THE WEEKLY SPIN, July 18, 2007 Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 12:07:36 -0500 (CDT) THE WEEKLY SPIN, JULY 18, 2007 == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. Profit Knows No Borders, Selling Gardasil to the Rest of the World: Part Four of the Politics and PR of Cervical Cancer 2. Bush's Pro-War Front Group, 'Vets for Freedom', Rallies with Republican Senators 3. A Black Day for Yellow Journalism == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. New Participatory Project: Republican Senators on Iraq == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. The State of Citizen Journalism 2. Pulling the Charity Lever 3. The Great Global Sceptic Swindle 4. When Publicists Attack 5. Dealing With Rupert Murdoch 6. Surgeon General Gets Specific 7. IraqSlogger Watches the Media -------------------------------------------------------------------- == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. PROFIT KNOWS NO BORDERS, SELLING GARDASIL TO THE REST OF THE WORLD: PART FOUR OF THE POLITICS AND PR OF CERVICAL CANCER by Judith Siers-Poisson The three previous articles in this series have examined the Politics and PR of Cervical Cancer in the United States. This fourth and final installment will look at how Merck's so-called "cervical cancer vaccine," Gardasil, is being marketed in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. CANADA As in the United States, Merck's local subsidiary, Merck Frosst Canada, has lobbied aggressively for a government policy mandating blanket vaccination of young girls. Gardasil was approved in Canada in July 2006, and the first doses were given the following month. More recently, its National Advisory Committee on Immunization has recommended blanket vaccination for girls between the ages of nine and thirteen, with older girls and women also receiving "catch up" shots. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6263 2. BUSH'S PRO-WAR FRONT GROUP, 'VETS FOR FREEDOM', RALLIES WITH REPUBLICAN SENATORS by John Stauber Vets for Freedom (VFF), the well-funded pro-war lobby group, is cranking-up its PR campaign on behalf of President Bush's war in Iraq with a news conference held July 17th in the US Capitol. A slate of pro-war Republican Senators including Mitch McConnell, Jon Kyl, Lindsey Graham, along with former Democratic (now independent) Senator Joe Lieberman, all participated with Pete Hegseth and other VFF lobbyists. In June 2006, I reported that: Citizen journalists on SourceWatch have been investigating and exposing the many Republican connections and the partisan pro-war political agenda behind Vets for Freedom, To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6262 3. A BLACK DAY FOR YELLOW JOURNALISM by Sheldon Rampton Former media mogul Conrad Black has been convicted by a Chicago jury of three counts of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice and could face up to 35 years in prison for looting his former company, Hollinger International, of tens of millions of dollars. Before his downfall, Black was a smaller-scale version of Fox-TV owner Rupert Murdoch, building a media empire that he used to inject his right-wing views into U.S., Canadian, British and Australian politics. He pumped money into the pockets of the neoconservative pundits who helped sell the war in Iraq and gave them prominent voice in his own newspapers. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6256 == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. NEW PARTICIPATORY PROJECT: REPUBLICAN SENATORS ON IRAQ http://www.prwatch.org/node/6265 As this item is posted the Senate is in an all-night debate (watch it here) over the Levin-Reed amendment to the 2008 defense appropriations bill, which would require President Bush to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within four months and complete the transition to a much more limited mission by April 30, 2008. The vote at hand on Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning is to break a filibuster Senate Republicans are mounting to stop an up-or-down, majority-rules vote on the amendment. Democrats need 60 votes and that depends on the number of defections they get from within the ranks of the Senate Republicans. While several have made recent statements of support for a withdrawal timeline, pressure is intense on each Republican to stay within the fold and it is unclear how those statements will ultimately line up with their votes. Which Republicans have indicated they might flip? Once the filibuster is over, how many actually voted to end the debate and to pass the amendment? Have you seen a news story or heard about your own senators' positions? Help us keep track on Congresspedia's article on Congressional actions to end the Iraq War in a special section on Republican defections. If this is your first time editing on SourceWatch, you can go to www.SourceWatch.org for more information. SOURCE: Congresspedia's article on Congressional actions to end the Iraq War == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. THE STATE OF CITIZEN JOURNALISM http://www.prwatch.org/node/6261 Dan Gillmor of the Center for Citizen Media has written a thoughtful assessment of the current state of citizen journalism. "We've come a long way," he says. "But we have a long, long way to go. We need much more experimentation in journalism and community information projects. The business models are, at best, uncertain -- and some notable failures are discouraging." He points to examples of citizen journalism in action such as the following: *the infamous "Macaca" video that helped lose last year's election for Virginia Senator George Allen *Placeblogger, which lists thousands of community-focused weblogs. *Pambazuka News, an African podcasting service that calls itself a "weekly forum for social justice in Africa." Gillmor also notes that some heavily-hyped efforts at commercial citizen journalism have failed, such as Backfence.com and Gillmor's own Bayosphere.com. However, he adds, "The cost of trying new ideas is heading toward zero. That means lots and lots