[eccr] The Weekly Spin, May 4, 2005

>THE WEEKLY SPIN, May 4, 2005
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>THIS WEEK'S NEWS
>
>
>== BLOG POSTINGS ==
>1. Looking for Leads on an Environmental Story
>
>== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
>1. One-Party State Media
>2. The Free Press and the Fake Press
>3. Democracy's Great, but the Elections Are Boring
>4. Disclosure for Video (but Not the Radio) Stars
>5. Operation Iraqi Sims
>6. Oil and Rigorous Science Just Don't Mix
>7. Screaming Nielsen and Count Astroturf
>8. Drugs: As Seen on TV
>9. Do You Hear What I Hear?
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>== BLOG POSTINGS ==
>
>1. LOOKING FOR LEADS ON AN ENVIRONMENTAL STORY
>by Sheldon Rampton
>   Here's your chance to help with an important journalistic
>   investigation. Former New York Times reporter Philip Shabecoff and
>   his wife Alice are doing research about the links between
>   environmental toxicants and the epidemic of childrenâ¬"s chronic
>   illnesses in the United States today, and they're looking for some
>   leads. The research will lead to a book for the general public.
>   Beyond documenting the evidence arising from the new sciences, the
>   Shabecoffs intend to tell stories about families and communities
>   affected by corporate behavior. The Shabecoffs will try to â¬Üfollow
>   the moneyâ¬" to explain government laxity.
>        The following are questions for which the Shabecoffs would
>   appreciate responses or leads to sources of information:
>For the rest of this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3629
>
>== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
>
>1. ONE-PARTY STATE MEDIA
>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/02/arts/television/02public.html
>   "The Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
>   is aggressively pressing public television to correct what he and
>   other conservatives consider liberal bias," reports the New York
>   Times. "Without the knowledge of his board," CPB chair Kenneth
>   Tomlinson spent $10,000 on an outside consultant who tracked the
>   show "Now With Bill Moyers," characterizing guests as "anti-Bush,"
>   "anti-business" and "anti-Tom DeLay." "On the recommendation of
>   administration officials," Tomlinson hired the White House Office of
>   Global Communications' director to "draft guidelines" for new
>   positions charged with monitoring "objectivity and balance" on
>   public television and radio. Tomlinson also helped get on air "The
>   Journal Editorial Report," featuring the conservative editorial page
>   editor of the Wall Street Journal. Yet CPB's "own research indicates
>   broad public satisfaction with the quality of news programming on
>   PBS and NPR," noted the Washington Post and CJR Daily.
>SOURCE: New York Times, May 2, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3639
>
>2. THE FREE PRESS AND THE FAKE PRESS
>http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=28527
>   On World Press Freedom Day, Amnesty International celebrates "the
>   mighty blog" as having "profound implications for press freedom and
>   human rights." The organization states, "People in Iran and China
>   have used blogs to expose violations by their governments and
>   provide the outside world with information." Yet, in both countries,
>   "the authorities have increasingly targeted bloggers to stifle
>   dissent." According to Freedom House's annual survey, "the United
>   States has suffered 'notable setbacks' in press freedom," slipping
>   to 24th of 194 countries. One reason is "a number of legal cases in
>   which prosecutors sought to compel journalists to reveal sources or
>   turn over notes or other material." Another is the paid pundit and
>   video news release controversies. Such fake news "may be even worse
>   that poisoning public debate on specific issues," said
>   communications professor Martin Kaplan. "It corrodes the ability of
>   real journalism to do its job."
>SOURCE: Inter Press Service News Agency, May 2, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3638
>
>3. DEMOCRACY'S GREAT, BUT THE ELECTIONS ARE BORING
>http://news.independent.co.uk/media/story.jsp?story=635013
>   In the lead-up to Thursday's UK national election, the Christian
>   Science Monitor reports on "the growing insinuation of spin and
>   professional marketing into British politics." The Independent
>   publishes a wide-ranging interview with Sir Timothy Bell, the
>   influential owner of Bell Pottinger Public Affairs and a frequent
>   campaign consultant. Bell's "offering what help he can to put his
>   friend Michael Howard into Downing Street" and is "actively engaged
>   in shaping the political futures of Russia and Ukraine." He's also
>   working with Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority, "to sell the
>   idea of democracy to the Iraqi people." In the Independent
>   interview, Bell faults the British elections for having "no great
>   slogan" and dismisses efforts to engage young voters, asking, "Why
>   should they be interested in politics? There are so many more
>   exciting things for them to do."
>SOURCE: The Independent, May 2, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3637
>
>4. DISCLOSURE FOR VIDEO (BUT NOT THE RADIO) STARS
>http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA528364.html?display=Breaking+News
>   Senators John Kerry and Frank Lautenberg introduced the Truth in
>   Broadcasting Act; a Senate Commerce committee hearing is expected in
>   early May. The bill would require "all pre-packaged news stories
>   produced by Executive Branch agencies to contain a continuously
>   visible disclaimer stating 'Produced By the U.S. Government'," when
>   aired on U.S. television stations. The bill does not require
>   disclaimers from broadcasters. The disclaimer would not be required
>   for reports from government-supported news agencies like PBS and
>   NPR, or for international broadcasts, "since the U.S. government has
>   no prohibition on exporting propaganda." Broadcasting & Cable
>   suggests the bill "has a good chance of becoming law," given the
>   overwhelming support for a similar measure authored by Senator
>   Robert Byrd.
