THE WEEKLY SPIN, December 19, 2007 Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 10:14:04 -0600 (CST) THE WEEKLY SPIN, DECEMBER 19, 2007 == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. New Participatory Project: Getting Behind GE's Green Gloss == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. Killing Them Softly (With Silencers) 2. Anonymously Defending Guantanamo from Criticism 3. 'Tis the Season of Exploitation 4. Heckuva Huckabee Non-Recollection 5. Drug Ties Lead to "Wishful Conclusions" 6. Liquid Gas Terminals Crowding the Coastline 7. Marketing, Marketing Everywhere 8. The Weekly Radio Spin: Who's America's Next PR Czar? 9. Playing Public Relations Games 10. Unions to Lehane: You Down with AMPTP? 11. Energy Companies' Gallons of Greenwash 12. I Am America (And So Can Hughes?) -------------------------------------------------------------------- == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. NEW PARTICIPATORY PROJECT: GETTING BEHIND GE'S GREEN GLOSS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6819 In May 2005 General Electric, which is now ranked as the world's tenth largest company, launched its "Ecomagination" PR campaign. The project, the company stated, was to "address challenges such as the need for cleaner, more efficient sources of energy." But two years later it turns out that nuclear power plants get the company's count as being imaginative. The global PR blitz has been documented a little but somewhat haphazardly. However, it would be great if together we could create the best, most authoritative article on what is perhaps the boldest global greenwashing campaign around. If you'd like to help, got to www.prwatch.org/node/6819. For more information, go to www.SourceWatch.org. Have fun, and thanks for your help! == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. KILLING THEM SOFTLY (WITH SILENCERS) http://www.prwatch.org/node/6817 Tourists love Colorado Rocky Mountain National Park's spectacular elk herds. Visitors to the park often get out of their cars and pose for photos with groups of elk grazing placidly on the green grass behind them, snow-capped Rocky Mountains filling the backdrop. The elk, which have been protected inside the park, in turn have become accustomed to the humans milling about in their midst, showing no fear and helping out Colorado's tourist economy by reliably posing pretty for photos. So the National Park Service has announced that it will try to preserve this unique and trusting inter-species relationship as it hires sharpshooters to start killing up to 200 elk a year in an attempts to thin the prolific herd. Park officials say that they will take "special precautions" to prevent the elk from associating humans with danger and death. The precautions will likely include the use of high-powered rifles fitted with silencers, and "subsonic ammunition," which can be "quietly used at close range." The Park Service refers to this as "preserving the viewability of the elk." Translation: keeping them from reacting normally and bolting up to the high country for good to escape the snipers, resulting in hordes of disappointed tourists. SOURCE: Greeley, Colorado Tribune, December 16, 2007 2. ANONYMOUSLY DEFENDING GUANTANAMO FROM CRITICISM http://www.prwatch.org/node/6815 "US military personnel at Guantanamo Bay called Fidel Castro a transsexual and defended the prison for terrorism suspects in anonymous web postings," according to a new report. The report "tracked web activity by service members with Guantanamo email addresses and also found they deleted prisoner identification numbers from three detainee profiles on Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia that allows anyone to change articles." Guantanamo personnel also commented on news stories online, "using apparently fictitious names. ... A comment on a Wired magazine story about a leaked Guantanamo operations manual ... urged readers to learn about Guantanamo by going to the [base's] public affairs website, adding that the base is 'a very professional place full of true American patriots.'" Army Lt. Col. Ed Bush "said there is no official attempt to alter information," but "the military seeks to correct what it believes is incorrect or outdated information about the prison." The anonymous edits were mapped to Guantanamo personnel by Wikileaks, a project that publishes government documents. SOURCE: Associated Press, December 13, 2007 3. 'TIS THE SEASON OF EXPLOITATION http://www.prwatch.org/node/6814 The National Labor Committee (NLC) has released a report on sweatshop conditions in China which pinpoints holiday items being made at Guangzhou Huanya Gift Ltd. Company for Wal-Mart, as well as for other U.S. companies, including Christmas House and Gerson Co. European clients of the factory include Christmas Elements (England), Santini Christmas (Italy), Miro (Spain), and Kugelkette (Germany). NLC director Charles Kernaghan released "A Wal-Mart Christmas Brought to You from a Sweatshop in China" in the shadow of the Christmas tree towering over Rockefeller Center in New York City. "Far from kindling the holiday spirit, the conditions under which the mostly young women workers in China produce goods for Wal-Mart are dehumanizing," the report said. Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota is now calling for trade regulation of items produced under improper work conditions. "There is nothing in the law that prohibits against imports of products made from sweatshop labor, and I think that needs to change," Dorgan said at a press conference. Dorgan added, "Chinese sweatshops now produce not only the toys under our Christmas trees, but even the ornaments that hang on those trees. It is completely against the spirit of Christmas to produce ornaments in sweatshop factories where the workers are physically abused and financially cheated. We need to get serious about keeping the products of foreign sweatshops off American shelves." Wal-Mart's spokesperson, Richard Coyle, stated that "As soon as Wal-Mart learned about the Christmas tree ornament report, we contacted the National Labor Committee and they have not returned our call. Now that we have a copy of their report, we have launched an immediate investigation." Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer and the world's second-largest corporation in revenue, behind ExxonMobil. SOURCE: Bloomberg News, December 12, 2007 4. HECKUVA HUCKABEE NON-RECOLLECTION http://www.prwatch.org/node/6813 Baptist preacher and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee denies knowing about a financial boost he received from the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company back in 1994, when RJR donated $40,000 to a secretive organization called Action America. The front group, set up by paid RJR lobbyists J.J. Vigneault and Greg Graves, worked to foster grassroots opposition to a national health care plan then being advanced by the Clinton Administration. RJR funded Huckabee to fly around the country persuading other evangelicals to oppose the health care plan proposed by Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Clintons' plan was to be funded through an additional federal excise tax on cigarettes, which explains cigarette company opposition. Mr. Huckabee, now a Presidential hopeful who is running on morals and ethics, asserts that he was unaware of the donation, but Vigneault claims Huckabee was present at the meeting with the RJR representative where the idea for Action America was hatched. Vigneault even recalls that Huckabee made the rep step outside to smoke. SOURCE: Newsweek, December 17, 2007 5. DRUG TIES LEAD TO "WISHFUL CONCLUSIONS" http://www.prwatch.org/node/6810 "Meta-analyses," or reviews of several studies' worth of data on a single drug, influence patient care and healthcare policy. Increasingly, the people carrying out these meta-analyses have financial ties to drug companies. So researchers at Stanford and the University of California, San Francisco set out "to determine whether financial ties to one drug company are associated with favourable results or conclusions in meta-analyses on antihypertensive drugs," which are taken to lower blood pressure. They found a connection between drug company ties and meta-analyses with favorable conclusions, but not favorable results. That means that -- regardless of what the data actually showed -- meta-analyses done by people with financial ties were more likely to interpret the data as favorable to the drug. The researchers conclude that "meta-analyses, as with other study types, are open to the influence of systematic bias." Their findings also suggest "a failure of peer review," since "editors and peer reviewers must have read manuscript versions of those meta-analyses containing discordant results and conclusions, yet they did not prevent publication of biased conclusions." SOURCE: British Medical Journal, December 8, 2007 6. LIQUID GAS TERMINALS CROWDING THE COASTLINE http://www.prwatch.org/node/6809 ExxonMobil is moving forward on its plans to build a liquid gas terminal off the northeast coast of the U.S. The proposed site for the project, called BlueOcean Energy, is about 20 miles off the New Jersey shore and 30 miles south of Long Island. Reporter Jad Mouawad describes the offshore placement as "a move meant to deflect safety and environmental concerns about proximity to populated areas." Ron P. Billings, Exxon's vice president for global liquefied natural gas, said, "We have tried to learn from our past experiences and that of the industry in general." The offshore neighborhood is getting crowded since "the Atlantic Sea Island Group, plans to build a terminal for liquefied natural gas on an artificial island about 14 miles south of Long Island, a project called Safe Harbor Energy." CMD reported earlier this year on Shell's successful efforts to co-opt local non-profits through grantmaking. The Shell project, Broadwater Energy, is a joint venture by Royal Dutch Shell and TransCanada. SOURCE: New York Times, December 12, 2007 7. MARKETING, MARKETING EVERYWHERE http://www.prwatch.org/node/6807 Major food companies are planning "to halt advertising junk food to children under 12 throughout Europe," but in the U.S., McDonald's has found "a nifty way to reach kids ... advertise on report cards." The fast food giant "picked up the $1,600 cost of printing report-card jackets for the 2007-2008 school year in Seminole County, [Florida], in exchange for a Happy Meal coupon on the card's cover." The promotion is an apparent violation of the Better Business Bureau's Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, which McDonald's joined last year. Initiative members agree "to limit advertising to children under 12 and focus on better-for-you options." In other advertising news, a New York billboard for an A&E television show "uses technology ... that transmits an 'audio spotlight' from a rooftop speaker so that the sound is contained within your cranium." A&E deemed the "creepy" voices-in-your-head effect perfect for the show, which is about ghosts. But Gawker asked, "How soon will it be until in addition to the Do Not Call list, we'll have a Do Not Beam Commercial Messages Into My Head list?" SOURCE: Advertising Age, December 5, 2007 8. THE WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: WHO'S AMERICA'S NEXT PR CZAR? http://www.prwatch.org/node/6805 Listen to this week's edition of the "Weekly Radio Spin," the Center for Media and Democracy's audio report on the stories behind the news. This week, we cover the reality behind oil companies' green rhetoric, who will replace Karen Hughes at the State Department, and the evolution of President Bush's statements on Iran. