[eccr] Fwd: The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, July 16, 2003

>THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, July 16, 2003
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>sponsored by PR WATCH (www.prwatch.org)
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>The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
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>THIS WEEK'S NEWS
>
>1. Shameless Self-Promotion
>2. U.S. Sends 'Hi' To Middle East
>3. Soccer Field Critics Cry 'Foul'
>4. Food Industry's PR Offense Against Obesity
>5. What Would Jesus (Rivera) Drive?
>6. Bush Misled Public and Military About War In Iraq
>7. Trading on Fear
>8. Don't Worry, It's Safe to Eat
>9. Doubts Mount
>10. Bush's African Photo-Op
>11. All Spin, All the Time
>12. "Propagandist" Gets Solitary Confinement
>13. Corporate Criminals Give Big
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>1. SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION
>http://www.prwatch.org/books/wmd_banners.php
>   The publication date is rapidly approaching for our new book,
>   Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on
>   Iraq. If you have a web site or weblog, you can help spread the
>   word by adding one of our banner ads.
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1058328115
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058328115
>
>2. U.S. SENDS 'HI' TO MIDDLE EAST
>http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0703/15arabic.html
>   The U.S. State Department's new Arabic-language magazine hits
>   newsstands in the Middle East this week. Hi magazine "will dispel
>   misinformation and misconceptions about the United States by
>   focusing on similarities between American and Middle Eastern
>   cultures with articles about lifestyle, technology and health," the
>   Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. "We're fighting a war of
>   ideas as much as a war on terror," Tucker Eskew, deputy assistant
>   to the president and director of the White House Office of Global
>   Communications, said during a visit to Atlanta. While denying that
>   the magazine is propaganda, Eskew said Hi, which
>   targets18-to-35-year-olds, will promote "American ideals and
>   culture."
>SOURCE: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 15, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058241601
>
>3. SOCCER FIELD CRITICS CRY 'FOUL'
>http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1512657,00.html#
>   A former landfill near Denver is being turned into soccer fields to
>   be used yearly by more than a half-million people, the Denver Post
>   reports. That has county officials spinning a success story for
>   waste management. But public health advocates are crying "foul."
>   The site, which is part of a several million dollar containment
>   project, will also include a dog park and the county's hazardous
>   household waste facility. "You'll be able to run your dogs, dump
>   your hazardous waste and play soccer all in the same place,"
>   Jefferson County facilities manager Lee Suttie said. "This quote
>   should land Suttie a raise," Univeristy of Colorado faculty member
>   Adrienne Anderson writes in a letter to the editor. The
>   military-industrial complex-controlled suburban county outside
>   Denver is "where Coors, Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant, and/or
>   Lockheed Martin and other polluters have been able to illegally
>   dump their hazardous and even radioactive wastes into Denver metro
>   area streams, municipal water supplies and 'sanitary landfills' for
>   decades without criminal prosecution." Looking the other way,
>   Colorado officials cover up instead of clean up the toxic dumps,
>   Anderson writes, designating sites as "suitable playing fields for
>   little kids and their pets."
>SOURCE: Denver Post, July 15, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058241600
>
>4. FOOD INDUSTRY'S PR OFFENSE AGAINST OBESITY
>http://www.prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=185127&site=3
>   "Kraft Foods' recently announced initiatives on obesity have marked
>   a new phase in how food companies will address Americans' concerns
>   about food and nutrition," PR Week writes. Until now, the food
>   industry has tried to deflect the blame for America's growing
>   waistlines by promoting physical activity. Now Kraft and others are
>   talking about changing products and marketing. "Critics like
>   [Center for Science in the Public Interest's Margo] Wootan see
>   Kraft and other food companies acting primarily out of fear of
>   lawsuits that would rival or surpass those brought against the
>   tobacco industry," PR Week writes. Public health advocates say
>   Kraft has a major credibility issue because of its ownership by
>   Altria Group, formerly Philip Morris. "For example, Kraft has
>   announced the formation of an expert advisory committee to assess
>   the company's response to the obesity problem. But, [industry
>   critic Marion] Nestle said, 'anybody who goes on that committee is
>   flacking for [Altria]. No one who's independent is going to go on
>   that,'" PR week writes.
>SOURCE: PR Week, July 14, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058155201
>
>5. WHAT WOULD JESUS (RIVERA) DRIVE?
>http://www.thehollandsentinel.net/stories/071403/bus_071403068.shtml
>   The industry front group Sport Utility Vehicle Owners of America is
>   striking back at a Christian-sponsored anti-SUV campaign that asked
>   "What Would Jesus Drive?" The Holland (MI) Sentinel reports that
>   SUVOA, which has several hundred members, has created a $17,000 ad
>   that asks, "What Would Jesus (Rivera) Drive?" According to the ad,
>   Rivera drives an SUV because it gets him through the snow in
>   winter, and his wife likes it because she can easily transport
>   their grandchildren. "It's all about safety, utility and
>   versatility. Maybe that's why they call them SUVs," the ad says.
>   The pro-SUV group's president Jason Vines, a consultant with the
>   public relations firm Stratacomm and a former vice president of
>   communications for Ford Motor Co., says the ad is part of SUVOA's
>   membership drive. SUVOA's website calls on SUV owners to sign a
>   petition "asking anti-SUV extremists to stop their venomous attacks
>   against SUVs and their owner." Meanwhile, the anti-SUV group
>   Evangelical Environmental Network wraps up their 11-city "On the
>   Road with What Would Jesus Drive" tour in Washington D.C. with
>   meetings with lawmakers to discuss the "moral issues" surrounding
>   SUVs.
