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[eccr] fwd:The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, August 27, 2003
Thu Aug 28 17:28:36 GMT 2003
THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, August 27, 2003
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
1. Movie Industry Courts Congressmen
2. White House Defends Iraq Plan
3. EPA Failed New Yorkers On Post-9/11 Air Quality
4. Fox's Suit Sells More Books
5. Consumers Trust Media Reports Over Advertising
6. Fox's Lying Liars Lose in Court
7. Patriot Act Campaign May Violate Anti-Lobbying Act
8. Lumber Company Launches Greenwashing Campaign
9. When Propagandists Believe Their Own Propaganda
10. The Washington 'PR'ess Corps
11. State Department Eyes Internet Ads
12. One Hundred Days of Ineptitude
13. Ashcroft's Charm Offensive
14. It's Still A Cow-Eat-Cow World in North America
15. Hot Flush for Big Pharma
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1. MOVIE INDUSTRY COURTS CONGRESSMEN
The Motion Picture Association of America is courting two
Congressmen involved with deregulating the movie industry's
corporate parents. Up for grabs is MPAA's $1.15 million lobbying
job. Top candidates for the post are Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), who
oversees the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the House
and champions an FCC ruling loosening station ownership limits, and
Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), who is on the record opposing efforts to
roll back that FCC ruling in the Senate. "It's obscene for Tauzin
and Breaux to be in the running for the MPAA, the fattest media
lobbying job in Washington, while advocating in Congress on behalf
of companies that control the MPAA," said Robert McChesney,
Professor of Communications at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. "It tends to confirm what the vast majority of
Americans have suspected - relaxed media ownership rules are an
X-rated exercise in power and influence." Also of concern is that
the top MPAA contenders have taken at least $217,500 in tobacco
money. Tobocco control activists say, "Big Tobacco depends on
smoking scenes in youth-rated movies to recruit more than half of
all new young smokers."
SOURCE: UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education Press Release, August 26, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061870402
2. WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS IRAQ PLAN
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44757-2003Aug25.html
As the American death count continues to rise in Iraq, the White
House has launched a campaign to defend its handling of the Iraq
occupation, addressing a number of different veterans groups. The
number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq since the May 1 "end of
major combat operations" has surpassed the number of troop deaths
during "Operation Iraqi Freedom," begun March 19. National security
adviser Condoleezza Rice told a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention
in Texas that the public needs to be patient, the Washington Post
reports. "Transformation in the Middle East will require a
commitment of many years," Rice said. "The transformation of the
Middle East is the only guarantee that it will no longer produce
ideologies of hatred that lead men to fly airplanes into buildings
in New York or Washington." Addressing the American Legion
convention in St. Louis, George W. Bush pledged to continue
fighting the "war on terrorism." "No nation can be neutral in the
struggle between civilization and chaos," Bush said.
SOURCE: Washington Post, August 26, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2003.html#1061870401
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061870401
3. EPA FAILED NEW YORKERS ON POST-9/11 AIR QUALITY
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/112247p-101268c.html
Nearly two years after the collapse of the World Trade Center, the
Environmental Protection Agency's inspector general reports that
the failure of EPA officials to properly inform New Yorkers of the
dangers of the fallout can be traced to inside the White House.
"The news that White House staff ordered the EPA to minimize
potential health dangers near Ground Zero was bad enough," NY Daily
News' Juan Gonzalez writes. "But the details in the 165-page report
about how the EPA lied to the public - and even subverted its own
safety standards in the process - are chilling. The original draft
of a Sept. 13, 2001, EPA press release, for example, stated, 'Even
at low levels, EPA considers asbestos hazardous in this situation
...' Staff members at the White House Council on Environmental
Quality turned those words upside down. 'Short-term, low-level
exposure [to asbestos] of the type that might have been produced by
the collapse of theWorld Trade Center buildings is unlikely to
cause significant health effects,' the revised report stated."
Gonzalez told Democracy Now! that the man in charge of the Council
on Environmental Quality, James Connaughton, prior to his June 2001
White House appointment earned his living as a lawyer defending
asbestos polluting companies and other industrial polluters.
