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[eccr] The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, July 7, 2004
Wed Jul 07 08:16:56 GMT 2004
>THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, July 7, 2004
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>The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
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>THIS WEEK'S NEWS
>
>1. Look Who Has Jumped Into Bed With Ralph Nader
>2. Throwing Voices
>3. First Thing We'll Do, We'll Campaign Against the Trial Lawyer
>4. Bushwhacked
>5. Statue Liberties
>6. The Swing Street Strategy
>7. Who Would Jesus Elect?
>8. GOP's Denial of Democracy Attack
>9. The Butchered Audio of Baghdad
>10. Anti-Warming Lobbying Heats Up
>11. Fahrenheit 9/11 Ignites a Right Wing Counter-Attack
>12. The List
>13. O'Reilly Loses It Again
>14. Third Time's a Charm
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>1. LOOK WHO HAS JUMPED INTO BED WITH RALPH NADER
>http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0706-09.htm
> Ralph Nader's run for the presidency of the US has brought him some
> strange right-wing bedfellows such as Citizens for a Sound Economy.
> CSE has been working hard to place Nader on the presidential ballot
> in Oregon, and will do so too in Wisconsin and other states,
> according to press accounts describing them as 'a conservative
> anti-tax organization.' Such a description is a little like saying
> Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are Christian ministers. We reveal
> much more about Citizens for a Sound Economy in our new book Banana
> Republicans: How the Right is Turning America into a One-Party
> State. The Center for Media and Democracy investigates and tracks
> the work of corporate front groups including CSE through our
> Disinfopedia website. There you can find out the latest information
> and you can help us keep tabs and report on CSE and other corporate
> fronts.
>SOURCE: CommonDreams.org, July 6, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089086402
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089086402
>
>2. THROWING VOICES
>http://thehill.com/news/070604/voa.aspx
> According to The Hill, nearly half of the Voice of America's staff
> signed a petition complaining that the Broadcasting Board of
> Governors launched "new services in the Middle East with no
> editorial accountability" while cutting back VoA programs in the
> region. One VoA editor called the new Middle East networks - Radio
> Sawa, al-Hurra and Radio Farda - "expensive and ill advised." The
> VoA petition claims the new networks "provide inadequate news
> coverage and do not operate under VoA's charter, which guarantees
> balanced reporting." Other Middle East media have questioned the
> credibility of the new U.S.-funded networks.
>SOURCE: The Hill, July 6, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089086401
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089086401
>
>3. FIRST THING WE'LL DO, WE'LL CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE TRIAL LAWYER
>http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB108906847567455577,00.html?mod=politics%5Fsecondary%5Fstories%5Fhs
> "Tom Donohue, head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has made a
> public vow: If John Edwards is chosen as John Kerry's running mate,
> the chamber will abandon its traditional stance of neutrality in
> the presidential race and work feverishly to defeat the Democratic
> ticket. 'We'd get the best people and the greatest assets we can
> rally' to the cause, he says," reports Alan Murray. An anonymous
> Fortune 100 CEO called Edwards "the one we fear the most" - not for
> his views, which are "more moderate and more in line with business"
> than Dean or Gephardt - but because he's a trial lawyer.
>SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, July 6, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089086400
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089086400
>
>4. BUSHWHACKED
>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/07/04/wbots04.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/07/04/ixworld.html
> In Botswana, "hundreds of Bushmen evicted from their Kalahari
> homelands have suffered what some would see as the final indignity:
> being paraded before British [Parliamentarians] as part of a lavish
> public relations campaign." The indigenous rights group Survival
> International reported, "the visit was organised by the huge PR
> company, Hill & Knowlton, which has been contracted by the Botswana
> government and [diamond company] DeBeers to counter the Bushmen's
> campaign for their land rights." In response to criticism at the
> exclusion of land rights campaigners, one Botswanan official said,
> "they should organise their own trip."
>SOURCE: Telegraph (UK), July 4, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1088913600
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1088913600
>
>5. STATUE LIBERTIES
>http://www.latimes.com/la-na-statue3jul03,1,7327035.story?coll=la-home-headlines
> In our book, Weapons of Mass Deception, we wrote that the famous
> toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue, a moment that seemed to
> symbolize victory for U.S. troops in Iraq, was staged by the U.S.
