THE WEEKLY SPIN, October 24, 2007 Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:21:08 -0500 (CDT) THE WEEKLY SPIN, OCTOBER 24, 2007 == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. Time To Pay for Payola Pundit Armstrong Williams 2. Shared Values Revisited == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. New Participatory Project: What was Big Tobacco's "Project Big Boy"? == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. Chemical Reaction 2. Taking Consumers to the Cleaners 3. The Elephant and His Editors 4. Lights, Camera, PhRMA 5. Newspaper Used as Slush Fund for Pentagon PR? 6. Anti-Tax Lobby Not Just in Kansas Anymore 7. Teflon Lies Stick to DuPont 8. Beatdown on Bloggers 9. Bush, Congress, Iraq Still Unpopular 10. The Weekly Radio Spin: Time to Pay for the Payola Pundit 11. Journalists Jailed 12. Nice Times for Pharma Flacks 13. Gas Guzzlers Group Burns Cash 14. Retail Research Is Hurting Science 15. U.S. Does Democracy Demotion in Iran 16. Fake Interviews for Everything? -------------------------------------------------------------------- == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. TIME TO PAY FOR PAYOLA PUNDIT ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS by Diane Farsetta Perhaps, in the case of Armstrong Williams, the third time will be the charm. The first two official investigations failed to hold anyone accountable for what can only be described as a textbook case of government propaganda. The results of the third investigation, by the Federal Communications Commission, were announced recently (PDF file). The FCC found Williams and two media companies to be at fault, issuing a citation against Williams and proposing fines of $40,000 against Sonshine Family Television and $36,000 against Sinclair Broadcast Group. It's more bad news for fake news, but will the fines stick? And what are the implications of the FCC's findings? To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6579 2. SHARED VALUES REVISITED by Sheldon Rampton ONE OF THE SHARED VALUES VIDEOS, NOW ON YOUTUBE. I received a request recently from a university professor who teaches a course about media literacy. She was wondering if I could help her find videos of the "Shared Values" television ads that the U.S. Department of State produced to improve the image of the United States in Muslim countries shortly after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, so she could show them to her students. I was a bit surprised to realize that the ads are fairly hard to locate online, but after some searching, we were able to find copies. To ensure that they will remain available, I uploaded the videos to two popular internet repositories: YouTube, where people can easily find them and drop them into their own web pages; and the Internet Archive, which should ensure that they survive for posterity. Twenty or fifty years from now, scholars wishing to understanding the relationship between the United States and the rest of the world will certainly be interested in studying the "Shared Values" campaign. As my professor friend wrote back after finding the videos, "The ads are a great teaching tool about propaganda." Like most propaganda, they tell us a great deal about how the propagandists see themselves as well as how they want to be perceived by others. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/6465 == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. NEW PARTICIPATORY PROJECT: WHAT WAS BIG TOBACCO'S "PROJECT BIG BOY"? http://www.prwatch.org/node/6537 What was Brown & Williamson's "Project Big Boy"? CMD launched the TobaccoWiki project to answer questions just like that (the answers are usually not very pretty) by enlisting citizens like you to mine the millions of pages of previously-secret, internal tobacco industry documents now posted on the Internet. Spending even a few minutes to find an interesting nugget of information about what this project involved would be helpful, so why not give it a spin? To track down information on Project Big Boy, click this link to search the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library for internal documents on the project, look for anything you find interesting and add descriptions or quotes to the TobaccoWiki article about Project Big Boy. If this is your first time editing on SourceWatch, you can go to www.SourceWatch.org for more information. Have fun, and thanks for your help! PREVIOUS PROJECT UPDATE: The project to post photos of the hundreds of 2008 U.S. congressional candidates is almost complete! Check your state's portal at the Congresspedia 2008 election homepage to help us find the last ones. Complete instructions are here. The full list of things you can do on SourceWatch here. SOURCE: == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. CHEMICAL REACTION http://www.prwatch.org/node/6613 Andrea Gawrylewski reports that an email from an "ACS insider," who insisted on anonymity, alleges that bonuses paid to executives of the American Chemical Society are tied to the profits of the publishing division and that this is why the society is opposing open-access publishing. In January, Nature revealed that the Association of American Publishers had hired PR crisis management guru Eric Dezenhall to devise a campaign against proposals for free public access to publicly funded scientific research, and that ACS had attended a briefing on the campaign. Rudy Baum, the editor-in-chief of Chemical & Engineering News -- an ACS publication -- "declined to say whether his bonuses were linked to publishing profits." However, former ACS staff told Gawrylewski that it was well known that senior managers' bonuses were linked to profitability. The chair of the ACS board of directors, Judith Benham, rejected the suggestion that the society's opposition