[ecrea] The Weekly Spin, October 25, 2006

>THE WEEKLY SPIN, October 25, 2006
>
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>THIS WEEK'S NEWS
>
>== BLOG POSTINGS ==
>1. The Video News Release Industry's Next Statement to the FCC
>2. Why people think members of Congress are crooked: Nine of them 
>are being investigated
>3. Straight from the source: "Ask a lobbyist"
>
>== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
>1. Disney's Healthy Food Marketing Plan a Fantasia?
>2. Steyn Globe-Trots with Oz Government Funding
>3. Embedded Only While In Bed with the U.S. Government
>4. Energy Economics 101 for Nuclear Industry's Patrick Moore
>5. Iraqis Stand Up
>6. Roche's Cancer Front Group Flounders
>7. Logging Company Ordered to Pay SLAPP Costs
>8. New Zealand Police End McDonald's School Marketing Program
>9.  Payola Pundit Armstrong Williams Pays Back $34,000
>10. Wal-Mart / Edelman, Part Two: Will the Real Bloggers Please Stand Up?
>11. Front Group's Fake Blog Just One of Wal-Mart's Recent Woes
>12. Good and Bad News on Government Information
>13. Pentagon OK's Lincoln Group Propaganda
>14. Ex-FDA Commissioner Turned Lobbyist Pleads Guilty
>15. "Equal Rights" Ad Promotes Black Lungs
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>== BLOG POSTINGS ==
>
>1. THE VIDEO NEWS RELEASE INDUSTRY'S NEXT STATEMENT TO THE FCC
>by Bob Burton
>
>   Recently a new lobby group, the National Association of Broadcast
>   Communicators (NABC), was launched to try to convince federal
>   regulators, media policy wonks and the general public that they
>   shouldn't worry about television stations airing undisclosed video
>   news releases (VNRs). The NABC and their allies at the Public
>   Relations Society of America and the Radio-Television News Directors
>   Association went even further, wrapping the covert broadcast of
>   corporate- and government-funded fake news segments in the U.S.
>   flag.
>        Ever the optimist, I'm looking forward to the day when these
>   groups have considered the issue more closely and carefully, and
>   have come to appreciate the important role that news -- especially
>   that broadcast over the public airwaves to a mass audience -- plays
>   in a democracy. The following is the statement that NABC might well
>   issue, on that sunny day. (Satire alert!)
>For the rest of this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5311
>
>2. WHY PEOPLE THINK MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ARE CROOKED: NINE OF THEM 
>ARE BEING INVESTIGATED
>by Conor Kenny
>
>   Fully 50 percent of Americans think that most members of Congress
>   are corrupt and 36 percent think their own member of Congress is
>   corrupt, according to a poll released Thursday by CNN. A quick
>   stroll over to my personal favorite part of the Congresspedia wiki,
>   the Members of Congress under investigation page, shows why: at
>   least a dozen current and former members of Congress are under
>   investigation for everything from covering up the Mark Foley page
>   scandal to laundering campaign contributions to bribery. And don't
>   take comfort in the fact that three of those dozen are no longer in
>   Congress: each was forced to resign in just the last year in the
>   wake of investigations or guilty pleas related to actions they took
>   while they were still in Congress.
>        Each of these current and former members of Congress has
>   detailed explanations of the allegations against them on their
>   Congresspedia profile pages, but the mind-boggling litany of
>   allegations begs for a quick rundown:
>For the rest of this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5326
>
>3. STRAIGHT FROM THE SOURCE: "ASK A LOBBYIST"
>by Conor Kenny
>
>   Wonkette, for those of you who don't read it, is a proudly low-brow
>   and juvenile blog that focuses on the more salacious escapades of
>   our representatives in Washington. For those of us who have to deal
>   with the over-starched, self-important Washington crowd
>   (Congresspedia headquarters is just off the K street lobbying
>   corridor), it often provides a dose of needed levity.
>        Occasionally, Wonkette does break away from its trademark 6th
>   grade level humor and provides a gem that gives real insight into
>   how this town actually works. Today it ran another installment in
>   its "Ask a Lobbyist" series, in which an anonymous member of the
>   unofficial fourth branch of the federal government answers questions
>   submitted by readers. In response to a question about whether
>   lobbying firms that have been hiring Republicans for a decade will
>   be left in the lurch if Democrats capture both chambers of Congress
>   next month, the lobbyist responds:
>For the rest of this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5309
>
>== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
>
>1. DISNEY'S HEALTHY FOOD MARKETING PLAN A FANTASIA?
