[eccr] Fwd: The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, August 20, 2003

>THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, August 20, 2003
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>THIS WEEK'S NEWS
>
>1. Iraq Gets New Media Chief
>2. NY Times Finds Weapons of Mass Deception
>3. Mixed Reviews For State Department's Hi Magazine
>4. The "Weaponization of Reporters"
>5. Hutton Inquiry Hears Kelly Tape
>6. Support Our Troops: Cut Their Pay
>7. Wal-Mart Seeks To Repair Image
>8. Military Retreats On Journalist Restrictions In Iraq
>9. The Terminator's Political Machine
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>1. IRAQ GETS NEW MEDIA CHIEF
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A11484-2003Aug18?language=printer
>   "U.S. authorities have appointed a media commissioner to govern
>   broadcasters and the press, establish training programs for
>   journalists and plan for the establishment of a state-run radio and
>   television network -- part of an effort to regulate Iraq's
>   burgeoning news media while dodging allegations of heavy-handed
>   control," the Washington Post's Daniel Williams reports. In June,
>   the U.S. issued "guidelines" for all media outlets in Iraq,
>   forbidding them from inciting violence or opposition to the
>   occupation authority. "Occasionally, U.S. soldiers have raided
>   newspaper offices deemed to be in breach of the regulations.... But
>   the delicacy of sending heavily armed troops to enforce media rules
>   has prompted the occupation officials to look for other ways to
>   exercise their power to censor," Williams writes. Simon Haselock, a
>   media supervisor for U.N. authorities overseeing Kosovo, will be
>   the new media commissioner. Haselock will govern the state-run
>   Iraqi Media Network (IMN), a $6 million a month radio and TV
>   project. Top defense contractor Science Applications International
>   Corp. was hired by the Pentagon to launch IMN, oversees operations
>   and supply equipment. The network will try to cover all Iraq and
>   offer 24-hour news programming as well as media training.
>SOURCE: Washington Post, August 19, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061265601
>
>2. NY TIMES FINDS WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION
>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/24/books/bestseller/0824bestpapernonfiction.html
>   New York Times reporter Judith Miller hasn't yet been able to
>   provide any evidence since the war to support her breathless
>   reporting about alleged Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, but the
>   "newspaper of record" has finally noticed Weapons of Mass
>   Deception. The new book by PR Watch editors Sheldon Rampton and
>   John Stauber appears this week as #25 on the Times bestseller list
>   for nonfiction paperbacks. Even though leading publications like
>   the Times haven't bothered to review the book, sales are strong
>   thanks to word of mouth and reviews in local and alternative media
>   - including a recent review by musician Brian Eno.
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2003.html#1061265600
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061265600
>
>3. MIXED REVIEWS FOR STATE DEPARTMENT'S HI MAGAZINE
>http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1394868
>   The State Department's glossy Arabic-language magazine aimed at 18-
>   to 35-year-olds is getting mixed reviews with its target audience.
>   Hi Magazine which focuses on cultural and societal issues, is
>   funded by more than $4 million of State Department money. So far
>   50,000 copies have been distributed from Morocco to Kuwait. U.S.
>   officials hope to increase the circulation to 250,000. In Beirut, a
>   20-year-old Lara Hawi, a Lebanese design student, told NPR, "The
>   name is attractive and we lack Arabic magazines that are not all
>   full of interviews and stupid things." But Twenty-year-old Hassan
>   Moustafa of Beruit wasn't impressed by Hi. "I would be more
>   interested if the magazine talked about why Americans support
>   Israel or why they did what they did in Iraq," he told NPR, adding
>   that it's clear to him that Americans know nothing about Arabs.
>SOURCE: NPR "All Things Considered," August 18, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2003.html#1061179201
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061179201
>
>4. THE "WEAPONIZATION OF REPORTERS"
>http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/chi-0308180200aug18,1,502134.story
>   Journalists and generals met in Chicago last week to discuss the
>   media's role in reporting on the war in Iraq and agreed that the
>   Pentagon's strategy of "embedding" journalists marked a sea change
>   in combat reporting. "We brought the military service members into
>   the homes of Americans, and they became spokespersons for the U.S.
>   military," said an army chief of public affairs. But journalists
>   like CNN's Walt Rogers criticized the Pentagon's use of the press
>   in Iraq as "the weaponization of reporters." Many reporters
>   expressed dismay that disturbing images of war did not make it onto
>   the air. "If we show any U.S. casualties," said a broadcast network
>   correspondent, "the Pentagon goes berserk, because they think about
>   the families first. But if we had shown them, it would have had a
>   profound impact on public attitudes toward the war."
>SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, August 18, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061179200
>
>5. HUTTON INQUIRY HEARS KELLY TAPE
>http://www.the-hutton-inquiry.org.uk/
>   The official Hutton Inquiry in England is posting daily transcripts
>   and other evidence related to its investigation into the
>   circumstances surrounding the death of Dr. David Kelly, who died of
>   an apparent suicide after he was identified as a source for news
>   stories alleging that the British government "sexed up" its weapons
>   dossier on Iraq. Recent evidence includes the transcript of a
>   tape-recorded conversation between Kelly and BBC reporter Susan
>   Watts. During their conversation, Kelly confirmed that he was
>   uneasy with the dossier's claim that Iraq had the capability to
>   deploy chemical weapons and biological weapons in "45 minutes." He
>   adds that the "real concern" about Iraq was "not so much what they
>   have now but what they would have in the future. But that
>   unfortunately wasn't expressed strongly in the dossier because that
>   takes away the case for war." In testimony to Hutton, however,
>   Watts distanced herself somewhat from fellow BBC reporter Andrew
>   Gilligan, who has acknowledged that some of the language "wasn't
>   perfect" in his reports that used Kelly as an anonymous source.
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2003.html#1060895339
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1060895339
>
>6. SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: CUT THEIR PAY
>http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/08/14/MN94780.DTL
>   The White House is ducking questions about its plan to cut the pay
>   of U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last month, the
>   Pentagon proposed cutting the $75 a month that soldiers receive in
>   "imminent danger pay" along with the $150 a month that they receive
>   in "family separation allowances." According to the Defense
>   Department, their budget can't sustain the higher payments amid a
>   host of other priorities. "It's all part of the lie of the Bush
>   administration, that they say they support our troops," said Susan
>   Schuman, whose son Justin is with a National Guard unit stationed
>   in Iraq.
>SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, August 14, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1060833602
>
>7. WAL-MART SEEKS TO REPAIR IMAGE
>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/14/business/14SHOP.html
>   "Wal-Mart, concerned about its public image, is using a consultant
>   to analyze that image and has commissioned radio and television ads
>   to try to reverse criticism from local officials, consumers and
>   others," Constance Hays reports. "It is the first time that
>   Wal-Mart, known for parsimony in its business practices, has
>   invested in 'reputation research' - using polling techniques, focus
>   groups and phone interviews - and then spent more money to try to
>   repair the distressing aspects of what it found." PR giant
>   Fleishman-Hillard is tracking Wal-Mart's relationships with
>   consumers, employees, bankers, community leaders and suppliers.
>   Wal-Mart's rapid growth and economic influence have attract close
>   scrutiny of the company's reliance on part-time workers, its
>   treatment of female employees, and its distain for organized labor.
>   "The project found that many people view Wal-Mart as a place of
>   dead-end jobs, and that its performance as a corporate citizen
>   leaves much to be desired," Hays writes. "To reverse the impression
>   about its jobs, Wal-Mart is broadcasting three ads nationwide that
>   portray it as a great place to work."
>SOURCE: New York Times, August 14, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1060833601
>
>8. MILITARY RETREATS ON JOURNALIST RESTRICTIONS IN IRAQ
>http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030814/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_military_media_1
>   The U.S. military ordered and then took back a directive that would
>   have restricted journalists from going with American troops on all
>   but routine missions in Iraq. According to the Associated Press,
>   "The directive told commanders throughout Iraq that reporters,
>   photographers and television crews would be prohibited from
>   traveling with the military on some operations as so-called
>   'embedded' journalists. The U.S. military headquarters in Baghdad
>   rescinded the order shortly after The Associated Press reported on
>   it. No explanation was given. ... Media coverage of the frequent
>   U.S. raids has resulted in some unflattering pictures of American
>   troops entering Iraqis' homes and holding families at gunpoint
>   during searches for weapons, Saddam loyalists and anti-American
>   attackers."
>SOURCE: Associated Press, August 14, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1060833600
>
>9. THE TERMINATOR'S POLITICAL MACHINE
>http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2003/08/blumenthal-m-08-13.html
>   Who are the figures behind actor Arnold Schwarzennegger's campaign
>   to become the governor of California? Max Blumental looks at the
>   behind-the-scenes political operatives who have orchestrated the
>   state's recall election. Schwarzennegger's high-priced consultants,
>   George Gorton and Don Sipple, have worked with Republican
>   operatives including Howard Kaloogian, David Gilliard, and former
>   Enron pollster Frank Luntz, who "devised a strategy for the recall
>   campaign centering around negative character attacks and avoidance
>   of policy discussion," Blumenthal writes. "Thanks to this handful
>   of men and the millionaires who bankrolled them, what started with
>   a petition and a few phone calls has become an election that may
>   unseat a twice-elected governor and dramatically affect the lives
>   of one in seven Americans."
>SOURCE: American Prospect, August 13, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1060747200
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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Carpentier Nico (Phd)
Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University Brussels
Studies on Media, Information & Telecommunication (SMIT)
Centre for Media Sociology (CeMeSO)
Office: C0.05
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
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