>SOURCE: Holland (MI) Sentinel, July 14, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1058155200
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058155200
>
>6. BUSH MISLED PUBLIC AND MILITARY ABOUT WAR IN IRAQ
>http://www.suntimes.com/output/orourke/cst-edt-rour13.html
>   "That the Bush administration misled the public is quite clear;
>   what has been less clear is that it also misled the military,"
>   William O'Rourke writes for the Chicago Sun-Times. "If, all along,
>   the cause and the aims of the war had been stated honestly, the
>   military would have prepared for the war they found: one where the
>   regime was toppled quickly and the population did more lasting
>   damage to the country's institutions and infrastructure than our
>   forces did."
>SOURCE: Chicago Sun-Times, July 13, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058068800
>
>7. TRADING ON FEAR
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,995669,00.html
>   What do Osama Bin Laden, the Detroit auto industry and the White
>   House have in common? They all use fear to manipulate the public.
>   The Guardian focuses on the propaganda uses of fear in an excerpt
>   from Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's
>   War on Iraq, the upcoming new book by PR Watch editors Sheldon
>   Rampton and John Stauber. The Guerrilla News Network has also
>   published a review of the book, accompanied by an interview with
>   John Stauber.
>SOURCE: Guardian (UK), July 12, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1057982400
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1057982400
>
>8. DON'T WORRY, IT'S SAFE TO EAT
>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1853839329/thecenterformediA/
>   Investigative journalist and PR Watch contributor Andrew Rowell's
>   new book, Don't Worry -- It's Safe to Eat, exposes the hidden links
>   between scientists, corporations and the government that have
>   warped policy on three potent issues: genetic engineering (GE), BSE
>   and Foot and Mouth disease. Rowell documents how politicians and
>   corporate spin doctors have twisted the public health debate,
>   allowing for inadequate and flawed regulation of the food industry.
>   As Britain decides whether to become a biotech nation or go GE
>   free, Rowell tells how intense corporate pressure via the White
>   House got respected scientist Arpad Pusztai fired for saying on
>   national British television that he won't eat his GE potatoes.
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1057878416
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1057878416
>
>9. DOUBTS MOUNT
>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/07/10/opinion/polls/main562628.shtml
>   "With U.S. troops continuing to take casualties in Iraq, less than
>   half of Americans now believe the U.S. is in control of the
>   situation there -- a dramatic decline from April, when 71 percent
>   thought it was," reports CBS News. Moreover, "For the first time a
>   majority now says the Bush administration overestimated the extent
>   of the Iraqis' weapons."  According to CostOfWar.com, the cost of
>   the war in Iraq has reached 0 $4 billion/month and counting.
>   inc_totals ();
>SOURCE: CBS News, July 10, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1057809601
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1057809601
>
>10. BUSH'S AFRICAN PHOTO-OP
>   "President Bush's stance on Africa should be evaluated on the basis
>   of his administration's policies, not stage-managed trips," Njoki
>   Njoroge Njehu, director of 50 Years Is Enough Network said. As Bush
>   travels through Africa, many have criticized his trip as nothing
>   more than a photo-op. "For example: The administration's position
>   in the WTO limits or denies the means to procure HIV/AIDS
>   medications at a reasonable price; the administration includes
>   South Africa in the list of 35 countries to be punished for not
>   exempting the U.S. from prosecution in the International Criminal
>   Court; ... the 'emergency' $15 billion announced to fight HIV/AIDS
>   in Africa has been spread over several years with no money
>   available so far," Njehu said.
>SOURCE: Institute for Public Accuracy, July 10, 2003
>Web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1057809600
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1057809600
>
>11. ALL SPIN, ALL THE TIME
>http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/8311
>   "Viva Nihilism! It must be great working in the Bush White House.
>   Zero accountability," writes Russ Baker for TomPaine.com. "It's All
>   Spin, All the Time. Nothing matters but politics, hence no
>   unfounded claim requires correction or apology. Unless, of course,
>   they are pushed to the end of the plank, as they were recently with
>   the tale about Niger and nuclear materials." For the benefit of
>   amateur "revisionist historians" concerned about the threat of
>   Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, Baker has compiled a "partial,
>   unscientific reconstruction" of fizzled claims, reported facts and
>   White House spin.
>SOURCE: TomPaine.com, July 9, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1057723200
>
>12. "PROPAGANDIST" GETS SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
>http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/opinion/6229419.htm
>   Veteran peace activist William "Bud" Combs recently spent 90 days
>   in jail for protesting against Fort Benning's Western Hemisphere
>   Institute of Security Cooperation (aka the School of the Americas).
>   "What the veteran peace activist didn't know was that he would
>   spend eight days of his sentence in solitary confinement," writes
>   Bill Berlow. "His apparent offense: receiving and sharing with
>   other inmates what federal authorities consider disruptive, if not
>   subversive, political literature. The offending 'propaganda'
>   included commentary by such extremists as Bill Moyers and Ellen
>   Goodman, and included an article published in Reader's Digest. The
>   common thread was that they all questioned the wisdom of government
>   policy."
>SOURCE: Tallahassee Democrat, July 4, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1057291201
>
>13. CORPORATE CRIMINALS GIVE BIG
>http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/07_02_03_pressrelease.html
>   Thirty-one corporate criminals gave more than $9 million to the
>   Democratic and Republican parties during the 2002 election cycle,
>   according to a report by Corporate Crime Reporter. They gave $7.2
>   million to Republicans (77 percent) and $2.1 million to Democrats
>   (23 percent). The top five corporations, ranked by amount given to
>   politicians, were Archer Daniels Midland ($1.7 million), Pfizer
>   ($1.1 million), Chevron ($875,400), Northrop Grumman ($741,250),
>   and American Airlines ($655,593).
>SOURCE: Corporate Crime Reporter, July 2, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1057118402
>
>
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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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