News! " web page for more information. SOURCE: Broadcasting and Cable, June 13, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3767 13. EDITING AWAY ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS, PART TWO http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/politics/politics-group-climate.html? " A new draft communique on climate change for next month's Group of Eight summit has removed plans to fund research " on clean energy technologies. Other edits " put into question top scientists' warnings that global warming is already under way, " by removing references to current weather changes and marking such phrases as " our world is warming " for possible deletion. The new draft also " explicitly endorses the use of 'zero-carbon' nuclear power. " In contrast, the May 3rd draft of the document endorsed " ambitious targets and timetables " for reducing carbon emissions from buildings. The editing (reminiscent of former White House staff Philip Cooney's work) bodes ill for Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has " pledged to put the fight against climate change at the heart of Britain's year-long presidency of the G8. " The Washington Post and the Observer (UK) have also reported on U.S. pressure to weaken the G-8 climate plan. SOURCE: Reuters, June 15, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3764 14. POST-REVOLUTIONARY MARKETING http://www.marketingprofs.com/5/egherman1.asp?f=evrl One candidate in Iran's presidential election, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, " has done more than the others to market his particular presidential brand, " writes Tehran-based design consultant Tori Egherman. The Rafsanjani campaign, in a move " particularly unconventional for post-revolutionary Iran, " has employed as guerrilla marketers " Iran's hip youth. " The young, unpaid campaigners " wrap themselves in Hashemi stickers, tape his poster on their backs, celebrate soccer success in his name. " Even referring to the candidate as " Hashemi " breaks convention, writes Egherman. " In a country where wives often call their husbands by formal names like Engineer (Mondandes) or Mister (Agha) and young girls are often called Young Ma'am (Dokhtar Khanum), the use of a name other than the surname is more than familiar: it is intimate. " Another candidate, Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, is reaching out to young voters with " casual and stylish clothes, chic glasses and sponsors such as Efes Zero Alcohol beer. " SOURCE: MarketingProfs.com, June 14, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3763 15. PAYOLA RULEZ! http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tvpromo15jun15,1,3240067.story?coll=la-hea\ dlines-business%20FCC%20Asks%20for%20Help%20on%2 The Federal Communications Commission added a web page outlining the restrictions against pay-for-broadcast arrangements and explaining how individuals can report suspected payola. The move happened as " the agency comes under growing pressure to investigate stealth product promotions on television and radio shows, " notes the Los Angeles Times. FCC Commissioner Adelstein compared the effort to a Neighborhood Watch program and said, " The American people have a right to know who is promoting a product, policy or message to them. " FCC Chair Martin pointed out that complaints are necessary to launch an investigation. Although the last FCC enforcement on payola was five years ago, recent news reports have exposed pundits receiving funds from the Bush administration and consumer " experts " promoting the products of companies that have paid them. SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, June 15, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3762 16. SENATORS SAY USDA'S FAKE NEWS NOT FAIR AND BALANCED http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0506160132jun16,1,6096846.story?coll=\ chi-business-hed As PR Watch previously reported, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Broadcast Media and Technology Center seems to be pushing the controversial Central American trade agreement CAFTA in its audio and video news releases. BMTC " has churned out three dozen radio and television news segments since the first of the year " that " promote " CAFTA, writes the Chicago Tribune. In one radio segment, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns says that voting against CAFTA is " voting against our producers. " Senators Akaka and Landrieu sent a letter to Johanns expressing concern that " many listeners in rural America may believe these releases are objective news reports, rather than political statements ... intended to advance a specific trade agenda. " A USDA spokesperson defended BMTC's work, saying, " They are reports about what the secretary of agriculture has said. " SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, June 16, 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3761 17. THE END OF THE WORLD FOR FAKE NEWS http://www.prsa.org/_Publications/magazines/0605news.asp " In 1938, Orson Welles’ radio broadcast of 'The War of the Worlds' caused thousands of people to panic, believing they were listening to a genuine newscast of a Martian invasion of New Jersey, " writes Katie Sweeney for Public Relations Tactics, the trade publication of the [[sw:Public Relations Society of America]]. " Later, many expressed outrage, with some even calling for the government to regulate broadcasters to prevent such confusion from happening again. " Something similar is happening, she argues, with regard to public outrage over [[sw:video news releases]] (VNRs) and [[sw:satellite media tours]] (SMTs), two PR techniques that plant fake news on television. Due to public protests (including our own No Fake News campaign), " stations may be soon forced to label all VNR material that comes from the federal government. " SOURCE: Public Relations Tactics, June 2005 For more information or to comment on this story, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/3760 Those who control the past, control the future; Those who control the future, control the present; Those who control the present, control the past.^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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