THE WEEKLY SPIN, August 8, 2007 Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 16:06:53 -0500 (CDT) THE WEEKLY SPIN, August 8, 2007 == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. People Have the Power: Patti Smith Rocks Madison, CMD! 2. "Coffee with the Troops" at Yearly Kos Fuels Debate About the Netroots and the War == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. Monsanto: Time to Cry Over Spilled rBGH Milk? 2. Bob Burton Takes Readers "Inside Spin" 3. Clinton Campaign Dogged by PR Misdeeds 4. Beverage Industry Tries to Bottle the Opposition 5. Starbucks' CSR Not Worth a Hill of Beans 6. Karen Hughes Keeps Privatizing Public Diplomacy 7. An Ugly Fight over Cosmetics Safety 8. Grrrrrreenwash 9. Gazprom Hires Omnicom Agencies 10. Rumsfield Vague on War Media Management -------------------------------------------------------------------- == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER: PATTI SMITH ROCKS MADISON, CMD! by Patricia Barden In addition to being a tech geek, I'm a rocker. I've been playing guitar since I was a teenager. So when Patti Smith agreed to a silent auction to benefit the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) at her concert in Madison, Wisconsin, I began looking forward to meeting the quintessential godmother of punk rock. Little did I know how special the evening would turn out to be. The concert was held at the Barrymore Theatre on August 5. As CMD staff were soliciting auction items, executive director John Stauber asked me if I "had an old guitar laying around that I'd like to donate." I mulled his question over for a few days and then offered my 1958 Gibson LG-1 acoustic guitar. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6329 2. "COFFEE WITH THE TROOPS" AT YEARLY KOS FUELS DEBATE ABOUT THE NETROOTS AND THE WAR by John Stauber You can watch some powerful video of our August 5th Coffee with the Troops online at AfterDowning Street and Alternet. We filmed the entire event, which was attended by more than one hundred people at the Yearly Kos Convention Sunday in Chicago. We plan to have the entire one hour session viewable on YouTube soon. Leaders of the Iraq Veterans Against the War spoke at Coffee with the Troops hosted by the Center for Media and Democracy and moderated by yours truly John Stauber. Speaking for IVAW were Garett Reppenhagen, Aaron Hughes, Josh Lansdale and Geoffrey Millard who then answered questions about the growing resistance to the war among active duty troops. IVAW members believe that the war on Iraq is illegal and that soldiers have the right to refuse an illegal war. The event has begun to stir what can only be a healthy discussion and debate about the Netroots, its relationship to the Democratic Party, and the horrific quagmire that is the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Author and filmmaker Stephen Marshall of GNN TV has posted a challenging critique titled Bad Cop, bad cop... in which he concludes: To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6321 == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. MONSANTO: TIME TO CRY OVER SPILLED RBGH MILK? http://www.prwatch.org/node/6334 Monsanto is discovering a troubling new side effect from use of Posilac, its controversial recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) injected into cows to increase milk production: use of rBGH is shriveling up the market for milk from Posilac-treated cows. In response to growing consumer demand for hormone-free dairy products, retailers are increasingly rejecting milk products derived from rBGH-injected cows. The Kroger Company announced in an August 1 press release that by February 2008 the company will sell only milk that is certified free of synthetic hormones. This represents no small blow to Monsanto; Kroger operates 2,458 supermarkets and other stores in 31 states, as well as 15 dairies and three ice cream plants. Kroger's holdings include the major grocery chains Ralphs, Fred Meyer, City Market, Food 4 Less, and King Soopers. Kroger joins Starbucks and other retailers in rejecting use of Posilac. The bottom line? A little more pain for Monsanto and little less pain for the cows. SOURCE: Kroger Company press release, August 1, 2007 2. BOB BURTON TAKES READERS "INSIDE SPIN" http://www.prwatch.org/node/6333 The PR industry in Australia "employs more than 10,000 people and turns over more than $1 billion a year," writes the Center for Media and Democracy's Bob Burton, drawing on research published in his new book, "Inside Spin." While some PR campaigns are beneficial or harmless, others "smother dissenting points of view and degrade the quality of our democracy," he warns. Burton gives the example of a Melbourne think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs. "When the Sydney advocacy group Aid/Watch was stripped recently of its tax-deductibility status, it became the first victim of an institute campaign to curb non-government groups. What the institute hadn't publicly disclosed was that the campaign was bankrolled by corporations, including the Tasmanian woodchipping company Gunns." Burton advocates for more citizen "spinbusters," along with better freedom of information laws, regular reporting on PR, and real regulation -- not self-regulation -- of the PR industry. SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald, August 7, 2007 3. CLINTON CAMPAIGN DOGGED BY PR MISDEEDS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6331 The PR firm Burson-Marsteller's anti-union consulting continues to haunt Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. That's because Mark Penn, a top campaign aide, also heads Burson-Marsteller (B-M). On August 7, Clinton and other Democratic presidential candidates addressed an AFL-CIO candidate forum, hoping for their endorsement, along with "brigades of union workers to knock on doors, drive people to the polls, and staff phone banks." Penn says that he hasn't taken part in anti-union work, but his role at B-M is "very, very problematic to the AFL-CIO, as well as to many other unions," said the AFL-CIO's political director. Teamsters president James Hoffa agreed, saying, "As long as Mark Penn continues to profit from his company's involvement with anti-union companies, this issue will not go away." SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, August 7, 2007 4. BEVERAGE INDUSTRY TRIES TO BOTTLE THE OPPOSITION http://www.prwatch.org/node/6325 With increasing criticism that "bottled water has misleading labels and is of inferior quality to municipal water systems," and the governments of San Francisco and Salt Lake City prohibiting city agencies from buying bottled water, the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) and the American Beverage Association (ABA) have ramped up their