THE WEEKLY SPIN, October 17, 2007 Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:22:06 -0500 (CDT) THE WEEKLY SPIN, OCTOBER 17, 2007 == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. An Ethical Look at Fake News 2. Line rental 3. Working to Make A Difference (In Their Favor): The Arts Dollars of Philip Morris == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. New Participatory Project: Nuclear Companies Head for the Trough == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. Keeping Investigative Journalism Alive 2. Well-Connected Skeptics Behind UK Attack on Global Warming Film 3. A Fine Kettle of Fish for Union-Busting Snack Company 4. More U.S. Lobbyists Talking Turkey 5. Catching Up With al Qaeda 6. Words About Deeds 7. Oil Execs Continue to Motor Around U.S. 8. Employee of the Month, Even Before He Started 9. Lung Cancer Screening Study Flap: A Twisted Trail of Hidden Motives? 10. The Weekly Radio Spin: Fishy Advice for Pregnant Women 11. Want To Know Fake News When You See It? == UPCOMING EVENTS == 1. OAKLAND, CA: Being the Media with SourceWatch -------------------------------------------------------------------- == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. AN ETHICAL LOOK AT FAKE NEWS by Diane Farsetta "I love Red Cross, but I don't trust them completely when they're the ones shooting the video," explained journalism professor and Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) ethics committee member Jerry Dunklee. Dunklee was speaking at SPJ's recent convention, on a panel titled "Paid and Played: The Ethics of Using Video News Releases." His remarks focused on the ethical issues raised by VNRs. Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) executive director John Stauber and Jim Bayse of the firm Wiley Rein, which represents the Radio-Television News Directors Association, were also on the panel. Much of the VNR debate is currently focused on legal and policy issues: speculation over what the Federal Communications Commission really meant by fining Comcast for five undisclosed VNRs, and what the agency is likely to do next. But it's also important to address the ethical implications of VNRs. Dunklee did so by relating sometimes abstract guidelines to real-world situations he faced as a reporter and news director in cable and broadcast television. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6558 2. LINE RENTAL by Bob Burton An extract from Bob Burton's Inside Spin: The Dark Underbelly of the PR Industry. "It's a little bit like my yacht club" is how Mike Nahan, the former veteran activist with the Melbourne-headquartered Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), described the process of hand-picking members for the Australian think tank. "We go out and say 'would you like to become a member' and they do." 1 The IPA, however, is not in the business of organising genteel sailing trips for its 54 members. Since its formation in 1943, the IPA has been the spear carrier for those within corporate Australia willing to fund and promote ideas for restructuring the economy and weakening the power of the unions. If the term 'think tank' conjures up an image of studied reflection on weighty topics, the reality could hardly be further from the truth. The IPA unashamedly sees its role as being to clear the way for supporting politicians and officials to implement policies deemed too politically toxic to touch.2 Central to its strategy is trading on its self-description as being 'independent' to help amplify what would otherwise be a marginal dissident voice by utilising relationships with friendly media commentators and political movers and shakers. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6561 3. WORKING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE (IN THEIR FAVOR): THE ARTS DOLLARS OF PHILIP MORRIS by Anne Landman Cigarette maker Altria/Philip Morris (PM) recently announced that it is moving its New York headquarters to Richmond, Virginia, and that it will end its corporate sponsorship of the arts in New York. Predictably, New York arts organizations are crying over the loss of cigarette dollars. These organizations sadly believe that their acceptance of PM dollars has been benign. In truth, these organizations have helped PM advance its credibility and legitimacy with policymakers, and have done tremendous harm to the country. We can no longer put our heads in the sand about the implications of accepting tobacco dollars. Tobacco industry documents are rife with insights about the public relations benefits tobacco companies derive from sponsorship of arts, culture, sports, and music. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6527 == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. NEW PARTICIPATORY PROJECT: NUCLEAR COMPANIES HEAD FOR THE TROUGH http://www.prwatch.org/node/6563 With billions of dollars in subsides on offer from the U.S. government, some utilities are lining up to submit applications with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for new nuclear power plants. As a first step to helping citizens and journalists track what's happening we will be building a page listing what is known about the new nuclear power station proposals. (Further down the track we'd like to build profiles on the companies, their track records and their PR and lobbying activities). To help build the page you'll find complete instructions here. And whether you plan to edit or not, check out our Nuclear Issues portal on SourceWatch for easy to access information on this topic. If this is your first time editing on SourceWatch, go to www.SourceWatch.org for more information. HAVE FUN, AND THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! SOURCE: New Nuclear Power Plant Applications in the U.S. == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. KEEPING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM ALIVE http://www.prwatch.org/node/6567 A new non-profit group called Pro Publica wants to counter the decrease in real investigative journalism. "The plan is to do long-term projects, uncovering misdeeds in government, business and organizations." Pro Publica will be led by Paul E. Steiger, who served as the top editor of The Wall Street