(From 2002 until 2005, this mailing list was called the ECCR mailing list)
[Previous message][Next message][Back to index]
[eccr] Fwd: The Weekly Spin, Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Wed Oct 13 14:48:38 GMT 2004
>THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, October 13, 2004
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>sponsored by the Center for Media and Democracy (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. Downtime
>2. U.S.A. Youth Marketing
>3. Flacks with PACs
>4. The Return of Karen Ryan
>5. Baghdad Confidential
>6. Cable TV's Secret Channels of Influence
>7. See No Evil Reporters, Hear No Evil Reports
>8. Exporting U.S. Spin Down Under
>9. Begging to Praise the War
>10. Anti-Feminist Group Hired to Train Iraqi Women
>11. PR Job in Iraq: Benefits Include Bodyguard
>12. Bloggers Shape the Post-Debate Debate
>13. Edelman Starts Blogging
>14. Accidental Full Disclosure by the FCC
>15. Planting Seeds of Acceptance for GMOs
>16. Bottom Line Environmental Protection
>17. Political Jihad and the American Blog
>18. Whistleblowers on Trial: Does Not Refute
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>1. DOWNTIME
> If you visited the PR Watch website or the Disinfopedia on Tuesday,
> you may have noticed some problems. The good news is that the
> problems stem from increased usage of our website, forcing us to
> upgrade to a higher-capacity server. We've now made the upgrade,
> and hopefully the problems will not recur.
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097643603
>
>2. U.S.A. YOUTH MARKETING
>http://prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=224245&site=3
> "The U.S. Department of State is taking another stab at putting
> private-sector marketing smarts to work for America and its image
> problem," reports PR Week. Mike Holtzman, a partner at the Brown
> Lloyd James PR firm, was hired "to help plot a new course for U.S.
> public diplomacy." Holtzman is expected to "move away from
> government-branded initiatives and toward youth-oriented cultural
> campaigns." He's suggested "a center ... [to] coordinate sporting
> events, cultural and educational exchange, technological and
> medical training, and other activities aimed at engaging ordinary
> people - particularly the young - in more dialogue and
> interaction." It's seen as a major move away from Charlotte Beers'
> "Shared Values" ad campaign.
>SOURCE: PR Week (sub. req'd.), October 11, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1097467202
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097467202
>
>3. FLACKS WITH PACS
>http://prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=224404&site=3
> Believing that "political contributions help with all sorts of
> clients, not just those for which the firm does public affairs
> work," Qorvis Communications recently set up its own political
> action committee. Other PR firms with federal PACs include
> Burson-Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton and Fleishman-Hillard. The
> Center for Responsive Politics' database lists which candidates
> Burson-Marsteller (37% Democrats, 58% Republicans), Hill & Knowlton
> (48% Dems, 52% Reps) and Fleishman-Hillard (47% Dems, 53% Reps)
> have supported. Qorvis also contributes to candidates from both
> major parties; "that balance is important," said their managing
> director.
>SOURCE: PR Week (sub. req'd.), October 11, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1097467201
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097467201
>
>4. THE RETURN OF KAREN RYAN
>http://www.boston.com/news/politics/advertising/articles/2004/10/11/bush_ad_appears_to_be_news_story/
> The Education Department promoted the No Child Left Behind law with
> a video news release featuring "reporter" Karen Ryan. The VNR,
> which "comes across as a news story but fails to make clear the
> reporter involved was paid with taxpayer money," is similar to the
> Health and Human Services Department's Medicare VNRs, which were
> found to be "propaganda in violation of federal law" by the
> nonpartisan Government Accountability Office. The VNR and rankings
> for newspaper and reporter coverage of No Child Left Behind were
> part of a $700,000 contract with the Ketchum PR firm. The Education
> Department said it stopped using "narration-styled" VNRs after the
> Medicare ruling.
