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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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>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. 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)
Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University Brussels
Studies on Media, Information & Telecommunication (SMIT)
Centre for Media Sociology (CeMeSO)
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