THE WEEKLY SPIN, November 28, 2007 Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:53:40 -0600 (CST) THE WEEKLY SPIN, NOVEMBER 28, 2007 == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. A Victory for Ehren Watada -- and for Freedom of the Press == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. Featured Participatory Project: Recording Your Senators' Votes on Immigration Reform (U.S.) == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. Falsies Deadline Fast Approaching -- Vote Today! 2. Fake Press Conferences Aren't Just for FEMA 3. Want to Be a ConocoPhillips Flack (for Free)? Here's How! 4. Oil-Friendly Bloggers Get MSM-Type Attention 5. Pro-Life Groups Scrambling to Get Egg-Rights Amendments onto State Ballots 6. The U.S. Propaganda Blitz in Post-War Japan 7. Al Jazeera's Struggle for U.S. Airtime 8. Deadly Cowboys 9. The Weekly Radio Spin: Keep Your Sludge to Yourself -------------------------------------------------------------------- == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. A VICTORY FOR EHREN WATADA -- AND FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS by Sarah Olson Army First Lieutenant Ehren Watada saw his case move one step closer to resolution earlier this month when a federal court issued a preliminary injunction against a second court martial. The Army's prosecution of the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to Iraq has been in legal limbo since a February court martial ended abruptly when the military judge threw out a stipulation agreement and declared a mistrial. In June 2006, Lt. Watada held a press conference where he declared that the Iraq War was illegal, and that it was his duty to refuse orders to deploy. Lt. Watada was charged with violations of articles 87 and 133 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for refusing to deploy to Iraq, and publicly explaining his reasons for doing so. If convicted, he faced up to six and a half years in prison. Following February's mistrial, the Army refiled charges against Lt. Watada, and prepared for a second court martial. The defense argued Fifth Amendment protection against being tried for the same crime twice, and filed appeals with every level of military court. Lt. Watada's claims to constitutional protections were not heard in court until the case reached the civilian, federal district court, in Tacoma, Washington. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6740 == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. FEATURED PARTICIPATORY PROJECT: RECORDING YOUR SENATORS' VOTES ON IMMIGRATION REFORM (U.S.) http://www.prwatch.org/node/6752 On Congresspedia we are continuing to profile important votes this year in Congress as a way of building the same kind of "permanent records" for members of Congress that school kids used to get threatened with. YOU CAN HELP KEEP CONGRESS ACCOUNTABLE by taking five minutes to add information on how your senators or representative voted to their Congresspedia profiles, thus ensuring that the tens of thousands of people who come to the site every day get a chance to know what it is that their elected officials are doing in Washington. Following on the previous featured participatory projects to record the votes on the scuttled Children's Health Insurance Program expansion and the Senate's controversial confirmation of Bush's nominee for Attorney General, this week we are turning to this year's important votes on immigration. For help we enlisted the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, which selected two votes this year on immigration for its middle class scorecard at www.theMiddleClass.org. The first was a vote to strip this summer's comprehensive immigration reform bill of its provisions to provide paths to citizenship to undocumented immigrants, leaving only enforcement measures in place (something opposed by DMI). The second was last month's vote to quash the DREAM Act, which would have granted a path to permanent residency for young undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children but would like to attend college or serve in the U.S. military (supported by DMI). No matter what you think of these bills, these votes were on dramatic changes in our country's immigration policies and deserve to be recorded. And, to make sure that all perspectives were covered, we've also included criticisms from bill opponents like the Heritage Foundation. No policy or technical expertise is necessary - just go to www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SourceWatch:Project:Votes_on_immigration_reform_(U.S.) for full instructions on how to easily add this information to your Senators' permanent records. Thanks and have fun! SOURCE: == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. FALSIES DEADLINE FAST APPROACHING -- VOTE TODAY! http://www.prwatch.org/node/6753 VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE FALSIES TODAY! At the end of each year, CMD issues the "Falsies Awards," to recognize the people and players that take spin and propaganda to new lows. WE NEED YOU TO HELP IDENTIFY THE WORST OF THE WORST HARD AT WORK IN 2007. We have put together a juicy selection of nominees -- but we need you to vote and tell us who deserves the Falsies this year. Go to http://survey.prwatch.org/public/survey.php?name=falsies2007 to fill out your ballot. THE DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES IS THIS FRIDAY AT 5:00 P.M. CST, SO DON'T DELAY, VOTE TODAY! SOURCE: The 2007 Falsies 2. FAKE PRESS CONFERENCES AREN'T JUST FOR FEMA http://www.prwatch.org/node/6751 When the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) held a fake news conference in October, with FEMA staffers asking their boss softball questions about the California wildfires, Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff strongly condemned it. However, "on Feb. 3, 2006, an official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement asked a question during a news conference in San Antonio, Texas." The earlier incident came to light during the Department's investigation of the FEMA incident, which has not been made public. Homeland Security is the "parent agency" of both FEMA and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to the Associated Press, "the ICE public affairs official was standing with about 12 reporters but did not identify herself when she posed the question." She had been "advised against asking the question, but asked anyway." After the incident, she was "verbally reprimanded." According to the Associated Press, "San Antonio reporters knew she was a public affairs official at the time." SOURCE: Associated Press, November 26, 2007 3. WANT TO BE A CONOCOPHILLIPS FLACK (FOR FREE)? HERE'S HOW! http://www.prwatch.org/node/6750 ConocoPhillips's Bob Ridge visited San Antonio, Texas recently, as stop number 32 of a 33-city "Conversation on Energy" tour. "It becomes obvious fast that Bob isn't in San Antonio to make any great promises," writes local reporter Greg Harman, who attended the event. "He tells our group straightaway that the next 30 years belong to oil, natural gas