THE WEEKLY SPIN, September 12, 2007 Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:38:52 -0500 (CDT) THE WEEKLY SPIN, SEPTEMBER 12, 2007 == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. Debating Gardasil in Canada 2. It's a Tobacco Thing, You Wouldn't Understand: Virginia Commonwealth University and the Tobacco Industry 3. Did Marlboro Man Edit Wikipedia? == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. Featured Participatory Project: Eli Lilly's Contributions to Patient and Other Groups == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. PR Adviser Praises Maldives Prisons 2. Whiteout for the Web 3. Framing the War on Terror 4. Saddam Did 9/11 -- One-Third of Americans Believe the Big Lie 5. CMD's Founder John Stauber Profiled in Cap Times 6. Lobbying for Babykillers 7. I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! Diacetyl-flavored popcorn makes headlines 8. Flacks Get a Chill Up the Spine -------------------------------------------------------------------- == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. Debating Gardasil in Canada 2. It's a Tobacco Thing, You Wouldn't Understand: Virginia Commonwealth University and the Tobacco Industry 3. Did Marlboro Man Edit Wikipedia? == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. Featured Participatory Project: Eli Lilly's Contributions to Patient and Other Groups == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. PR Adviser Praises Maldives Prisons 2. Whiteout for the Web 3. Framing the War on Terror 4. Saddam Did 9/11 -- One-Third of Americans Believe the Big Lie 5. CMD's Founder John Stauber Profiled in Cap Times 6. Lobbying for Babykillers 7. I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! Diacetyl-Flavored Popcorn Makes Headlines 8. Flacks Get a Chill Up the Spine -------------------------------------------------------------------- == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. DEBATING GARDASIL IN CANADA by Judith Siers-Poisson On Wednesday, September, 5, 2007, I was pleased to participate in a panel discussion on The Agenda with Steve Paikin on Ontario Public Television in Toronto, Canada. (You can view the debate by going to www.tvo.org, going to the page for The Agenda, finding the program for September 5th, and then selecting the tab that says "Gardasil, Morality and Medicare" and clicking on "view video" to the right.) Thanks to the wonders of video uplinks, I was brought in with 2 other remote guests from Ottawa and Montreal. The other three guests were in the Toronto studio. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6424 2. IT'S A TOBACCO THING, YOU WOULDN'T UNDERSTAND: VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY AND THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY by Anne Landman Interested in researching and exposing tobacco industry spin? Visit our Tobacco Portal on Sourcewatch, sponsored by CMD and the American Legacy Foundation. Join our team of citizen journalists researching and exposing tobacco industry secrets. It's no secret that Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) shares a cozy relationship with the tobacco industry. In fact, VCU and the industry have long supported each other in a number of ways. In 1991, while other medical schools including Harvard and Johns Hopkins were divesting their tobacco stocks, VCU's longtime President, Dr. Eugene Trani, was working to make VCU more tobacco-friendly, negotiating a new smoking policy that explicitly permitted smoking in 41 out of 42 of the University's facilities. The one area where smoking was not permitted was VCU's hospital, since this would have made it ineligible for accreditation, and hence government Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. Philip Morris CEO Michael Szymanczyk was the keynote speaker at VCU's graduation ceremony in 2003. In 2005, USA Today reported that PM had endowed a Chair of International Business in the University's School of Business, and that PM was at that time funding 12 studies at VCU accounting for $4.4 million. Also in 2005, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that PM was investing $300 million in a new Virginia Biotechnology Research Park and that VCU had been closely involved in the negotiations to create the facility. The Dispatch wrote that, thanks to the Biotech Park, "VCU is poised to become a partner in key areas of compatible research with Philip Morris." To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6434 3. DID MARLBORO MAN EDIT WIKIPEDIA? by Bob Burton Philip Morris (PM) has long been a past master at funding front groups and organizing scientists to deny the obvious. Now it is apparent that someone at PM tried puffing the entry in Wikipedia on the Marlboro cigarette. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6418 == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. FEATURED PARTICIPATORY PROJECT: ELI LILLY'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO PATIENT AND OTHER GROUPS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6435 In May of this year, the drug company Eli Lilly announced that it would post details of "all educational grant funding and other monetary contributions provided to U.S.