[ecrea] THE WEEKLY SPIN, March 28, 2007

>THE WEEKLY SPIN, MARCH 28, 2007
>
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>THIS WEEK'S NEWS
>
>== EVENT: TODAY ==
>1. CMD Testimony to Congressional Committee on "Shaping the Message, 
>Distorting the Science"
>
>== BLOG POSTINGS ==
>1. Shaping the Message, Distorting the Science
>2. The FCC and Armstrong Williams' Continuing Legacy
>3. Congresspedia: Where Wonks and "Regular Citizens" Work Collaboratively
>4. The Appearance of an Independent Judiciary Goes Up in Smoke
>
>== BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST ==
>1. UPDATE: Help Find the Contact Information for Freshman Members of Congress
>
>== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
>1. A Talent for PR
>2. Israel: Where the Women Are, '07
>3. Gephardt Enters the Coal Lobbying Mines
>4. Gonzales Seeks Support in the Court of Public Opinion
>5. Playing the Anti-Consumer Card
>6. MoveOn Moves In With Pelosi
>7. And the Brand Played On
>8. Ads Becoming Smaller and Less Obvious
>9. Pakistan People's Party Plans U.S. Lobbying Campaign
>10. Minnesota Doctors on Drug Company Drip
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------
>== EVENT: TODAY ==
>
>1. CMD TESTIMONY TO CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON "SHAPING THE MESSAGE, 
>DISTORTING THE SCIENCE"
>        The Center for Media and Democracy's Research Director,
>   Sheldon Rampton, will testify before the U.S. House Committee on
>   Science and Technology on "Shaping the Message, Distorting the
>   Science: Media Strategies to Influence Science Policy." Other
>   hearing witnesses include Dr. James J. McCarthy, Harvard
>   University's Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological Oceanography
>   and a Board Member of the Union of Concerned Scientists, and Tarek
>   Maassarani of the Government Accountability Project.
>        "Mr. Rampton Goes to Washington" can be seen in person, on
>   Wednesday, March 28, from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. eastern time at
>   2318 Rayburn House Office Building, or via webcast on the
>   Committee's website, 
> http://science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?NewsID=1736
>
>== BLOG POSTINGS ==
>
>1. SHAPING THE MESSAGE, DISTORTING THE SCIENCE
>by Sheldon Rampton
>        I've been asked to deliver testimony this Wednesday before
>   the Committee on Science and Technology of the U.S. House of
>   Representatives, which is holding a hearing titled "Shaping the
>   Message, Distorting the Science: Media Strategies to Influence
>   Science Policy."
>        The written statement that I've prepared appears below. In
>   addition, I'm told there will be about an hour of questions and
>   answers. Other hearing witnesses include Dr. James J. McCarthy,
>   Harvard University's Alexander Agassiz Professor of Biological
>   Oceanography and a Board Member of the Union of Concerned
>   Scientists, and Tarek Maassarani of the Government Accountability
>   Project.
>        If you're interested in tuning in to watch, the testimony
>   will be webcast from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. You
>   can find the webcast at the committee's website, at:
> 
>http://science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?NewsID=1736
>To read the rest of this item, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5899
>
>2. THE FCC AND ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS' CONTINUING LEGACY
>by Diane Farsetta
>        There are many reasons why federal investigations might take
>   some time to conclude.  Perhaps the issues are complex.  Maybe the
>   parties under investigation are less than forthcoming.  The
>   investigating agency may lack the resources needed to resolve the
>   matter in a timely fashion.
>        On the other hand, a stalled investigation may be part of a
>   crisis management strategy.  When an embarrassing ethical or legal
>   transgression surfaces, launching an investigation sends the message
>   that the matter is being taken seriously.  Thanks to a rapid news
>   cycle and a lack of follow-up reporting, public attention shifts
>   elsewhere as the investigation continues.  Closing the investigation
>   can be seen as counter-productive, as it once again calls attention
>   to the problem and creates the expectation that the findings will be
>   acted upon.
