THE WEEKLY SPIN, October 3, 2007 Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 10:16:23 -0500 (CDT) THE WEEKLY SPIN, OCTOBER 3, 2007 == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. Four More Fines for Fake News: FCC Says VNRs Are "Valuable Consideration" 2. Something Fishy == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. Chevron Taps "Human Energy" 2. U.S. Spin Pros Influence Ukrainian Politics 3. Nuclear Industry "Constructs" Its Own Reality 4. Loose Lips Sink Ships, NSA Warned Reporters 5. Burmese Citizen Journalists Defy Military Junta to Tell Story of Protests 6. AEI & Freedom's Watch Seek $200 Million to Sell War on Iran 7. Pill Pushers Avoid Advertising Restrictions 8. The Weekly Radio Spin: Of Death and Front Groups 9. Playing Spin the Real ID 10. Two U.S. States To Get "Balanced Energy" PR in their Stockings 11. U.S. Invades Cyberspace 12. Drugmakers Dying for Good Media Coverage? 13. Czech President the Anti-Gore, Says U.S. Think Tank == UPCOMING EVENTS == 1. Introducing TobaccoWiki.org: The Public's Comprehensive Portal into Tobacco Document Research 2. Stauber Speaking on Fake TV News at national convention of the Society for Professional Journalists 3. Stauber Speaking at 'What's The Economy For, Anyway?' Conference in DC 4. Being the Media with SourceWatch -------------------------------------------------------------------- == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. FOUR MORE FINES FOR FAKE NEWS: FCC SAYS VNRS ARE "VALUABLE CONSIDERATION" by Diane Farsetta The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced four more fines against Comcast, for its cable channel CN8 having aired multiple video news releases (VNRs) without disclosure. But the bigger story is the FCC's reasoning behind the fines. In the new notice, the FCC states that "the VNR itself was the 'valuable consideration' provided to CN8." This is the first time that the agency has equated VNRs with "valuable consideration," an argument that the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has long advanced. What does this mean and why is it a big deal? Basically, it shoots out of the water a favorite argument of broadcasters and their friends in the PR industry: that disclosure is only required when stations are paid to air VNRs, or when VNRs deal with controversial or political issues. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6504 2. SOMETHING FISHY by Bob Burton An abridged extract from Bob Burton's Inside Spin: The dark underbelly of the PR industry. A hallmark tactic of activist campaigns in the 1960s and 1970s was the use of consumer boycotts to punish recalcitrant companies. By the 1990s, however, the trend was more towards developing standards and accrediting retail products that passed muster. The theory was that an accredited product would be rewarded by consumers while the laggards would be under financial pressure to lift their game. One of the pioneering projects during the 1990s was the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which was established by a broad coalition of non-profit groups. Its aim was to shift timber production to sources designated as more sustainable and reduce the market share for forest products derived from the destruction of the world's great forests. Despite numerous problems, the FSC label had some impact, especially in Europe. Fisheries were next. As Greenpeace in Europe stepped up its campaign against unsustainable fisheries, Unilever, which supplied approximately 25 per cent of the European and US demand for frozen fish, began to feel the heat. The company's Birds Eye and Iglo brands in particular were vulnerable to consumer pressure.10 Simon Bryceson, a consultant to the global PR firm Burson-Marsteller, advised Unilever that it should bypass Greenpeace and instead develop a partnership with the more 'conservative' WWF.11 Unilever and WWF split the US$1 million start-up costs, and in 1997 the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) was launched as a nonprofit organisation, headquartered in London. For Unilever, accreditation offered the prospect that it could marginalise Greenpeace and reassure skittish customers. As a trial run, the MSC drafted principles and criteria for assessing what constituted a 'sustainable' fishery. These were then tested against three small-scale fisheries, including the West Australian rock lobster fishery. All passed. