[ecrea] The Weekly Spin, November 1, 2006

THE WEEKLY SPIN, November 1, 2006

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THIS WEEK'S NEWS

== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. Make that eleven members of Congress under investigation

== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. Media Consolidation Means Less Diversity
2. "America's Army" Meets "Night of Bush Capturing"
3. Cutting and Running from Staying the Course
4. Saddam's Sentencing:  The November Surprise
5. Press Freedom Slipping

== UPCOMING EVENTS ==
1. Test Event

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== BLOG POSTINGS ==

1. MAKE THAT ELEVEN MEMBERS OF CONGRESS UNDER INVESTIGATION
by Conor Kenny

  When writing about members of Congress that are under investigation
  you always run the risk of being quickly out of date, at least with
  this Congress. Case in point: on Monday we told you about the nine
  current and three former members of Congress that are under
  investigation. Today we learned that the total now runs at eleven
  current members under investigation. California Democrat Jane Harman
  has fallen under scrutiny from the Justice Department for alleged
  influence trading to secure the chairmanship of the House
  Intelligence Committee should Democrats retake the House next year.
  Arizona Republican Rick Renzi, meanwhile, is under two separate
  Justice Department investigations for sponsoring legislation that
  benefits associates and campaign contributors. From the Members of
  Congress under investigation page:
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5335

== SPIN OF THE DAY ==

1. MEDIA CONSOLIDATION MEANS LESS DIVERSITY
http://www.benton.org/index.php?q=node/3800
  Media consolidation comes at the expense of ethnic diversity and
  serving the interests of women and minorities, according to several
  academic studies recently released by the Benton Foundation and the
  Social Science Research Council. A study by Dr. Carolyn Byerly of
  Howard University examined U.S. Federal Communications Commission
  data on minority and women-owned media and found that women hold a
  majority interest in only 3.4% of radio stations, while minorities
  own a majority interest in only 3.6%. Peter DiCola of the University
  of Michigan study found that large media groups focus almost all of
  their programming on "just six types of formats: news, adult
  contemporary, rock, classic rock, country, and top 40," making them
  less likely than smaller media groups to offer diverse fare
  including classical, jazz, folk, tejano, or gospel. Another survey,
  of minority audience members, found that many feel the news does not
  help them to understand the problems that are most important to them
  — safety, lack of income, and lack of affordable housing
  — while a significant number of African-Americans perceive
  widespread bias against their communities.
SOURCE: Benton Foundation, October 23, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5368

2. "AMERICA'S ARMY" MEETS "NIGHT OF BUSH CAPTURING"
http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=111520&ran=117811
  The U.S. Department of Defense has its own video game called
  "America's Army," which serves as a military recruiting tool. Not to
  be outdone, Islamist websites have been distributing "Night of Bush
  Capturing," a first-person shooter video game that allows players to
  assume the role of a terrorist, gun down U.S. troops and — in
  the game's final level — assassinate President Bush. The
  ultimate irony, though, is that "Night of Bush Capturing" is a
  modified version of an earlier video game. As gaming analyst Zach
  Whalen points out, "It's a straightforward re-skinning of Quest for
  Saddam that simply exchanges references to Saddam with references to
  George W. Bush. ... What I think is important and interesting about
  both games, however, is the way their programmatic relationship
  reveals an underlying logical similarity between the anti-Saddam and
  anti-Bush messages."
SOURCE: Associated Press, September 25, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5366

3. CUTTING AND RUNNING FROM STAYING THE COURSE
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/27/opinion/27lakoff.html
  A  simple Google search puts the lie to the Bush administration's
  effort to distance itself from its own catchphrase about "staying
  the course" in Iraq. According to cognitive linguist George Lakoff,
  this latest rhetorical dodge shows that the White House has finally
  been caught in its own language trap. "'Stay the course' was for
  years a trap for those who disagreed with the president?s policies
  in Iraq," he observes. "To disagree was weak and immoral. It meant
  abandoning the fight against evil. But now the president himself is
  caught in that trap. To keep staying the course, given obvious
  reality, is to get deeper into disaster in Iraq, while not staying
  the course is to abandon one?s moral authority as a conservative.
  Either way, the president loses." At the Huffington Post, Matt
  Neuman suggests some candidates for a replacement catchprase,
  including "run and hide," "bob and weave," "hem and haw," ""shuck
  and jive," "twist and shout."
SOURCE: New York Times, October 27, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5365

4. SADDAM'S SENTENCING:  THE NOVEMBER SURPRISE
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15&pid=130487
  Scott Horton has been sounding the alarm regarding an orchestrated
  "November surprise" to assist Republican candidates just before
  election day: the November 5th sentencing of Saddam Hussein. The
  Columbia University law professor told the Nation magazine "when you
  look at polling figures there have been three significant spike
  points. One was the date on which Saddam was captured. The second
  was the purple fingers election. The third was Zarqawi being killed.
  Based on those three, it's easy to project that they will get a mild
  bump out of this. ... This is not coincidence. Nothing in Iraq
  that's set up this far in advance is coincidental. ... In fact, in
  my experience, everything that comes out of Baghdad is very
  carefully prepared for American domestic consumption."
SOURCE: The Nation, October 17, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5346

5. PRESS FREEDOM SLIPPING
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/23/AR2006102301148.html
  Each year Reporters Without Borders, an advocacy group for
  journalists, issues a Worldwide Press Freedom Index ranking 168
  countries according to how well they respect freedom of speech. In
  their just-issued new report, the United States ranking has fallen
  along with France and Japan. The U.S. ranked 17th in the group's
  first report, published in 2002, but it has now fallen to 53. North
  Korea, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Burma and China continue to rank
  at the bottom of the list, while "Northern European countries top
  the index, with no reported censorship, threats, intimidation or
  physical reprisals, either by officials or the public, in Finland,
  Ireland, Iceland and the Netherlands. All of those countries were
  ranked in first place."
SOURCE: Washington Post, October 24, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5334

== UPCOMING EVENTS ==

1. TEST EVENT
Date: 11/02/2006 - 20:00 to 11/02/2006 - 21:00
  Test Event 1 
        Location: somewhere
For the further information, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5371

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