to open access publishing was linked to executive compensation. SOURCE: The Scientist.com, October 22, 2007 2. TAKING CONSUMERS TO THE CLEANERS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6612 The Hygiene Council, a "think tank" created and funded by the cleaning products company Reckitt Benckiser, touts the need for "good hygiene practice" in the "home and community." Ruth Pollard reports that the council "is pushing products that contain the expensive -- and potentially damaging -- antibacterial additive, triclosan." Aside from promoting commonsense measures to prevent infections such as the washing of hands and appropriate preparation and refrigeration of foods, the council is enthusiastic about the chemical treatment of household surfaces. "Commonly touched surfaces should be regularly disinfected with products such as LYSOL Disinfectant Spray," the council states on its website. Peter Collignon, the director of infectious diseases at Canberra Hospital, believes that promoting the use of products containing triclosan was "a marketing exercise with no real benefit" that would "do nothing to stop multi-resistant bacteria in hospitals. If anything it may actually contribute to it." Triclosan products are used in hospitals as a disinfectant, particularly against staphlycoccus. SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald, October 22, 2007 3. THE ELEPHANT AND HIS EDITORS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6611 In a speech on the changing role of journalism, John Hartigan, the chairman and chief executive of News Limited, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, argued that "we live in times when press freedom -- the freedom of speech -- is more restricted than in living memory. And I don't say this lightly." Early in his speech, Hartigan said, "Let me deal with the elephant in the room -- Rupert Murdoch. ... Does he tell us what he thinks? He sure does. If he's not happy are we left guessing? No way!" As to how to cover politics or major business stories, Hartigan insisted Murdoch doesn't "issue blanket instructions" to his editors. Hartigan also singled out for criticism the announcement by Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock of a review of Freedom of Information laws. "His decision to ask the Law Reform Commission to conduct a review on limited terms of reference is a disgrace," he said. SOURCE: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, October 19, 2007 4. LIGHTS, CAMERA, PHRMA http://www.prwatch.org/node/6610 Buffeted by bad press from recalls of dangerous drugs and public bitterness over high drug prices, the drug industry has decided to cure its ailing image by sponsoring its own TV talk show, hosted by Billy Tauzin, the former GOP congressman who now heads the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). Its "Healthcare Campfire with Billy Tauzin" is "the latest -- and possibly boldest -- part of a multi-pronged effort to burnish the drug industry's battered public image," writes Jeffrey Young. "The episodes, broadcast as paid advertisements but billed as public affairs programs, borrow the format of talk shows such as NBC's 'Today.'" In addition to interviews, the show features reports by PhRMA staff on new medicines, which "look like a news story you would see at a local news station," according to PhRMA Senior Vice President Ken Johnson. SOURCE: The Hill, October 23, 2007 5. NEWSPAPER USED AS SLUSH FUND FOR PENTAGON PR? http://www.prwatch.org/node/6585 The U.S. Defense Department Inspector General's review of the "America Supports You" (ASY) program has widened to include the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes. "Both America Supports You and American Forces Information Service -- the parent organization for Stripes -- are headed by Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary for public affairs," reports Stars and Stripes. In July 2006, the paper awarded a $499,000 purchase agreement to Susan Davis International, the PR firm for ASY. According to the agreement (PDF), the PR firm engaged in "scripting, taping and programming with celebrities, regional and national sports organizations, and specific business sponsors," public service announcements and other outreach activities. A description of ASY's dog tag program mentions the firm's "considerable corporate outreach." Stars and Stripes' top editors said the agreement raised "extreme concern among editorial staff," and promised to conduct a review of the paper's reporting on ASY. "We were aware of some interaction between S&S marketing department and ASY, but were appalled to learn the degree of involvement and the use of Stripes finances to fund the Pentagon's public relations campaign," they added. Previous to the 2006 agreement, a Stars and Stripes contracting officer awarded $100,000 for ASY dog tags and arm bands. ASY has also been criticized for its involvement with evangelical programs. SOURCE: Stars and Stripes, October 20, 2007 6. ANTI-TAX LOBBY NOT JUST IN KANSAS ANYMORE http://www.prwatch.org/node/6584 "According to the Americans for Prosperity Web site, some 28 Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature signed a 'no tax increase' pledge with the organization," along with two Democrats, writes Dave Zweifel. He blames pressure from no-tax groups on delays with Wisconsin's state budget, now more than three months overdue. When these legislators "already had announced they had closed their minds -- even to an increase in cigarette taxes to expand health care to kids -- how really could there be compromise?" he asks. Americans for Prosperity, which held an anti-tax rally in Madison on October 17, has also been active in other states. In March, Americans for Prosperity put pressure on Kansas legislators as they debated their