Journal for 16 years. It is the creation of Californians Herbert M. Sandler and Marion O. Sandler, the former chief executives of the Golden West Financial Corporation. They have personally committed $10 million in support per year. "Pro Publica plans to establish a newsroom in New York City and have 24 journalists, one of the biggest investigative staffs in any medium, along with about a dozen other employees. Mr. Steiger said he envisions a mix of accomplished reporters and editors, including some hired from major publications, and talented people with only a few years' experience, so that the group will become a training ground for investigative reporters." Pro Publica plans to launch in early 2008. SOURCE: The New York Times, October 15, 2007 2. WELL-CONNECTED SKEPTICS BEHIND UK ATTACK ON GLOBAL WARMING FILM http://www.prwatch.org/node/6556 "The school governor who challenged the screening of Al Gore's climate change documentary in secondary schools was funded by a Scottish quarrying magnate who established a controversial lobbying group to attack environmentalists' claims about global warming," reports The Observer. Stewart Dimmock sought to ban "An Inconvenient Truth" from British schools, with help from Scotland's New Party. Nearly all of the small party's funds come from a quarry company owned by Robert Durward. Durward, along with a former advisor to Tony Blair, set up the group Scientific Alliance to "challenge many of the claims about global warming." In 2004, the group "co-authored a report with the George C Marshall Institute, a US body funded by Exxon Mobil, that attacked climate change claims." A UK High Court judge rejected Dimmock's request to ban the film, but did require schools showing the film to provide "Guidance Notes" to teachers, since the film touches on political issues. (The judge explained that his ruling "did not relate to an analysis of the scientific questions," though many news reports have confused the ruling, according to Tim Lambert.) SOURCE: The Observer (UK), October 14, 2007 3. A FINE KETTLE OF FISH FOR UNION-BUSTING SNACK COMPANY http://www.prwatch.org/node/6555 "Kettle Foods this week called in Hill & Knowlton to protect its bruised reputation following a widely criticised attempt to dissuade its workers from unionizing," reports PR Week. The PR firm's London office confirmed it is working for the upscale potato chip maker, "on a reactive basis." On October 1, The Guardian reported that Kettle Chips' UK owners had brought in the California-based Burke Group, "to dissuade the 340 workers at their Norwich factory from joining Unite, the country's largest union." Burke Group runs Omega Training, called "one of the leading US union-busters." News of the anti-union campaign led to calls to boycott Kettle Chips. The Norwich workers voted against joining the Unite union. A local labor organizer blamed the vote on the company's "long poisonous campaign not to join the union." SOURCE: PR Week (UK), October 10, 2007 4. MORE U.S. LOBBYISTS TALKING TURKEY http://www.prwatch.org/node/6553 As the U.S. House of Representatives considers a controversial resolution "recognizing as 'genocide' the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians in the former Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago," the Turkish government is increasing its Washington DC lobbying. Ankara is "spending more than US$300,000 a month on sophisticated public relations specialists and former Washington lawmakers to help defeat the measure," reports Asia Times. "The Turkish Embassy is paying $100,000 a month to lobbying firm DLA Piper, which is associated with former Democratic House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, and $105,000 to the Livingston Group (connected to former Republican lawmaker Robert L. Livingston), and it recently paid public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard $114,000 ... a month." The Bush administration is opposing the Armenian resolution, saying its passage could harm U.S. military operations in Iraq. Most U.S. air cargo to Iraq, as well as fuel and vehicles, goes through Turkey. After the French parliament voted in 2006 to make the denial of the Armenian genocide a crime, Turkey severed military ties with France. After the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the Armenian resolution, "Ankara ordered its ambassador in Washington to return home for 'consultations,' but says he has not been formally withdrawn." SOURCE: Asia Times, October 16, 2007 5. CATCHING UP WITH AL QAEDA http://www.prwatch.org/node/6552 "America should hire al-Qaeda's PR Agent," argues Matt Armstrong. Iraq, he says, has become "a stage" for "a new public diplomacy that insurgents understand, and the U.S. State Department doesn't. ... An Islamic version of the story of David and Goliath, IED videos posted on YouTube and elsewhere are the new 'war porn.' Whereas Americans are addicted to grainy green images of high-tech bombs raining down on the enemy, insurgent supporters prefer images of grassroots combat that sticks it to the Man. While insurgents effectively use images to generate and maintain support--even using graphics, banners, and music in their online videos--the United States clumsily shapes our public image with symbols like the newest 'Crusader castle' in the Middle East, otherwise known as the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad." SOURCE: GOOD Magazine, October 3, 2007 6. WORDS ABOUT DEEDS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6551 Karen Hughes, the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, has been using the term "diplomacy of deeds" to describe U.S. charitable activities aimed at winning hearts and minds overseas. Retired Foreign Service officer John Brown has some doubts. He agrees that "US charitable works, like the charitable works of other nations (we are, after all, not the only country that aids other nations), are often gratefully received by those whose lives are improved by them. ... But Hughes's diplomacy of deeds has severe limitations. First, it cannot automatically be assumed that ostentatious public displays of good deeds (and Hughes certainly makes sure that her actions are covered by the media) are always