>SOURCE: Associated Press, October 11, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1097467200
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097467200
>
>5. BAGHDAD CONFIDENTIAL
>http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2004/10/08/e_fassihi.html
> "Can a journalist be too truthful?" That's a question that some
> media pundits are asking after Farnaz Fassihi, the Wall Street
> Journal's Middle East correspondent, sent a private email to
> friends with an unusually candid description of the deteriorating
> U.S. control over Iraq and the dangers of doing her job there. A
> copy of her email began circulating on the internet. "One could
> argue that Iraq is already lost beyond salvation," she wrote. "For
> those of us on the ground it's hard to imagine what if any thing
> could salvage it from its violent downward spiral. The genie of
> terrorism, chaos and mayhem has been unleashed onto this country as
> a result of American mistakes and it can't be put back into a
> bottle." Shortly after the email became public, Los Angeles Times
> reporter Tim Rutten spoke with two Wall Street Journal reporters,
> who told him that the paper has responded by forbidding Fassihi to
> write about Iraq for the paper until after the election,
> "presumably because unauthorized publication of her private
> correspondence somehow called into question the fairness of her
> journalism" -- even though other journalists in Iraq privately
> share her assessment. Journalism professor Jay Rosen has reviewed
> the subsequent pundit fuss and asks the obvious question: "Why
> can't reporters on the ground occasionally speak to the 'public'
> like this one occasionally spoke to her friends?"
>SOURCE: PressThink, October 8, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1097208003
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097208003
>
>6. CABLE TV'S SECRET CHANNELS OF INFLUENCE
>http://www.publicintegrity.org/telecom/report.aspx?aid=395&sid=200
> If cable TV subscribers paid for just the channels they watch ("a
> la carte"), instead of paying a flat fee for channel packages, it
> would "jeopardize an economic model that has helped the industry
> maintain huge profits." The Center for Public Integrity reports on
> "a highly sophisticated lobbying campaign" by the cable industry to
> build anti-a la carte "astroturf." Some of the "seemingly
> disinterested third parties" opposing a la carte have received
> large donations and other benefits from cable companies. Time
> Warner lobbyist Leslie Harris worked "closely with Oxygen Media" to
> "organize over 30 prominent women's organizations"; civil rights
> groups and lawmakers have also taken anti-a la carte positions.
>SOURCE: The Center for Public Integrity, October 8, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1097208002
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097208002
>
>7. SEE NO EVIL REPORTERS, HEAR NO EVIL REPORTS
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16131-2004Oct7.html
> Having "held the fewest solo news conferences of any president
> since records were kept" - 15 so far - may be hurting George Bush
> in the debates. Presidential rhetoric specialist Wayne Fields said,
> "If you don't talk to the press and deal with audiences with some
> degree of skepticism, you can't build understanding so people have
> confidence in you in hard times." The "Ask President Bush" forums
> "are tightly managed by the Bush-Cheney campaign, with the
> president calling mainly on people sitting in sections filled with
> his most loyal supporters." While Senator John Kerry's campaign
> events are "notably less scripted," Kerry has also been criticized
> for ignoring the media.
>SOURCE: Washington Post, October 8, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1097208001
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097208001
>
>8. EXPORTING U.S. SPIN DOWN UNDER
>http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1008/p06s01-woap.html
> Australia's October 9 national election might sound familiar to
> Americans -- the two major party candidates are running neck and
> neck, Iraq is a major issue, and U.S. political consultants are
> shaping the campaigns. "Campaign operatives from across the
> spectrum of Australian politics head to Washington every year to
> learn how to manage budgets, articulate messages, and develop
> poll-driven communication strategies. Even Prime Minister John
> Howard, who is seeking reelection as head of the conservative
> Liberal Party, has sent his son to work on the Bush campaign in the
> hopes of picking up trade secrets. The two main parties here have
> also imported American consultants to advise on everything from
> developing public policy to fundraising."
>SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor, October 8, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1097208000
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097208000
>
>9. BEGGING TO PRAISE THE WAR
>http://www.usni.org/proceedings/Articles04/PRO10lacey.htm
> Jim Lacey, a correspondent who has written for Time Magazine and
> the National Review, says he "had an agenda that correlated exactly
> with the military's" but still couldn't get the military to answer
> his journalistic queries, even though he was desperately trying to
> write pro-war puff pieces. "If given the right access, I told them,
> I probably could get the cover of a major newsweekly several times
> over the course of a couple of months. In addition, I had several
> national opinion magazines lined up that would publish all I could
> send them. I also was in conversations with producers of a network
> TV news magazine, and they were interested in doing a piece along
> the same positive lines." But even so, "I still found virtually my
> every attempt to get information from public affairs officers
> (PAOs) to be akin to getting water from a stone. Many times I sat
> looking at the phone in disbelief at some answer or non-answer a
> PAO had given me. ... Sometimes, I had to sit back and count off
> the reasons I should not just start writing mean little articles
> about the military." He has some advice, though, for ways the
> military can improve things. For starters, "assign a
> captain/lieutenant to each of the major media organizations. I like
> to use the term 'reverse embed.'" Also, "The military would also do
> well to look into funding various media operations," even though it
> might "give the appearance of a state-controlled media."
>SOURCE: Proceedings of the Naval Institute, October 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1097182624
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097182624
>
>10. ANTI-FEMINIST GROUP HIRED TO TRAIN IRAQI WOMEN
>http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/printnews.asp?id=8669
> The Feminist Majority Foundation has objected to the U.S.
> Department of State's decision to award part of a $10 million grant
> to an anti-feminist group, the Independent Women's Forum for
> "leadership training, democracy education and coalition building
> assistance" to women in Iraq. The IWF, which was created initially
> to defend Clarence Thomas against charges of sexual harassment
> during his U.S. Supreme Court nomination hearings, says that its
> mission is to counter "the dangerous influence of radical
> feminism." It will be working in Iraq with the American Islamic
> Conference and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a
> think tank with neoconservative ties.
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1097100880
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097100880
>
>11. PR JOB IN IRAQ: BENEFITS INCLUDE BODYGUARD
>http://career.marketingsherpa.com/sample.cfm?contentID=2522
> MarketingSherpa, a weblog for PR professionals, has posted a job
> announcement from the NettResults PR firm, which operates
> throughout the Middle East as well as in Africa, Asia and East
> Europe. The company is seeking someone to "serve as one of the
> three key contact for the Multi-National Corps - Iraq (MNC-I) media
> team promoting development and aid news/events in-country to the
> Iraqi population. ... Ideal candidate speaks Arabic and has 8-10
> yrs exper. in press office/media relations operations in a PR
> agency, for the government or armed forces. We offer: Full
> lodgings/offices, armored protection, life insurance."
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1097081395
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097081395
>
>12. BLOGGERS SHAPE THE POST-DEBATE DEBATE
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/markosmoulitsas/story/0,15139,1320053,00.html
> Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos weblog has written an insightful
> article about how bloggers helped turn the perception of first
> election debate in favor of John Kerry. "Bloggers, thinktanks, the
> Kerry campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) all
> worked to fact-check Bush and point out his bizarre behaviour," he
> writes. "The flow of information flowed two ways, as the party
> establishment and allied organisations worked hand-in-hand with the
> blogs to gather ammunition, then blast it out to the world. The DNC
> and bloggers also urged readers and supporters to swamp online
> polls after the debate, and they did. Hours after the debate, just
> about every online poll gave Kerry huge victories in the debate."
>SOURCE: Guardian (UK), October 5, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1097080352
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097080352
>
>13. EDELMAN STARTS BLOGGING
>http://www.edelman.com/speak_up/blog/
> Richard Edelman, CEO of the Edelman PR firm, has started his own
> weblog. He hasn't had a lot to say yet, but stay tuned...
