Sunday, March 20, 2005

Wanted 250,000 Americans to fight fake news


THE WEEKLY SPIN, March 16, 2005
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS


== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. WANTED:  250,000 Americans to Fight Fake News & Government Propaganda
2. Desperately Seeking Disclosure: What Happens When Public Funds Go To Private PR Firms?

== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. Investing in "Ethical" Uranium
2. Gloom in the Ranks of PR
3. Not So "Firewall," After All
4. Where the Buffalo Shills Roam
5. Video News Responses
6. State of the Fourth Estate
7. Ten Minutes from Normal Relations
8. Fake News on the BBC
9. The New York Times Catches on to VNRs
10. Pro-Cedar, Anti-Syria
11. Still in the Movie Business
12. McPositioning
13. Counting Votes First, Dead Later
14. The Reverse British Invasion
----------------------------------------------------------------------

== BLOG POSTINGS ==

1. WANTED:  250,000 AMERICANS TO FIGHT FAKE NEWS & GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA
by John Stauber
  The Center for Media and Democracy is working with Free Press to
  gather a quarter million signatures on our petition mobilizing the
  American public to fight fake news and government propaganda. On
  Sunday, the New York Times reported that at least 20 federal
  agencies have made and distributed pre-packaged, ready-to-serve
  television news segments to promote President Bush's policies and
  initiatives. Congress' Government Accountability Office determined
  that these "video news releases" were illegal "covert propaganda"
  and told federal agencies to stop. But last Friday, the White House
  ordered all agencies to disregard Congress' directive. The Bush
  administration is using hundreds of millions of your tax dollars to
  manipulate public opinion. Here's how to stop them.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3365

2. DESPERATELY SEEKING DISCLOSURE: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN PUBLIC FUNDS GO TO PRIVATE PR FIRMS?
by Diane Farsetta
  In some ways, Armstrong Williams got a bad rap.
       The conservative Black commentator, who was paid $240,000 by
  the U.S. Department of Education to advertise and advocate for the
  controversial "No Child Left Behind" law, lost his syndicated
  newspaper column and was pilloried for not disclosing the payment.
       Williams seriously betrayed the public trust. But he was a
  small fry â?? a subcontractor on the $1 million deal between the
  Education Department and Ketchum, one of the world's largest public
  relations agencies.
       At first, Ketchum refused to talk to reporters. Then they
  blamed Williams. "We would assume that the commentator/pundit would
  disclose," senior partner Lorraine Thelian said. Nearly two weeks
  later, Ketchum announced "a new policy for the signing and
  authorization of contracts with spokespeople," and requirements for
  subcontractors "to abide by the agencyâ??s ethical standards." Not
  the most confidence-inspiring response, especially given its
  vagueness.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3348

== SPIN OF THE DAY ==

1. INVESTING IN "ETHICAL" URANIUM
http://newsstore.fairfax.com.au/apps/viewDocument.ac?page=1&sy=afr&kw=Sustainable+Asset+Management&pb=afr&dt=selectRange&dr=toda
  Mining giant BHP-Billiton's proposed acquisition of WMC Resources, a
  major uranium mining company, poses no problem for the global
  ethical investment fund Sustainable Asset Management (SAM). While
  some ethical funds avoid both BHP-Billiton shares, following the Ok
  Tedi environmental disaster in Papua New Guinea, and WMC shares, due
  to its uranium project, SAM holds both. SAM's research manager,
  Francis Grey, explained that while they don't agree with uranium or
  nuclear power, company projects owned before 1994 do not affect
  SAM's "ethical" rating system. "We have an expression of BS, meaning
  before sustainability, a time when it was a different world and they
  did all sorts of different things," he said. A few years ago, SAM
  angered tobacco control activists by including British American
  Tobacco in their "ethical" fund index.
SOURCE: Australian Financial Review, March 16, 2005. (sub req'd)
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3371

2. GLOOM IN THE RANKS OF PR
http://www.edelman.com/speak_up/blog/
  After last Sunday's New York Times article on video news releases,
  Richard Edelman, the president and CEO of the PR company Edelman,
  wrote that the PR industry can expect more criticisms. "Why am I so
  sure of this? In part, because we have allowed our profession to be
  increasing defined as complicit in a cover-up, as willing shills who
  let money overwhelm our judgment and moral compass. We are accused
  of foisting government propaganda on the American people, in direct
  violation of the law," he wrote. Among his suggestions were that the
  "reporter" in VNRs ask "a few difficult questions." "How about
  identifying the former reporter as such, or including a note to
  viewers on-screen that the VNR came from the US Government?" he
  suggested. As for corporate VNRs, Edelman remained mute.
SOURCE: Richard Edelman's Speak Up blog, March 14, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3370