>http://www.alternet.org/story/43181
>   On the very day that Walt Disney Company announced that it would
>   limit future food marketing deals to brands that provide healthy
>   food products to kids, there was Kellogg's sugar-crazy Tony the
>   Tiger (again) welcoming kids to Disney's website. Is the company,
>   then, not "Greeeaat!" for its plan to limit calories, fat, saturated
>   fat and added sugars to any product the Disney name promotes? Public
>   health attorney and author Michele Simon doesn't think so. She takes
>   both Disney and the press (e.g. Daily Mail to public: "Disney Bans
>   All Junk Food") to task for hyping what she calls a PR-driven move
>   to keep the kids watching Disney--and probably eating the bad stuff
>   anyway. Simon's top criticisms: 1) Disney has created a
>   two-to-four-year phase-in, which means not only that Disney is
>   protecting current profit centers, but that if this voluntary plan
>   changes, consumers may remember only the headlines and forget about
>   the commitments; 2) Disney didn't include a ban on junk food
>   advertising in its wider media conglomerate, such as ABC Network,
>   Disney Channel and Toon Disney; 3) Disney omitted limits on product
>   placement in movies and television; and 4) Disney didn't mention
>   "advergaming"--like the enticement of its current website.
>   "...[C]hildren don't need The Incredibles to tell them when and what
>   to eat," Simon writes.
>SOURCE: Alternet, October 19, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5332
>
>2. STEYN GLOBE-TROTS WITH OZ GOVERNMENT FUNDING
>http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Govt-funds-rightwing-neocons-visit/2006/10/23/1161455659387.html
>   The Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Downer has
>   disclosed that the Australian government contributed $A12,023
>   ($US9,150) towards the costs of a five-day speaking tour by the
>   conservative Canadian commentator Mark Steyn. In response to a
>   question from Opposition Shadow Minister for Finance Lindsay Tanner,
>   Downer explained that Steyn was funded under a program that "targets
>   senior foreign journalists and editorial staff with the capacity to
>   influence editorial content and/or generate informed international
>   media coverage of Australia." Steyn's tour was co-sponsored by two
>   free-market think tanks, the Institute of Public Affairs and the
>   Center for Independent Studies. Steyn also spoke at an event for The
>   Conservative, a quarterly magazine aimed at fostering debate within
>   the Liberal Party of Australia.
>SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald, October 23, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5331
>
>3. EMBEDDED ONLY WHILE IN BED WITH THE U.S. GOVERNMENT
>http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/northern_california/15811043.htm
>   Apparently the U.S. government is only in favor of embedded
>   reporters when it serves its own purposes. According to the
>   Associated Press, Congressman Duncan Hunter, Chairman of the House
>   Committee on Armed Services, has asked the Pentagon to remove CNN
>   reporters embedded with U.S. combat troops because of the network's
>   broadcast of a video showing insurgent snipers targeting U.S.
>   soldiers. Hunter penned a letter to Defense Secretary Donald
>   Rumsfeld stating that "CNN has now served as the publicist for an
>   enemy propaganda film featuring the killing of an American soldier."
>   CNN producer David Doss wrote in a Web log Thursday the network
>   televised the footage in an effort to present the "unvarnished
>   truth" about the Iraq war. "Our responsibility is to report the
>   news," said CNN spokesperson Laurie Goldberg. "As an organization we
>   stand by our decision and respect the rights of others to disagree
>   with it."
>SOURCE: San Jos? Mercury News, October 20, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5329
>
>4. ENERGY ECONOMICS 101 FOR NUCLEAR INDUSTRY'S PATRICK MOORE
>http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1161521345525&call_pageid=968
>   In an interview with the Toronto Star, veteran energy policy analyst
>   Amory Lovins said that he had spoken with former Greenpeace
>   co-founder turned nuclear power promoter Patrick Moore and concluded
>   that "he's not well informed about energy alternatives." Earlier
>   this year, the Nuclear Energy Institute established a front group,
>   the Clean and Safe Energy Coaltion, with Moore as its co-chair. The
>   group promotes nuclear power as a "solution" to global warming.
>   Lovins referred to his recent Nuclear Energy International article,
>   which showed that "if you spent 10 cents (U.S.) to make and deliver
>   a new nuclear kilowatt-hour ... you can displace 1 kilowatt-hour of
>   coal power. That's what Patrick is talking about. ... If you spend
>   the same 10 cents (U.S.) instead on micropower or efficient use, you
>   get two to 10 times as much coal displacement for the same money,
>   because those options are cheaper -- you get more per dollar.
