(From 2002 until 2005, this mailing list was called the ECCR mailing list)
[Previous message][Next message][Back to index]
[eccr] The Weekly Spin, April 6, 2005
Wed Apr 06 16:31:39 GMT 2005
>THE WEEKLY SPIN, April 6, 2005
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>sponsored by the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy
>http://www.prwatch.org
>To support our work now online visit:
>https://www.egrants.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2344-0|1118-0
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
>further information about media, political spin and propaganda.
>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
>
>
>== BLOG POSTINGS ==
>1. Will "Fake News" Survive?
>
>== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
>1. A Tick for Irresponsibility
>2. The CORE of Biotech PR
>3. Suing Them Softly
>4. Ad Students Create Agent C for the Agency
>5. Medialink Drives Auto Coverage
>6. Xenophobic Purple People Meters
>7. Wal-Mart's Media Greeters
>8. I'd Like to Teach the World to Spin
>9. Crisis Management, Ketchum Style
>10. U.S. Army Toons for Middle Eastern Tots
>11. Another Kind of Fake News
>12. Reporters and Soldiers on Embedding
>13. Duck and Cover II: Washington DC's Expensive Sequel
>14. No-See-Um VNRs A "Crisis" For PR Industry
>15. Clear Communications
>16. Not Using VNRs "Would Be Negligent," Says Medialink Head
>17. Unhappy Days Are Here Again for Fleishman-Hillard
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>== BLOG POSTINGS ==
>
>1. WILL "FAKE NEWS" SURVIVE?
>by Bob Burton
> Will ongoing investigations and public outrage be sufficient to end
> the debased media practices that result in "fake news"?
> Producers of the fake TV news stories called video news
> releases (VNRs) hope not. Some are worried, though. "Crisis" is the
> word Kevin McCauley of the public relations trade publication
> O'Dwyer's used in a recent column.
> VNR producers are struggling to find allies, even within the PR
> industry. For the last three weeks, O'Dwyer's has been running an
> online poll asking, "Should there be a limit on the U.S.
> Government's use of video news releases?" Seventy-two percent of
> respondents to date support VNR restrictions. (O'Dwyer's doesn't
> disclose the number of respondents.)
> VNR producers may very well be thanking their lucky stars for
> the Bush White House.
>For the rest of this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3547
>
>== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
>
>1. A TICK FOR IRRESPONSIBILITY
>http://www.smh.com.au/text/articles/2005/04/04/1112489420659.html
> The 2005 Corporate Responsibility Index, published by the Sydney
> Morning Herald and The Age, ranks British American Tobacco (BAT) as
> amongst the six worst performers out of the twenty-seven companies
> included. The index is based on corporate self-assessments reviewed
> by Ernst & Young accountants. The index table features a bold tick
> of approval for BAT, which the key explains means it scored "less
> than 75%," the lowest category. In a letter to the editor,
> University of Sydney public health professor Simon Chapman asked,
> "Why so coy in giving the actual score?" After calculating that BAT
> Australia is responsible for 8,550 avoidable deaths, Chapman scored
> the company at zero. He also requested "that those organising the
> CRI index don't debase the corporate responsibility movement in
> future by allowing tobacco companies to enter."
>SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald, April 5, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3550
>
>2. THE CORE OF BIOTECH PR
>http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/article.asp?id=337
> U.S. agribusiness giant Monsanto recently announced it was raising
> its earnings expectations. "Monsanto's genetically engineered seed
> sales are booming - a 20 per cent increase last quarter - and the
> company expects the growth to continue as it expands outside the
> U.S.," AP reported" target="_blank">AP reported. One reason may be
> Monsanto's extensive use of PR. GM Watch's Jonathan Matthews looks
> at the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a U.S.-based civil rights
> group with ties to Monsanto that has become an outspoken advocate of
> GE foods. Matthews reports on CORE's claims that the global
> environmental movement's opposition to biotech is "lethal
> eco-imperialism" and "devastates families and communities and kills
> millions every year." At CORE's annual Martin Luther King, Jr.
> dinner this year, they honored Karl Rove with a "Public Service
> Award." Monsanto's CEO Hugh Grant chaired the dinner with Option One
> Mortgage's president and CEO Bob Dubrish.
