Archive for July 2004

(From 2002 until 2005, this mailing list was called the ECCR mailing list)
[Previous message][Next message][Back to index]

[eccr] The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, July 14, 2004

Wed Jul 14 06:48:41 GMT 2004


>THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, July 14, 2004
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>sponsored by PR WATCH (www.prwatch.org)
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>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.
>
>SHARE US WITH A FRIEND (OR FIFTY FRIENDS)
>Who do you know who might want to receive Spin of the Week?
>Help us grow our subscriber list!  Just forward this message to
>people you know, encouraging them to sign up at this link:
>
>http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/subscribe_sotd.html
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>THIS WEEK'S NEWS
>
>1. Armey's Army Marches for Nader
>2. The Blog Is The Message
>3. Censorious or Sensitive?
>4. Of Foxes and Guerrillas
>5. A Funny Way To Show You Care
>6. Bypassing the Broadcast Media
>7. Ad Infinitum
>8. Oppose the Status Quo, but Don't Change
>9. Deceptive Defectors
>10. Revenge of the Teletubbies
>11. Mega Mediasaurus
>12. The Importance of Timing
>13. How Conspiracy Theories Took Us To War
>14. High-rise Blitz
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>1. ARMEY'S ARMY MARCHES FOR NADER
>http://www.accuracy.org/press_releases/PR071304.htm
>   "Citizens for a Sound Economy, a national organization led by
>   former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R., Texas), is widening
>   its efforts to help presidential candidate Ralph Nader get on the
>   ballot in pivotal states. A recent news release from the
>   corporate-backed group says it plans to pursue those efforts 'in
>   key battleground states like Wisconsin, Florida, Michigan,
>   Pennsylvania and elsewhere.' John Stauber, founder and executive
>   director of the Center for Media and Democracy, said today: 'The
>   Republican machine is mobilizing for Nader. Major Republican
>   funders are sending checks to Nader, and a far-right
>   industry-funded front group, Citizens for a Sound Economy, is
>   organizing to get Ralph on the November ballot in a number of swing
>   states. Nader, the sworn enemy of corporate power and influence,
>   has become its not-so-secret weapon for the November election.' "
>SOURCE: Institute for Public Accuracy news release, July 13, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089691200
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089691200
>
>2. THE BLOG IS THE MESSAGE
>http://www.globalprblogweek.com/archives/jay_rosen_pr_needs_t.php
>   "Public relations should first understand that to the extent that
>   its art is a form of 'spin' - whether it's reasonable spin,
>   accepted spin, good spin, bad spin, terrible spin - it is selling a
>   service for which there is less and less value, and less mind is
>   paid to it. Spin was possible in the era of few-to-many media, and
>   a small number of gatekeepers who could be spun," media critic and
>   Press Think blogger Jay Rosen tells Micro Presuasion blogger Steve
>   Rubel, who also takes part in Global PR Blog Week 1.0, an online
>   forum on PR and blogs. With the rise of participatory journalism,
>   which has been facilitated by the Internet and weblogs, Rosen says
>   journalistic bloggers create a "second wave" effect that has an
>   impact on the traditional press. "A little orchestra of
>   interpreters instantly comes along and does something to
>   journalism, plays back its significance, but first editing out all
>   the noise. It's like a reply. Smart journalists are tuning into
>   that because its an intelligent use of their work - and a departure
>   point, a place where criticism flashes," Rosen says.
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089673543
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089673543
>
>3. CENSORIOUS OR SENSITIVE?
>http://nytimes.com/2004/07/12/nyregion/12billboard.html
>   Clear Channel Communications refused to display a peace group's
>   billboard ad in New York's Times Square during the Republican
>   Convention. The ad features a red, white and blue bomb graphic with
>   the words "Democracy Is Best Taught by Example, Not by War." The
>   peace group says Clear Channel also rejected their alternative ad,
>   in which a dove replaced the bomb graphic. (Clear Channel says they
>   found the dove ad acceptable.) A Clear Channel marketing executive
>   explained that New Yorkers "are extremely sensitive to references
>   to war." A peace group spokesperson remarked, "I guess we can have
>   a war, but we can't talk about it."
>SOURCE: New York Times, July 12, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089604800
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089604800
>
>4. OF FOXES AND GUERRILLAS