>   They're also faster, so you get more carbon displacement, coal
>   displacement, per year."
>SOURCE: Toronto Star (Canada), October 22, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5325
>
>5. IRAQIS STAND UP
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/page/0,,1927660,00.html
>   British war photographer Sean Smith spent nearly six weeks with the
>   101st Division of the U.S. army in Iraq and has produced an eloquent
>   short film which explodes the myth around the claims that
>   U.S.-trained Iraqis are preparing to take control of their own
>   country. In fact, Shia militias loyal to fundamentalist cleric
>   Moqtada al-Sadr seem to be ready, willing and able to seize power,
>   while Sunni insurgents believed to belong to al-Qaida are so
>   emboldened that they have been publicly staging military-like
>   parades within striking distance of U.S. forces stationed in nearby
>   bases. According to former Bush administration foreign policy
>   official Richard N. Haass, the situation is reaching a "tipping
>   point" both in Iraq and in U.S. politics, and the administration's
>   current strategy "has virtually no chance of succeeding."
>SOURCE: The Guardian (UK), October 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5323
>
>6. ROCHE'S CANCER FRONT GROUP FLOUNDERS
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,1926949,00.html
>   Cancer United, a cancer patient group created and launched by the PR
>   firm Weber Shandwick with funding from the drug company Roche, has
>   got off to a rocky start. On its website the group states that it
>   aims to run an 18-month-long campaign for more uniform cancer
>   treatments across the European Union. However, before the group was
>   launched, it was revealed that the study it relies on was also
>   funded by Roche. The study by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm
>   argues that survival rates increase the more a country spends on
>   drugs. Michel Coleman from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
>   Medicine told the Guardian that the study was "woefully simplistic
>   research." A Labor member of parliament, Ian Gibson, resigned from
>   the group after discovering Roche's role. "I feel very silly and
>   stupid," he said. The press conference convened in Brussels to
>   announce the new group was "sparsely attended."
>SOURCE: Guardian (UK), October 20, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5322
>
>7. LOGGING COMPANY ORDERED TO PAY SLAPP COSTS
>http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20614473-1702,00.html
>   The Tasmanian logging company Gunns has been ordered to pay the
>   legal costs of 17 environmentalists and 3 environmental groups,
>   after the third version of its $A6.9 million ($US5.2m) damages claim
>   was thrown out of court. The legal costs are estimated at more than
>   $A1 million ($US760,000). Since December 2004, Gunns has filed three
>   statements of claim and sacked two legal teams. Victorian Supreme
>   Court Justice Bernard Bongiorno gave the company until November 2 to
>   file a fourth claim. Gunns' legal actions have sparked calls for an
>   overhaul of Australian laws to ensure that corporations cannot
>   initiate legal actions aimed at stifling community participation in
>   public policy debates, or SLAPPs. Earlier in the week, Gunns
>   informed the court that it had dropped one part of its claim in
>   which it sought $A500,000 ($US378,000) in damages, alleging a
>   co-ordinated campaign involving all defendants.
>SOURCE: The Australian, October 20, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5321
>
>8. NEW ZEALAND POLICE END MCDONALD'S SCHOOL MARKETING PROGRAM
>http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10406648
>   New Zealand Police have terminated McDonald's sponsorship of a road
>   safety program in schools and pre-schools because it was
>   inconsistent with their policy banning corporate sponsorship. As
>   part of the $NZ40,000 ($US26,700) a year deal, "Ronald McDonald"
>   accompanied police on their school visits and children were awarded
>   vouchers for use in the fast food company's outlets. McDonald's said
>   they were "extremely disappointed" at the decision, but Acting
>   Superintendent Sam Hoyle, the national manager of youth services,
>   described their funding as "a drop in the bucket" of the road safety
>   program. Obesity Action Coalition spokeswoman Celia Murphy welcomed
>   the decision. "Every time the kids crossed the road at school the
>   McDonald's brand was there on the vests of the patrol monitors. The
>   whole deal was outrageous," she said. The New Zealand Police
>   decision followed questions raised about the deal in Parliament by
>   Greens health spokesperson Sue Kedgley.
>SOURCE: New Zealand Herald, October 19, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5320
>
>9.  PAYOLA PUNDIT ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS PAYS BACK $34,000
>http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-10-20-williams_x.htm
>   Conservative commentator Armstrong Williams will pay $34,000 as part
>   of a settlement of a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into
>   possible breaches of his contract with the U.S. Department of
>   Education. Williams admits no wrongdoing and will not face charges.
