Archive for February 2003

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[eccr] Fwd: The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, February 19, 2003

Wed Feb 19 08:27:00 GMT 2003


>THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, February 19, 2003
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>The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
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>THIS WEEK'S NEWS
>
>1. Fighting the Smoke Ban
>2. Gallagher to Flack for Saudis
>3. Disappeared in Latin America
>4. U.S. Fanzine for Young Arabs
>5. Millions March for Peace
>6. The Media: Terrorist Tool?
>7. Poets Dissent
>8. Patriot Act II
>9. Duct And Cover
>10. Feb. 15th  NYC Peace Rally A "Go", but March Still A "No"
>11. Powell Welcomes Osama to the Rescue
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>1. FIGHTING THE SMOKE BAN
>http://www.canada.com/components/printstory/printstory.asp?id={BADAAEBD-99C3-4A6E-873F-D80A4DF742DE}
>   As in the United States, the tobacco industry has been using hotels
>   and restaurants to front for its interests in Canada. "One of the
>   key tools cigarette manufacturers used in this effort was the
>   Courtesy of Choice campaign, a worldwide public-relations effort
>   that grew out of a partnership between Philip Morris's
>   Accommodation Program and the International Hotel Association,"
>   writes David Rodenhiser. "Courtesy of Choice aimed to head off
>   government legislation by championing non-smoking sections and
>   ventilation systems as a better solution. The campaign was backed
>   by millions of dollars in tobacco blood money. ... Cigarette
>   manufacturers are fighting a desperate and cynical battle to keep
>   smoking from being snuffed out as socially unacceptable. For them,
>   every government restriction is ground lost. So they've enlisted
>   hospitality industry lobby groups as their field marshals, who in
>   turn have used the owners of bars, restaurants and inns as their
>   foot soldiers."
>SOURCE: Halifax Daily News, February 18, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1045544401
>
>2. GALLAGHER TO FLACK FOR SAUDIS
>http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0218gallagher_qorvis.htm
>   The Gallagher Group, headed by Republican policy analyst Jamie
>   Gallagher, has signed a $300,000, one-year deal to assist Qorvis
>   Communications in its PR work for the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
>   Gallagher will provide "public policy advice, assistance in writing
>   briefing papers and conduct meetings with Congressional and White
>   House staff members on behalf of Saudi Arabia." The February
>   O'Dwyer's PR Services Report (print version) has a lengthy piece
>   about Qorvis's PR work for the Saudi Kingdom, for which it received
>   "a staggering $14.6 million during its latest six-month federal
>   reporting period." Although the U.S. is formally a U.S. ally in the
>   "war on terrorism," some of its most scathing critics have been
>   conservatives like Wall Street Journal editorialist William McGurn
>   and Republican Congressman Dan Burton, who says the "activities of
>   such 'propagandists'" should be "subject to the 'spotlight of
>   pitiless publicity' so that the American people may be fully
>   informed of the identity of the propagandists and the nature of the
>   activities they undertake on behalf of their foreign masters."
>SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily, February 18, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/February_2003.html#1045544400
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1045544400
>
>3. DISAPPEARED IN LATIN AMERICA
>http://www.Americas.org/News/Features/200301_Desaparecidos/20030101_10Venezuela.htm
>   Where's the money in Argentina? What does U.S. oil cost in
>   Colombia? The Resource Center of the Americas has prepared a list
>   of 10 "important stories about Latin America that major news media
>   distorted or ignored in 2002."
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1045510534
>
>4. U.S. FANZINE FOR YOUNG ARABS
>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/17/business/media/17PROP.html?pagewanted=print
>   The latest plan from U.S. State Department propagandist Charlotte
>   Beers is a "consumer lifestyle" magazine to be published in Arabic.
>   The magazine "will avoid politics and instead focus on topics of
>   common interest to American and Arab cultures, including education,
>   careers, family, technology, music and health. ... The magazine,
>   according to a State Department official, is meant to foster
>   dialogue with young Arabs and dispel some of the 'misperceptions'
>   they may have about the United States. Other Beers efforts "have
>   included television and print advertisements, a new Arabic language
>   television network, and Radio Sawa, an Arabic-language pop music
>   station that includes newscasts with an American perspective."
>SOURCE: New York Times, February 17, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1045458000
>
>5. MILLIONS MARCH FOR PEACE
>http://indymedia.org/archive/features/current#7355
>   More than 11 million people worldwide turned out to demonstrate
>   against a war with Iraq, with demonstrations in Eastern and Western
>   Europe, Oceania and Latin America.
>SOURCE: Independent Media Center, February 15, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/February_2003.html#1045285200
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1045285200
>
>6. THE MEDIA: TERRORIST TOOL?
>http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0213terrorism_media.htm
>   Terrorists and the U.S. government are both using the media to
>   achieve propaganda goals, according to Hafez Al Mirazi, bureau
>   chief of the Al-Jazeera satellite TV network. "If CNN or Fox or
>   others are not going to have breaking news flashing on their
>   screens if Palestinians are killed, but only if Israelis are
>   killed, then [terrorists] will go out and kill an Israeli," he
>   said. Speaking at the National Press Club, Al Mirazi joined a panel
>   that included foreign policy analyst Lawrence Korb and Jerrold
>   Post, director of the Political Psychology Program at George
>   Washington University, who also stressed the symbiotic relationship
>   between terrorism and the media. "If a terrorist act occurs, and it