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1097079858
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097079858
>
>14. ACCIDENTAL FULL DISCLOSURE BY THE FCC
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9726-2004Oct5.html
> "A trade association that represents competitors of the large
> regional telephone companies" had their lobbying plan "published by
> mistake on the Federal Communications Commission's Web site." The
> Association for Local Telecommunication Services's (ALTS) lobbying
> plan "starkly criticized the policy positions of FCC members and
> lawmakers and described the need for the association to hire, for
> $120,000 a year, a 'heavyweight Republican [lobbyist] that can
> navigate between the FCC chairman and the White House.'" The plan
> also said "ALTS has 'helped' with five fundraising events" for
> Congressional telecommunications policy committee members, but
> "needed to raise even more money for lawmakers." ALTS's president,
> who authored the plan, resigned, saying, "I wish that I had been
> more vigilant, either being more precise or not writing anything at
> all."
>SOURCE: Washington Post, October 6, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1097035201
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097035201
>
>15. PLANTING SEEDS OF ACCEPTANCE FOR GMOS
>http://www.iht.com/articles/542151.html
> "U.S. companies like Monsanto, which invested heavily in
> [genetically modified crops], suffered huge losses when Europe
> balked. As part of a public relations effort, the U.S. State
> Department enlisted a Vatican academy last month as a co-sponsor of
> a conference in Rome, 'Feeding a Hungry World: The Moral Imperative
> of Biotechnology.'" (This although a United Nations report found
> "clear evidence that the problems of the poor are being neglected"
> by the biotech industry.) "In response to such pressure, the
> European Union has relaxed legal restrictions on genetically
> modified foods." A Syngenta spokesperson said European consumers'
> rejection of GMOs is "not based on facts" but "is a political,
> cultural and media-driven decision."
>SOURCE: International Herald Tribune, October 6, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1097035200
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1097035200
>
>16. BOTTOM LINE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
>http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/9831730.htm
> The controversial head of an obscure agency in the White House is a
> "lightening rod" for criticism of Bush administration regulatory
> actions. John D. Graham runs the Office of Information and
> Regulatory Affairs and is "known as a stickler for the bottom
> line," the Seattle Times' Alex Fryer writes. "Through rigorous
> analysis, Graham wants to create 'smart' regulation that protects
> the environment at lower cost. But it is a process fraught with
> subjectivity. While it's relatively simple to document how
> environmental regulation hurts businesses, the value of pristine
> forests, clean lakes and species protection can't be expressed in
> dollars. As a result, the ratio between costs and benefits often
> appears skewed. And when it comes to actually writing regulation,
> OIRA has a record of adopting language proposed by industry
> lobbyists, not environmentalists."
>SOURCE: Seattle Times, October 4, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1096862405
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096862405
>
>17. POLITICAL JIHAD AND THE AMERICAN BLOG
>http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2004/10/04/satullo_view.html
> Journalism professor Jay Rosen has written another of his
> characteristically long-winded but thoughtful ruminations on the
> fallout from the Dan Rather memo affair and what it means for the
> long-running battle between conservatives and the "liberal media,"
> as well as for the more recent contest between traditional media
> and online bloggers. He particularly recommends (and annotates) a
> commentary by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Chris Satullo. (Warning:
> registration required.)
>SOURCE: PressThink, October 4, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1096862404
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096862404
>
>18. WHISTLEBLOWERS ON TRIAL: DOES NOT REFUTE
>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/03/politics/03whistle.html
> Dozens of cases - including that of the chief Medicare actuary, who
> was threatened with dismissal "if he provided data to Congress
> showing the cost of the new Medicare law" - have motivated Congress
> "to increase protections for federal employees who expose fraud,
> waste and wrongdoing." But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
> Federal Circuit, which hears whistleblower cases, "often assumes
> that a federal agency acted properly unless an employee offers
> 'irrefragable proof to the contrary'." New legislation (opposed by
> the Bush administration) would change the "irrefragable" - or
> impossible to refute - standard to "protect the disclosure of
> information that a whistleblower 'reasonably believes' to be
> evidence of government illegality or misconduct."
>SOURCE: New York Times, October 3, 2004
>More web links related to this story are available at:
> http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1096776000
>To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
> http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096776000
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The Weekly Spin is compiled by staff and volunteers at the
>Center for Media and Democracy. 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 Center 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 and Democracy
>are tax-deductible. Send checks to:
> CMD
> 520 University Ave. #227
> 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: 5B.454
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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]