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6401 == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. CHEVRON TAPS "HUMAN ENERGY" http://www.prwatch.org/node/6510 While ExxonMobil and BP have "spent lavishly on image ads," Chevron's new "power of human energy" campaign is a particularly ambitious "bid to recast itself as an environmentally responsible corporate citizen." Advertising Age reports that its first ad, a 2 1/2 minute spot from the ad agency McGarryBowen that was directed by Lance Acord (of "Lost in Translation" fame) and narrated by Campbell Scott, is "part of an estimated $15 million integrated U.S. campaign." Ads will also run in Latin America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, adapted from U.S. print ads by local offices of WPP's Y&R firm. Online components include "interactive stories showcasing 'human energy' at work within the company," at chevron.com, along with "Energyville," an "interactive game showing the tradeoffs of different energy sources." Chevron's corporate brand and reputation manager, Helen Clark, said that while 10% of Americans "hate us and our industry ... when people get the chance to learn about us, it helps to change their views." In related news, EarthRights International is petitioning Chevron -- as "one of the largest foreign investors in Burma (Myanmar) and the only remaining major U.S. corporation with a significant presence there" -- to pressure the Burmese junta to respect human rights. SOURCE: Washington Post, September 28, 2007 2. U.S. SPIN PROS INFLUENCE UKRAINIAN POLITICS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6509 The influence of U.S. political advisors was evident in the Ukrainian parliamentary elections that took place this past weekend. Current President Viktor Yushenko has benefited from the services of a variety of U.S. political advisors, including Stan Greenberg, former pollster for Bill Clinton, Stephen E. Schmidt, campaign manager for California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Neil Newhouse, who was a pollster for Mitt Romney during his tenure as governor of Massachusetts. Paul J. Manafort was charged with reforming the image of Yushenko opponent Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich from "shady reactionary and Kremlin pawn" to "arguably the nation's most popular politician." Manafort was a key advisor to former Senator Bob Dole in his failed presidential bid, and he is a partner in the lobbying firm Davis, Manafort & Freedman, Inc. While he has not been a public presence in the campaign, Manafort's "handiwork has been evident in Mr. Yanukovich's tightly organized campaign events, in his pointed speeches and in how he has presented himself to the world." Opponents have a more jaundiced view of the transformation. An advisor to former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko commented, "They are just packaging him in a new cover and educating him in some techniques to use. It's the same Soviet and post-Soviet political culture." SOURCE: New York Times, September 30, 2007 3. NUCLEAR INDUSTRY "CONSTRUCTS" ITS OWN REALITY http://www.prwatch.org/node/6508 In its bid to build new nuclear power plants, the nuclear power industry has "found a way around a long-standing regulatory policy they say added a year or more to construction times for nuclear plants." The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) "agreed to industry demands" and decreased "its oversight of initial work at reactor sites," by "narrowing its definition of the word 'construction.'" A 1971 court victory by scientists and environmentalists in Maryland requires a public hearing and construction permit before construction on new nuclear plants can begin. In 2006, the Nuclear Energy Institute began lobbying to change what "construction" meant. In 2007, the NRC obliged by redefining "construction" to exclude "excavation, road building and the erection of some cooling towers." The new definition is expected to take effect later this year, over the protests of NRC environmental project manager Andrew Kugler, who believes it will exclude from federal oversight some "90 percent of the true environmental impacts of construction." One NRC Commissioner who voted for the change, Jeffrey S. Merrifield, now works for The Shaw Group, Inc., a company that builds nuclear plants. SOURCE: Bloomberg News, September 29, 2007 4. LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS, NSA WARNED REPORTERS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6507 Concerned at news reports on its electronic surveillance, the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has held "an unprecedented series of off-the-record 'seminars' in recent years to teach reporters about the damage caused by such leaks and to discourage reporting that could interfere with the agency's mission to spy on America's enemies," reports Josh Gerstein. The half-day seminars were held between 2002 and 2004 and featured "high-ranking NSA officials" suggesting "innocuous" re-writes of "objectionable passages in published stories." The seminars "seemed designed to elicit a chummy atmosphere," writes Gerstein, adding that the NSA's seminar talking points included: "Reporters go to great lengths to