SOURCE: New York Daily News, August 26, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2003.html#1061870400
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061870400
4. FOX'S SUIT SELLS MORE BOOKS
http://www.prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=188420&site=3
"I'd love to make the case that Fox News will suffer irreparable
damage to its reputation as a result of its frivolous lawsuit
against satirist and author Al Franken, but I can't," writes Paul
Holmes for PR Week. "Because the kind of people who take Fox News
seriously won't care, and the kind of people who care are already
incapable of taking Fox News seriously. ... The suit is rich in
irony, from the fact that Fox News can trademark a phrase so
unrelated to its true agenda (it's as if Larry Flynt had
trademarked the phrase 'tasteful and modest') to the fact that
O'Reilly can accuse anyone of launching 'gratuitous personal
attacks' to the fact that right-wing Fox, which is opposed to
frivolous lawsuits, would itself launch one of the most frivolous
in living memory. (Even The Wall Street Journal editorial page
found the suit ridiculous.) ... In fact, the only impact of the
suit will be that Franken's book sells many more copies than it
could without the publicity - it's already shot to number five on
Amazon's bestseller list."
SOURCE: PR Week, August 25, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2003.html#1061784001
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061784001
5. CONSUMERS TRUST MEDIA REPORTS OVER ADVERTISING
http://www.prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=188359&site=3
"A clear majority of American consumers are more likely to trust
media reports than advertising, according to a nationwide poll
conducted by consumer research company RoperASW last month," PR
Week writes. "The study ... showed that 68% of participants place
more weight on news coverage than advertising when determining
their trust of individual companies. While just 23% of respondents
said they consider the two to be of equal value, a mere 9% called
advertising more important." While this may come as no surprise,
it's a boon for PR firms, often vying with advertisers for
corporate dollars. "We wanted to demonstrate the best way for a
company to rebuild the consumer trust that's been taken away by the
recent corporate scandals," explained Ron Hanser, president of
Hanser & Associates, which sponsored the survey. Among other
results, the survey found that trust in the media also appeared to
rise with education and income level.
SOURCE: PR Week, August 25, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061784000
6. FOX'S LYING LIARS LOSE IN COURT
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/08/23/fox.franken/
A federal judge has ruled against Fox News in its lawsuit
attempting to suppress publication of liberal satirist Al Franken's
book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced
Look at the Right. Franken's book rose to the top of Amazon.com's
bestseller list after Fox filed the suit, in which it claims that
the title of the book infringes upon its trademarked slogan, "fair
and balanced." According to Peter Ames Carlin, Fox commentator Bill
O'Reilly is still lying about one of the lies that Franken exposes
in his book, in which O'Reilly falsely claimed to have received a
prestigious Peabody Award for journalism. "O'Reilly had nothing to
do with the award," Carlin writes. "He should take responsibility
for claiming otherwise. Instead, he's attacking Al Franken and
trying to bully me into changing the record for him."
SOURCE: CNN, August 23, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2003.html#1061611200
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061611200
7. PATRIOT ACT CAMPAIGN MAY VIOLATE ANTI-LOBBYING ACT
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28849-2003Aug21.html
"The Justice Department has urged U.S. attorneys to contact
congressional representatives who voted against a key
anti-terrorism provision of the USA Patriot Act," the Washington
Post's Dan Eggen reports. "An Aug. 14 memorandum from Guy A. Lewis,
director of the executive office for United States Attorneys,
encourages federal prosecutors 'to call personally or meet with ...
congressional representatives' to discuss 'the potentially
deleterious effects' of an amendment approved in the House last
month that would cut off funding for 'sneak and peek' warrants in
terrorism cases. Attached to the memo is a list of names and
telephone numbers of House members, with an asterisk next to the
names of those who voted in favor of the amendment .... Justice
officials said they believe the effort does not violate the
Anti-Lobbying Act, which generally prohibits government employees
from lobbying for or against legislation. But Rep. John Conyers Jr.
