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[eccr] Fwd: The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, May 21, 2003

Wed May 21 07:22:43 GMT 2003


>THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, May 21, 2003
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>The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
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>THIS WEEK'S NEWS
>
>1. The Media Monopoly
>2. What's In A Name?
>3. Nature Conservancy Does Damage Control
>4. Burson-Marsteller Hires Former State Department Official For NGO Outreach
>5. Socially Responsible Killers
>6. Keepers of Bush Image Lift Stagecraft to New Heights
>7. Hired Guns
>8. Private Lynch's Rescue 'Hugely Overblown'
>9. Press Not Ready to Cover Our Own Gaza
>10. The Blair Affair
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>1. THE MEDIA MONOPOLY
>   "A majority of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) intends
>   to ratify a sweeping plan to weaken or eliminate rules that limit
>   the size and power of media companies," media watchdog Fairness &
>   Accuracy in Reporting writes. Among other things, the changes would
>   allow a company to own a newspaper and a TV station in the same
>   market, and would significantly increase the number of TV stations
>   one company can own. The FCC is scheduled to vote June 2 on the
>   proposal. MediaReform.net says the move will create "the biggest
>   wave of media consolidation in history." The website and other
>   media activist groups are calling on citizens to contact Congress
>   and FCC commissioners asking them to allow for more public
>   education and debate on the proposed rule changes. Senator Russ
>   Feingold (D-WI) and two Democratic FCC commissioners have already
>   asked FCC chair Michael Powell to postpone the vote. The sparse TV
>   network news coverage of the ownership proposal has itself drawn
>   criticism. "These networks are all owned by companies that stand to
>   profit from the FCC's plan to re-shape the media landscape. Their
>   scant coverage of these issues-- ranging from very little at ABC to
>   none at all at NBC-- reflects a glaring conflict of interest," FAIR
>   writes.
>Web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2003.html#1053474408
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1053474408
>
>2. WHAT'S IN A NAME?
>http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=2780754
>   The Pentagon has renamed its controversial Total Information
>   Awareness program "Terrorist Information Awareness," Reuters
>   reports. In an effort to address concerns that TIA would allow
>   unfettered surveillance by combing computer records, the Pentagon
>   told Congress that "the program would have built-in mechanisms to
>   ensure that it did not intrude on Americans' privacy." Meanwhile
>   the Pentagon announced a new office to set "the defense priorities
>   for the intelligence community." It will be called the  Office of
>   the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence in the Pentagon.
>SOURCE: Reuters, May 20, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2003.html#1053403201
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1053403201
>
>3. NATURE CONSERVANCY DOES DAMAGE CONTROL
>http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0520nature.htm
>   Responding to an in-depth Washington Post expose, The Nature
>   Conservancy has hired Edelman PR Worldwide for damage control. The
>   Post's multi-part article portrayed the environmental non-profit,
>   which has $3 billion in assets, as a willing dealmaker for the
>   benefit of its corporate supporters and trustees. According to
>   O'Dwyer's PR Daily, the Arlington, Va.-based group is desperate to
>   avoid Congressional inquiry into its activities. The Nature
>   Conservancy's PR strategy includes "Capitol Hill visits, calls to
>   donors, third-party letters to newspapers, full-page advertisements
>   and attempts to pacify charitable foundations, according to TNC
>   documents obtained by the Post." The group criticized the Post's
>   series for "focusing on a narrow set of isolated problems" that do
>   not "present an honest or comprehensive picture of the work of The
>   Conservancy."
>SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily, May 20, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2003.html#1053403200
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1053403200
>
>4. BURSON-MARSTELLER HIRES FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL FOR NGO OUTREACH
>http://www.socialfunds.com/news/release.cgi/1839.html
>   PR giant Burson-Marsteller has hired Bennett Freeman as managing
>   director for Corporate Responsibility in the firm's U.S. Corporate
>   and Financial Practice. The former Deputy Assistant Secretary of
>   State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor "will lead the
>   fast-growing specialty area that advises the firm's corporate and
>   institutional clients on corporate responsibility policies,
>   stakeholder engagement strategies, and international standards and
>   initiatives that address human rights, labor rights, the
>   environment and sustainable development." Freeman serves on the
>   Board of Directors of Oxfam America and on the Business and
>   Economic Relations Group of Amnesty International USA.
>SOURCE: Burson-Marsteller Press Release, May 19, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1053316800
>
>5. SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE KILLERS
>http://www.publici.org/dtaweb/report.asp?ReportID=523&L1=10&L2=10&L3=0&L4=0&L5=0
>   Our Fourth Quarter 2003 issue of PR Watch detailed the British
>   American Tobacco company's effort to reposition itself as "socially
>   responsible." Now the Center for Public Integrity has produced a
>   detailed report, citing internal industry documents, showing how
>   the tobacco industry is using "social responsibility" to "prevent
>   the enactment of a tough worldwide treaty" regulating tobacco
>   marketing.