and coal. In the meantime, ConocoPhillips will be 'keeping a watch on global climate change and our water resources.'" (Shell Oil and Chevron have held similar public events.) A flyer distributed at Ridge's presentation encourages San Antonians to become "more involved in the Conversation on Energy," by serving on a local "advisory committee," helping to "inform ConocoPhillips about energy issues and events in my community," participating in online discussions, or communicating with "local groups, organizations, officials, and media." Harman concludes, "Bob is not here to find out what we think about his company. What he wants is permission to function through us. Or, barring that, to delay or diffuse potentially damaging outbursts to our representatives in Congress." SOURCE: San Antonio Current (Texas), November 21, 2007 4. OIL-FRIENDLY BLOGGERS GET MSM-TYPE ATTENTION http://www.prwatch.org/node/6749 Concerned that the U.S. public "does not understand or appreciate how expensive it is to keep the nation's engines running," the American Petroleum Institute (API), Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell "have reached out to a conservative band of bloggers," reports Reuters. API "paid for seven bloggers" to take two trips in November, one to Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas, and one offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. API required the bloggers to disclose that the industry group had funded the trips, but otherwise "placed no restrictions" on them. API's "new media advisor," Jane Van Ryan, admitted that the bloggers chosen -- for the Texas trip, Ed Morrissey, Bruce McQuain, Brian Westenhaus and the National Association of Manufacturers's Carter Wood -- "have not been particularly critical of the industry." While API's blogger "outreach effort" is new, "reporters who cover the energy industry are often invited by companies to visit offshore drilling rigs or production platforms," notes Reuters. API is currently discussing plans for 2008 junkets. SOURCE: Reuters, November 21, 2007 5. PRO-LIFE GROUPS SCRAMBLING TO GET EGG-RIGHTS AMENDMENTS ONTO STATE BALLOTS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6748 An anti-abortion group, Colorado for Equal Rights, is gathering signatures to get a constitutional amendment on the 2008 statewide ballot. The amendment, called the "Definition of a Person Act," would confer full legal rights upon fertilized human embryos. Other anti-abortion groups are simultaneously advancing similar measures in other states under different names. In Michigan it is called the "Personhood Amendment" and in Mississippi the "Ultimate Human Life Amendment." Abortion rights supporters warn that these amendments would lead to banning abortion, embryonic stem cell research, and a wide range of birth control methods that make a woman's womb environment hostile to egg fertilization, like intrauterine devices, oral contraceptives and the morning after pill. Despite their vast potential ramifications, these deceptively simple proposed amendments contain no mention of abortion, stem cell research, birth control or any other wording that indicates their ultimate intent. SOURCE: Rocky Mountain News, November 24, 2007 6. THE U.S. PROPAGANDA BLITZ IN POST-WAR JAPAN http://www.prwatch.org/node/6745 A report written in 1959 by Mark May, a Yale University professor and expert on psychological warfare, detailed the extensive operations by the United States Information Service (USIS) in Japan after the end of World War II. The report was recently uncovered in the National Archives in Washington by Kenneth Osgood, an assistant professor of history at Florida Atlantic University. The report reveals that 23 of 50 USIS-sponsored programs were not publicly identified as U.S. funded projects. USIS sponsored radio news and commentary programs "which are tape-recorded and utilized by commercial stations, yet the listening public is unaware of the source of these programs," May wrote. Other programs funded movies and conservative academics. One of the aims of USIS was to reduce anti-nuclear sentiment in Japan in the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. May reported that the promotion of the civilian "Atoms for Peace" nuclear power program resulted in the number of people equating the word "atom" with "harmful" falling from 70 percent in 1956 to 30 percent in 1958. SOURCE: The Japan Times, November 21, 2007 7. AL JAZEERA'S STRUGGLE FOR U.S. AIRTIME http://www.prwatch.org/node/6744 Andrew Stroehlein, the director of media and information at the International Crisis Group, reflects on why the English language version of Al Jazeera's television news operation "remains unavailable to most Americans." The quality of reporting from what is perhaps the best-funded television news network, he argues, is not the problem. "The hurdle for some [cable companies] is a lingering fear of a public relations backlash -- that some customers might get agitated by their cable company offering a channel whose sister station in Arabic has a reputation for being anti-American," he writes. However, he points out that key administration officials and former White House press secretary, Tony Snow, have given interviews to the station. "If it is worthwhile enough for them to spend their time giving interviews to Al Jazeera English, no one could seriously argue that the American public should not watch it," he writes. SOURCE: Boston Globe, November 20, 2007 8. DEADLY COWBOYS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6743 Blackwater USA is a private military contractor facing a federal U.S. grand jury investigation for the shooting of Iraqi citizens. The company recently hit the headlines after its personnel opened fire on Iraqi civilians in September, killing 17. Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that the company has "hired a bipartisan stable of big-name Washington lawyers, lobbyists and press advisers" including, for a short time, the PR company Burson-Marsteller. Blackwater's main lobbyist is Paul Behrends, from the Washington DC lobbying firm C & M Capitolink. Blackwater "has paid his company $300,000 since last year," John M. Broder and James Risen reported. Mark Corallo, the founder of Corallo Media Strategies, quit working for Blackwater last year. "The reason they get the caricature that's been created is that they do have a few cowboys in their midst," he said. SOURCE: Washington Post, November 20, 2007 9. THE WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: KEEP YOUR SLUDGE TO YOURSELF http://www.prwatch.org/node/6742 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 greenwashing the Olympics, when a Nobel prize doesn't count for much, and why human waste by any other name is still ... you know. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we tell you how many steps it takes to get from a corporate apologist to a perennial thorn in industry's side. 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, November 23, 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. 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