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we tell you how many steps it takes to get from U.S. public diplomacy to Burmese military repression. The Weekly Radio Spin is freely available for personal and broadcast use. Podcasters can subscribe to the XML feed on www.prwatch.org/audio or via iTunes. If you air the Weekly Radio Spin on your radio station, please email us at editor@prwatch.org to let us know. Thanks! SOURCE: Center for Media and Democracy, December 14, 2007 9. PLAYING PUBLIC RELATIONS GAMES http://www.prwatch.org/node/6800 "Sixty percent of US consumers polled agree that the government should regulate the sale of violent or mature video games," states a press release from the PR firm Hill & Knowlton (H&K). The video game industry's Entertainment Software Association (ESA) was not amused -- especially because H&K had "conducted the survey as a way to show how eager it was to get the association as a client." (ESA hired Powell Tate instead; H&K says it planned the poll before its pitch to ESA.) An ESA spokesperson called H&K's actions "unprofessional and unethical," adding that H&K's "release of only part of the findings paints an inaccurate picture of the entertainment software industry." Another question "is whether research done" to get new clients "tends to unfairly highlight negative aspects ... in hopes of underscoring the need for PR or public affairs services," according to PR Week. In related news, the PR firm Kohnke Communications is suing a software developer for "outstanding payments," reports Ars Technica. Kohnke's legal filings say the firm "convinc[ed video game] reviewers to write positive reviews," and that -- along with other "pre-launch successes" -- should get the firm "an incentive compensation payment of up to $280,000 after the launch of Gods & Heroes," the video game in question. SOURCE: Washington Post, December 11, 2007 10. UNIONS TO LEHANE: YOU DOWN WITH AMPTP? http://www.prwatch.org/node/6799 Concerned that public opinion is firmly on the side of striking Writers Guild of America (WGA) members, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) hired a bipartisan stable of new PR consultants. The studio owners' group "retained Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane, who have served as senior aides and advisors to President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore," among other Democrats. AMPTP also hired Steve Schmidt, "a close advisor to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger," reports the Los Angeles Times. On the Firedoglake blog, Jane Hamsher writes about the fallout. Education workers with SEIU Local 99 in Los Angeles have fired Lehane "from a consulting contract in support of the WGA." SEIU President Andy Stern said, "By the end of the week, I believe Chris Lehane will have no union clients because of his work for the AMPTP." SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, December 6, 2007 11. ENERGY COMPANIES' GALLONS OF GREENWASH http://www.prwatch.org/node/6798 "Shell, the oil company that recently trumpeted its commitment to a low carbon future ... has quietly sold off most of its solar business," reports Terry Macalister. "The move, taken with BP's decision last week to invest in the world's dirtiest oil production in Canada's tar sands, indicates that Big Oil might be giving up its flirtation with renewables." A Shell spokesperson said the company's solar operations were "not bringing in any profit." Shell still invests in some wind farms and biofuels operations. Pratap Chatterjee questions the environmental impact of "the world's largest bio-diesel facility," which Finland's Neste Oil plans to build in Singapore. "The scheme could exacerbate global warming," he reports for CorpWatch. The "$800 million plant will use palm oil," boosting "demand for new palm oil plantations that displace environmentally sensitive forests." Chatterjee is also skeptical of General Electric's "clean coal" claims. "'Clean coal' technologies are only marginally more efficient [at reducing emissions] and far more expensive. Others ... are still on the drawing board and may never work." SOURCE: The Guardian (UK), December 11, 2007 12. I AM AMERICA (AND SO CAN HUGHES?) http://www.prwatch.org/node/6797 As one of her last acts as Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Karen Hughes unveiled a new short film that will be shown in "the waiting areas of more than 200 American embassies and consulates around the world." Titled "I am America," the film was commissioned by the group Business for Diplomatic Action (BDA), created by the Omnicom-owned ad agency GSD&M Idea City, and donated to the U.S. State Department. The State Department explains that "the idea for the film emerged from brainstorming sessions involving ... Karen Hughes, her staffers and BDA. U.S. officials wanted to correct misperceptions of the United States as an unfriendly and insular place." In addition to the video, Hughes announced "a photo book called 'America Is' for young people overseas; and a new America.gov website providing information for audiences around the world." Walt Disney recently donated a similar film to the State Department, called "Welcome: Portraits of America," which is being shown in the international arrivals areas of major U.S. airports. SOURCE: Business for Diplomatic Action, December 10, 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