(Mich.), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee,
wrote a letter to Attorney General John D. Ashcroft yesterday
questioning whether a current speaking tour by Ashcroft and
contacts between U.S. attorneys and members of Congress amount to a
violation of the law."
SOURCE: August 22, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061524803
8. LUMBER COMPANY LAUNCHES GREENWASHING CAMPAIGN
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/6592059.htm
"Pacific Lumber, the Northern California redwood logging giant
whose clear-cuts have made it among the most vilified companies in
the West by environmental groups over the past 15 years, is getting
a makeover," the San Jose Mercury News writes. "Famous for enduring
tree-sitting protesters, threatening to chop down the ancient
Headwaters Forest, and facing constant lawsuits, Pacific Lumber has
unveiled a new 'rebranding' campaign to repaint its image green."
The company, now known as "Palco", has a new green logo, revamped
website and newspaper ads featuring loggers replanting trees. But
critics still laugh at Palco being environmentally friendly. "If
Palco's green, I'm Princess Diana," Kathy Bailey, a Sierra Club
logging activist in Mendocino County, told the Mercury News. "These
kind of campaigns usually succeed in making employees feel better,"
Eric Dezenhall, president of the crisis communications firm
Nichols-Dezenhall, told the Mercury News. "But the public knows oil
companies drill for oil and timber companies chop wood. I haven't
in 20 years found campaigns to appease one's attackers to be that
effective."
SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, August 22, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2003.html#1061524802
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061524802
9. WHEN PROPAGANDISTS BELIEVE THEIR OWN PROPAGANDA
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29303-2003Aug21.html
"Perhaps even more disturbing than the administration's
indifference to the truth or falsity of the various claims it made
before the war is the fact that it seemed to believe its own
propaganda," the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne, Jr. writes.
"President Bush and Vice President Cheney really thought that if
they wished it, it would come -- 'it' in this case being not only a
quick victory in the war but also a rapid rallying of Iraqis to the
American standard afterward. Last March on 'Meet the Press,'
moderator Tim Russert asked Cheney: 'If your analysis is not
correct and we're not treated as liberators but as conquerors, and
the Iraqis begin to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think
the American people are prepared for a long, costly, bloody battle
with significant American casualties?' Cheney replied: 'Well, I
don't think it's likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really
do believe that we will be greeted as liberators.'"
SOURCE: Washington Post, August 22, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061524801
10. THE WASHINGTON 'PR'ESS CORPS
http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/printStoryId.aspx?StoryId=3384
"The U.S. media model works beautifully: For the governing, that is
-- not the governed," writes Stephan Richter for the Globalist.
"What is truly shocking about the state of the U.S. media today is
that, to an amazing extent, the belief to restrict themselves to
the facts -- as they are provided by the government -- is willingly
accepted by the mainstream U.S. media. ... In most countries around
the world, journalists choose their profession with a proud claim
that they are part of a permanent opposition. They act as a
checks-and-balances mechanism for those in power -- and ask vital
questions concerning the nation's future. It is high time for many
in the U.S. media establishment to reconsider their
establishment-enhancing ways. The media must once again learn to be
critical."
SOURCE: The Globalist, August 22, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061524800
11. STATE DEPARTMENT EYES INTERNET ADS
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0821state_ads.htm
The State Department has issued a request for proposals for "an
advertising campaign targeting Arab-language media on the web with
the goal of explaining U.S. policy in the Middle East," O'Dwyer's
PR Daily reports. "As part of that work, State also wants to pitch
its 'Rebuilding Afghanistan' Arabic site to show that 'the U.S.
follows through with its obligations and promises,' according to a
copy of the proposal. The two-month campaign would target seven to
ten key Arabic portals, identified by the government to possibly
include Al-Jazeera (Qatar), MSN Arabia, CNN's Arabic site, Asharq
Al-Awsat (London), Al Bahhar (United Arab Emirates), and other
sites based in Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Ads, which are to
include banners, skyscrapers and pop-ups, are required to show the
U.S. flag and the URL for the State Dept. website being pitched."