>        Representative John Dingell (D-Mich.) may well have been
>   pondering such matters on March 14, when he pointedly asked Federal
>   Communications Commission Chair Kevin Martin about the status of the
>   agency's ongoing Armstrong Williams investigation.
>To read the rest of this item, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5902
>
>3. CONGRESSPEDIA: WHERE WONKS AND "REGULAR CITIZENS" WORK COLLABORATIVELY
>by Elliott Fullmer
>        The Congresspedia project on SourceWatch has been receiving a
>   lot of great edits lately by students, wonks and people who are
>   simply interested in policy and politics (and have a modem). As the
>   "managing editors" of the site, we keep an eye on the edits made to
>   articles to do fact checking, help citizen editors and watch for
>   vandalism. One editor, Lczikowsky, caught our eye by systematically
>   expanding the page on minimum wage legislation to include
>   state-level legislative proposals in 30 states, resulting in an
>   in-depth article that's a great resource for anyone researching the
>   minimum wage. Here's Lczikowsky to discuss his contributions in more
>   detail:
>To read the rest of this item, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5859
>
>4. THE APPEARANCE OF AN INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY GOES UP IN SMOKE
>by Anne Landman
>        Things are looking grimmer and grimmer for U.S. Attorney
>   General Alberto Gonzales.
>        The scandal involving the firing of eight attorneys has led
>   to accusations that Gonzales runs the U.S. Department of Justice
>   (DOJ) to suit the Bush administration's right-wing political
>   ideology instead of to protect the interest of citizens.  Now Sharon
>   Eubanks, the lead attorney in DOJ's racketeering case against the
>   major American tobacco companies, has emerged to provide further
>   evidence of judicial rigging.
>To read the rest of this item, visit:
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5889
>
>
>== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
>
>1. A TALENT FOR PR
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5901
>   It didn't take Former Republican Senator Jim Talent of Missouri
>   long to take a spin through the revolving door between government
>   and the private sector. Talent just lost the Senate seat that he had
>   held since 2003 in November, but the public relations firm
>   Fleishman-Hillard has already hired him as co-chairman of its
>   Government Relations subsidiary. Talent said that it is a "great
>   platform to work on raising the profile of the same issues I did in
>   Congress," including defense, health care and transportation. He
>   also intends to continue his part-time fellowship at the Heritage
>   Foundation in addition to advising Republican presidential candidate
>   and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on domestic policy issues.
>SOURCE: Bulldog Reporter's Daily 'Dog, March 27, 2007
>
>
>2. ISRAEL: WHERE THE WOMEN ARE, '07
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5898
>   "All the surveys we have done shows that the biggest hasbara," or
>   public diplomacy, "problem that Israel has is with males from the
>   age of 18 - 35," said David Saranga, Israel's media and public
>   affairs point person at its New York consulate. "In order to change
>   their perception of Israel as only a land of conflict, we want to
>   present to them an Israel that interests them," he added. So the
>   "beer 'n' babes magazine Maxim" is sending photographers to Israel,
>   for a photo shoot of attractive Israeli women. Saranga called the
>   Israeli women models a "Trojan horse," to show Israel as "a modern
>   country with nice beaches." The magazine will also include
>   information on each of the seven models, "to show the diversity of
>   Israeli society." Israel's consul-general in New York said his
>   country "is a vibrant and vivid place, and capturing this on the
>   pages of America's biggest male magazine helps us reaffirm our brand
>   in an important way."