state budget. The group patched in calls from residents to legislators' offices, but "they weren't quite clear why they were calling in," said one office assistant, referring to the callers. "Something about state spending," but the Kansans "couldn't tell her who had made the call or any specifics on what they were told," reported the Capital-Journal in Topeka. SOURCE: The Capital Times (Madison, Wis.), October 22, 2007 7. TEFLON LIES STICK TO DUPONT http://www.prwatch.org/node/6583 "On Jan. 11, 2005, DuPont publicists invited reporters to the company's Washington Works plant south of Parkersburg (W. Va.) for a major announcement," reports the Charleston Gazette. DuPont claimed that a new study proved "there are no known human health effects associated with exposure to PFOA," also known as C8, a chemical used in Teflon and other nonstick products. DuPont promoted the study "as having the seal of approval from ... independent experts from various universities, including John Hopkins and Yale." But those experts disagreed with DuPont's characterization of the study. Professor David Wegman emailed, "We were unanimous in believing that the results do show a health effect," pointing to "significantly elevated values" for cholesterol among workers with PFOA exposure. Wegman's email and other correspondence were recently made public as part of a lawsuit over PFOA pollution in Salem County, N.J. The independent scientists supposedly advising DuPont warned the company that "we question the basis of DuPont's public expression asserting that PFOA does not pose a risk to health." SOURCE: The Charleston Gazette (West Virginia), October 14, 2007 8. BEATDOWN ON BLOGGERS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6581 As the internet becomes an increasingly important source of information for the public, government repression is shifting from traditional journalists to bloggers, according to the latest Worldwide Press Freedom Index issued by Reporters Without Borders. The report notes the arrest of bloggers in China, Egypt, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as the case of San Francisco blogger Josh Wolf, who was jailed for eight months for refusing to provide evidence in a grand jury investigation. "We are concerned about the increase in cases of online censorship," the organization states. "More and more governments have realised that the Internet can play a key role in the fight for democracy and they are establishing new methods of censoring it. The governments of repressive countries are now targeting bloggers and online journalists as forcefully as journalists in the traditional media." SOURCE: Reporters Without Borders, October 16, 2007 9. BUSH, CONGRESS, IRAQ STILL UNPOPULAR http://www.prwatch.org/node/6578 Two new opinion polls show deepening public dissatisfaction with U.S. politicians. According to a Reuters/Zogby poll, "The number of Americans who believe the country is on the wrong track jumped four points to 66 percent. Bush's job approval rating fell to 24 percent from last month's record low for a Zogby poll of 29 percent. A paltry 11 percent gave Congress a positive grade, tying last month's record low." According to Zogby, voter attitudes are hardening into a "throw the bums out" mindset that could present problems for Democrats and Republicans alike in next year's elections. Meanwhile, a new Gallup poll finds that most Americans think the situation in Iraq is getting worse, and 60% now think it was a mistake to invade: "This is within 2 percentage points of being the highest on record; 62% of Americans said the war was a mistake in July 2007." Gallup's tracking finds Bush's approval rating slightly higher than the Zogby result at 32%, but still near his all-time low. SOURCE: 10. THE WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: TIME TO PAY FOR THE PAYOLA PUNDIT http://www.prwatch.org/node/6576 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 Turkish government's attempts to lobby away the Armenian genocide, dueling conflicts of interest over lung cancer scans, and the media companies made to pay for airing payola pundit Armstrong Williams. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we tell you how many steps it takes to get from the flacks behind the first Gulf War to the flacks for the country threatening to invade northern Iraq today. 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. JOURNALISTS JAILED http://www.prwatch.org/node/6574 The executive editor and CEO of Village Voice Media were arrested Thursday night after publishing details of what they call "breathtaking abuse of the constitution" in a grand jury subpoena against their Arizona newspaper, the New Times. The subpoena is part of an attempt to prosecute the paper for publishing articles criticizing Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio's questionable real estate deals. The subpoena demands that the paper turn over "all documents related to articles and other content published by Phoenix New Times newspaper in print and on the Phoenix New Times website, regarding Sheriff Joe Arpaio from January 1, 2004 to the present." In addition, it demands information about all the online readers of the publication, including their Internet domain names and what other Web sites they visited before reading New Times. According to retired judge Kenneth Fields, the subpoena "touches on privacy issues of a lot of people who cannot be the subject of a grand-jury investigation. This is potentially thousands of people." Village Voice reporter Tony Ortega says the arrests show that Arpaio, who has carefully cultivated a "constant parade of television journalists" to build an image as "America's toughest sheriff," is actually a "paranoid despot ... Even those reporters who may have bought Arpaio's line of bull in the past