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[eccr] Fwd: The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Sun Jul 27 08:34:01 GMT 2003


>THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, July 23, 2003
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>The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
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>THIS WEEK'S NEWS
>
>1. Witch Hunts And PR Blunders In The UK
>2. Hyping A Hero
>3. USDA's Food Irradiation Promotion
>4. Brands On The Run
>5. Kelly's Suicide
>6. Baghdad Bulletin
>7. Worse Than Gay: Canadian!
>8. Dead But Not Counted
>9. Shut Up and Fight
>10. Playing With a Full Deck
>11. Rewriting History
>12. End Of The Ari Era
>13. Corporate Money Silences Critics And Makes Friends
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>1. WITCH HUNTS AND PR BLUNDERS IN THE UK
>http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16463
>   "In England, they shot the messenger," the Los Angeles Times'
>   Robert Scheer writes, referring to the apparent suicide of British
>   biological weapons expert David Kelly. The scientist, who worked
>   for the British Ministry of Defense, found himself at the center of
>   a battle between the British government and the BBC over a BBC
>   report that the government "sexed up" a September 2002 intelligence
>   dossier on Iraq's weapons. "Kelly's death and the unraveling
>   justifications for war have created a governmental crisis and
>   prompted calls for Blair to resign," Scheer writes. "Instead of
>   admitting this now-obvious fact, the Blair government unleashed a
>   witch hunt against the BBC and anyone in the Blair administration
>   who might have been a source for the news agency's reporting."
>   Meanwhile, the Guardian reports that the British Secretary of
>   Defense stumbled into a PR blunder. "Geoff Hoon's decision to
>   attend the British grand prix following the death of David Kelly
>   was a public relations gaffe on a par with John Gummer feeding his
>   daughter a beefburger at the height of the BSE crisis," the
>   Guardian writes.
>SOURCE: Alternet, July 22, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1058846401
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058846401
>
>2. HYPING A HERO
>http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030722/ts_nm/iraq_usa_lynch_dc_3
>   "Jessica Lynch, the wounded Army private whose ordeal in Iraq was
>   hyped into a media fiction of U.S. heroism, was set for an
>   emotional homecoming on Tuesday in a rural West Virginia community
>   bristling with flags, yellow ribbons and TV news trucks," Reuters
>   reports. "But when the 20-year-old supply clerk arrives by
>   Blackhawk helicopter to the embrace of family and friends, media
>   critics say the TV cameras will not show the return of an injured
>   soldier so much as a reality-TV drama co-produced by U.S.
>   government propaganda and credulous reporters. 'It no longer
>   matters in America whether something is true or false. The
>   population has been conditioned to accept anything: sentimental
>   stories, lies, atomic bomb threats,' said John MacArthur, the
>   publisher of Harper's magazine." PR Watch's Sheldon Rampton and
>   John Stauber take a close look at how the White House manipulated
>   U.S. public opinion on Iraq in their upcoming book "Weapons of Mass
>   Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq."
>SOURCE: Reuters, July 22, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1058846400
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058846400
>
>3. USDA'S FOOD IRRADIATION PROMOTION
>http://www.citizen.org/documents/minnesotareport.pdf
>   A USDA program billed to educate schools, parents and children on
>   food irradiation was actually designed to promote irradiation and
>   convince school districts to serve irradiated meat according to a
>   new report by Public Citizen. The public interest group's study,
>   "The Plan of Ten Thousand Mistakes: Minnesota's Misguided Food
>   Irradiation Education Project," points out the project's "numerous
>   flaws, including questionable survey research techniques, failure
>   to provide balanced information, the withdrawal of one of the three
>   school districts, dissemination of inaccurate information, and
>   failure to translate material for non-English-speaking students and
>   parents." Of particular concern is that nearly half of the pilot
>   project's "partners" have ties to Sure Beam, a major food
>   irradiation company, Public Citizen reports.
>SOURCE: Public Citizen, July 21, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058760001
>
>4. BRANDS ON THE RUN
>http://www.msnbc.com/news/938263.asp
>   With international opinion against the United States growing
>   increasingly hostile and economic uncertainty looming at home, U.S.