>SOURCE: Broadcasting & Cable (sub. req'd.), April 28, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3636
>
>5. OPERATION IRAQI SIMS
>http://prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=237678&site=3
>   The U.S. Army Reserve 7th Psychological Operations (Psyops) group
>   "is offering soldiers a crash course in Iraqi community relations
>   intended to help them defuse potentially hostile situations when
>   they arrive in the region." Over the past year, the group has
>   trained more than 300 Army Reservists at three locations in
>   California, using "simulated Iraqi towns populated by Arab-Americans
>   hired by outside contractors to play the role of curious, sometimes
>   disgruntled Iraqi citizens." Exercises include "simulated meetings
>   with local tribal leaders," "attempts to enforce crowd control" and
>   soldiers "coming under attack while traveling between towns." Lt.
>   Col. Steve Goto said of the Psyops unit, "We're the military's
>   version of Madison Avenue."
>SOURCE: PR Week (sub. req'd.), April 28, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3635
>
>6. OIL AND RIGOROUS SCIENCE JUST DON'T MIX
>http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3159505
>   A National Cancer Institute study found that "workers exposed to
>   average levels of benzene" were four times more likely to develop
>   cancer. Benzene is a component of gasoline, so tighter regulations
>   would have "an impact on gasoline production," said a former Mobil
>   Oil toxicologist. So, BP, Chevron Texaco, ConocoPhillips, Exxon
>   Mobil and Shell Chemical raised $27 million to carry out their own
>   benzene study, under the American Petroleum Institute. Although
>   their research won't be completed until 2007, information from
>   "depositions, proposals to oil companies and other documents
>   collected by a Houston law firm in unrelated lawsuits" suggests "the
>   results of the study already have been predicted." An independent
>   toxicologist called parts of the oil companies' study
>   "scientifically inappropriate" and said the researchers seemed to be
>   "promising a result in advance." The data could also be quashed, at
>   the request of two-thirds of the funding oil companies.
>SOURCE: Houston Chronicle, April 29, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3634
>
>7. SCREAMING NIELSEN AND COUNT ASTROTURF
>http://prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=237658&site=3
>   "A case study posted on the website of [Washington] DC-based Glover
>   Park Group (GPG) has caused a PR snafu," reports PR Week. The case
>   study describes how GPG (along with Dewey Square Group and
>   Grassroots Enterprise, Inc., as reported earlier on SourceWatch)
>   worked "to combat the rollout of new Nielsen TV viewership
>   technology," on behalf of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. News
>   Corp. is concerned the technology might affect its advertising
>   rates. The PR firms organized a "grassroots coalition" called Don't
>   Count Us Out, which claims the technology would undercount
>   communities of color. After discovering GPG's case study, Nielsen
>   Media Research released a statement saying GPG "is admitting for the
>   first time that it created, organized and directed the activities of
>   the Don't Count Us Out organization at the behest of News Corp." A
>   spokesperson for Don't Count Us Out said, "Nielsen is trying to
>   change the topic."
>SOURCE: PR Week (sub. req'd.), April 27, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3633
>
>8. DRUGS: AS SEEN ON TV
>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-drugads27apr27,1,5461674.story
>   "Direct-to-consumer advertising - on which pharmaceutical companies
>   spend roughly $3 billion a year - can trump medical need in
>   influencing how doctors prescribe drugs," concludes a new study in
>   the Journal of the American Medical Association. For the study,
>   actresses posed as patients with mild depression and either asked
>   about a specific antidepressant, based on TV ads; asked about
>   medications in general; or just described their symptoms. Doctors
>   "were five times more likely to write them prescriptions," if the
>   patient asked for a specific drug. However, patients received the
>   best care when they asked about medications in general. In response,
>   the industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
>   America stated that drug ads increase "patient awareness, allowing
>   more people to get proper diagnoses and drugs."
>SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, April 27, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3631
>
>9. DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?
>
>   In its "PR Toolbox" section, PR Week asks how audio news releases
>   (ANRs) can avoid "the recent controversy that's surrounded video
>   news releases." Ryan McKenna of the radio PR firm North American
>   Network suggests not using the word "reporting," for starters
>   (advice the USDA's Broadcast Media & Technology Center doesn't
>   follow). "Most likely, your narrator is a voice talent, not a
>   reporter. ... Just don't use that word." McKenna also suggests
>   making the ANR "journalistically viable," with an objective, factual
>   tone. At the same time, he says "your spokesperson can and should be
>   an advocate for the story," but should be "a clearly identified,
>   real person" using their real name. But McKenna perpetuates a major
>   problem with "fake news" by saying ANRs should be structured "like a
>   news report you'd hear on the radio."
>SOURCE: PR Week, April 25, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3630
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The Weekly Spin is compiled by staff and volunteers at the
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