[ecrea] The Weekly Spin, October 18, 2006

>THE WEEKLY SPIN, October 18, 2006
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>THIS WEEK'S NEWS
>
>== BLOG POSTINGS ==
>1. New FCC Filing: Broadcasters of Fake News Make False Claims about VNR study
>2. Taking a Page (Well, Two) From History
>3. Zigging and Zagging on Cutting and Running
>
>== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
>1. Profiting from a Nonprofit Status, Thanks to Abramoff
>2. Pink Ribbons Mean Healthy Sales
>3. Field of Dreamy PR
>4. Fake News Lobby Group Gears Up
>5. Oil Company Front May Have to Disclose Contributors
>6. Legal Chill Worries Drug Bulletin
>7. Drug Ads Debate Heats Up in Europe and New Zealand
>8.  On Book Tour with "The Best War Ever" - Stauber Speaks
>9. UC Follows (and Questions) the Tobacco Money
>10. Faulty Accounting
>11. UK Army Chief Drops a Bomb, Calls for End to Occupation of Iraq
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>== BLOG POSTINGS ==
>
>1. NEW FCC FILING: BROADCASTERS OF FAKE NEWS MAKE FALSE CLAIMS ABOUT VNR STUDY
>by Diane Farsetta
>
>   In an October 16, 2006, letter to the Federal Communications
>   Commission, Free Press and the Center for Media and Democracy
>   refuted spurious claims made by the Radio-Television News Directors
>   Association (RTNDA) and the National Association of Broadcast
>   Communicators (NABC), a new consortium of broadcast PR firms, about
>   the FCC's ongoing investigation into corporate-funded "fake news" on
>   local TV stations.
>For the rest of this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5304
>
>2. TAKING A PAGE (WELL, TWO) FROM HISTORY
>by Elliott Fullmer
>
>   As you may have heard by now, former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) is not
>   the first member of Congress to be involved in a congressional page
>   scandal.
>        Twenty-three years ago, the House Ethics Committee concluded
>   that Reps. Gerry Studds (D-Mass.) and Daniel Crane (R-Ill.) had each
>   engaged in sexual relationships with seventeen-year-old pages. Both
>   admitted to the respective affairs, each of which had taken place
>   several years earlier. While the Ethics Committee recommended only
>   that the members be reprimanded, many felt that this punishment was
>   not strong enough. Some, including future Speaker Newt Gingrich
>   (R-Ga.), argued that each member should be expelled from the House.
>For the rest of this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5292
>
>3. ZIGGING AND ZAGGING ON CUTTING AND RUNNING
>by Sheldon Rampton
>
>   The Bush administration's use of the term "cut and run" to
>   caricature opponents of the war in Iraq is yet another example of
>   the attention that America's war party pays to rhetorical repetition
>   and linguistic framing at the expense of realistic discourse and
>   analysis. Bush himself has taken to using this catchprase
>   repeatedly. At a recent speech in Birmingham, Alabama, he declared
>   that "The party of FDR, the party of Harry Truman, has become the
>   party of cut-and-run." He repeated the charge a few days later, at a
>   political fundraising breakfast for California Congressman Richard
>   Pombo. "The Democrats are the party of cut and run," he said. "Ours
>   is a party that has got a clear vision and says we will give our
>   commanders and troops the support necessary to achieve that victory
>   in Iraq."
>For the rest of this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5098
>
>== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
>
>1. PROFITING FROM A NONPROFIT STATUS, THANKS TO ABRAMOFF
>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101200889.html
>   According to a report by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, "five
>   conservative nonprofit organizations, including one run by prominent
>   Republican Grover Norquist, 'appear to have perpetrated a fraud' on
>   taxpayers by selling their clout to lobbyist Jack Abramoff." The
>   nonprofits are Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, the Council of
>   Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, Citizens Against Government
>   Waste, the National Center for Public Policy Research, and Toward
>   Tradition. The Senate report finds the groups probably violated
>   their tax-exempt status, "by laundering payments and then disbursing
>   funds at Mr. Abramoff's direction; taking payments in exchange for
>   writing newspaper columns and press releases that put Mr. Abramoff's
>   clients in a favorable light; introducing Mr. Abramoff's clients to
>   government officials in exchange for payment; and agreeing to act as
>   a front organization for congressional trips paid for by Mr.
