[eccr] The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, March 10, 2004

>THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, March 10, 2004
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>The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
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>THIS WEEK'S NEWS
>
>1. PR Watch 2003 Issues Now Online
>2. The Elitism Myth
>3. Halliburton Subcontractor Talks Turkey
>4. Gagging Sir David
>5. Saudi Clerics Bash U.S. Funded Channel
>6. Silencing Science (Again)
>7. Flacks Back Shock Jocks
>8. It's Mourning in America
>9. Torte Reform
>10. Welcome to the Machines
>11. Bush Campaign Ads: Brought to You by ... Special Interests
>12. Kerry Get Your Gun
>13. Disappearing the Dead
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>1. PR WATCH 2003 ISSUES NOW ONLINE
>http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues
>   The Third Quarter and Fourth Quarter 2003 issues of PR Watch are
>   now available free online in the PR Watch Archives section of our
>   website. Highlights of the Third Quarter issue include Sharon
>   Beder's "The Electricity Deregulation Con Game," which looks at how
>   companies like Enron used PR to sell the idea of energy
>   deregulation to the public, with disastrous consequences; and Paul
>   Goldberg's "Cancer PR Firms Still Addicted to Tobacco," which shows
>   how the Shandwick and Edelman PR firms have worked on the U.S.
>   National Dialogue on Cancer, despite a history of representing
>   tobacco industry clients. In the Fourth Quarter 2003 issue, Laura
>   Miller explains our Disinfopedia - a free, online "encyclopedia of
>   propaganda" to which anyone - including you - can contribute
>   research and information.
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/March_2004.html#1078894800
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1078894800
>
>2. THE ELITISM MYTH
>http://tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/10070
>   The "mystery of the United States," writes Tom Frank, is that
>   "wealth is today concentrated in fewer hands than it has been since
>   the 1920s; workers have less power over the conditions under which
>   they toil than ever before in our lifetimes; and the corporation
>   has become the most powerful actor in our world. Yet that rightward
>   shift - still going strong to this day - sells itself as a war
>   against elites, a righteous uprising of the little guy against an
>   obnoxious upper class." Nevertheless, he adds, "There is a grain of
>   truth in the backlash stereotype of liberalism. Certain kinds of
>   leftists really do vacation in Europe and drive Volvos and drink
>   lattes. ... And there is a small but very vocal part of the Left
>   that has nothing but contempt for the working class. ... Until the
>   American Left decides to take a long, unprejudiced look at deepest
>   America, at the kind of people who think voting for George Bush
>   constitutes a blow against the elite, they are fated to continue
>   their slide to oblivion."
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1078811897
>
>3. HALLIBURTON SUBCONTRACTOR TALKS TURKEY
>http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0309halliburton.htm
>   "Halliburton, which according to its just-released 10-K report has
>   earned $85 million on $3.6 billion in Iraqi work last year, has not
>   yet paid the subcontractor that prepared the Thanksgiving Day
>   photo-op of President George Bush serving the troops dinner in
>   Baghdad International Airport," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. NBC
>   News reports Event Source, which serves 100,000 meals a day to
>   soldiers in Iraq, says Halliburton owes it $87 million. Event
>   Source CEO Phil Morrell told NBC news that the company has already
>   laid off U.S. employees and may have to stop serving hot meals to
>   troops because the company's short on money. Morrell also said that
>   he believes Halliburton and its other food service contractors did
>   overcharge, billing the government not for meals actually served,
>   but for meals a facility could have served. Halliburton's Wendy
>   Hall told O'Dwyer's that she cannot comment on PR firms used by
>   Dick Cheney's former company because of "competitive" reasons. Hall
>   did say that Halliburton "from time to time" hires outside PR firms
>   for specific projects.
>SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR, March 9, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/March_2004.html#1078808400
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1078808400
>
>4. GAGGING SIR DAVID
>http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=499013
>   Ivan Rogers, the principal private secretary to British Prime
>   Minister Tony Blair, "<A HREF="tried to muzzle the Government's top
>   scientific adviser after he warned that global warming was a more
>   serious threat than international terrorism," report Steve Connor
>   and Andrew Grice. In a leaked memo, Rogers ordered Sir David King -
>   a scientist at Cambridge University - to decline any interview
>   requests from British and American newspapers and BBC Radio. The
>   memo and other documents related to the controversy came to light
>   after Sir David's personal press secretary, Lucy Brunt-Jenner,
>   inadvertently left a computer disk in the press room at the annual
>   meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
>   in Seattle, where Sir David gave a lecture. "The disk was lying on
>   the top of a computer in the press room and I popped it into the
>   machine to see what was on it," said freelance journalist, Mike
>   Martin. Documents on the disk included scripted answers from
>   Rogers, instructing the scientist how to answer a list of 136
>   questions that reporters might ask him.