3. NOT SO "FIREWALL," AFTER ALL
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/29941/story.htm
  "We believe FDA is overstating industry's compliance with the animal
  feed ban and understating the potential risk of (mad cow disease)
  for U.S. cattle in its reports to Congress and the American people,"
  the Government Accountability Office concluded, in a report on the
  Food and Drug Administration's management of what government press
  releases refer to as the "firewall feed ban." The feed ban is "the
  most important U.S. safeguard against mad cow disease." The GAO
  report also took issue with FDA's claim of 99% industry compliance
  with the ban. That figure is "based on inspections of only about 570
  firms," "does not include all serious violations," and counts as
  "compliant" firms "that lacked written procedures to prevent" ban
  violations, states the report.
SOURCE: Reuters, March 15, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3369

4. WHERE THE BUFFALO SHILLS ROAM
http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3622087,00.html
  "The University of Colorado's governing Board of Regents has
  retained a $350-per-hour public relations consultant," to deal "with
  the fallout from a football recruiting scandal and the ongoing saga
  surrounding controversial professor Ward Churchill." The consultant
  is Christopher Simpson, a former Washington Times reporter and press
  secretary to Senator Strom Thurmond. Simpson said he will work to
  get attention "back focused on the tremendous attributes" of the
  university. The new hire is in addition to "a contract with local
  public relations firm GBSM," and "the combined salaries of several
  people on the university's staff who handle public relations,"
  including two associate vice-presidents paid $150,000 each.
SOURCE: Rocky Mountain News, March 15, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3368

5. VIDEO NEWS RESPONSES
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&u=/ap/20050314/ap_on_go_pr_wh/government_videos&printer=1
  In response to Sunday's New York Times expose, White House press
  secretary Scott McClellan called government-produced video news
  releases "an informational tool." Their source, he said, is "very
  clear to the TV stations." The head of Medialink, one of the largest
  VNR companies, said "the government's use of VNRs dates back to the
  Eisenhower presidency," adding that the Times "failed to report on
  the long history of such government education programs." In a letter
  to the Times, the president of West Glen Communications wrote,
  "Newspapers don't reveal that much of the news they print originates
  from press releases supplied by corporate communications
  departments, PR agencies, college sports information offices and
  staffs of mayors and legislators." O'Dwyer's summed up VNR
  producers' reactions as saying the Times piece was "old" and
  "politics-ridden."
SOURCE: Associated Press, March 14, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3367

6. STATE OF THE FOURTH ESTATE
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000837511
  The Project for Excellence in Journalism's "State of the News Media
  2005" concludes that U.S. media coverage of Iraq was balanced, that
  campaign coverage favored John Kerry, and that Fox was "the most
  one-sided of all major news outlets." On Iraq, 25% of 2,000 stories
  analyzed were negative and 20% were positive. "Fox News Channel was
  twice as likely to be positive than negative, while CNN and MSNBC
  were evenhanded." A "more limited analysis of campaign coverage
  found that Bush received more negative, and less positive, coverage
  than Kerry," perhaps due to setbacks in Iraq and Bush's incumbent
  status. Also, "with the exception of Republicans who prefer Fox
  News," American's don't seek out news sources that reinforce their
  beliefs.
SOURCE: Editor and Publisher, March 13, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3366

7. TEN MINUTES FROM NORMAL RELATIONS
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25347-2005Mar10.html
  Former White House counselor and Bush campaign advisor Karen Hughes
  "will take over the Bush administration's troubled public diplomacy
  effort intended to burnish the U.S. image abroad, particularly in
  the Muslim world." The Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and
  Public Affairs position at the State Department, previously held by
  Margaret Tutwiler and Charlotte Beers, uses "exchange programs,
  foreign language media and other initiatives ... to promote American
  values" while "combating negative images." Hughes will be assisted
  by Dina Powell, the current White House Chief of Personnel and "an
  American of Egyptian descent who speaks fluent Arabic."
SOURCE: Washington Post, March 12, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3364

8. FAKE NEWS ON THE BBC
http://spinwatch.server101.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=342
  "We have our very own fake journalists operating in the UK," writes
  David Miller of Europe's SpinWatch. Miller cites the British Forces
  Broadcasting Service, whose reports have been aired by the BBC. BFBS
  is run by the Services Sound and Vision Corporation, an entity
  "fully funded by the Ministry of Defence," which brags about its
  "considerable contribution" to the armed forces' morale. BBC
  Scotland insiders, Miller writes, "are livid" about the BFBS pieces,
  calling them "an audio press release for the Army." Other members of
  the British "network of propaganda agencies" are the London Press
  Service, run by Intelfax for the government's Foreign Office, and
  British Satellite News, run by the international communications
  company World Television.
SOURCE: SpinWatch, March 15, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3363