>SOURCE: Freezerbox, March 14, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3549
>
>3. SUING THEM SOFTLY
>http://afr.com/premium/articles/2005/04/04/1112489414086.html
> Hugh Morgan, the President of the Business Council of Australia
> (BCA), lashed out at a proposal by state attorney generals to
> prevent corporations from suing for defamation. Morgan wrote that
> the BCA - which includes among its members the Australian CEOs of
> McDonald's, BP and Shell - believes that corporations are "suing
> only in exceptional circumstances." According to Morgan - who gained
> notoriety for his outbursts against the Aboriginal community, unions
> and environmentalists - corporations must "defend their reputations
> from false, dishonest or malicious campaigns." The Australian
> Financial Review reported that the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, a
> BCA member, was suing the Finance Sector Union on the grounds that a
> "shareholder campaign targeting ordinary, corporate and employee
> shareholders" before the company's November 2004 general meeting
> constituted illegal industrial action.
>SOURCE: Australian Financial Review, April 5, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3548
>
>4. AD STUDENTS CREATE AGENT C FOR THE AGENCY
>http://www.nyunews.com/news/campus/8895.html
> Advertising students at New York University are running a marketing
> campaign for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The students and
> their professor Jacob Jacoby created Agent C Marketing, which
> developed and is currently implementing a campaign that promotes its
> sole client, the CIA, to college students as an "exceptional
> employer." The marketing effort includes print advertisements, "cool
> CIA stuff" giveaways, and a scavenger hunt scheduled for April 8.
> (The speaker event was cancelled, "to prevent any potential harm
> that may escalate from a protest.") The CIA-NYU partnership was
> organized by EdVenture, a marketing firm that provides "both
> one-of-a-kind educational value to students and educators while
> reciprocally providing clients with marketing, brand building,
> research, sales and recruiting access to campuses across the
> country." Other EdVenture clients include General Motors, Citibank,
> the Federal Bureau of Investigation and People Magazine.
>SOURCE: Washington Square News, February 15, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3546
>
>5. MEDIALINK DRIVES AUTO COVERAGE
>http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0404medialink.htm
> Under a new agreement, the video news release company Medialink
> Worldwide "will produce programs about auto-related topics for
> WheelsTV, a cable TV and Internet service devoted exclusively to
> consumers' interests in cars, trucks and motorcycles." Medialink's
> "sponsored and non-sponsored content" will start appearing on
> WheelsTV in June. The companies "will also explore developing new
> opportunities, such as co-branded radio series serving the
> sponsorship base of both companies," reports O'Dwyer's. Medialink
> has already produced a "prepackaged news program for General
> Motors," which "began with statistics on arthritic Americans" and
> promoted GM's "Sit-N-Lift" powered seat.
>SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub. req'd.), April 4, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3545
>
>6. XENOPHOBIC PURPLE PEOPLE METERS
>http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-355-1553916,00.html
> U.S. Republican pollster Frank Luntz traveled to Britain, "to
> examine the mood of the voters." According to 30 "swing voters"
> using "people meters," George Bush may be Tony Blair's biggest
> liability. Luntz wrote, "We showed them the first few moments of the
> recent White House press conference where President Bush and Mr.
> Blair stood side-by-side and talked about 'a clear way forward' in
> Iraq. The dials plummeted. Never in 17 years of moderating
> people-meter sessions have I seen an audience react so negatively."
> Adding that "nothing riles the undecideds ... more than
> immigration," Luntz suggested, "If the Conservatives have the
> courage to tackle the immigration issue head-on, and the skill to
> avoid crossing the fine line into race-baiting, they can recapture
> many working-class Labour seats."
>SOURCE: Times Online, April 4, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3544
>
>7. WAL-MART'S MEDIA GREETERS
>http://prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=236946&site=3
> "As part of its ongoing effort to improve its image, Wal-Mart is
> hosting its first-ever media conference for 50 invited print
> journalists this week near company headquarters in Arkansas,"
> reports PR Week. "We are doing this to send a clear signal of
> Wal-Mart's willingness to be open with the media," said a company
> spokesperson. Wal-Mart "plans to make the media event an annual one
> and to expand it to broadcast outlets." The AFL-CIO union will
> demonstrate outside the conference. In related news, twenty-one
> members of Congress sent a letter to ABC News protesting Wal-Mart's
> sponsorship of Good Morning America's "Only in America" segment.
> Representative Anthony Weiner said Wal-Mart's business practices
> "cost thousands of Americans their jobs and businesses."