>   Abramoff's clients." Clients benefiting include Microsoft and
>   Primedia's Channel One. Norquist's attorney countered that "there is
>   no 'abuse' of ATR's tax status," as long as funds are spent in
>   keeping with the mission of Americans for Tax Reform.
>SOURCE: Washington Post, October 13, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5303
>
>2. PINK RIBBONS MEAN HEALTHY SALES
>http://www.startribune.com/1244/story/739030.html
>   This October is the 26th annual Breast Cancer Awareness month, an
>   event "conceived by the pharmaceutical company Zeneca, now
>   AstraZeneca ... to promote mammography as the most effective weapon
>   in fighting breast cancer." The increasing number of pink ribbon /
>   breast cancer cause-related marketing campaigns has the advocacy
>   group Breast Cancer Action referring to October as "breast cancer
>   industry month." Companies -- like Ty, which is offering "SpongeBob
>   PinkPants" this October -- point out that they raise money for
>   breast cancer research. "In 2005 alone, cause-related marketing
>   generated more than $30 million for research and community programs
>   for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation," reports Josephine
>   Marcotty. Pink marketing also helps companies' bottom lines.
>   Advertising Age reports that "by turning its iconic red-and-white
>   soup cans pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Campbell Soup Co.
>   has doubled sales of its top varieties to its biggest grocery
>   customer. ... [Campbell spokesman John] Faulkner said he would 'love
>   to see the program expanded greatly next year.'"
>SOURCE: Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN), October 13, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5302
>
>3. FIELD OF DREAMY PR
>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/sports/baseball/11sox.html
>   The sport of baseball got its reputation as a "Field of Dreams," in
>   part, because the game is played outside of time. There is a nominal
>   starting time, but no game clock. Once endorsement deals became as
>   fashionable as designer steroids, everything else went up for sale.
>   Last week, reports Richard Sandomir, the Chicago White Sox literally
>   sold their starting time for $500,000 per year, so that convenience
>   store chain 7-Eleven could get a little more PR. For the next three
>   seasons, the approximately 50 night games on Chicago's South Side
>   will be scheduled to begin at exactly 7:11 p.m. "Every time the
>   media announces the game's start time it will be a gentle reminder
>   of our sponsorship," 7-Eleven spokesperson Margaret Chabris said of
>   the games. In 2003, the White Sox sold stadium naming rights to U.S.
>   Cellular for $68 million, upon which the Chicago wireless service
>   provider's nameplate replaced iconic Comiskey Park (named for the
>   former team owner and ballplayer). There was no word at press time
>   whether players will also be required to "Thank Heaven for 7-Eleven"
>   or sip on a Slurpee before they step up to the plate.
>SOURCE: The New York Times, October 11, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5293
>
>4. FAKE NEWS LOBBY GROUP GEARS UP
>http://www.prweek.com/us/news/article/598664/Broadcast-PR-companies-unite-amid-ongoing-scrutiny-VNRs/ 
>
>   A group of producers of video news releases (VNRs) have formed the
>   National Association of Broadcast Communicators (NABC) to campaign
>   against the mandatory disclosure of fake news. NABC Vice-President
>   Mike Hill, who is is President of News Broadcast Network, told PR
>   Week that "disclosure is something that TV and radio stations should
>   do as they feel necessary from a news standpoint." Mandatory
>   disclosure, Hill claimed, "would be unworkable." The new group is
>   supported by the Public Relations Society of America. "We all play
>   an important role in the news gathering and dissemination process,"
>   said Michael Cherenson, the chair of PRSA's advocacy practice. NABC
>   has hired the Washington D.C. law firm Keller and Heckman and the
>   lobbying firm Bryan Cave Strategies to counter a Federal
>   Communications Commission investigation into the use of VNRs. On
>   October 16, Keller and Heckman filed a comment with FCC Chair Martin
>   on behalf of NABC that claims that the Center for Media and
>   Democracy's "Fake TV News" report "unfairly tarnishes a host of
>   broadcasters along with the entire VNR industry."