>SOURCE: The Jerusalem Post (Israel), March 22, 2007
>
>3. GEPHARDT ENTERS THE COAL LOBBYING MINES
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5897
>   In yet another example of the government-industry revolving door,
>   "Peabody Energy, the world's largest private sector coal company,
>   has hired Dick Gephardt's firm to spearhead its drive to defeat
>   efforts by Democrats to put caps on carbon emissions in a bid to
>   combat global warming," reports O'Dwyer's. Gephardt, a Democrat and
>   the former U.S. House Majority Leader, will advocate for increased
>   public funding of "clean coal technologies." Peabody's coal
>   generators produce 10 percent of U.S. electricity. The company says
>   "clean coal" research will help achieve the "ultimate goal of
>   near-zero emissions from coal." Peabody's corporate social
>   responsibility report calls mandatory caps on emissions
>   "irresponsible, contributing to adverse health impacts and economic
>   harm through the loss of affordable electricity."
>SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), March 23, 2007
>
>4. GONZALES SEEKS SUPPORT IN THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5896
>   As more information surfaces about Attorney General Alberto
>   Gonzales' role in the Justice Department scandal over the firing of
>   eight U.S. attorneys, Gonzales is going "on a public relations tour
>   to boost his image," reports Jennifer Hoar. "To mitigate backlash,"
>   Gonzales is making "a conference call to U.S. attorneys, personal
>   meetings and lunches with senators and members of Congress and an
>   impromptu appearance at the National Hispanic Leadership Summit." In
>   addition, "the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Hispanic
>   Alliance for Progress Institute and the Fraternal Order of Police,
>   among others" have issued letters of support for Gonzales. Some
>   public relations professionals questioned the effectiveness of
>   involving Latino groups in Gonzales' damage control. "Gonzales is a
>   nice guy, but he represents an administration that is cause for
>   disillusionment," said Marc Campos, the president of the PR firm
>   Campos Communications, which specializes in "Hispanic community
>   relations." Campos said that if Gonzales "is asked to resign, there
>   are not going to be a whole lot of tears shed."
>SOURCE: CBS News, March 23, 2007
>
>5. PLAYING THE ANTI-CONSUMER CARD
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5895
>   University of California at Berkeley senior staff attorney and
>   senior fellow at the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology Chris
>   Hoofnagle writes, "In my work on consumer protection, I have begun
>   to recognize patterns" in the actions and arguments of corporations
>   and think tanks opposing regulations and other oversight. "Whether
>   the topic is tobacco, food and drug safety, or privacy legislation,
>   these groups employ the same rhetorical devices to delay and stop
>   consumer reform." Hoofnagle presents common arguments by these
>   pro-corporate "denialists" as a deck of cards. Arguments likely to
>   be made early on in anti-reform campaigns are lower-level cards,
>   progressing up to the face cards. "No Problem" is the two of clubs,
>   "Stifles Innovation" is the six of hearts, "Fake Consumer Groups" is
>   the ten of clubs, and "We'll Lose Money!" is the ace of clubs. "I
>   hope the Denialists' Deck of Cards has been an entertaining
>   critique," concludes Hoofnagle, adding that it "can help consumer
>   advocates frame the opposition that they receive."
>SOURCE: Denialism.com, February 9, 2007
>
>6. MOVEON MOVES IN WITH PELOSI
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5893
>   Farhad Manjoo of Salon.com examines MoveOn's new role as
>   power-broker for the Democratic Party.  "MoveOn, which began with an
>   e-mail petition opposing President Clinton's impeachment in 1998,
>   has grown into one of the biggest and best-known netroots groups on
>   the left. ...  Now, however, with the Democrats running the House
>   and Senate, MoveOn's stance on the Pelosi bill has led critics to
>   suggest complicity with the new congressional power structure.  ...
>   MoveOn has long been part of Win Without War, a large collection of
>   progressive antiwar groups; now it is virtually alone among the
>   coalition's membership in its support for the Pelosi plan."
>SOURCE: Salon.com, March 23, 2007
>
>7. AND THE BRAND PLAYED ON
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5892
>   As noted in previous Spins, the movie "InnerState" was bankrolled
>   by Johnson & Johnson to promote a drug produced by its
>   biopharmaceutical unit, Centocor. But J&J isn't alone. The Fireman's
>   Fund, along with its PR firm, Ketchum, "brokered a deal with the
>   History Channel for its 'Into the Fire' in 2006." The TV movie was
>   geared to show that "post-9/11, firemen's services are basically
>   under-funded," said Mark Owens of Ketchum Entertainment Marketing.