-based organizations" into an online database. Tucked away amongst the numerous grants made in the first six months of 2007 are details of funds provided to patient groups, various research centres and a sprinkling of political groups. So, to save citizens and journalists from having to sift through the whole report, we have a created a page to make the highlights a little easier to find. If you'd like to help dig out the nuggets, just head over to the SourceWatch page for the project, where there are complete instructions, a couple of examples of interesting grants and an email hotline for support. If this is your first time editing on SourceWatch, you can register here, and learn more about adding information to the site here, hereand here. HAVE FUN, AND THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! SOURCE: SourceWatch Project on Eli Lilly's Contributions == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. PR ADVISER PRAISES MALDIVES PRISONS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6438 Nic Careem, a London-based "public affairs consultant", recently proclaimed his interest in helping raise the profile of the President of the Maldives, Dr Abdul Gayoom, on the issue of global warming. While Gayoom's government has been widely criticized for human rights abuses, earlier this year Careem gushed that he was "impressed with the humanity shown to prisoners." In response to recent criticism of his defense of the regime, Careem wrote that the "penal system" is "as good as anything in the western world" and explained that murders occurred in his own London suburb. In a pointed letter to the editor, a reader objected to the comparison: "Does Mr Careem know that we too have murder cases in the Maldives? The police torture and kill detainees to perpetuate the regime in this country." Last year, Nick Falloon from Hill & Knowlton's London office, was deluged with critical comments after defending his company's work for the Gayoom regime on his blog. SOURCE: Minivan News (news on the Maldives), September 11, 2007 2. WHITEOUT FOR THE WEB http://www.prwatch.org/node/6437 Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, recently had firsthand experience with search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that companies are using to suppress negative stories about themselves on the Internet. A company called "DONE! SEO" claims that it can "Displace -- push down -- the negative listings with favorable ones and ones that you can control or influence" to "make sure that your company and key executives are being portrayed favorably online by burying the negatives and maintaining a positive online image." One of the "problem sites" where it promised to perform this service was ConsumerWebWatch.org, the Internet arm of Consumers Union. Another company, called "Reputation Defender," offers what it calls "Google insulation," padding the web with friendly-sounding content about its clients and then pushing that content to the top of Google results so that negative information is harder to find. SOURCE: The Red Tape Chronicles, September 11, 2007 3. FRAMING THE WAR ON TERROR http://www.prwatch.org/node/6436 The Gallup polling organization marked the sixth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by publishing a thoughtful analysis challenging the assumption that "religious fanaticism fuels extremism and therefore replacing Muslims' worldview with Western liberalism is the path to victory against terrorism. ... As a starting point, Muslims do not hold a monopoly on extremist views. While 6% of Americans think attacks in which civilians are targets are 'completely justified,' in both Lebanon and Iran, this figure is 2%, and in Saudi Arabia, it's 4%. In Europe, Muslims in Paris and London were no more likely than were their counterparts in the general public to believe attacks on civilians are ever justified and at least as likely to reject violence, even for a 'noble cause.' After analyzing survey data representing more than 90% of the global Muslim population, Gallup found that despite widespread anti-American sentiment, only a small minority saw the 9/11 attacks as morally justified. Even more significant, there was no correlation between level of religiosity and extremism among respondents." Rather than religion, extremists are motivated by the belief that "occupation and U.S. domination" is threatening their societies. "The real difference between those who condone terrorist acts and all others is about politics, not piety," writes Dalia Mogahed. SOURCE: Gallup World Poll, September 11, 2007 4. SADDAM DID 9/11 -- ONE-THIRD OF AMERICANS BELIEVE THE BIG LIE http://www.prwatch.org/node/6427 An important New York Times/CBS News survey finds that six years after the terror attacks of 9/11, "33 percent of all Americans, including 40 percent of Republicans and 27 percent of Democrats, say Saddam Hussein was personally involved." In reality, of course, Saddam and Iraq had absolutely no connection to the terror attacks. 