>SOURCE: PR Week (sub req'd), October 13, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5301
>
>5. OIL COMPANY FRONT MAY HAVE TO DISCLOSE CONTRIBUTORS
>http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/4254066.html
>   Alaska's Future, is a front group which, according to its former
>   president, was created by BP, ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. The
>   group may be required to disclose its funders and other financial
>   information, following a three-hour hearing by the Alaska Public
>   Offices Commission. Even though commission staff recommended
>   dismissing a complaint brought against the group, the Commissioners
>   decided they wanted to consider the matter further. The group was
>   originally formed to promote a proposal for a pipeline that would
>   serve the three companies. More recently, the group has run
>   television advertisements opposing a ballot initiative that would
>   tax the leaseholders of gas reserves $1 billion a year until a gas
>   pipeline is built. In September, BP spokesman Daren Beaudo told the
>   Anchorage Daily News that the company only intended to disclose what
>   it spent on the campaign after the election.
>SOURCE: Houston Chronicle, October 12, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5300
>
>6. LEGAL CHILL WORRIES DRUG BULLETIN
>http://www.australianprescriber.com/magazine/29/5/artid/828/
>   The case of a judge granting an injunction to prevent a group of
>   medical professionals publishing a critical review of the herbal
>   drug Tebonin has the editor of a major drug bulletin worried. The
>   editor of Australian Prescriber, John Dowden, notes that in two
>   other instances where drug companies sued drug bulletins, the
>   judgements favoured the publishers. In the Tebonin case, Justice
>   Andrew Greenwood decided that as a copy of the draft report had been
>   sent to the government regulator, granting of an injunction would
>   not harm the public interest. "Unfortunately, the Department of
>   Health and Ageing has said that any investigation by the TGA
>   [Therapeutic Goods Administration] will be commercial-in-confidence
>   and the results will not be disclosed to the public," Dowden writes.
>   It is time, he suggests, that the health supplement industry opened
>   itself up to greater scrutiny of its products.
>SOURCE: Australian Prescriber, October 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5299
>
>7. DRUG ADS DEBATE HEATS UP IN EUROPE AND NEW ZEALAND
>http://66.71.191.169/isdbweb/pag/documents/DeclarationInfoPatientFINAL2909.pdf
>   A coalition of European health groups, including the International
>   Society of Drug Bulletins and the Medicines in Europe Forum, is
>   alarmed at a renewed campaign by the drug industry to lift the ban
>   on  direct-to-consumer advertising in Europe. While acknowledging
>   consumer information about health is essential, the groups are
>   concerned that backdoor direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA)
>   through "disease awareness" campaigns and the direct or indirect
>   funding of patient groups by drug companies "have blurred the
>   boundaries between drug promotion and health information." They
>   argue that there "needs to be a clear distinction between
>   information and advertising that is disguised as 'information.'"
>   Meanwhile, the New Zealand Minister for Health, Pete Hodgson, has
>   said that he will shortly announce a decision on a review of DTCA
>   advertising. New Zealand and the U.S. are the only countries which
>   currently allow DTCA ads. Public health groups are urging the
>   government to ban the ads.
>SOURCE: Health Action International Europe, October 2006 (pdf file)
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5298
>
>8.  ON BOOK TOUR WITH "THE BEST WAR EVER" - STAUBER SPEAKS
>http://youtube.com/watch?v=7qAEaSIubAs
>   CMD executive director John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, co-authors
>   of The Best War Ever: Lies, Damned Lies and the Mess in Iraq, have
>   been barnstorming the country talking in classrooms, bookstores,
>   homes, on radio and TV programs, and in interviews with print
>   journalists. Here is footage of one of Stauber's early interviews
>   given on September 18th in Seattle at radio station KEXP-FM to its
>   "Mind Over Matters" program host Mike McCormick. (When Stauber's
>   co-author Rampton saw this half-hour interview his response was,
>   "Boy, can that guy blab." Stauber's response: "It must have been the
>   coffee.") Note the number of Iraqi deaths Stauber cites: 100,000.