>   isn't reported, is it a terrorist act?" asked Post, adding that
>   sophisticated terrorist groups actually have a VP of media
>   relations and time their attacks to attract maximum media
>   attention. "In effect, the media is serving as an uncritical
>   megaphone for the terrorists," he said.
>SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily, February 14, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1045198801
>
>7. POETS DISSENT
>http://www.TomPaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/7261
>   "The White House recently cancelled its symposium, Poetry and the
>   American Voice, due to the first lady's anxiety that it was shaping
>   into an anti-war forum," Rebecca Okrent writes for TomPaine.com.
>   "Spokesperson Noelia Rodriguez explained that, 'While Mrs. Bush
>   respects the right of all Americans to express their opinions, she,
>   too, has opinions and believes it would be inappropriate to turn a
>   literary event into a political forum.' In other words if you have
>   a dissenting opinion, you can't come to the party." Unimpressed by
>   the First Lady's fair-weather love of literature, Poets Against the
>   War organized read-ins for peace across the country.
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/February_2003.html#1045198800
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1045198800
>
>8. PATRIOT ACT II
>http://www.public-i.org/dtaweb/report.asp?ReportID=506&L1=10&L2=10&L3=0&L4=0&L5=0
>   One sequel that's not receiving much media attention is the
>   "Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003," a follow up to the
>   "USA Patriot Act of 2001." The Center for Public Integrity obtained
>   a copy of the draft legislation that had been secretly prepared by
>   the Justice Department. "This proposed law would give the
>   government breathtaking new powers to further increase domestic
>   intelligence-gathering, surveillance and law enforcement
>   prerogatives, and simultaneously decrease judicial review and
>   public access to information," writes Center, who have posted the
>   document on their website. "Despite the draft legislation's
>   authoritarian provisions -- including one that would empower the
>   government to strip Americans of their citizenship if they
>   participate in the lawful activities of any group that the attorney
>   general labels 'terrorist' -- mainstream U.S. media have responded
>   with only a handful of news stories," Fairness & Accuracy in
>   Reporting writes.
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/February_2003.html#1045191619
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1045191619
>
>9. DUCT AND COVER
>   "Henkel Consumer Adhesives is working with retailers to ensure
>   there is a plentiful supply of duct tape on their shelves,
>   according to its website," O'Dwyer's PR Daily writes. "The move
>   follows Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's
>   recommendation that Americans stock up on duct tape so they can
>   seal their windows in the event of a biological attack.
>   Cleveland-based Liggett-Stashower PR is pitching the story to
>   national media. ... Ridge's duct tape plug has been a PR bonanza
>   for HCA, which sells Americans more than 1.5 billion linear feet of
>   Duck Tape brand duct tape each year."
>SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily, February 12, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1045026002
>
>10. FEB. 15TH  NYC PEACE RALLY A "GO", BUT MARCH STILL A "NO"
>http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=801
>   The United for Peace and Justice coalition has secured a rally
>   location for the New York city anti-war protest on February 15,
>   announcing that "this massive, peaceful demonstration to stop the
>   Iraq war will go forward no matter what. But in an outrageous
>   attack on our civil liberties, Federal Judge Barbara Jones ruled
>   ... that we may only hold a stationary rally. ... This fight is
>   about far more than one protest march; it's about how much
>   political space for dissent there will be in this country for the
>   foreseeable future. We are appalled by this attack on our basic
>   First Amendment rights, and we will continue to fight for the right
>   to march. Our attorneys from the New York Civil Liberties Union
>   have filed an appeal of Judge Jones' decision."
>SOURCE: United for Peace, February 12, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1045026001
>
>11. POWELL WELCOMES OSAMA TO THE RESCUE
>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/12/opinion/12DOWD.html?ex=1046060737&ei=1&en=5a8a888734b551eb
>   The White House is using Osama bin Laden's latest message to sell
>   an attack on Iraq . Maureen Dowd notes that "the president and his
>   secretary of state had been huffing and puffing to prove a link
>   between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. ... And then who but Osama
>   himself should pop up on an audio tape, calling on Muslims to fight
>   the U.S. if the 'infidels' attack 'our brothers in Iraq.' Osama's
>   disdain for Saddam still gleamed through. ... Still, the
>   administration pounced on the tape... Mr. Powell was so eager to
>   publicize Osama's statements that he broke the news himself... In
>   the past, Condi Rice has implored the networks not to broadcast the
>   tapes outright, fearing he might be activating sleeper cells in
>   code. But this time the administration flacked the tape. ... So the
>   Bushies no longer care if Osama sends a coded message to his thugs
>   as long as he stays on message for the White House? To get Saddam,
>   the Bush administration is even willing to remind the American
>   public that it failed to get bin Laden. Its fixation on Saddam
>   seems to have blinded it to the possibility that  Osama might be
>   perversely encouraging America in this war."
>SOURCE: New York Times, February 12, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/February_2003.html#1045026000
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1045026000
>
>
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Carpentier Nico (Phd)
Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University Brussels
Studies on Media, Information & Telecommunication (SMIT)
Centre for Media Sociology (CeMeSO)
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