protect their sources, as do we. We need your help." Among the "offensive" stories were 1998 articles in the New York Times about possible Persian Gulf attacks suggested by intercepted conversations involving Osama bin Laden, and a Knight Ridder piece on "electronic intercepts of the traffic on bin Laden's communications network." SOURCE: New York Sun, September 27, 2007 5. BURMESE CITIZEN JOURNALISTS DEFY MILITARY JUNTA TO TELL STORY OF PROTESTS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6499 Despite the danger of defying a military junta that is determined to quash the current wave of protests, and Internet penetration of only 1%, Burmese citizen journalists, activists, and former professional journalists have shared news and images with the rest of the world. They have even managed to skirt an Internet blockade by linking their computers directly to a computer outside of the government's censorship reach. One blog included a description in English that read, "Right now they're using fire engines and hitting people and dragging them onto E2000 trucks and most of them are girls and people are shouting." Ellana Lee, the managing editor of CNN Asia Pacific said, "When traditional methods and professional journalists can't provide footage, and personal safety allows, citizens rise to the challenge time and again, often with remarkable material. Even in countries like Myanmar, the spread of the Internet and mobile phones has meant that footage will always continue to get through and the story will be told, one way or another." SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, September 28, 2007 6. AEI & FREEDOM'S WATCH SEEK $200 MILLION TO SELL WAR ON IRAN http://www.prwatch.org/node/6498 The New York Times reports that Freedom's Watch is working with the American Enterprise Institute to lobby for war with Iran. "'If Hitler's warnings were heeded when he wrote Mein Kampf he could have been stopped,' said Bradley Blakeman, 49, the president of Freedom's Watch and a former deputy assistant to Mr. Bush. ... The idea for Freedom's Watch was hatched in March at the winter meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Manalapan, Fla., where Vice President Dick Cheney was the keynote speaker. ... One benefactor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the group was hoping to raise as much as $200 million by November 2008. Raising big money 'will be easy,' the benefactor said, adding that several of the founders each wrote a check for $1 million. ... Since the group is organized as a tax-exempt organization, it does not have to reveal its donors. ... Among the group's founders are Sheldon G. Adelson ... sixth on the Forbes Magazine list of the world's billionaires; Mel Sembler ... who served as the ambassador to Italy and Australia; John M. Templeton Jr., the conservative philanthropist from Bryn Mawr, Pa.; and Anthony H. Gioia, a former ambassador to Malta. ... Mr. Sembler, who is on the board of directors of the American Enterprise Institute, said the impetus for Freedom's Watch 'came out of A.E.I.' last winter." SOURCE: New York Times, September 30, 2007 7. PILL PUSHERS AVOID ADVERTISING RESTRICTIONS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6497 Congress has jettisoned proposed amendments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) legislation that would have expanded the agency's powers over drug industry direct-to-consumer advertising campaigns promoting prescription drugs. "One major reason: the drug industry found powerful allies among media and advertising firms who were determined to protect one of their biggest and fastest-growing advertising categories," write Anna Wilde Mathews and Stephanie Kang in the Wall Street Journal. While drug industry advertising represents only 3.5% of the U.S. advertising market it "registered the highest growth rate among the top 10 U.S. advertisers, growing 13.8% to $5.3 billion from $4.6 billion in 2006." Instead of the FDA having the power to reject advertisements on drugs with serious safety concerns, the agency will only be able to review and comment on proposed advertisements. Dan Jaffe, the executive vice president of the Association of National Advertisers, described the final bill as "a success for the entire advertising community." SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, September 21, 2007 8. THE WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: OF DEATH AND FRONT GROUPS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6496 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 (long version here, short version here). This week, we cover Microsoft's new front group, "local" radio news from afar, and the fight against government secrecy in Australia. We also feature a "Win Against Spin" -- Comcast being fined for fake TV news -- and in "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we tell you how Microsoft gets support from beyond the grave. The Weekly Radio Spin is freely available for personal and broadcast use. If you air the Weekly Radio Spin on your radio station, please email us at editor@prwatch.org to let us know. Thanks! SOURCE: The Center for Media and Democracy, September 28, 2007 9. PLAYING SPIN THE REAL ID http://www.prwatch.org/node/6492 "As controversy rages over forthcoming federal Real ID requirements, state officials should be plotting public relations strategies to counteract the well-publicized rebellion," suggested speakers at the Government ID Technology Summit in Washington DC. More than 30 states have introduced or passed measures that reject or criticize the Real ID requirement for federally approved, "machine readable" personal identification cards. Civil liberties, privacy and immigrant rights groups have also criticized Real ID. Former Transportation Department official turned private consultant Betty Serian told state and federal officials that "it's a classical textbook case of good communications planning ... and working that into your implementation plan for Real ID." To decrease public opposition, Serian suggested using such pro-Real ID messages as "it's a way to do the right things for the right reason," and "it will help prevent identity theft." Serian stressed "the time is definitely now" to plan Real ID messaging, and outreach through direct mailings, public service announcements and paid advertising. SOURCE: CNET News.com, September 24, 2007 10. TWO U.S. STATES TO GET "BALANCED ENERGY" PR IN THEIR STOCKINGS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6491 The coal industry front group Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC) is seeking public relations help "in targeting the public, politicians, interest groups, and the media" on the national level, and also in Pennsylvania and Nevada. ABEC promotes coal as an "essential, affordable and increasingly clean" source of electricity. The National Journal recently reported that ABEC's budget for PR, advertising and "grassroots" organizing will nearly quadruple, from $8 million to $30 million a year. "Two words sum up why" the coal industry and its allies "opened their checkbooks," wrote the Journal -- "global warming." ABEC notes that "Nevada is perhaps one of the most volatile states in the west regions for ABEC's industry," so its PR work in the state will include issues management, as well as presidential candidate outreach and identifying "cities and communities critical to helping shape policy at the grassroots level." The Pennsylvania campaign will be less intense, involving "regulatory / legislative communications," "grassroots assistance," and various types of media outreach. SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), September 26, 2007 11. U.S. INVADES CYBERSPACE http://www.prwatch.org/node/6490 The U.S. State Department is upgrading "foreign policy to Web 2.0 interactivity for the new electronic information age," with its first-ever blog, "Dipnote." The department "has already vastly expanded its Web presence and ... has set up a State Department YouTube channel." Meanwhile, the department's Digital Outreach Team is monitoring Middle Eastern blogs and Internet forums, sometimes adding comments. "The team concentrates on about a dozen mainstream Web sites such as chat rooms set up by the BBC and Al Jazeera or charismatic Muslim figures like Amr Khaled, as well as Arab news sites like Elaph.com," reports the New York Times. The sites are chosen for "high traffic and a focus on United States policy." Members of the Digital Outreach Team, which includes two Arabic speakers, "always identify themselves as being from the State Department." Topics they frequently comment on include the abuse of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, President Bush's having called the fight against terrorism a "crusade," and anti-Muslim comments by "prominent Americans from talk-show hosts to politicians ... of the 'bomb Mecca' variety." SOURCE: Associated Press, September 25, 2007 12. DRUGMAKERS DYING FOR GOOD MEDIA COVERAGE? http://www.prwatch.org/node/6489 In early September, "major newspapers reported the alarming news that suicides among young people were on the rise because of a precipitous drop in the use of antidepressants," writes Alison Bass. The academic study the news articles were based on concluded that new safety warnings for young people using antidepressant drugs had discouraged doctors from writing prescriptions for depressed youths. But there's a hole in that argument: "while there was indeed an upturn in suicide rates among youths ... the number of prescriptions for antidepressants in the same age group remained basically unchanged." Bass points out that the