>SOURCE: Independent (UK), March 8, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/March_2004.html#1078722000
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1078722000
>
>5. SAUDI CLERICS BASH U.S. FUNDED CHANNEL
>http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/world/story/0,4386,238884,00.html
>   Two Saudi clerics have said that Muslims should not watch, work
>   for, or advertise on the new U.S. funded Al-Hurra satellite
>   channel. In a written fatwa, Sheik Ibrahim al-Khudairi said the
>   channel was "founded by America to fight Islam, and to propagate
>   massive decay to Americanise the world." Al-Hurra, which means the
>   free one, is the latest Arabic-language media project run by the
>   Broadcasting Board of Governors. According to U.S. officials, the
>   channel, which will cost U.S. taxpayers about $62 million this
>   year, seeks to counter the anti-American "hateful propaganda" seen
>   in the Muslim world.
>SOURCE: Singapore Straits Times, March 7, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/March_2004.html#1078635600
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1078635600
>
>6. SILENCING SCIENCE (AGAIN)
>http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/other/articles/2004/03/06/presidents_panelskewed_facts_2_scientists_say/
>   "Two scientists from President Bush's top advisory board on
>   cutting-edge medical research yesterday published a detailed
>   criticism of the board's own reports, and said the board skewed
>   scientific facts in service of a political and ideological cause,"
>   reports Gareth Cook. One of the scientists, Janet Rowley, is a
>   member of the President's Council on Bioethics. The other Elizabeth
>   H. Blackburn, is a highly regarded biologist who was fired from the
>   panel last Friday. Their critique charges that reports issued by
>   the council have played down the potential of embryonic stem cell
>   research, which is opposed by fundamentalist anti-abortion groups
>   and by the Bush administration.
>SOURCE: Boston Globe, March 6, 2004
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1078549200
>
>7. FLACKS BACK SHOCK JOCKS
>http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0305fcc_prsa.htm
>   "If we start losing small, independent broadcasters because they
>   can't afford the risk of getting fined on some arbitrary
>   application of a vague standard, all we'll have left are a few big
>   media companies." So reads a letter from the Public Relations
>   Society of America to Federal Communications Commission Chair
>   Michael Powell. The PRSA opposes large increases in the FCC's
>   maximum indecency fine; legislation just passed by House
>   subcommittee would hike the current $27,500 limit to $500,000. The
>   "widening and increasingly polarized campaign to clean up the
>   nation's airwaves" makes strange political bedfellows; one of PRSA
>   President Del Galloway's specialties is "employee communications
>   during a downsizing."
>SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily, March 5, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/March_2004.html#1078462801
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1078462801
>
>8. IT'S MOURNING IN AMERICA
>http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/ny-usads053695948mar05,0,7306852.story?coll=ny-lipolitics-print
>   Believe it or not, the Bush campaign's TV ads list "an economy in
>   recession, a stock market in decline" among the reasons to vote for
>   their candidate. They also feature footage from the September 11
>   terrorist attacks, which has drawn an angry response from
>   firefighters and family members of people who died on 9/11. The
>   International Association of Fire Fighters, which has endorsed
>   Kerry, blasted the ads as "hypocrisy at its worst. ... Here is a
>   President that proposed two budgets with no funding for FIRE Act
>   grants and still plays on the image of America's bravest. His
>   advertisements are disgraceful." Carol Ashley, whose daughter died
>   in the attacks, comments: "For somebody to use the death of my
>   daughter and the other nearly 3,000 people - it's just appalling to
>   me that they would use it for political reasons." Other 9/11 family
>   members say they find it "an insult," "totally disgusting," "makes
>   me sick" and is "mind-boggling ... that he can see this event as a
>   positive reflection on his administration."