of people will -- already are -- testing the possibilities of new media. ... So the R&D that the news industry should have done years ago is now being done in a highly distributed way. Yes, some is being done by people inside media companies, but most is not -- and increasingly it won't be. It'll take place in universities, in corporate labs, in garages and at kitchen tables." SOURCE: Center for Citizen Media, July 15, 2007 2. PULLING THE CHARITY LEVER http://www.prwatch.org/node/6259 Tasmanian logging: Source: The Wilderness SocietyA six-all vote by Launceston City Council on a motion expressing opposition to a proposed pulp mill has irked Gunns, the Tasmanian logging company pushing the project. Even though the tied vote meant the motion lost, Gunns director and former Tasmanian Premier, Robin Gray, phoned all six who voted against the mill. One of the six was Albert Van Zetten, who is also the chief executive of Launceston City Mission, which provides support to the homeless. Two years ago Gunns provided the charity with six months rent-free use of an empty warehouse and has also provided other support for the group. Sue Neales reports that Gray "threatened to axe or cut back Gunns' support" for the charity after Van Zetten's vote. Gray did not respond to requests for comment but his wife told Neales that "we thought it was rather disloyal of him to come out now and criticise the pulp mill." SOURCE: The Mercury (Australia), July 14, 2007 3. THE GREAT GLOBAL SCEPTIC SWINDLE http://www.prwatch.org/node/6258 Martin Durkin, the director of the global warming sceptic film, The Great Global Warming Swindle, concedes that a graph he used of temperatures over the last thousand years ignores data from the last twenty years. In Durkin's film the endpoint of the graph, produced by a British academic back in the 1980's, is labelled "now". Despite being condemned by scientists when it first screened in the UK, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation broadcast an edited down version and convened a post-screening discussion panel. In an interview ahead of the panel discussion, Durkin said that it was "absolutely absurd to quibble on when it finishes". However, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reveals a dramatic rise in temperatures in the last two decades. The rights to the film have also been bought by distributors in Germany, Canada, Spain and the United States. SOURCE: Reuters, July 13, 2007 4. WHEN PUBLICISTS ATTACK http://www.prwatch.org/node/6257 Gawker.com, a New York-based website that focuses on media news and gossip, has posted the contents of an email exchange between Ronn Torossian of 5W Public Relations and Richard Rubenstein, the son of PR crisis management guru Howard J. Rubenstein. The email exchange includes some general name-calling, with Torossian threatening to go to "war" over his complaint that Rubenstein is trying to recruit from his employees. Rubenstein responds by threatening to sue, adding, "I hope you have a qualified attorney and it will be expensive." Torossian counters by promising to hire Rubenstein and his brother after he destroys their company. The exchange prompted scorn from gossip columnist Ian Spiegelman: "Lawsuit? Bosh! There isn't one among the three of those Special Olympians who could withstand even twenty minutes of discovery." SOURCE: Gawker.com, July 6, 2007 5. DEALING WITH RUPERT MURDOCH http://www.prwatch.org/node/6253 Alastair Campbell, who was the chief media adviser for British Prime Tony Blair between 1997 and 2003, recently released a book on his reign as a spin doctor. In The Blair Years, Campbell notes that in 1995 former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating offered Blair some advice on how to deal with Rupert Murdoch. "He's a big bad bastard, and the only way you can deal with him is to make sure he thinks you can be a big bad bastard too. You can do deals with him, without ever saying a deal is done. But the only thing he cares about is his business and the only language he respects is strength," Keating reportedly stated. "They overestimate the importance of their support for you, but if you can get it, have it. If you are Labour, you need all the help you can get to win elections". SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald, July 10, 2007 6. SURGEON GENERAL GETS SPECIFIC http://www.prwatch.org/node/6251 In testimony before Congress, former U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona accused the Bush administration on Tuesday of muzzling him on sensitive public health issues. According to the Washington Post this makes him "the most prominent voice among several current and former federal science officials who have complained of political interference. Carmona, a Bush nominee who served from 2002 to 2006, told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that political appointees in the administration routinely scrubbed his speeches for politically sensitive content and blocked him from speaking out on public health matters such as stem cell research, abstinence-only sex education and the emergency contraceptive Plan B. 'Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is often ignored, marginalized or simply buried,' he said. 'The problem with this approach is that in public health, as in a democracy, there is nothing worse than ignoring science or marginalizing the voice of science for reasons driven by changing political winds.'" SOURCE: Washington Post, July 11, 2007 7. IRAQSLOGGER WATCHES THE MEDIA http://www.prwatch.org/node/6250 Veteran Iraq war correspondent Chris Albritton has begun writing a regular MediaWatch column for the recently-launched news website, IraqSlogger.com. Recent columns have examined the amount of U.S. reporting on Iraq compared to other topics, highlighted the work of an Iraqi editorial cartoonist, and discussed a recently-uncovered memorandum by U.S. Marines discussing how to spin the killing of civilians in Haditha. SOURCE: -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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