THE WEEKLY SPIN, December 26, 2007 Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2007 10:06:33 -0600 (CST) THE WEEKLY SPIN, DECEMBER 26, 2007 == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. Keep Your Smoke to Yourself, S'il Vous Plait 2. "I Shop. Therefore I Give." 3. Santa Ho Ho Ho's for Coal 4. An Industry Look at 2007's Biggest PR Blunders 5. Weekly Radio Spin: Want Fries with That Grade? 6. The Best Propaganda Ever 7. Numbers Game 8. "Posted to YouTube, Sir!" 9. 2007 Most Deadly Year for Journalists in Over a Decade 10. Bush a Uniter -- of Iraqis, Against the U.S. 11. FCC: Big Media Should Get Bigger -------------------------------------------------------------------- == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. KEEP YOUR SMOKE TO YOURSELF, S'IL VOUS PLAIT http://www.prwatch.org/node/6838 The French National Committee Against Tobacco Addiction is launching an edgy new campaign based on previous ones against AIDS/HIV, "except that there is no mention of condoms, but of cigarette butts and the 'toxic emanations of cigarettes' remaining several hours after smokers have left." The film for the campaign was conceived of pro bono by the Compagnie 360 Euro RSCG ad agency. It shows an amorous couple in a Paris dance club. A voice-over intones, "Caroline doesn't know that she is in the process of contracting a deadly disease ... because every day here she absorbs toxic substances left by the smoking of cigarettes, which stay for several hours after ... " The target of the film is second-hand, or passive, smoking. The public service announcement will show on television in conjunction with the January 1, 2008 start of a smoking ban in French dining establishments and leisure and entertainment venues. SOURCE: Le Monde (France), December 17, 2007 2. "I SHOP. THEREFORE I GIVE." http://www.prwatch.org/node/6837 'Tis the season of gift giving, and of retailers trying to grab as much of their market share as they can. While encouraging consumerism and excessive consumption, sellers also seek to tap into nobler urges toward benevolence and charity at this time of year. But, as the New York Times editorializes, "people who feed their philanthropic urges by shopping should beware. This kind of fund-raising is largely unregulated, and the few state laws that exist are mostly unenforced. There's often no telling where the money goes. As The Times recently reported, several charities named in a holiday catalog from the upscale New York retailer Barneys -- including the World Wildlife Fund -- found out they were listed only when a reporter contacted them." This cause-related marketing, or what is also referred to as embedded giving, is not new, but continues to grow, without accompanying oversight or regulation. "A host of profit-seeking sites have sprung up online, with names like benevolink.com (slogan: I Shop. Therefore I Give.) and charitymall.com, offering to satisfy the giving spirit." But Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, recently introduced a bill "that would require better notification to charities and their consent in any marketing. Buyers would have to be told how much of the item's price actually goes to the charity." The Times editorial board concludes, "For now, the old-fashioned, direct, tried and true route to charity seems best." SOURCE: New York Times, December 22, 2007 3. SANTA HO HO HO'S FOR COAL http://www.prwatch.org/node/6834 Americans for Balanced Energy Choices, a front group for the coal industry, is "sending 30 Santas to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to deliver stockings filled with coal-shaped chocolate," reports The Hill. "The goal of the campaign is to shift coal's image as a key contributor to global warming to a relatively cheap and increasingly clean provider of electricity." David Roberts predicts that "This is only the beginning of what promises to be an enormous PR campaign by an industry that sees the writing on the wall. In public, it will be smiles and Santas. Behind the scenes, it will be slime campaigns against candidates who dare propose a shift to renewable energy." SOURCE: Grist, December 19, 2007 4. AN INDUSTRY LOOK AT 2007'S BIGGEST PR BLUNDERS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6833 Fineman PR of San Francisco, California, has released their list of top ten PR blunders of 2007. Topping the list at number one is "No Reporters? No Problem" -- the fake news conference staged by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) about their response to the California wild fires. (FEMA also merited a Dishonorable Mention in CMD's 2007 Falsies Awards.) Coming in second was a poorly conceived guerrilla marketing campaign. "When Boston residents suddenly noted blinking, cryptic devices attached to bridges, bus depots and subway stations, they alerted city authorities, who shut down sections of the city to remove the devices and ensure that they were not related to a bomb threat or other terrorist activity." The culprit? The Turner Broadcasting-affiliated Cartoon Network, advertising their program "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." SOURCE: The Huffington Post, December 15, 2007 5. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: WANT FRIES WITH THAT GRADE? http://www.prwatch.org/node/6832 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 military march on YouTube, Gitmo's not so anonymous defenders, and what the Lincoln Group has been up to in Iraq. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we tell you how baby bottles and Happy Meals are connected. 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 21, 2007 6. THE BEST PROPAGANDA EVER http://www.prwatch.org/node/6818 The latest email bulletin from the USC Center on Public Diplomacy called our attention to a list that someone has compiled of the "Top 10 Propaganda Videos." Viewing the list in chronological order is like taking a trip through the social obsessions of yesteryear: a clip from Leni Riefenstahl's 1935 pro-Nazi film, "Triumph of the Will"; a 1943 anti-Nazi cartoon by The Walt Disney Company, and a pro-tax film from the same year featuring Donald Duck; a Communist propaganda film from Moscow in the 1940s; American anti-Communist and anti-homosexual films from the 1950s; anti-porn and anti-LSD films from the 1960s; an anti-software piracy film from the 1990s; and a recent anti-American film that denounces the war in Iraq and the Project for the New American Century. 