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily, August 21, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061438400
12. ONE HUNDRED DAYS OF INEPTITUDE
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/20/opinion/20DOWD.html
The vacationing George W. Bush recently said from his Crawford,
Texas ranch, "We've made a lot of progress" in Iraq. The
pronouncement was timed with the White House release of a 24-page
report called "Results in Iraq: 100 Days Toward Security and
Freedom". Detailing "highlights of the successes" in Iraq, the
report -- prepared by the White House Office of Global
Communications and the staff of L. Paul Bremer, the U.S.
administrator in Iraq -- makes claims that "differ significantly
from the dozens of daily reports filed by journalists on the
ground," WorkingforChange.com's Bill Berkowitz writes. "One of the
things the terrorists in Baghdad and Jerusalem blew up yesterday
was the credibility of the Panglossian Bush version of what's
happening in the Middle East," the New York Times' Maureen Dowd
writes. "In yet another spun-up government document on Iraq, the
White House listed 100 ways that things were going great in the 100
days we've been on the scene. The report burbled with gimcrackery
about the '10 signs of better infrastructure' -- days before an oil
pipeline and then a water pipeline were blown up -- and about
soccer balls and science textbooks."
SOURCE: New York Times, August 20, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2003.html#1061352001
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061352001
13. ASHCROFT'S CHARM OFFENSIVE
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0308200339aug20,1,7484795.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft recently launched a national
campaign to dismiss growing criticism of the controversial USA
Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law passed after the September 11
attacks. Speaking at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute,
Ashcroft said, "To abandon this tool would disconnect the dots,
risk American lives and liberty, and reject Sept. 11th's lessons."
The Department of Justice Patriot Act website is
LifeandLiberty.gov. Ashcroft will take the life and liberty message
to police and prosecutors in a dozen cities in the next few weeks.
The Chicago Tribune reports the ACLU's Laura Murphy said that
Ashcroft's effort was merely a "charm offensive" to "favorably spin
policies violative of civil liberties." "Although the Department of
Justice is understandably reluctant to admit it, the real
significance of this road show is that it shows the Patriot Act is
becoming a kitchen table issue," Murphy said.
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, August 20, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2003.html#1061352000
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061352000
14. IT'S STILL A COW-EAT-COW WORLD IN NORTH AMERICA
http://www.maddeer.org/coweatcowworld.html
"Why isn't the F.D.A. adopting the same rules as the European Union
to protect Americans from Mad Cow Disease? Since 1996, Chicago Life
readers have been learning about a very serious human and animal
health issue, Mad Cow disease spurned by most media. The facts
surrounding this issue are being heavily spun by government
agencies and?representatives of the multi-billion dollar livestock
industry. Most Americans probably think that the United States has
been doing everything it can to prevent?Mad Cow disease from
emerging here, but that is not the case, according to?John
Stauber, co-author of Mad Cow U.S.A."
SOURCE: Chicago Life Magazine, August 17, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/August_2003.html#1061092800
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061092800
15. HOT FLUSH FOR BIG PHARMA
http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/327/7411/400?eaf
The sale of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to women is a
multi-billion dollar cash cow for the pharmaceutical industry. What
will its PR machine do in the face of evidence that long-term HRT
use increases women's risk of blood clots, strokes, heart attacks,
breast cancer, and dementia, and has no quality of life benefits?
Jocalyn Clark recounts the history of the industry's campaign to
"medicalize menopause," beginning in the 1960s when Wyeth, which
accounts for more than 70% of the global HRT market, subsidized the
publication of a book titled Forever Feminine, which touted hormone
replacements as a virtual fountain of youth for the "dull and
unattractive" aging woman. More recently, PR firms such as RED
Consultancy, the Social Issues Research Centre, and Haas & Health
Partner have orchestrated testimonials from celebrities and
industry-funded nonprofit organizations to downplay evidence of
HRT's health risks and convince women that it will give them better
careers, relationships, health and sex lives.
SOURCE: British Medical Journal, August 16, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1061006400
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