>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/11/magazine/11FOX.html
>   Robert Greenwald employs "a 'guerrilla' method of documentary
>   filmmaking, creating timely political films on short schedules and
>   small budgets and then promoting and selling them ... through
>   partnerships with grass-roots political organizations like
>   MoveOn.org." His latest, "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on
>   Journalism," includes "interviews with former Fox employees, leaked
>   policy memos ... and extensive footage from Fox News, which
>   Greenwald is using without the network's permission." Greenwald
>   worked with "a team of media volunteers ... who monitored Fox News
>   24 hours a day for months." While praising "Outfoxed," Don Hazen
>   asks, "Do we run the danger of making Fox News appear more powerful
>   than it is?" In any case, Fox News has gone ballistic over the
>   film. If you want to see it, MoveOn is sponsoring screenings at
>   theaters and house parties throughout the United States.
>SOURCE: New York Times, July 11, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089518401
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089518401
>
>5. A FUNNY WAY TO SHOW YOU CARE
>http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/9127309.htm
>   GOP pollster Frank Luntz's advice against 1998 rookie Senate
>   candidate John Edwards - "it's almost impossible to go too far when
>   it comes to demonizing lawyers" - wasn't successful, but Luntz
>   remains influential. Molly Ivins writes that Luntz is now focusing
>   on women undecided voters. Noting that many women feel pressured,
>   he advises, "It's not about issues, it's about empathy. They have
>   to know that you care." After Bush administration attacks on family
>   leave, Head Start, services for domestic violence survivors, equal
>   pay and anti-discrimination law enforcement, Ivins wonders "how
>   Bush could convince 'the ladies' that he has helped take stress out
>   of their lives."
>SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer, July 11, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089518400
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089518400
>
>6. BYPASSING THE BROADCAST MEDIA
>http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/001466.php
>   "In the strongest evidence to date that Americans are routinely
>   using the Internet to bypass traditional media, a new report finds
>   that about one quarter of Net users say they go online to find news
>   coverage and images they can't get from the mainstream media. Net
>   users say they have sought out graphic Iraq war images in
>   particular."
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089446477
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089446477
>
>7. AD INFINITUM
>http://livingroomcandidate.movingimage.us/election/index.php?nav_action=election&nav_subaction=overview&campaign_id=174
>   If you're interested in reliving the TV advertisements from
>   previous presidential elections, the American Museum of the Moving
>   Image has put together an archive featuring every ad from every
>   election since TV first infected politics in 1952. Our favorite is
>   "Failure," a 1968 ad by candidate Richard Nixon. Campaigning
>   against the Democrats for leading America into Vietnam, the Nixon
>   ad asks, "How can a party that lets the country get bogged down in
>   an endless war against a fourth rate military power promise
>   anything but decades of conflict?" Pretty good question, huh?
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089445158
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089445158
>
>8. OPPOSE THE STATUS QUO, BUT DON'T CHANGE
>http://news.findlaw.com/news/s/20040709/madcowfdadc.html
>   The Food and Drug Administration "banned brains and other cattle
>   parts that could carry mad cow disease from use in cosmetics and
>   dietary supplements, but delayed some similar safeguards in animal
>   feed for up to two years." In January, Health and Human Services
>   Secretary Tommy Thompson proposed an "interim final rule" (first
>   discussed in 2002) to strengthen animal feed regulations. "We must
>   never be satisfied with the status quo," he said. But new feed
>   regulations have now been downgraded to an "advance notice of
>   proposed rulemaking," which delays possible implementation. Today,
>   Thompson explained, "We cannot be content with the status quo."
>SOURCE: Reuters, July 9, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089345601
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089345601
>
>9. DECEPTIVE DEFECTORS
>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/09/politics/09defe.html
>   Iraqi defectors who stepped forward with stories about Saddam
>   Hussein's weapons of mass destruction were coached by senior
>   figures in Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, according to a