>   Under a $240,000 sub-contract to the PR firm Ketchum, Williams
>   agreed to promote the department's No Child Left Behind Act and,
>   through his contacts in the journalists group America's Black Forum,
>   encourage others to do likewise. The DOJ investigation was into
>   whether Williams was paid for radio and television ads that he
>   didn't produce. Williams' November 2003 contract was negotiated
>   during the term of former Education Secretary Rod Paige. The
>   contract was terminated in early 2005, after USA Today reported on
>   it. The paper had received a copy of Williams' contract through a
>   Freedom of Information Act request. Williams is a partner in a
>   Washington DC PR firm, the Graham Williams Group. Last year, the
>   Government Accountability Office ruled that several aspects of
>   Ketchum's work for the Education Department violated federal law.
>SOURCE: USA Today, October 20, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5319
>
>10. WAL-MART / EDELMAN, PART TWO: WILL THE REAL BLOGGERS PLEASE STAND UP?
>http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/1020edelman_blogs_walmart.htm
>   O'Dwyer's has more revelations about the multifaceted fakery engaged
>   in by Wal-Mart and its PR firm, Edelman. Edelman staffers have been
>   posing as "grassroots" bloggers on two Wal-Mart websites, for the
>   Working Families for Wal-Mart front group and paidcritics.com, which
>   -- rather ironically -- slams the "paid critics [who are] smearing
>   Wal-Mart." The paid bloggers are Edelman's Miranda Gill, Brian
>   McNeill and Kate Marshall. A post by Marshall praises a Wall Street
>   Journal editorial for exposing "Wake Up Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Watch
>   as front groups of the union leaders." If you can take more
>   hypocrisy, read Advertising Age's article on how Edelman "is being
>   aligned with a newly coined word for its present crisis" over
>   walmartingacrossamerica.com: "flog," for "fake blog." AdAge points
>   out that Edelman helped write the Word of Mouth Marketing
>   Association's (WOMMA's) code of ethics, which states, "Never obscure
>   your identity." Asked why WOMMA is not sanctioning Edelman, WOMMA
>   CEO Andy Sernovitz said, "We aren't the police. Associations don't
>   punish. And look, PRSA didn't even say a word, and they are the PR
>   association." Maybe that's because PRSA is too busy defending
>   undisclosed fake news.
>SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), October 20, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5317
>
>11. FRONT GROUP'S FAKE BLOG JUST ONE OF WAL-MART'S RECENT WOES
>http://www.prweek.com/us/news/article/599362/Edelman-apologizes-Wal-Mart-blog-disclosure-omission/
>   Richard Edelman, the CEO of the Edelman PR firm, "issued an apology
>   for his agency's role in creating a blog for client Wal-Mart that
>   did not properly disclose its origins or funding," notes PR Week.
>   The walmartingacrossamerica.com website "chronicled a couple's
>   journey across the country in an RV while stopping at various
>   Wal-Mart parking lots." The trip was funded by Working Families for
>   Wal-Mart, a front group funded by the giant retailer. Edelman told
>   PR Week, "We still have a job to do about explaining to our staff
>   their [disclosure] obligation in old media and new media." Worse,
>   one of the fake bloggers was Washington Post photographer James
>   Thresher, who later agreed to repay Working Families for the $2,200
>   cost of his and his girlfriend's airfare, RV rental, gas and food
>   during the 10-day trip. Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr.,
>   who also asked that Thresher's pictures be removed from the
>   pro-Wal-Mart website, called Working Families "a special-interest
>   group," reports Howard Kurtz. Even worse, filmmaker Ron Galloway
>   recently resigned from Working Families' steering committee, reports
>   O'Dwyer's. Galloway said he disagreed with Wal-Mart's new wage caps;
>   Wal-Mart says the split's because Galloway's new movie is about "the
>   so-called myth of global warming." Even worse again, Wal-Mart is
>   being criticized for a holiday-themed website that allows kids to
>   email gift wish lists to their parents, reports Advertising Age.
>SOURCE: PR Week (sub req'd), October 18, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5316
>
>12. GOOD AND BAD NEWS ON GOVERNMENT INFORMATION
>http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003254197
>   The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is the first international
>   court to declare that access to government information is a human
>   right. The recent ruling was reached in a case brought by Chilean
>   environmentalists against the U.S.-based logging company Trillium.