>SOURCE: PR Week (sub. req'd.), April 4, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3543
>
>8. I'D LIKE TO TEACH THE WORLD TO SPIN
>http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-03/31/content_429738.htm
> A Public Relations Society of America delegation to China met with
> teachers, media, business officials, and the new Chinese Institute
> of Public Relations. Ketchum's John Paluszek told China Daily,
> "Every institution in society has a need for public relations,
> because every institution has audiences or stakeholders," including
> governments "that want to 'sell' an important issue." Jean Valin of
> the Global Alliance for Public Relations noted that in China, where
> PR is a relatively new discipline, practitioners are "strongly
> involved in servicing the finance sector," but "will not be given
> assignments which go against government policy."
>SOURCE: China Daily, March 31, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3542
>
>9. CRISIS MANAGEMENT, KETCHUM STYLE
>http://www.prweek.com/thisweek/index.cfm?ID=236904&site=3
> The PR company Ketchum boasts on its website that its issues and
> crisis management expertise "helps clients plan rational strategies
> to deal with difficult situations early -- before an issue or crisis
> erupts." In written responses to questions from PR Week about the
> firm's role in the Armstrong Williams controversy, Ketchum CEO Ray
> Kotcher said they didn't publicly comment for a week because, while
> "it was tempting to clarify the dialogue," the firm "needed to
> establish the facts." The facts, as reported by USA Today and
> confirmed by Kotcher, are that Williams was paid $240,000 by
> Ketchum, as a subcontractor on a Department of Education contract to
> promote the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. The contract included a
> stipulation, Kotcher confirmed, "that Williams would talk about NCLB
> on his show."
>SOURCE: PR Week (sub. req'd.), April 1, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3541
>
>10. U.S. ARMY TOONS FOR MIDDLE EASTERN TOTS
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4396351.stm
> "In order to achieve long-term peace and stability in the Middle
> East, the youth need to be reached," explained the U.S. government,
> in an ad seeking artists for an "original comic book series" to help
> Middle Eastern youth "learn lessons, develop role models and improve
> their education." The U.S. Army's Fourth Psychological Operations
> Group at Fort Bragg in North Carolina has done initial character and
> plot development and will produce the series. The series will be
> based on "the security forces, military and police, in the near
> future of the Middle East." The Fourth Psychological Operations
> Group has "been deployed during conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan
> dropping leaflets and cartoons urging surrender and broadcasting
> pro-American messages via radio and television."
>SOURCE: BBC News, March 31, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3539
>
>11. ANOTHER KIND OF FAKE NEWS
>http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111219863592293188,00.html?mod=mm%5Fhs%5Fmarketing%5Fstrategy
> "The two dirty words of market research," writes Carl Bialik, are
> "sponsored by." One example is a recent Microsoft-funded study,
> which found that "Microsoft was the company respondents most
> associated with reliable, high-quality hardware peripherals." The
> problem is that "the other choices" survey participants were given
> "weren't household names. ... Had the question been flipped to ask
> which company was least associated with reliable, high-quality
> hardware peripherals, Microsoft might well have won that one, too."
> The proliferation of sponsored studies is due, in part, to the
> press. "While many sponsored studies spawn no articles or are
> covered negatively, others receive undeserved attention -- at least
> enough to spur companies to keep funding more studies."
>SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (reg. req'd.), March 31, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3537
>
>12. REPORTERS AND SOLDIERS ON EMBEDDING
>http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Iraq/embedded.html
> Gina Cavallaro, who's traveled to Iraq four times to report for the
> Army Times, has mixed feelings about embedding journalists. "The
> media is afraid ... and rightly so," she said. "They're relying more
> on the military to get them where they want to go, and as a result,
> the military is getting smarter about getting its own story told."
> But, she added, "I don't necessarily consider that a bad thing."
> Iraq War veteran Paul Rickhoff, who started Operation Truth "to tell
> the public the truth of the war from a soldier's perspective," feels
> that "embedding reporters actually limits the stories they can
> tell." If reporters don't "play along," he said, "next time they'll
> deny you access."
>SOURCE: The Hill, March 31, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3536
>
>13. DUCK AND COVER II: WASHINGTON DC'S EXPENSIVE SEQUEL
>http://prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=236900&site=3
> The giant PR firm Burson-Marsteller won a $4.6 million contract from
> the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, for two to seven months'
> work. The contract, awarded under the Urban Area Security
> Initiative, is "for the development and implementation of a regional
> public awareness and education campaign for a major emergency or
> disaster, such as a terrorist act," in the Washington DC area. The
> goal "is to have 50% of people in the national capital area report
> that they've taken steps to be prepared." Burson-Marsteller will do
> PR and outreach, and "partner with ad and community-outreach
> agencies." One-third to one-half of the budget is slated for
> advertising.