>   former INC field leader. To back up his claim, Muhammad al-Zubaidi
>   has provided provided his handwritten diaries from 2001 and 2002,
>   and his existing reports on the statements originally made by the
>   defectors. "According to the documents," writes Jim Dwyer, "the
>   defectors, while speaking with precision about aspects of Iraqi
>   military facilities like its stock of missiles, did not initially
>   make some of the most provocative claims about weapons production
>   or that an Iraqi official had met with Mr. bin Laden." According to
>   Zubaidi, "They intentionally exaggerated all the information so
>   they would drag the United States into war. ... I don't want to
>   criticize U.S. agencies, but it's strange that the U.S. with all
>   its powerful agencies, the C.I.A., could not manage to know the
>   truth from the lies in these people."
>SOURCE: New York Times, July 9, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089345600
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089345600
>
>10. REVENGE OF THE TELETUBBIES
>http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0708/p11s01-wmgn.html
>   "When a beautiful girl walks up to you, and she's wearing the TV
>   commercial on her chest, you just can't get away from it," enthused
>   Adam Hollander, head of The Brand Marketers and creator of T-Shirt
>   TV. The shirts contain speakers and 11-inch TV screens, which can
>   show video ads, flash animation or slides. T-Shirt TVs worn by
>   "aggressively friendly" young women will be part of a 10 city
>   marketing campaign for the movie "I, Robot." Advertising executive
>   David Helm commented, "Advertising is obnoxious so that it gets
>   attention. And then that doesn't work anymore, so it gets more
>   obnoxious."
>SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor, July 8, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089259200
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089259200
>
>11. MEGA MEDIASAURUS
>http://www.metropulse.com/dir_zine/dir_2004/1428/t_cover.html
>   Conservatives and liberals alike are concerned by growing media
>   consolidation, notes Jack Bradigan Spula, but he warns that "this
>   outrage is being channeled into a national debate about
>   'indecency,' 'values' and moral policing." The Federal
>   Communications Commission, headed by Michael Powell, recently
>   announced large fines for broadcasters whose programming is deemed
>   indecent. The problem is that the large fines will still be just a
>   drop in the bucket for large networks but "will burden small
>   independents disproportionately - and thus tilt the playing field
>   even more to mega-corporate advantage." Monty Pythonite Eric Idle
>   has commented on the trend with a song dedicated to the FCC.
>   (Warning: It contains profanity. Idle says that at $5,000 per
>   F-word, his song will cost half a million in fines to any station
>   that broadcasts it.)
>SOURCE: Metro Pulse (Knoxville, TN), July 7, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089172801
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089172801
>
>12. THE IMPORTANCE OF TIMING
>http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040719&s=aaj071904
>   Wondering why the Bush administration only "significantly increased
>   its pressure on Pakistan to kill or capture Osama bin Laden, his
>   deputy, Ayman Al Zawahiri, or the Taliban's Mullah Mohammed Omar"
>   this spring, The New Republic interviewed Pakistani security
>   officials. One member of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services
>   Intelligence said, "The Pakistani government ... wants to flush out
>   bin Laden and his associates after the latest pressures from the
>   U.S. administration to deliver before the U.S. elections." Another
>   ISI official claimed that a White House aide told ISI's director,
>   "It would be best if the arrest or killing of [High Value Targets]
>   were announced on 26, 27 or 28 July" - during the Democratic
>   National Convention.
>SOURCE: The New Republic, July 7, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089172800
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089172800
>
>13. HOW CONSPIRACY THEORIES TOOK US TO WAR
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1254072,00.html
>   Peter Bergen, a professor of international studies and author of a
>   recent book about Osama Bin Laden, takes a look at Laurie Mylroie
>   of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), whose theory that Iraq
>   was behind Al Qaeda exerted strong influence on the Bush
>   administration's decision for war. "She is a conspiracy theorist
>   whose political conceits have consistently been proved wrong,"
>   Bergen says. "So why were Bush and his aides so keen to swallow
>   Laurie Mylroie's theories on Saddam and terrorism?" Juan Cole, a
>   professor of Middle East studies, says part of the answer lies in