1/3 of Americans believe the Big Lie propaganda tactics employed by the pro-war lobby. Only 5 percent of Americans "most trusted the Bush administration to resolve the war, the poll found. Asked to choose among the administration, Congress and military commanders, 21 percent said they would most trust Congress and 68 percent expressed most trust in military commanders. That is almost certainly why the White House has presented General Petraeus and Mr. Crocker as unbiased professionals, not Bush partisans." SOURCE: New York Times, September 10, 2007 5. CMD'S FOUNDER JOHN STAUBER PROFILED IN CAP TIMES http://www.prwatch.org/node/6425 Rob Zaleski, columnist with Madison's Capital Times, has written a profile piece on CMD's founder John Stauber. "In the beginning, it was just Stauber and his buddy Sheldon Rampton, a local typesetter and Princeton University grad Stauber recruited to help produce the first issue of PR Watch. ... Fourteen years later, the center has 10 staffers and an $800,000 budget. And nobody is more surprised, or proud, by its growth and success than Stauber, who at 54 says he's more determined than ever to expose the powerful corporate and government spin machines and diminish their impact. 'I could walk in front of a bus today and, while the center would hiccup, it would continue to survive and thrive,' he maintains, 'because we have an amazing staff, and the work we do is absolutely unique.' " SOURCE: Capital Times, September 8, 2007 6. LOBBYING FOR BABYKILLERS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6422 Babies that are not breast fed suffer higher rates of health problems including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), diabetes, lymphoma, leukemia, Hodgkin's disease, obesity, high cholesterol and asthma. Unfortunately, many parents are still unaware of these risks, thanks to the infant formula industry. In 2003, the industry hired a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and former agriculture secretary Clayton Yeutter, who lobbied the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to yank an attention-grabbing advertising campaign that would have warned of the risks. Yeutter told HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson the ads should be pulled because they would create "guilty feelings" in women who fail to breastfeed. HHS replaced the original ads with a watered-down advertising campaign, which was so ineffective that breast-feeding rates actually dropped during the period when it was broadcast. In an interview with PR Week, Mardi Mountford of the International Formula Council disputed accusations of undue industry influence. SOURCE: Washington Post, August 31, 2007 7. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S NOT BUTTER! DIACETYL-FLAVORED POPCORN MAKES HEADLINES http://www.prwatch.org/node/6421 52 year old furniture salesman and nonsmoker Wayne Watkins suddenly found himself getting short of breath while golfing and singing in the choir. From his symptoms, doctors at Denver's National Jewish Medical & Research Center deduced that Watson had indulged excessively in an entirely different behavior that over time had reduced his lung capacity by 50%: eating microwave popcorn. Mr. Watson admitted to eating 2-3 bags of microwave popcorn a day for years, making a point of inhaling the fumes that come from the steamy bag of popcorn when it is first opened. His condition, bronchiolitis obliterans, is also known among food workers as "popcorn lung," and strikes food manufacturing employees who work around popcorn. The illness is caused by diacetyl, the chemical companies add to popcorn to make it taste buttery. Orville Redenbacher, Act II, Pop Secret and Jolly Time all use it. Jiffy Pop, which gets popped on the stovetop, doesn't. Popcorn workers' plight aside, just one day after the story about Wayne Watson's condition was printed in the Denver Post, all four of the above companies agreed to immediately remove the chemical from their popcorn. SOURCE: Denver Post, September 5, 2007 8. FLACKS GET A CHILL UP THE SPINE http://www.prwatch.org/node/6419 James L. Horton of the Robert Marston & Associates PR firm is worried about Wikileaks, a new website that provides a means for people to share information about unethical behavior by governments and corporations. Wikileaks says it "is developing an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and participatory analysis. Our primary interests are oppressive regimes in Asia, the former Soviet bloc, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, but we expect to be of assistance to peoples of all countries who wish to reveal unethical behavior in their governments and corporations." On his blog, Horton says this "statement of purpose is chilling. ... The site has been successful already in revealing the misbehavior of an African leader. If it endures, it is a matter of time before whistle-blowers use it elsewhere. I suppose one can look at it as a full-employment reason for crisis PR practitioners." SOURCE: Online Public Relations Thoughts, September 5, 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