>SOURCE: PR Week (reg. req'd.), March 31, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3535
>
>14. NO-SEE-UM VNRS A "CRISIS" FOR PR INDUSTRY
>http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0330comm_mcc_vnrs.htm
> Kevin McCauley at O'Dwyers PR Daily writes that despite video news
> release producers' hopes that the debate over fake news "would just
> blow away," it has become a "crisis" for the industry. "A simple
> solution," he suggests, is labeling VNRs. "A corporate or government
> credit on video material wouldn't matter much to today's TV
> watchers, especially younger ones who are bombarded with
> advertising," he wrote. Kevin Foley, the president of KEF Media
> Associates, responded that labeling is already "done by every
> responsible company in this business." However, two weeks ago Doug
> Simon of D S Simon Productions explained that there is a world of
> difference between labeling the opening frame that news producers
> see and labeling each VNR frame that viewers see. In tracking the
> use of his company's VNRs, Simon said, "Fewer than 10 percent of the
> pieces we get back have some sort of identification."
>SOURCE: O'Dwyers PR Daily (reg. req'd.), March 30, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3530
>
>15. CLEAR COMMUNICATIONS
>http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/prn/texas/3107220
> Radio behemoth Clear Channel Communications created the position of
> Chief Communications Officer and named their Senior Vice-President
> of Corporate Communications, Lisa Dollinger, to the post. The
> position includes "corporate communications and branding, reputation
> and issues management ... media relations, consumer viral marketing,
> strategic sponsorships," but will focus on internal communications.
> Two years ago, Dollinger joined the company to battle negative media
> coverage. "We had to clear the decks and let the media know they
> couldn't repeat inaccuracies about the company," she said. About
> Clear Channel's sponsorship of rallies in the lead-up to the Iraq
> invasion, Dollinger said the events were "not intended to be
> pro-military," but "more of a thank you to the troops."
>SOURCE: Houston Chronicle, March 29, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3529
>
>16. NOT USING VNRS "WOULD BE NEGLIGENT," SAYS MEDIALINK HEAD
>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,151871,00.html
> In a Fox News interview, Laurence Moskowitz, the CEO and President
> of Medialink Worldwide, defended video news releases (VNRs). "If the
> government doesn't use VNR as a tool, I believe they would be
> negligent," he said. Medialink is the largest global producer of
> VNRs. Moskowitz estimated that some 4,000 VNRs are produced by
> corporate and government sources each year. Bob Priddy, the chair of
> the Radio-Television News Directors Association, said airing VNRs
> without the sponsor being identified breaks the Association's code
> of ethics. "If people take canned material, whether it's from a
> government agency or anywhere else, and they don't tell their
> audience who or where it is coming from, they are lying to their
> consumer," he told Fox.
>SOURCE: Fox News, March 30, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3528
>
>17. UNHAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN FOR FLEISHMAN-HILLARD
>http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/11266759.htm
> The former manager of Fleishman-Hillard's (F-H) Los Angeles office
> Douglas R. Dowie is suing the PR company for sacking him from his
> $370,000 a year job over the overbilling of the Los Angeles
> Department of Water and Power (DWP). "When it got real hot
> politically, Fleishman, instead of standing by him and protecting
> him, they just threw him to the wolves," Dowie's attorney, Michael
> Faber, said. City officials have disputed $4.2 million of F-H
> billings between 1998 and 2004 under the $24 million DWP contract.
> The lawsuit states that in a conference call with Dowie after the
> controversy erupted, a F-H official said that someday "we'll all be
> singing 'Happy Days are Here Again'," reports the Los Angeles Times.
>SOURCE: San Jose Mercury News, March 30, 2005
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/3527
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>The Weekly Spin is compiled by staff and volunteers at the
>Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), a nonprofit public
>interest organization. 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
>
>CMD also sponsors SourceWatch, a collaborative research
>project that invites anyone (including you) to contribute
>and edit articles:
>http://www.sourcewatch.org
>
>PR Watch, Spin of the Day, the Weekly Spin and SourceWatch
>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.401a
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
Fax.: +32-2-412 42 00
Email: (info /at/ eccr.info)
URL: http://www.eccr.info
----------------
[Previous message][Next message][Back to index]