>   The court's decision is based on the American Convention on Human
>   Rights' Article 13, which deals with "freedom of thought and
>   expression." The ruling states, "Article 13 of the Convention, which
>   specifically establishes the rights to 'seek' and 'receive'
>   information, protects the right of all persons to request access to
>   information held by the State." In other news, the nonprofit
>   research group National Security Archive (NSA) is criticizing
>   Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' report on improving access to
>   U.S. government information. The report "fails to acknowledge that
>   many of the admirable goals set by [federal] agencies [to improve
>   responses to Freedom of Information Act requests] can only be met
>   with an increased commitment of resources," which "is not being
>   considered by the Administration," states NSA. Among the "serious
>   deficiencies" noted by the group are some federal agencies' "lack of
>   basic technology such as copiers and Internet access."
>SOURCE: Editor & Publisher, October 13, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5315
>
>13. PENTAGON OK'S LINCOLN GROUP PROPAGANDA
>http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003285543
>   A U.S. Defense Department inspector general's report concluded,
>   after reviewing three contracts with the PR firm Lincoln Group worth
>   $37.3 million, that military commanders in Iraq "complied with
>   applicable laws and regulations in their use of a contractor to
>   conduct psychological operations and their use of newspapers as a
>   way to disseminate information." A Los Angeles Times article
>   revealed that the Lincoln Group was paying Iraqi newspapers to
>   covertly run stories written by U.S. military personnel. The Defense
>   Department report did find that, for one contract, "a military
>   contracting office did not maintain enough documentation to verify
>   expenditures," according to Reuters. Sen. Edward Kennedy said that
>   meant "the Pentagon cannot account for millions paid to the Lincoln
>   Group." Kennedy, Joint Chiefs of Staff chair Gen. Peter Pace and
>   others have said the program undermines U.S. goals of supporting
>   democracy in Iraq. The Lincoln group recently won another
>   "multimillion-dollar media contract to monitor English and Arabic
>   media outlets and produce talking points, speeches and other
>   material for U.S. forces in Iraq."
>SOURCE: Associated Press, October 19, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5314
>
>14. EX-FDA COMMISSIONER TURNED LOBBYIST PLEADS GUILTY
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101700573.html
>   The former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
>   (FDA), Lester Crawford, has pleaded guilty to breaching conflict of
>   interest rules. Crawford and his wife held between $188,000 and
>   $336,000 in shares in four companies that he was required to have
>   sold, under FDA rules. Two of the companies he held stock in were
>   the food companies Sysco and PepsiCo. Crawford had shares in these
>   companies at a time that he was chair of the FDA's Obesity Working
>   Group, which was reviewing calorie-content labelling standards for
>   soft drinks. Crawford currently works as Senior Counsel at the
>   Washington D.C. lobbying firm Policy Directions Inc.. In 2005,
>   Policy Directions clients included Kraft Foods, the Pharmaceutical
>   Research and Manufacturers of America, Nestle, Merck and the
>   American Feed Industry Association.
>SOURCE: Washington Post, October 17, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5313
>
>15. "EQUAL RIGHTS" AD PROMOTES BLACK LUNGS
>
>   The September 2006 issue of a Denver area LGBT magazine, MetroMode,
>   carries a curious full-page ad titled "Busting the Myths of
>   Smoke-Free Colorado" that urges readers to protest Colorado's Clean
>   Indoor Air Act, the law that ended smoking in most workplaces
>   (including bars and restaurants) as of July 1, 2006. The ad was paid
>   for by a group called "The Coalition for Equal Rights," and sends
>   readers to the web site www.stopthebans.com where visitors are told
>   that the Coalition for Equal Rights fights for "freedom of choice."
>   A small link on the page asks visitors to "Join CLBA," which, it
>   turns out, stands for Colorado Licensed Beverage Association, a
>   longtime Tobacco industry ally and member of Philip Morris' secret
>   Colorado "Field Action Team", a group of businesses that PM
>   mobilizes to fight restrictions on the sale or use of tobacco. LGBT
>   groups have significantly higher smoking rates than the general
>   population and are more concerned about civil rights than most
>   groups, two facts that certainly were not lost on whoever put
>   together the ad.
>SOURCE: MetroMode, September 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5312
>
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F: ++ 32 (0)2/412.42.00
Office: 4/0/18
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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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ECREA - European Communication Research and Education Association
Postal address: ECREA - P.O. Box 106, B-1210 Brussels 21, Belgium
Email: (ecrea /at/ ulb.ac.be)
URL: http://www.ecrea.eu
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