> army. Now the army has admitted it. "On Point," an army report on
> lessons learned from the war, notes that it was a Marine colonel,
> not Iraqi civilians, who decided to topple the statue. "We moved
> our [tactical PSYOP team] TPT vehicle forward and started to run
> around seeing what they needed us to do to facilitate their
> mission," states a U.S. military officer involved in the operation.
> "There was a large media circus at this location (I guess the
> Palestine Hotel was a media center at the time), almost as many
> reporters as there were Iraqis, as the hotel was right adjacent to
> the Al-Firdos Square. The Marine Corps colonel in the area saw the
> Saddam statue as a target of opportunity and decided that the
> statue must come down." The pyschological team used loudspeakers to
> encourage Iraqi civilians to assist, packed the scene with Iraqi
> children, and stepped in to readjust the props when one of the
> soldiers draped an American flag over the statue. "God bless them,
> but we were thinking from PSYOP school that this was just bad
> news," the officer reported. "We didn't want to look like an
> occupation force, and some of the Iraqis were saying, 'No, we want
> an Iraqi flag!' So I said 'No problem, somebody get me an Iraqi
> flag.'"
>SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, July 3, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1088827200
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1088827200
>
>6. THE SWING STREET STRATEGY
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21972-2004Jul1.html
> "That's not very wise ... People are aware that this has happened.
> It's going to be treated seriously," warned GOP strategist Grover
> Norquist, incensed that biotech company Amgen hired a former senior
> Al Gore aide to lobby for them. Norquist's "K Street Project,"
> launched in 1995 to reward loyal Republican lobbyists with access
> to influential officials, may be weakening as lobby firms hire
> Democrats to balance GOP-heavy rosters, reports the Washington
> Post. With the outcome of the November elections uncertain, "there
> is some bet-hedging going on" via Democratic hires, said a partner
> at the major Washington DC lobbying firm Patton Boggs.
>SOURCE: Washington Post, July 2, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1088740801
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1088740801
>
>7. WHO WOULD JESUS ELECT?
>http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2658470
> The Bush-Cheney campaign continued its church-based outreach by
> giving religious volunteers 22 timelined tasks. By July 31,
> volunteers are to "send your church directory to your state
> Bush-Cheney '04 headquarters or give [it] to a BC04 field rep." By
> August 15, "talk to your church's seniors or 20-30 something group
> about Bush-Cheney '04." In October, "finish distributing voter
> guides in your church" and post notices "about all Christian
> citizens needing to vote." An IRS letter to the Bush and Kerry
> campaigns noted, "religious organizations are allowed to sponsor
> debates, distribute voter guides and conduct voter registration
> guides" unless they show "a preference for or against a certain
> candidate or party."
>SOURCE: Houston Chronicle, July 2, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1088740800
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1088740800
>
>8. GOP'S DENIAL OF DEMOCRACY ATTACK
>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/01/politics/main627138.shtml
> The former head of a GOP Marketplace, a Republican consulting
> group, has pleaded guilty to jamming get-out-the-vote efforts on
> election day in New Hampshire two years ago. The company used
> computer-generated phone calls to flood phone lines that were set
> up so voters could call for rides to the polls. It's just one
> example of right-wing efforts to "block the vote" that we describe
> in our book, Banana Republicans. If anyone would like to create a
> Disinfopedia article about this scam, you can still find a copy of
> the GOP Marketplace website at the Internet archive.
>SOURCE: Associated Press, July 1, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1088654403
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1088654403
>
>9. THE BUTCHERED AUDIO OF BAGHDAD
>http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/variety/20040701/va_ne_al/sounds_of_silence_3
> U.S. military censors are vetting video and audio footage of Saddam
> Hussein's Baghdad trial, according to Variety. Some of the edited
> footage provided to U.S. news networks might have come from Defense
> Department cameras, the only ones allowed to record sound.
> Comparisons of New York Times reporter John Burns' trial coverage
> and the edited footage identified some missing audio from the
> edited recordings; Burns, who had a translator with him in the
> courtroom, quoted Saddam Hussein as saying, "Everyone knows that
> this is a theatrical comedy by Bush, the criminal, in an attempt to
> win the election."