>SOURCE: Public I, May 16, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2003.html#1053057601
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1053057601
>
>6. KEEPERS OF BUSH IMAGE LIFT STAGECRAFT TO NEW HEIGHTS
>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/16/politics/16IMAG.html?pagewanted=print&position=
>   "We pay particular attention to not only what the president says
>   but what the American people see," White House Communications
>   Director Dan Bartlett told the New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller.
>   "Americans are leading busy lives, and sometimes they don't have
>   the opportunity to read a story or listen to an entire broadcast.
>   But if they can have an instant understanding of what the president
>   is talking about by seeing 60 seconds of television, you accomplish
>   your goals as communicators." Bumiller writes the Bush
>   administration is "going far beyond the foundations in stagecraft
>   set by the Reagan White House, is using the powers of television
>   and technology to promote a presidency like never before." The
>   Times' Paul Krugman see the White House's "pursuit of televised
>   glory" coming at the expense of real world accomplishments. "Mr.
>   Bush strikes heroic poses on TV, but his administration neglects
>   anything that isn't photogenic," Krugman writes.
>SOURCE: New York Times, May 16, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2003.html#1053057600
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1053057600
>
>7. HIRED GUNS
>http://www.publici.org/dtaweb/index.asp?L1=20&L2=10&L3=23&L4=0&L5=0
>   While lobbyists and their employers in 39 states spent more than
>   $715 million wining, dining and generally influencing state
>   lawmakers in 2002, many details about how those dollars were spent
>   remain hidden from public view, according to a comprehensive
>   analysis by the Center for Public Integrity.
>SOURCE: The Public I, May 15, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1052971202
>
>8. PRIVATE LYNCH'S RESCUE 'HUGELY OVERBLOWN'
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,956255,00.html
>   The dramatic rescue of Private Jessica Lynch became one of the big
>   moments of the war, but her Iraqi doctors say the rescue was
>   staged. "We were surprised. Why do this? There was no military,
>   there were no soldiers in the hospital," said Dr Anmar Uday, who
>   worked at the hospital. "It was like a Hollywood film. They cried
>   'go, go, go', with guns and blanks without bullets, blanks and the
>   sound of explosions. They made a show for the American attack on
>   the hospital - action movies like Sylvester Stallone or Jackie
>   Chan." And there was "one more twist," notes John Kampfner. "Two
>   days before the snatch squad arrived, Harith had arranged to
>   deliver Jessica to the Americans in an ambulance." British spin
>   doctors are critical of how their U.S. counterparts handled
>   communications during the war. Kampfner reports that Simon Wren, a
>   top UK spokesman, "wrote a confidential five-page letter to
>   [Downing Street's] Alastair Campbell complaining that the American
>   briefers weren't up to the job. He described the Lynch presentation
>   as embarrassing." According to Wren, the Lynch incident was 'hugely
>   overblown' and symptomatic of a bigger problem. "The Americans
>   never got out there and explained what was going on in the war," he
>   said. "All they needed to be was open and honest. They were too
>   vague, too scared of engaging with the media."
>SOURCE: Guardian (UK), May 15, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1052971200
>
>9. PRESS NOT READY TO COVER OUR OWN GAZA
>http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1886454
>   "Now that the feel-good, flag-waving part of war is over, the real
>   culprits, the commercial-broadcast media, are going to pack up and
>   leave," says longtime war correspondent Chris Hedges. "What they've
>   done is a huge disservice to the nation. They have no sense of
>   responsibility to continue reporting as the story gets more
>   complicated and difficult to report." The result, he fears, is that
>   "we'll see Iraq in terms of flare-ups and incidents, without any
>   context or sense of what's happening or why. That makes it
>   difficult for us to have informed judgments."
>SOURCE: Editor & Publisher, May 14, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1052884800
>
>10. THE BLAIR AFFAIR
>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/national/11PAPE.html
>   The New York Times has published a detailed account of the
>   deceptions perpetrated by African-American reporter Jayson Blair,
>   who plagiarized other journalists' work and fabricated details of
>   stories about topics including the DC sniper and the war in Iraq.
>   The Blair scandal has prompted speculation that affirmative action
>   got him special newsroom treatment on account of his race. Amy
>   Alexander points out, however, journalism has plenty of "miscreants
>   from the overwhelming white and male press corps." The real
>   difference is that when white guys like Mike Barnicle, Stephen
>   Glass and Bob Greene do something to besmirch journalism, they have
>   often "managed to resurrect themselves following their supposed
>   falls from grace. ... As usual, white men are the main
>   beneficiaries of that particular perk."
>SOURCE: New York Times, May 11, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/May_2003.html#1052625600
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1052625600
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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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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