THE WEEKLY SPIN, June 6, 2007 Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2007 10:02:13 -0500 (CDT) THE WEEKLY SPIN, JUNE 6, 2007 == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. Nigeria Strikes Back at British American Tobacco == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. New Participatory Project: Updating Profiles on Think Tanks == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. WWF Greenwashes Coca-Cola 2. Indonesia's Years of Lobbying Furiously 3. Unilever: "Viva Marketing!" 4. Foreign Lobbyist Watchdogs, Rejoice! 5. Shell's Broadwater Gathers ACORN's Support 6. Hogging the Picture 7. Congresspedia Managing Editor's In These Times Cover Story 8. FDA Rejects Sunlight -------------------------------------------------------------------- == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. NIGERIA STRIKES BACK AT BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO by Anne Landman If you think the U.S. tobacco industry is bad, you'll find the behavior of many of the same companies overseas to be truly shocking. Happily, the industry is beginning to be held accountable for its operations in the Global South. Nigeria's two largest states are following the lead of U.S. states, in suing British American Tobacco (BAT) of Nigeria, its U.K. parent company and Philip Morris International for the health care costs of treating sick smokers, The Times of London reported this week. The new lawsuits demonstrate the importance of the online public databases of previously secret tobacco industry documents. The 1998 U.S. Master Settlement Agreement required major tobacco companies to reveal millions of pages documenting unethical -- and even illegal -- marketing, public relations and lobbying campaigns. A lesser-known treasure trove is the British American Tobacco Documents Archive, which has made some seven million pages of BAT documents freely available. These documents are of particular importance to countries like Nigeria. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6101 == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. NEW PARTICIPATORY PROJECT: UPDATING PROFILES ON THINK TANKS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6122 Some of the highest traffic pages in SourceWatch are those on the proliferating number of think tanks scattered around the world. Keeping track of what their latest projects are, their finances and key personnel is a challenge. That's where you come in. The profiles on think tanks that are in our top 100 most visited pages, in order of page views over the last week, are those on Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Heartland Institute. With a little bit of effort from a handful of citizen editors we could make sure the profiles are right up to date. Or, if you'd prefer to pick one of the other think tanks, go right ahead. What we need to check is that listed staff and office bearers are current, funding information is as up to date as possible, contact addresses are correct and current priorities are included on the page. Most of this information will be on each think tank's website. (Though note, some think tanks don't publish their annual reports on their website). If this is your first time editing, you can register as a SourceWatch volunteer editor here, and learn more about adding information to the site here and here. HAVE FUN, AND THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! SOURCE: SourceWatch == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. WWF GREENWASHES COCA-COLA http://www.prwatch.org/node/6123 As Ronald Reagan loved to remark, "There they go again." WWF, the corporate-funded environmental giant often accused of taking greenbacks in return for greenwashing its corporate benefactors, strikes again. WWF and the Coca-Cola Company today proclaimed a "bold partnership" that has Coke paying WWF $20 million US dollars. WWF touts the deal on its website. A full page New York Times advertisement announcing the deal is headlined "This is our drop," a trademarked phrase of the Coca-Cola company. Indeed, $20 million dollars is just a drop in the bucket, a cheap fee for the PR image bonanza from its partnership with WWF. Other companies giving money to and receiving the blessings of WWF include Alcoa, Altria Group, Walt Disney Company, and dozens more listed on the WWF website. For a run-down on Coke's current global controversies, read our SourceWatch article on Coca-Cola. SOURCE: Environmental News Service, June 5, 2007 2. INDONESIA'S YEARS OF LOBBYING FURIOUSLY http://www.prwatch.org/node/6116 Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has had a complicated relationship with the U.S., especially during the Indonesian military's occupation of neighboring East Timor. After 9/11, however, the U.S. has increasingly dismissed human rights concerns to provide Indonesia with military aid. Andreas Harsono details two major lobbying contracts that helped Indonesia grease the skids. From 2003 to 2004, the firm Alston & Bird had a $200,000 per month contract with Indonesia, which stipulated that former U.S. Senator Bob Dole would "actively participate in and supervise" lobbying for military aid, increased trade and business benefits for Indonesia. In 2005, the firm Richard L. Collins & Co. was hired on a $30,000 a month contract to lobby to "remove legislative and policy restrictions on security cooperation with Indonesia." This contract was with Indonesia's intelligence agency, BIN, which has "long been linked to human rights violations, including the 2004 assassination of human rights campaigner Munir Thalib." BIN officials sometimes accompanied Collins lobbyists on visits to U.S. Congressional offices. In November 2005, the U.S. lifted human rights restrictions on foreign military financing for Indonesia -- "and Indonesia's contract with Collins & Co. came to an end." SOURCE: International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, May 31, 2007 3. UNILEVER: "VIVA MARKETING!" http://www.prwatch.org/node/6113 The multinational consumer product company Unilever "has launched ViveMejor, a multimedia marketing initiative that targets the Hispanic community" in the U.S. The PR firm Edelman's multicultural practice is heading communications for the campaign. The campaign includes a magazine, "distributed for free at grocery stores and online ... grassroots events, and two sub-platforms focusing on beauty and food - Pasa Las Belleza (Spread the Beauty) and Desafio del Sabor (The Flavor Challenge). Television segments created for these sub-platforms, featuring celebrity stylists and a chef, will appear on the popular Spanish morning show Despierta America (Wake Up America)." Unilever's Ivette Alvarez Santoro said, "The idea is to offer simple, yet relevant tips on everything [the Hispanic mother] is looking for ... with the idea that she will share what she has learned with her close family and friends." Unilever research found that "Hispanic women are more likely to make large shopping trips ... plan for meals, and be aware of advertised specials than the general