9. THE NEW YORK TIMES CATCHES ON TO VNRS
http://nytimes.com/2005/03/13/politics/13covert.html
  New York Times reporters David Barstow and Robin Stein have written
  a lengthy report on the use of video news releases as covert
  propaganda. "Under the Bush administration," they write, "the
  federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of
  public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that
  major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch
  everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at
  least 20 federal agencies ... have made and distributed hundreds of
  television news segments in the past four years, records and
  interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations
  across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's
  role." VNRs are produced for the government by private contractors
  and the State Department's Office of Broadcasting Services, the
  Agriculture Department's Broadcast Media and Technology Center, and
  the Defense Department's Pentagon Channel, among others. We've been
  criticizing VNRs used as propaganda for more than a decade. For
  example, our 1995 book Toxic Sludge Is Good For You described how
  VNRs were used to sell the first Bush administration's Persian Gulf
  war. It's nice to see the Times starting to notice.
SOURCE: New York Times, March 13, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3362

10. PRO-CEDAR, ANTI-SYRIA
http://prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=236397&site=3
  The Lebanese American Council for Democracy, the "group that played
  a key role in the passage of the Syrian Accountability Act,"
  retained 5W Public Relations for "strategic counsel and media
  relations." The group's goal is "to gain support from U.S. political
  leaders and United Nations officials to pressure Syria to withdraw
  its troops." The group is reportedly "closely aligned with Michel
  Aoun, the former Prime Minister who was ousted by the Syrians" in
  1990. The 5W firm is "preparing daily briefing sheets for the media
  to respond to current events." The Syrian Accountability Act, passed
  in 2003, "imposed sanctions on Syria for occupying Lebanon."
SOURCE: PR Week (reg. req'd.), March 10, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3361

11. STILL IN THE MOVIE BUSINESS
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-video10mar10,0,7563065.story?coll=la
  In California, more video news releases produced by the
  Schwarzenegger administration have been identified. The VNRs tout
  administration proposals to reduce nursing staff levels in
  hospitals, to make teachers' pay merit-based, to make tenure more
  stringent, to lower prescription drug prices, and to end mandatory
  employee rest breaks. Schwarzenegger's spokesperson called the VNRs
  "just a press release in video form." But the VNRs push
  controversial proposals, as opposed to those by the Gray Davis
  administration, which explained new driver's licenses or celebrated
  Labor Day. PR Week reports that California "has launched an effort
  to make VNR production easier for all government departments," by
  hiring a multimedia communications specialist.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, March 10, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3360

12. MCPOSITIONING
http://www.suntimes.com/output/lazare/cst-fin-lew10.html
  A new round of global television advertisements developed for
  McDonaldâ??s by the Leo Burnett advertising agency, Chicago
  columnist Lewis Lazare writes, are "pushing too hard to position
  itself as a health-conscious company, a claim that comes off a bit
  disingenuous." Across the Pacific, New Zealand Minister for Health
  and former dental nurse Annette King was busy dismissing the
  suggestion that having Ronald McDonaldâ??s clown face painted on
  vans that deliver dental services to remote communities was helping
  McDonaldâ??s marketing and advertising plans.
SOURCE: Chicago Sun Times, March 10, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3359

13. COUNTING VOTES FIRST, DEAD LATER
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/330/7491/550?etoc
  Visiting professor of public health epidemiology at Oxford
  University, Klim McPherson, notes that while the British government
  has criticized estimates that put the number of Iraqi casualties of
  the war at 100,000, a defence ministry group has been slow to
  produce a better estimate. "Electorates, in Iraq and elsewhere, have
  a right to know. To procrastinate further for no good reason is to
  devalue public health processes, not to mention Iraqi lives. As
  public health professionals we need to know the health costs," he
  wrote.
SOURCE: British Medical Journal, March 12, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3358

14. THE REVERSE BRITISH INVASION
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1431306,00.html
  The global warming "denial lobby" is targeting Britain, reports the
  Observer, and it has U.S. connections. "The UK-based Scientific
  Alliance, which organised the meeting of skeptics in London last
  month, recently published a joint report with America's George C.
  Marshall Institute, a think-tank which has received donations from
  Exxon. ... Exxon has also contributed $50,000 to the International
  Policy Network, headquartered in London. Key personnel at the IPN
  have connections with the Institute of Economic Affairs, Britain's
  leading conservative think-tank, as well as the Competitive
  Enterprise Institute in the U.S., whose global warming expert is
  Myron Ebell, President Bush's climate adviser."
SOURCE: Observer, March 6, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3357

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