7. NUMBERS GAME http://www.prwatch.org/node/6828 In late November the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers announced the results of a survey of 353 East African corporate executives for its "Most Respected Company" award for 2007. The winner was the Kenyan mobile phone company, Safaricom. One of Safaricom's claims to fame is that it boasts the highest profits of any company in the region. Betty Caplan, who recounts her own unsatisfactory experience with the company's customer service, is less than impressed. "Could the highest profits in the region -- and amongst the highest on the continent -- be the result of cutting costs on customer care, and spending a lot of our hard-earned money instead on hype? And don't give me that nonsense about Corporate Social Responsibility. What they spend is the equivalent of about 5 cents to you and me and done purely to improve their image, not out of any real desire to give back to the community," she wrote. SOURCE: Daily Nation (Kenya) , December 17, 2007 8. "POSTED TO YOUTUBE, SIR!" http://www.prwatch.org/node/6827 YouTube has become de rigeur for posting official war propaganda. As CMD reported in October 2007, NATO has dedicated at least 1 million Euros (about $1.46 million U.S.) to produce and post footage to the popular video sharing site. In Britain, the Ministry of Defence (MoD), Royal Navy and Royal Air Force all have channels on YouTube, with dozens of short videos shot by or with their forces. The Multi-National Force - Iraq (MNFI) also has a presence on YouTube. Their videos include combat footage, like one titled "Close Call for Marines," deemed graphic enough by the community of YouTube users that it is necessary for viewers to sign in to prove that they are adults. Other clips of a more general, human interest nature are those like "Iraqi Boy Scouts prepare for Jamboree," which can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH80g_Mkin0. "The MNFI said the purpose of its videos were to give a 'boots on the ground perspective' of Operation Iraqi Freedom." Defense analyst Gordon Mackenzie "said videos shot by soldiers on operations had been appearing on the internet for some time despite MoD efforts to control them and these have been used in the past by the BBC. However, Mr Mackenzie said videos of operations uploaded officially by the ministry and armed forces verged on sending out a political message. 'Effectively the armed forces are carrying out a political order. The Ministry of Defence is a political organisation, the army isn't, but has to find support for what it's asked to do.'" In May 2007, CMD reported that the U.S. Department of Defense had blocked soldiers and journalists from accessing YouTube and other sites when using DoD computers. SOURCE: BBC News, December 13, 2007 9. 2007 MOST DEADLY YEAR FOR JOURNALISTS IN OVER A DECADE http://www.prwatch.org/node/6825 The Committee to Protect Journalists has released a report stating that 64 journalists died as a direct result of their profession in 2007. That marks the highest mortality rate since 1993. Nearly half of those deaths occurred in Iraq, with Somalia following in second place. 2007 is the fifth year in a row that Iraq topped the list, and the Committee reports that "most of the killings were targeted attacks, as opposed to deaths caused by cross-fire." The Committee also states that in Iraq "unidentified gunmen, suicide bombers, and American military activity" are the main perpetrators of the violence. All but one of the 31 reporters killed in Iraq were Iraqi citizens. Committee Executive Director Joel Simon said, "Working as a journalist in Iraq remains one of the most dangerous jobs on the planet. These journalists gave their lives so that all of us could be informed about what is happening in Iraq." SOURCE: New York Times, December 18, 2007 10. BUSH A UNITER -- OF IRAQIS, AGAINST THE U.S. http://www.prwatch.org/node/6824 The PR firm outed in 2005 for planting U.S. propaganda in Iraqi newspapers is still in Iraq, working for the U.S. military. The Lincoln Group, "which has conducted surveys for the military since shortly after the invasion, received a year-long contract in January to conduct focus groups," reports Karen DeYoung. The focus groups interviewed "separate groups of men and women ... in Ramadi, Najaf, Irbil, Abu Ghraib and in Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad." When asked to describe "the current situation in Iraq to a foreign visitor," most Iraqis "would describe the negative elements of life in Iraq beginning with the 'U.S. occupation' in March 2003," according to a December 2007 report. So few participants mentioned Saddam Hussein that the report states, "the current strife in Iraq seems to have totally eclipsed any agonies or grievances many Iraqis would have incurred from the past regime." The Iraqis interviewed had "far more commonalities than differences," including that they "see the departure of 'occupying forces' as the key to national reconciliation." SOURCE: Washington Post, December 19, 2007 11. FCC: BIG MEDIA SHOULD GET BIGGER http://www.prwatch.org/node/6823 On a three to two party line vote, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to overturn "a 32-year-old ban," allowing "broadcasters in the nation's 20 largest media markets to also own a newspaper." FCC Chair Kevin Martin, who proposed the change, called it "a relatively minor loosening" of media ownership rules. Dissenting Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein disagree. Copps commented, "We shed crocodile tears for the financial plight of newspapers -- yet the truth is that newspaper profits are about double the S&P 500 average. We pat ourselves on the back for holding six field hearings across the United States -- yet today's decision turns a deaf ear to the thousands of Americans who waited in long lines for an open mike to testify." Congress may try to overturn the change, though Bush is likely to veto any such attempt. In related news, Martin delayed a vote on product integration on television. The delay came after lobbying by "the three main U.S. advertising trade groups," though the FCC is expected to address the issue by early 2008, according to Hollywood Reporter. SOURCE: Associated Press, December 18, 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