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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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>sponsored by PR WATCH (www.prwatch.org)
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>The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
>further information about current public relations campaigns.
>It is emailed free each Wednesday to subscribers.
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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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