pharmaceutical companies that make antidepressants might "benefit from the latest alarm about an apparent upturn in youth suicide rates. ... These companies have an enormous stake in reversing the current FDA warnings." Pfizer, which makes the antidepressant Zoloft, did provide $30,000 for the academic study, and the study's lead authors have ties to Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. "This isn't the first time that suicide rates have been trotted out as a public relations weapon," Bass adds. "Proponents of psychotropic drugs have long argued that suicide rates ... fell after" such drugs were introduced, though the decline began well before the drugs were widely prescribed. SOURCE: Boston Globe, September 24, 2007 13. CZECH PRESIDENT THE ANTI-GORE, SAYS U.S. THINK TANK http://www.prwatch.org/node/6486 "President Vaclav Klaus is getting help from a right-wing U.S. think tank ... to spread a message many see as anti-environmentalist and some Czechs say reflects badly on their country," reports the Prague Post. The Heartland Institute's new $1 million advertising campaign declares "Global Warming is Not a Crisis" and features pictures of Klaus and Al Gore. "Vaclav Klaus will debunk global warming myths at the UN Sept. 24," claims the ad, which ran in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Times. Klaus told the Czech News Agency that the UN conference on global warming "will be a gathering of Gore-ites, so they're going to be shocked that they invited me 'by mistake.' ... I'm going to give a very tough speech." Heartland PR director Thomas Swiss called Klaus "a great defender of freedom" and someone who "really gets the potential damage that big government regulations can cause." Czech environment minister Martin Bursik and other national politicians have criticized Klaus' stance on global warming. SOURCE: The Prague Post (Czech Republic), September 19, 2007 == UPCOMING EVENTS == 1. INTRODUCING TOBACCOWIKI.ORG: THE PUBLIC'S COMPREHENSIVE PORTAL INTO TOBACCO DOCUMENT RESEARCH Please RSVP by Monday, October 1, 2007, to Victoria Cooper at vcooper@americanlegacy.org Join us in the public launch of CMD's innovative and collaborative online tobacco document research project, Tobaccowiki.org. CMD's TobaccoWiki Editor Anne Landman will describe and demonstrate how Tobaccowiki provides a platform from which the general public, the tobacco control community, grassroots activists, mainstream, alternative and citizen journalists, professional researchers, smokers and high school and college students can easily gain access to tobacco document research and contribute their own findings to TobaccoWiki's growing and diverse archive of resources. TobaccoWiki compiles useful, dynamic information on past and present tobacco industry activities and makes it accessible in an easy-to-navigate, user-friendly "wiki" format. TobaccoWiki is funded in part by the American Legacy Foundation, a national public health foundation whose mission it is to build a world where young people reject tobacco and anyone can quit. Program -- with working lunch provided 12:00 Noon -- 12:20 pm -- Brief introduction of TobaccoWiki 12:20 pm -- 12:30 pm -- Question and answer period 12:30 pm -- 1:00 pm -- Demonstration of TobaccoWiki To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6488 2. STAUBER SPEAKING ON FAKE TV NEWS AT NATIONAL CONVENTION OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS CMD's John Stauber will speak at the national convention of the Society for Professional Journalists on a panel examining the fake TV news scandal, the widespread and undisclosed broadcasting of corporate propaganda (VNRs) disguised as news stories by TV news directors in the United States. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6500 3. STAUBER SPEAKING AT 'WHAT'S THE ECONOMY FOR, ANYWAY?' CONFERENCE IN DC CMD's John Stauber is speaking Saturday, October 6, in Washington, DC, at a conference titled What's the economy for, anyway? "Is it just about having the biggest GDP or the highest Dow Jones Average? Or is it about providing for a healthy, happy, fair and sustainable society?" To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6502 4. BEING THE MEDIA WITH SOURCEWATCH Reception starts at 6:00 pm, presentation at 7:00 pm. Meet the people and organization behind SourceWatch, a wiki-based encyclopedia of the people, organizations and issues shaping the public agenda. John Stauber, Judith Siers-Poisson and Conor Kenny of the Center for Media and Democracy will present their project and answer questions at Paragon Media in Oakland on Thursday, October 18. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6487 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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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