>   the role that think tanks like AEI play in pushing ideas forward:
>   "In the academic world," Cole observes, "we don't get to publish
>   our books at academic presses without peer review. When Princeton
>   University Press considered my book, written out of the Egyptian
>   National Archives, on the 19th century Urabi Revolt, the editor
>   sent the manuscript to eminent experts in 19th century Egyptian
>   history. Now, I lived in the Arab world for 6 years, have a degree
>   in Arabic studies from Cairo, and had a Fulbright grant for my
>   research. I spent a year working almost daily in the archives in
>   Cairo. I had an academic position in a major department at a major
>   university. But Princeton University Press did not trust me. They
>   still had the book refereed. In contrast, the American Enterprise
>   Institute publishes anything Mylroie hands into them, no matter how
>   fantastic. She does not speak Arabic, has never been in any Iraqi
>   archive, and has no standing in the Middle East field. Her books
>   don't have to be refereed, apparently. ... And then the mere fact
>   of the book's existence can become a reference-point in political
>   debate. ... I guess if you have the backing of enough incredibly
>   rich people, you can get away with almost anything."
>SOURCE: Guardian (UK), July 5, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/spin/July_2004.html#1089000001
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089000001
>
>14. HIGH-RISE BLITZ
>http://www.sfexaminer.com/article/index.cfm/i/070504n_condos
>   Ed McGovern, a Democratic political consultant in the San Francisco
>   Bay area, is helping local developer Glenborough-Pauls as the
>   company fights environmentalists opposed to a controversial
>   condominium project. The PR campaign, calling itself the "Know All
>   the Facts Coalition," is using print advertising and bringing
>   together union representatives, elected officials and government
>   employees in an effort to stymie a petition drive that seeks to
>   halt the project.
>SOURCE: San Francisco Examiner, July 5, 2004
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
>    http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1089000000
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The Weekly Spin is compiled by staff and volunteers at PR Watch.
>To subscribe or unsubcribe, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/subscribe_sotd.html
>
>Daily updates and news from past weeks can be found at the
>Spin of the Day" section of the PR Watch website:
>http://www.prwatch.org/spin/index.html
>
>Archives of our quarterly publication, PR Watch, are at:
>http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues
>
>PR Watch, Spin of the Day and the Weekly Spin are projects
>of the Center for Media & Democracy, a nonprofit organization
>that offers investigative reporting on the public relations
>industry. We help the public recognize manipulative and
>misleading PR practices by exposing the activities of
>secretive, little-known propaganda-for-hire firms that
>work to control political debates and public opinion.
>Please send any questions or suggestions about our
>publications to:
>(editor /at/ prwatch.org)
>
>Contributions to the Center for Media & Democracy
>are tax-deductible. Send checks to:
>    CMD
>    520 University Ave. #310
>    Madison, WI 53703
>
>To donate now online, visit:
>https://www.egrants.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2344-0|1118-0
>_______________________________________________
>Weekly-Spin mailing list
>(Weekly-Spin /at/ prwatch.org)
>http://two.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/weekly-spin

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Carpentier Nico (Phd)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Katholieke Universiteit Brussel - Catholic University of Brussels
Vrijheidslaan 17 - B-1081 Brussel - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-412.42.78
F: ++ 32 (0)2/412.42.00
Office: 4/0/18
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Media Sociology (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.30
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.28.61
Office: C0.05
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
European Consortium for Communication Research
Web: http://www.eccr.info
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ kubrussel.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------  


----------------
ECCR-Mailing list
---
To unsubscribe, send an email message to (majordomo /at/ listserv.vub.ac.be)
with in the body of the message (NOT in the subject): unsubscribe eccr
---
ECCR - European Consortium for Communications Research
Secretariat: P.O. Box 106, B-1210 Brussels 21, Belgium
Tel.: +32-2-412 42 78/47
Fax.: +32-2-412 42 00
Email: (freenet002 /at/ pi.be) or (Rico.Lie /at/ pi.be)
URL: http://www.eccr.info
----------------


[Previous message][Next message][Back to index]