appreciated by the people for whom they are intended. ... Second, Hughes's overseas public service deeds, in the global scope of things, are of small significance, for they are those of an administration that (in the eyes of the world) has committed some of the most horrid deeds of this new century, ranging from an unjustified war of aggression on an impoverished third world country to the establishment of an detainee camp at Guantanamo where prisoners are not granted basic human rights." SOURCE: Common Dreams, April 9, 2007 7. OIL EXECS CONTINUE TO MOTOR AROUND U.S. http://www.prwatch.org/node/6550 Media activists in Grand Rapids, Michigan attended Shell Oil president John Hofmeister's recent talk there, on "How the US Can Ensure Energy Supply for the Future." Hofmeister "stated up front that he was on a 50 city tour and that Grand Rapids was number 45," according to Media Mouse. Hofmeister told the audience that there has been an "intolerant debate after Katrina" on energy issues, and that the goal of his local presentations is to "engage key audiences" and talk "to the American public about energy security." Hofmeister also met with Governor Jennifer Granholm in Lansing, and General Motors executives in Detroit, reported the Grand Rapids Press. During a local television interview, Hofmeister rejected the idea that he was in the oil industry: "We're in the mobility industry. ... We do bring fuels to the marketplace. Most of those fuels are today, and will continue to be, petroleum-based fuels. But we don't rule out bio-fuel." On October 25, Chevron CEO Dave O'Reilly will visit Los Angeles to speak about "Securing California's Energy Future." SOURCE: Media Mouse, October 5, 2007 8. EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH, EVEN BEFORE HE STARTED http://www.prwatch.org/node/6549 "Three months prior to the announcement that Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Jeffery S. Merrifield would be joining the Shaw Group Inc. as Vice President of its Power Group, Mr. Merrifield vigorously championed several major policy initiatives that directly benefited his future employer," states the watchdog group Project on Governmental Oversight (POGO) in a press release. A previous Spin of the Day noted that, as Commissioner, Merrifield supported reducing government and public oversight of new nuclear power plant construction. Shaw's website says the company is "a leading force in nuclear new plant design and construction." POGO adds that, "because Shaw is among the largest construction companies in the nuclear industry, few companies stood to benefit more from this initiative." Merrifield also pushed to "accelerate the approval process for new nuclear plant construction by, among other things, scaling back public hearings and public comment periods." Merrifield began working at Shaw just 12 days after leaving the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. POGO is urging the NRC, including the agency's Inspector General's Office, "to thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding Mr. Merrifield's actions." SOURCE: Project on Governmental Oversight, September 25, 2007 9. LUNG CANCER SCREENING STUDY FLAP: A TWISTED TRAIL OF HIDDEN MOTIVES? http://www.prwatch.org/node/6546 The Lung Cancer Alliance, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group that advocates lung cancer screening, has written the National Cancer Institute protesting that two key researchers involved in the National Lung Screening Trial, a massive, federally-funded lung cancer screening study, have a conflict of interest because they both served as paid, expert defense witnesses for the tobacco industry. Radiologist Denise Aberle, M.D., in her 2003 trial testimony on behalf of American Tobacco Company in Louisiana, agreed that doctors who recommend low-dose CT scans to detect lung cancer were being "reckless." Dartmouth college radiologist William Black, M.D. provided an expert report for Philip Morris in a case in New York, in which he stated CT scanning may "do more harm than good." That these two doctors have testified for tobacco companies does raise red flags, but so does the fact that the Lung Cancer Alliance is funded in part by corporate grants, including $100,000 from the General Electric Company, which makes CT scanners and would stand to profit significantly from their expanded use. SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), October 8, 2007 10. THE WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: FISHY ADVICE FOR PREGNANT WOMEN http://www.prwatch.org/node/6544 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 Blackwater USA's crisis management attempts, fishy advice from the "Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies" coalition, the dangers of disclosure, and direct-to-consumer drug ads. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we tell you how many steps it takes to get from big tobacco to the Special Olympics. 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, October 12, 2007 11. WANT TO KNOW FAKE NEWS WHEN YOU SEE IT? http://www.prwatch.org/node/6541 The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) today reported on three recent instances where a single television station aired entire, pre-packaged video news releases (VNRs). The sponsored "fake news" spots, all involving WGTU-TV 29 in Traverse City, Mich., can be seen at www.prwatch.org/fakenews3/summary. The new VNR catches prove that, despite mounting pressure from the public and the Federal Communications Commission, television stations continue to air fake news without disclosure. With the media reform group Free Press, CMD filed a formal complaint with the FCC. Under the slogan "Know Fake News," CMD and Free Press are also encouraging concerned citizens to contact the FCC, calling on the agency to address all pending fake news complaints, including the new VNR broadcasts, and to clarify VNR disclosure requirements. SOURCE: Center for Media and Democracy, October 11, 2007 == UPCOMING EVENTS == 1. OAKLAND, CA: BEING THE MEDIA WITH SOURCEWATCH Paragon Media, 2865 Broadway, #2 (second floor), Oakland, CA 94611 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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