population," and are "more open to recipes and tips delivered in Spanish." SOURCE: PR Week, May 29, 2007 4. FOREIGN LOBBYIST WATCHDOGS, REJOICE! http://www.prwatch.org/node/6112 Good news, everybody! The U.S. Department of Justice has posted its near-final, revamped foreign lobbyist database online, at www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fara/links/search.html. While it is still "undergoing final testing," the site links "to substantial documents, such as contracts between lobbyists and foreign governments as well as advocates' reports listing contacts between them and policymakers," reports The Hill. The data is collected under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which was "passed in 1938 to register propaganda by German Nazi agents before World War II." SOURCE: The Hill, May 30, 2007 5. SHELL'S BROADWATER GATHERS ACORN'S SUPPORT http://www.prwatch.org/node/6111 Newsday reports on a successful cooptation of the activist group ACORN by Shell Oil's natural gas venture: "Amid its ongoing effort to garner community support for its controversial offshore natural gas terminal, Broadwater Energy yesterday announced a 10-year, $10-million initiative to fund the weatherizing of more than 2,000 houses in low-income parts of Nassau and Suffolk counties [in New York]. Critics of the proposed offshore terminal blasted the idea as a naked attempt to buy friends for a project about which they have raised a host of environmental and economic objections. ... The program would be administered by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. ... Outspoken Broadwater critic Adrienne Esposito ... called the program 'a bribe to bring good public relations points. A lot of money doesn't make Broadwater a better project.' ... Partnerships with third parties who have some community credibility is a common strategy in advancing controversial projects, according to [CMD's] Sheldon Rampton ... 'I think the community ought to look carefully at what they're getting themselves into. Would [Broadwater parent] Shell Oil be doing this project if they weren't planning to build the natural gas terminal?'" ACORN also receives funding from the Democracy Alliance, a network of Democratic Party millionaires. Shell, long advised by activist-busting PR firms including Mongoven, Biscoe and Duchin, has an infamous history of targeting, dividing and conquering activists. SOURCE: Newsday, June 1, 2007 6. HOGGING THE PICTURE http://www.prwatch.org/node/6110 The Harley-Davidson motorcycle company has arranged a deal with the film school at the University of California-Santa Barbara that recruits students as cheap labor to make Harley ads in the form of "short sponsored videos for online media or for downloading to other digital media platforms such as cell phones, iPods, and PDAs." Under the terms of the "partnership," students submit proposals to Harley-Davidson, describing the type of video they plan to make. If approved, the company pays a stipend of up to $1,200 for each proposal, and a prize of $5,000 to the winner. Harley then owns all rights to the videos. The university's website explains the project as follows: "This class will also address the significance of direct internet sales on sites such as eBay, and the role of the blogosphere, webcasting, podcasting, new user nets such as Craig's List, among many others on the way young people both consume and produce media content. Today the YouTube 'viral video' phenomenon is challenging the dominant model of top-down, organization-driven approaches to getting messages communicated in favor of more spontaneous, organic and bottom-up strategies driven by consumers themselves." SOURCE: UCSB website 7. CONGRESSPEDIA MANAGING EDITOR'S IN THESE TIMES COVER STORY http://www.prwatch.org/node/6107 CMD's Congresspedia Managing Editor Conor Kenny authored the cover story for the May issue of In These Times. Titled "Hello, I'm a Democrat," the article addresses the phenomenon of the netroots, or internet-based activists. "While they are engaged to one degree or another in the national-level actions and organizations, many of the most committed and involved activists are busy transforming the Democratic Party from the ground up." Conor also covers the commitment of the netroots to not assume that traditionally Republican areas are outside of the reach of this newly envisioned Democratic Party. "Whether inspired by Dean or the other way around, one of the activists' central tenets is the need to build the party in red areas abandoned by the state parties and, in the case of the DNC, entire states." The article also includes four profiles of netroots activists. SOURCE: In These Times, May 21, 2007 8. FDA REJECTS SUNLIGHT http://www.prwatch.org/node/6105 In the wake of the latest study showing heart attack risk in an FDA-approved drug, there have been increased calls for greater transparency of clinical trial results. What does the U.S. Food and Drug Administration think about requiring companies to publicly release all of their trial results? "I would be very concerned about wholesale posting of thousands of clinical trials leading to mass confusion," said Steve Galso, who directs the FDA's Drug Evaluation and Research division. But Merrill Goozner, who directs the Integrity in Science project of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, doubts that consumers would "be any more confused than they now are from the information they get from direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising. ... Let's not forget that a provision in the FDA reform bill calling for a two-year moratorium on DTC ads on some new drugs was rejected because it limited commercial freedom of speech. In 21st century America, the right to misinform consumers is protected, but consumers' right to information is denied because they might misinform themselves." SOURCE: GoozNews, March 23, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to further information about media, political spin and propaganda. It is emailed free each Wednesday to subscribers. PR Watch, Spin of the Day, the Weekly Spin and SourceWatch are projects of the Center for Media & Democracy, a nonprofit organization that offers investigative reporting on the public relations industry. We help the public recognize manipulative and misleading PR practices by exposing the activities of secretive, little-known propaganda-for-hire firms that work to control political debates and public opinion. Please send any questions or suggestions about our publications to editor@prwatch.org. To subscribe to the Weekly Spin, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/sub CMD also sponsors SourceWatch, a collaborative research project that invites anyone (including you) to contribute and edit articles. For more information, visit: http://www.sourcewatch.org Contributions to the Center for Media and Democracy are tax-deductible. To donate now online, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/donate Don't want to receive this email? Unsubscribe at http://www.prwatch.org/unsub /*Your email ID. --*/