>   companies are becoming more worried about their appeal abroad. "In
>   an annual survey conducted since 1998, RoperASW has been looking
>   for a connection between the dwindling reputation of America and
>   the worldwide appeal of its top brands, from Disney to Microsoft,"
>   Newsweek's Karen Lowry Miller reports. "It had found no such link
>   until this year, when a survey of 30,000 consumers in 30 major
>   economies found that those who felt an increasing alienation from
>   American culture were also likely to report a growing
>   disinclination to eat at McDonald's, or to buy Nike shoes. Most
>   startling, 11 of the top 12 American multinationals saw falling or
>   stagnant scores for 'brand power,' a measure of how well they are
>   known and liked, while nine of the top 12 European and Asian
>   multinationals saw their scores rise," Miller writes.
>SOURCE: Newsweek, July 21, 2003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058760000
>
>5. KELLY'S SUICIDE
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3079927.stm
>   British Prime Minister Tony Blair is under pressure following the
>   apparent suicide of Iraq weapons expert David Kelly. An intensely
>   private individual, Kelly came under public scrutiny and was
>   grilled by the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament to see if he
>   might be the whistleblower alleged to have told BBC journalist
>   Andrew Gilligan that Blair's government had "sexed up" its
>   September dossier on Iraqi weapons. A judicial inquiry into Kelly's
>   death is expected.
>SOURCE: BBC, July 19, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1058587200
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058587200
>
>6. BAGHDAD BULLETIN
>http://www.baghdadbulletin.com/
>   The Baghdad Bulletin, a struggling but lively English-language
>   publication whose British publishers began working almost
>   immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein, offers a range of
>   stories and perspectives about conditions inside the country. The
>   latest issue looks at water and electrical shortages, the emergence
>   of Internet cafes, Iraq's first war crimes museum, and a variety of
>   other topics.
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1058541605
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058541605
>
>7. WORSE THAN GAY: CANADIAN!
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8158-2003Jul17.html
>   After ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman reported on complaints
>   from U.S. soldiers in Iraq, the White House tried to smear him by
>   leaking the word to cyber-gossip Matt Drudge that Kofman is gay and
>   Canadian. (Oooh!) If they feel that this sort of personal
>   information is important for public discourse, now is as good a
>   time as any to mention that Dick Cheney's daughter is a lesbian,
>   and there are some colorful stories about Drudge's own sexual
>   preferences.
>SOURCE: Washington Post, July 17, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1058414402
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058414402
>
>8. DEAD BUT NOT COUNTED
>http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1935586
>   According to Thursday's press and television reports, 33 U.S.
>   soldiers have died in combat since President Bush declared an end
>   to the major fighting in the war on May 2. Actually the numbers are
>   much worse -- and rarely reported by the media. According to
>   official military records, the number of U.S. soldiers who have
>   died in Iraq since May 2 is actually 85. This includes a staggering
>   number of non-combat deaths. "Even if killed in a non-hostile
>   action, these soldiers are no less dead, their families no less
>   aggrieved," observes Greg Mitchell. "Nevertheless, the media
>   continues to report the much lower figure of 33 as if those are the
>   only deaths that count. A web site called Iraq Coalition Casualty
>   Count is tracking the deaths, by whatever cause, of U.S. military
>   personnel in Iraq.
>SOURCE: Editor & Publisher, July 17, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1058414401
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058414401
>
>9. SHUT UP AND FIGHT
>http://www.abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20030716_595.html
>   General John Abizaid, the new chief of U.S. Central Command, has
>   issued a threat aimed at U.S. soldiers who complain publicly about
>   the situation in Iraq. "Some U.S. troops in Iraq have complained
>   publicly about the uncertainty of when they are returning home,"
>   write Will Dunham and Michael Georgy. "A group of soldiers aired
>   their concerns on U.S. television on Wednesday, speaking of poor
>   morale and disillusionment with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
>   Abizaid said troops who criticized Rumsfeld in comments to
>   reporters faced possible 'verbal reprimand or something more
>   stringent' from their commanders." But Abizaid himself is
>   contradicting Rumsfeld, who has refused to characterize the
>   situation in Iraq as a guerrilla war. According to Abizaid, U.S.
>   forces are facing "a classical guerrilla-type campaign against us.
>   It's low-intensity conflict in our doctrinal terms, but it's war
>   however you describe it." Why did we get into this mess to begin
>   with? In an interview with Australian radio broadcaster Mick
>   O'Regan, PR Watch editor Sheldon Rampton discusses our new book,
>   Weapons of Mass Deception, about the propaganda used to lead
>   American, British and Australian soldiers into war.
