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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
>further information about current public relations campaigns.
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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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Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
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