>   This was a month before the horrific news that the number of Iraqis
>   killed since the US invasion is now better estimated at more than
>   600,000 and climbing. Here is an interview Stauber gave to the
>   Portland, Oregon, weekly newspaper that ran in advance of his talk
>   in that city, and click here to view Stauber's September book talk
>   in Berkeley at Cody's bookstore. For other book-related reviews and
>   interviews, go to the official book page: The Best War Ever: Lies,
>   Damned Lies and the Mess in Iraq .
>SOURCE: YouTube
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5297
>
>9. UC FOLLOWS (AND QUESTIONS) THE TOBACCO MONEY
>http://www.today.ucla.edu/news/061010_tobacco-funds/
>   The University of California system is debating whether UC schools
>   should continue to accept research funding from tobacco companies.
>   Proponents of the funding invoke the slippery-slope argument, saying
>   if UC refuses tobacco funds, then pharmaceutical companies might be
>   next. Others argue that eliminating tobacco funding would infringe
>   on academics? freedom of speech. In August 2006, a federal court
>   found major U.S. tobacco companies guilty of committing fraud,
>   conspiracy and racketeering over four decades, in an effort to
>   create doubt in the public?s mind about health harms from tobacco
>   smoke. The court ruling focused on the fact that tobacco industry
>   funding of research at prestigious medical schools and universities
>   was essential to its illegal enterprise. Others found guilty of
>   unrelated fraud charges include former Illinois governor George
>   Ryan, former Enron executives Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay, and
>   former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers. The University of California
>   regents might ask whether it would be appropriate to accept funding
>   from these other offenders, who committed similar crimes as the
>   tobacco industry, but over far shorter amounts of time and resulting
>   in far fewer deaths.
>SOURCE: UCLA Today, October 10, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5296
>
>10. FAULTY ACCOUNTING
>http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1920016,00.html
>   The British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a
>   complaint against a Scottish energy utility that claimed that a tree
>   planting scheme funded by consumers volunteering to pay a higher
>   tariff would offset their carbon emissions. The ASA told Scottish &
>   Southern Energy (SSE) to withdraw a brochure promoting the scheme.
>   SSE had argued that the average household produced 4.65 tonnes of
>   carbon dioxide a year from gas usage and household waste. "But,"
>   Miles Brignall reported, "the ASA said it failed to prove that the
>   new trees absorbed the equivalent amount of greenhouse gases." The
>   decision may impact other companies, too. The oil giant BP recently
>   unveiled its targetneutral scheme, Ford USA and Ford Land Rover have
>   launched Terrapass, and British Airways has teamed up with Climate
>   Care.
>SOURCE: Guardian (UK), October 12, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5295
>
>11. UK ARMY CHIEF DROPS A BOMB, CALLS FOR END TO OCCUPATION OF IRAQ
>http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=410163&in_page_id=1770&ico=Homepage&icl=TabModule&ic
>   The head of the UK army has dropped a political and public relations
>   bomb on the occupation of Iraq, blowing to bits the upbeat,
>   stay-the-course talking points of the Blair and Bush
>   administrations. According to an interview in The Daily Mail, "The
>   head of the Army is calling for British troops to withdraw from Iraq
>   'soon' or risk catastophic consequences for both Iraq and British
>   society. In a devastating broadside at Tony Blair's foreign policy,
>   General Sir Richard Dannatt stated explicitly that the continuing
>   presence of British troops 'exacerbates the security problems' in
>   Iraq. ... Sir Richard, who took up his post earlier this year,
>   warned that 'our presence in Iraq exacerbates' the 'difficulties we
>   are facing around the world.' He lambasts Tony Blair's desire to
>   forge a 'liberal democracy' in Iraq as a 'naive' failure and he
>   warns that 'whatever consent we may have had in the first place'
>   from the Iraqi people 'has largely turned to intolerance.' Liberal
>   Democrat Foreign Affairs spokesman Michael Moore said: 'This is the
>   frankest assessment we have had about Iraq. It illustrates that the
>   government has no clear strategy.' The party's defense spokesman
>   Nick Harvey added: 'This drives a coach and horses through the
>   government's foreign policy.'"
>SOURCE: The Daily Mail (UK), October 12, 2006
>For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5294
>
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