>SOURCE: Variety, July 1, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1088654402
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1088654402
>
>10. ANTI-WARMING LOBBYING HEATS UP
>http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=scienceNews&storyID=5569900§ion=news
> In Alaska, Mayor Edith Vorderstrasse told federal officials, "Our
> weather pattern is really different. It's not consistent like it
> used to be." The General Accounting Office found that 184 of 213
> Native Alaskan villages face flooding and erosion problems, in what
> may be the first major sign of U.S. climate change. In London, the
> British government is hosting a week-long visit by U.S.
> Representative Wayne Gilchrest and eight Congressional staffers,
> "to discuss [climate change] in an intimate setting with British
> policy makers, scientists and business leaders," according to The
> Hill. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw earlier told a U.S.
> audience, "It is critically important that we address the issue of
> climate change now, and together."
>SOURCE: Reuters UK, July 1, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1088654401
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1088654401
>
>11. FAHRENHEIT 9/11 IGNITES A RIGHT WING COUNTER-ATTACK
>http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Fahrenheit_9/11
> Michael Moore's award-winning, record-breaking, Bush-bashing
> documentary has spawned a well-funded attack from right wing
> millionaires, politicians, front-groups, pundits and many in
> mainstream corporate media. We're tracking the tumult in our
> Disinfopedia.
>SOURCE: Disinfopedia, July 1, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1088654400
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1088654400
>
>12. THE LIST
>http://www.cjr.org/issues/2004/4/mccollam-list.asp
> "Perhaps no list of reporters has commanded such attention in
> Washington since Richard Nixon compiled his enemies list more than
> thirty years ago," writes Douglas McCollam, discussing the
> reporters whose names and phone numbers appear in a confidential
> July 2002 memorandum from the Iraqi National Congress (INC). The
> memo lists 108 news stories that were influenced by INC-supplied
> defectors. "The balance of the stories," McCollam writes, "advanced
> almost every claim that would eventually become the backbone of the
> Bush administration's case for war, including Saddam Hussein's
> contacts with al Qaeda, his attempts to develop nuclear weapons,
> and his extensive chemical and bioweapons facilities - all of which
> are now in grave doubt." According to Helen Kennedy, one of the
> reporters whose name appears on the list, "The INC's agenda was to
> get us into a war. The really damaging stories all came from those
> guys, not the CIA. They did a really sophisticated job of getting
> it out there." After interviewed reporters whose names appear on
> the list, McCollam concludes that "influencing public opinion
> through the American and European media was always central to the
> INC's mission (of the 108 stories on Qanbar's list, fifty appeared
> in U.S. news outlets). One of the first uses for the Iraq
> Liberation Act funds was to hire the giant public relations firm
> Burson-Marsteller."
>SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, June/July 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/June_2004.html#1088642579
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1088642579
>
>13. O'REILLY LOSES IT AGAIN
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16182-2004Jun29.html
> "When he appeared on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News Channel show last
> week, Georgetown law professor David Cole was impressed that the
> hard-charging host played, as part of his opening commentary, 'a
> balanced sound bite' from the chairman of the 9/11 commission,"
> reports Howard Kurtz. "Cole was less impressed when an aggravated
> O'Reilly stopped the taping of 'The O'Reilly Factor' and killed the
> sound bite. And when Cole brought up the incident during his
> interview, he says, O'Reilly 'exploded,' called him an SOB and
> declared he would never be invited back."
>SOURCE: Washington Post, June 29. 2004
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1088633539
>
>14. THIRD TIME'S A CHARM
>http://thehill.com/news/063004/coldwar.aspx
> "Cold War hawks are resurrecting a decades-old group to lobby for a
> harder line against terrorist organizations and rogue states,"
> reports The Hill. The Committee on the Present Danger will see its
> third incarnation (it was established in 1950 and re-formed in
> 1976) as a Washington DC-based lobby group, headed by PR pro and
> former Reagan adviser Peter Hannaford. Other known members include
> Senator Joe Lieberman, former CIA director James Woolsey, and
> Reagan administration official and 1976 Committee founder Max
> Kampelman. Past Committee incarnations advocated for tripling the
> defense budget and helped launch neoconservatives into government
> positions.
>SOURCE: The Hill, June 30, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/June_2004.html#1088568001
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1088568001
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
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