>SOURCE: ABC News, July 17, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1058414400
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058414400
>
>10. PLAYING WITH A FULL DECK
>http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0715-12.htm
>   "A high school teacher, fed up with the Bush administration's
>   popular playing cards featuring Saddam Hussein, 'Chemical Ali' and
>   other most-wanted Iraqis, is now selling her own deck, 'Operation
>   Hidden Agenda,'" writes Kim Curtis. "Kathy Eder's 55 playing cards
>   show pictures of President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
>   and others along with quotes, mostly from journalists, questioning
>   the rationale for the U.S.-led war. The backs feature a 1983
>   photograph of Rumsfeld shaking Sadaam Hussein's hand." Unable to
>   find a publisher, Eder published the cards herself, and they've
>   been selling well, even though many retailers have refused to carry
>   them. "She imitated some of the best marketing minds in the
>   country," said bookstore owner Don Gardner, who says sales of the
>   cards at his store are "running neck-and-neck" with the latest
>   Harry Potter book.
>SOURCE: Associated Press, July 15, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1058241603
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058241603
>
>11. REWRITING HISTORY
>http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2003/07/15/bush/index_np.html
>   "We gave him a chance to allow the inspectors in, and he wouldn't
>   let them in." George W. Bush uttered that amazing sentence
>   yesterday to justify the war in Iraq, according to the Washington
>   Post. "Now a presidential statement so frontally at variance with
>   the universally acknowledged facts obviously presents a problem for
>   the White House press corps," comments Joe Conason. "There's no
>   plausible explanation, unless the president suddenly flashed back
>   to his Yale sophomore philosophy seminar, grappling with the
>   argument that everything we perceive is mere illusion. For the
>   moment, however, let's just assume reality does exist. What
>   possessed the president to make an assertion that everyone on the
>   planet knows to be untrue? And who is going to take the
>   responsibility for this one? Did George Tenet vet Bush's statement?
>   Do the British have a secret dossier proving that Saddam never
>   actually admitted Hans Blix and the UNMOVIC teams? Will Condi Rice
>   or Donald Rumsfeld show up on Fox News next weekend to explain why
>   Bush's statement is 'technically accurate,' even though he
>   shouldn't have said it? As hard to explain as what Bush said is the
>   press corps' failure to report his stunning gaffe."
>SOURCE: Salon.com, July 15, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1058241602
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058241602
>
>12. END OF THE ARI ERA
>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/14/politics/14CND-LETT.html?ei=1&en=05f9a75dea0c12e2&ex=1059312518&pagewanted=print&position=
>   White House press secretary Ari Fleischer today ended his
>   two-and-a-half-year tenure as the President's top spokesperson. The
>   man who New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller wrote "often displayed
>   the charm of a cold glass of water behind the briefing room
>   lectern" looks forward to becoming a well paid after-dinner speaker
>   and starting his own Washington consulting firm, Ari Fleischer
>   Communications, that will advise corporate executives on handling
>   the news media. The outgoing press secretary was notorious for
>   dodging questions and thwarting aggressive White House reporters.
>   Corporate Crime Reporter editor Russell Mokhiber documented his
>   interactions with Fleischer, including today's press conference, in
>   his online Commondreams.org feature "Ari & I." Fleischer's longtime
>   deputy Scott McClellan will take over the press secretary duties.
>SOURCE: New York Times, July 14, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1058155202
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1058155202
>
>13. CORPORATE MONEY SILENCES CRITICS AND MAKES FRIENDS
>http://www.msnbc.com/news/936290.asp?cp1=1
>   "Corporate cash has pervaded the health nonprofit world, raising
>   new concerns about medical groups' independence," MSNBC reports.
>   The Center for Science in the Public Interest released a new study
>   that looks at how corporate money co-opts nonprofit organizations.
>   "Organizations that receive substantial funding from companies
>   don't want to offend their supporters. It's natural," CSPI's
>   Michael Jacobson says. iThese affiliations can stifle criticism and
>   that, I think, is an important point because the public perceives
>   independent nonprofit groups as being public-service oriented."
>   "The report also questions the growth of official-sounding
>   nonprofits that are what Jacobson calls 'corporate creations.'
>   Founders of the Council for Biotechnology Information include
>   chemical firms BASF, Dow, DuPont and Monsanto. Many members of the
>   American Council for Fitness and Nutrition are food industry
>   giants, such as McDonalds, and trade groups like the Snack Food
>   Association," MSNBC reports.
>SOURCE: MSNBC, July 9, 2003
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2003.html#1057723201
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1057723201
>
>
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Carpentier Nico (Phd)
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