>   "We didn't set up to make a documentary about the brand. ...
>   If it were a preachy story about what the brand was doing, it
>   wouldn't work." Owens said that although TV movies get better
>   numbers -- "Into the Fire" was watched by three million people --
>   "showing a corporate documentary in a theater is a 'Holy Grail for
>   what a brand would like to have. It is prestigious and has a great
>   sound and feel.'"
>SOURCE: PR Week, March 14, 2007
>
>8. ADS BECOMING SMALLER AND LESS OBVIOUS
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5890
>   The New York Times reports on two marketing trends. "The Online
>   Publishers Association released a study showing that mobile Internet
>   use was on the rise, as was acceptance of mobile advertising,"
>   reports Eric Pfanner. While "the publishing group's numbers seem
>   surprisingly high when compared with other recent surveys of Web
>   access by mobile phone users," mobile marketing "could be a big
>   thing simply because the potential audience size is enormous." Nokia
>   recently announced "new services to increase mobile advertising."
>   For television, the trend is to make commercials seem more like
>   programs and less like ads, reports Stuart Elliott. "We want to
>   bring the audiences right to the commercial so they don't feel
>   they've gone into the commercial," explained ABC's Michael Shaw. The
>   CW network "is selling commercials that resemble programs, with the
>   sponsors' products incorporated into the plots." VH1 has
>   "Showstoppers," which intersperse "program snippets and [ad] spots."
>   General Electric is producing commercials for "new-media outlets
>   like video on demand and the Internet, which bear titles like 'G.E.
>   One-Second Theater' and 'G.E.'s Imagination Theater,'" named to
>   evoke the old "General Electric Theater" shows hosted by Ronald
>   Reagan.
>SOURCE: New York Times, March 22, 2007
>
>9. PAKISTAN PEOPLE'S PARTY PLANS U.S. LOBBYING CAMPAIGN
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5886
>   In February the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) hired BKSH &
>   Associates, Burson-Marsteller and the polling company Penn, Schoen
>   and Berland Associates, to promote the need for "free, open and
>   transparent elections in Pakistan in 2007." The contract, which runs
>   to June 2007, could be worth as much as $250,000. Pakistan's current
>   Prime Minister, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, came to power in 1999 by a
>   military coup while the leader of the PPP, Benazir Bhutto, is living
>   in exile. Kevin Bogardus reports that the first stage of the
>   campaign involves the development of op-eds and white papers. This
>   is to be  followed by a "broad public affairs campaign" which
>   includes enlisting "third-party supporters," including former U.S.
>   government officials and think tanks. In the final stage, the
>   campaign hopes to organize meetings for Bhutto with the editorial
>   boards of the New York Times and the Washington Post and also
>   "target top journalists" such as the Times columnist Thomas
>   Friedman.
>SOURCE: The Hill, March 20, 2007
>
>10. MINNESOTA DOCTORS ON DRUG COMPANY DRIP
>http://www.prwatch.org/node/5885
>   An examination of records from Minnesota, where legislation
>   requires drug company payments to doctors to be disclosed, reveals
>   that between 1997 and 2005 over 5,500 medical professionals in the
>   state were paid a total of over $57 million. Gardiner Harris and
>   Janet Roberts report that "another $40 million went to clinics,
>   research centers and other organizations. More than 20 percent of
>   the state's licensed physicians received money. The median payment
>   per consultant was $1,000; more than 100 people received more than
>   $100,000." Kathleen Slattery-Moschkau, who worked as a sales
>   representative for Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson until
>   2002, explained that "the vast majority of the time that we did any
>   sort of paid relationship with a physician, they increased the use
>   of our drug ... I hate to say it out loud, but it all comes down to
>   ways to manipulate the doctors."
>SOURCE: New York Times, March 21, 2007
>
>
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