PR. The two industry groups "have been working together on heavy media outreach, blog monitoring, SMTs" -- satellite media tours, sponsored canned TV interviews -- "and TV, newspaper, and radio interviews," reports PR Week. IBWA president Joe Doss said that "an integral part of the communications effort was the monitoring of blogs and comments from other groups." IBWA "is also reaching out to all mayors and state government-related groups 'that might be interested in this issue,'" added Doss. ABA's "government affairs team is also doing a lot of one-on-one meetings with government officials." Corporate Accountability International, an advocacy group with a "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign, said it's trying to raise awareness of "the importance of our public water systems." SOURCE: PR Week, August 6, 2007 5. STARBUCKS' CSR NOT WORTH A HILL OF BEANS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6322 On August 6, "when opening statements are set to begin in the trial over Starbucks' anti-union operation, in some ways corporate social responsibility itself will be on trial," writes Daniel Gross. The case, before the National Labor Relations Board in New York, deals with a number of union busting activities by Starbucks, such as the firing of three baristas who were organizing a union, including Gross himself. "Why are workers organizing at this darling of the corporate media?" he asks. "Starbucks workers struggle to make ends meet with a poverty wage of around $7 or $8 per hour. ... The total number of full-time hourly cafC) employees at Starbucks is zero. ... The company boasts about its health care plan but its own data reveal that it insures a lower percentage of employees than Wal-Mart." Gross concludes, "Activists can and do make use of CSR [corporate social responsibility] by pointing out the hypocrisy behind the big brands. But that's about all CSR is good for." SOURCE: CounterPunch, August 4 / 5, 2007 6. KAREN HUGHES KEEPS PRIVATIZING PUBLIC DIPLOMACY http://www.prwatch.org/node/6320 In an interview with PR Week, U.S. public diplomacy czar Karen Hughes explains how she began issuing talking points to State Department employees overseas: "I thought, 'What if I were the ambassador somewhere in the world? What's the big story driving news...?' The week I started [as Undersecretary of State], in August 2005, it was Israel's withdrawal from [the Gaza Strip]. I realized that if I were an ambassador, I wouldn't know what to say about that. I spent a day trying to figure out what I should say ... [and] wrote it up and sent it around the world. I was stunned by the reaction. We had probably 20 to 25 e-mails and phone calls saying, 'Can I have more of these?'" Hughes also encouraged PR professionals to support her office: "We've consulted broadly with the private sector. We had the summit with the PR Coalition. I personally have met with a number of public relations executives. We also received permission from a firm, Praxis Media, to use a PR planning tool in our new strategic communications plan." SOURCE: PR Week, July 23, 2007 7. AN UGLY FIGHT OVER COSMETICS SAFETY http://www.prwatch.org/node/6319 "The increasing number of attacks by lobby groups on the US cosmetics and personal care industry means that it is time to fight back," according to CosmeticsDesign.com. The main industry group, the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association (CTFA), will "use the internet ... as a tool to spread information that is based upon 'reliable scientific research.'" CTFA's planned PR offensive was reported on last year by the Center for Media and Democracy's Diane Farsetta. The article detailed a focus group conducted by Luntz Research, which asked participants how they would research cosmetics safety and who they would trust, and had them fill out worksheets "describing a website with information on cosmetics ingredients, to be launched in 2007." CTFA's John Bailey told CosmeticsDesign.com that the environmental and public health groups that have raised concerns about cosmetics "do a grave disservice to consumers by using inflammatory and alarmist rhetoric to create scientifically unsubstantiated health scares." SOURCE: CosmeticsDesign.com, July 20, 2007 8. GRRRRRREENWASH http://www.prwatch.org/node/6318 The New South Wales Greens have complained to the Australian corporate regulator that Saab's "Grrrrrreen" advertising campaign makes deceptive claims and is greenwashing. The "Grrrrrreen" ad states that "every Saab is green." Another ad for one car model, which runs on a part ethanol mix, proclaims it is "fueled by nature: enjoy more power with a cleaner conscience." Green member of parliament Lee Rhiannon argues that according to Australian government data, Saab cars have relatively poor environmental performance. Saab's best performing car was ranked 33rd. SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald, August 2, 2007 9. GAZPROM HIRES OMNICOM AGENCIES http://www.prwatch.org/node/6314 Gazprom, the Russian gas company that supplies approximately one-quarter of Europe's gas needs, has hired the PR firms Gavin Anderson, Ketchum and GPlus to handle "all financial and corporate communications and external relations issues worldwide." PR Week notes that all three firms, which are subsidiaries of the Omnicom group, previously worked for the Kremlin when Vladimir Putin was president of the G8 group of countries. In January, the Moscow newspaper Kommersant reported that Gazprom was negotiating with a consortium comprising the PBN Company, Hill & Knowlton and the polling firm Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates for a three-year contract worth $11 million. SOURCE: PR Week, August 1, 2007 10. RUMSFIELD VAGUE ON WAR MEDIA MANAGEMENT http://www.prwatch.org/node/6313 Asked by Congressman Dennis Kucinich whether the Rendon Group was involved in a Department of Defense media management strategy on the war in Iraq, the former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, was vague. "I am aware that there have been over the years, contracts with that organization from various entities within the department and outside of the department. Whether there was in a manner that would fit your question, I am not in a position to answer," he said. In December 2005 the Chicago Tribune reported that the Rendon Group had won Pentagon contracts worth more than $56 million since the September 11 terrorist attacks. Kucinich wants the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to further investigate the PR activities of the Rendon Group and the Lincoln Group "in shaping news accounts justifying the war in Iraq". SOURCE: Truthout, August 1, 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. 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