>SOURCE: Newsday, March 5, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/March_2004.html#1078462800
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1078462800
>
>9. TORTE REFORM
>http://thehill.com/news/030404/cheeseburger.aspx
>   The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote next week on
>   a "cheeseburger bill." The bill -- the Personal Responsibility in
>   Food Consumption Act (HR 339) -- would bar lawsuits against
>   fast-food outlets accused of causing obesity. Majority Leader Tom
>   DeLay's spokesperson explained: "We have a guns-and-butter
>   strategy...[favoring] narrow bills that highlight Democratic ties
>   to special-interest trial lawyers." The bill is partially in
>   response to a failed lawsuit filed by two New York teenagers
>   against McDonald's -- which, incidentally, just ended "Supersize"
>   options. The tobacco, booze and food industry front group Center
>   for Consumer Freedom has applauded similar state-level measures.
>SOURCE: The Hill, March 4, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/March_2004.html#1078376401
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1078376401
>
>10. WELCOME TO THE MACHINES
>http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0304ohio.htm
>   Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and PR giant
>   Burson-Marsteller are launching "Help Ohio Vote," a state-wide,
>   18-month, $15.3 million PR and advertising campaign "educating Ohio
>   voters about new [electronic] voting machines." The massive
>   campaign includes focus groups, media tours, ads, direct mail, and
>   an "embedded" media program. Local press noted that Blackwell's
>   media work for the campaign may help his potential gubernatorial
>   run in 2006. Meanwhile, e-voting machines received mixed marks on
>   Super Tuesday. In San Diego, "touchscreens failed to boot properly,
>   causing delays of up to two hours and forcing some voters to other
>   polling places." Computer science professor Avi Rubin concluded:
>   "Some of my concerns were laid to rest and some were made worse"
>   after serving as a Baltimore County election judge.
>SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily, March 4, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/March_2004.html#1078376400
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1078376400
>
>11. BUSH CAMPAIGN ADS: BROUGHT TO YOU BY ... SPECIAL INTERESTS
>http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1656
>   Public Citizen has released a report outlining who helped pay for
>   the Bush administration's campaign ads and what favors they have
>   received during his presidency. Bush backers include the finance,
>   real estate, communications, energy, health care, and insurance
>   industries. The report also lists the tax breaks, regulatory
>   changes, legislative favors and plum appointments Bush has given
>   his backers.
>SOURCE: Public Citizen, March 3, 2004
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1078290001
>
>12. KERRY GET YOUR GUN
>http://www.prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=203624&site=3
>   "Democrats are altering their approach to the Second Amendment this
>   year in hopes of wooing Southern and rural voters, but the National
>   Rifle Association (NRA) says it's positioned to expose what it
>   calls 'camouflage candidates,'" PR Week's Douglas Quenqua reports.
>   "A group of Democratic pollsters and strategists sent a memo to all
>   Democratic candidates last month urging them to accentuate their
>   intention to let gun owners keep their firearms while stressing the
>   need for gun safety. 'By articulating their values,' the memo read,
>   'Democrats can speak to millions of moderate gun owners and make
>   inroads in many states where owning a firearm is a way of life.'
>   ... But the NRA, largely credited with tipping the balance in the
>   2000 presidential election by courting traditional Democratic
>   voting blocs, is vowing to counter such 'posturing.'"
>SOURCE: PR Week, March 1, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/March_2004.html#1078117203
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1078117203
>
>13. DISAPPEARING THE DEAD
>http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/FB27Ak02.html
>   When planning war, one of the most important targets for military
>   officials is public opinion. "This holds true especially in a
>   democracy, when one is fighting a war of choice - as in invading
>   another country - instead of fighting a war of national survival,"
>   observes David Isenberg. "In such wars, issues like human rights
>   and civilian casualties loom larger. Since such casualties are
>   inevitable, special pains must be taken to explain them away. But
>   how to do so? In a word, spin." This is the topic of a
>   recently-released study,"Disappearing the Dead: Iraq, Afghanistan
>   and the Idea of a New Warfare" by Carl Conetta of the Cambridge,
>   Massachusetts-based Project on Defense Alternatives (PDA). Conetta
>   looks at the "public information battlespace" and shows how the
>   military and the media framed events such as marketplace bombings
>   in Baghdad, coining misleading phrases such as "precision warfare"
>   and using "casualty agnosticism" to avoic counting civilian deaths.
>SOURCE: Asia Times, February 27, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/February_2004.html#1077858001
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1077858001
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
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