must see what an abuse of power this is, and how it threatens the journalism being done by papers that dare to question public officials." SOURCE: Arizona Republic, October 19, 2007 12. NICE TIMES FOR PHARMA FLACKS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6573 The New York Times today published an op-ed piece blasting research that tests the comparative effectiveness of pharmaceuticals. The piece failed to mention that its author, Peter Pitts, is a senior vice president at the PR firm of Manning, Selvage and Lee. Pitts has a history of flacking as an attack dog for the pharmaceutical industry and currently heads a pharma front group called the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. Physician Roy M. Poses of the Foundation for Integrity and Responsibility in Medicine has written a critique of the "slippery slope" rhetoric in Pitts' editorial. "It is disappointing that a newspaper as influential as the New York Times would publish a health policy article without disclosing all the author's relevant financial interests, particularly one so relevant and direct," Poses adds. "Fostering more stealth health policy advocacy in ever more influential venues will just make the already confusing clamor about health care and its reform even muddier." SOURCE: Health Care Renewal, October 18, 2007 13. GAS GUZZLERS GROUP BURNS CASH http://www.prwatch.org/node/6572 The Sport Utility Vehicle Owners of America (SUVOA) industry front group paid the PR firm Stratacomm $440,000 in the first half of 2007 to lobby the U.S. government. Stratacomm boasts a range of auto industry clients. Later this year, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are set to discuss proposals to mandate that the auto industry meet a fuel efficiency target of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 across their range of vehicles, including passenger cars and sport utility vehicles. Associated Press reports that recently filed lobbying disclosure forms reveal that SUVOA "lobbied against Senate legislation promoting higher fuel economy standards." In 2004, the PR commentator Paul Holmes wrote that "what is clear is that SUVOA is a front for SUV manufacturers. Its board of directors consists largely of industry reps and public affairs execs with ties to the industry." SOURCE: Associated Press, October 18, 2007 14. RETAIL RESEARCH IS HURTING SCIENCE http://www.prwatch.org/node/6571 "The biggest threat to science," writes Jennifer Washburn, is "the decline of government support ... and the growing dominance of private spending over American research." In 1965, the U.S. government funded more than 60 percent of research, while in 2006, 65 percent of research was privately funded. Even some industry leaders are concerned that basic research, which "drives innovation 10 to 15 years out," is being shortchanged in favor of applied research focused on marketable products. Multiple analyses have shown "that the effect of industry funding on the research outcome is huge" -- a particularly troubling phenomenon for medical research. "Big Pharma now finances approximately 70 percent of the nation's clinical drug research," and of that, "an estimated 75 percent flows to for-profit contract research firms. ... In 2001, the editors of 12 leading medical journals ... expressed their shock at what was happening to independent scientific inquiry." Government research is increasingly privatized to firms like Sciences International, while "most of these federal agencies lack even the most rudimentary tools that a medical journal editor would use to assess the quality and scientific integrity of industry-funded research." SOURCE: Discover magazine, October 11, 2007 15. U.S. DOES DEMOCRACY DEMOTION IN IRAN http://www.prwatch.org/node/6570 "The United States has begun a $75-million program to promote democracy by supporting Iranian NGO's [non-governmental organizations]," write Haleh Esfandiari and Robert Litwak. "That program, coupled with loose talk about regime change ... has fed a sense of vulnerability and paranoia among elements of Iran's ruling regime." Iranian officials have warned scholars, students, NGO workers and others not to travel overseas, lest they be recruited for U.S. plots. Iran also suspects "the grant-giving programs of American foundations, universities, and think tanks." While the U.S. has used similar methods to destabilize other governments, in Iran the approach has backfired, "further reducing the political space for open debate in Iran," write Esfandiari and Litwak. "In this new climate of intimidation, NGO's and journalists are subject to censorship and are defensively engaging in self-censorship. Prominent Iranian activists, such as the Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, declared their opposition to the U.S. program." Instead, Esfandiari and Litwak suggest, "governments should talk to governments, while Iranian and American NGO's should be permitted to interact in a transparent fashion without the intrusion of governments." SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education, October 19, 2007 16. FAKE INTERVIEWS FOR EVERYTHING? http://www.prwatch.org/node/6569 "There's sensitivity to sponsored news right now," admits KEF Media Associates' Yvonne Goforth, adding that her firm is doing more to target satellite media tours (SMTs) -- sponsored and often scripted television "interviews" -- to local TV stations. "The smaller markets are the ones embracing SMTs," notes PR Week, especially those on "lifestyle, technology, consumer, and house care" topics. For a recent SMT promoting "Together Rx Access," a pharmaceutical industry program, KEF Media told local stations "how many people are uninsured in that area, how many people this program will affect, how many kids are uninsured in that area," explains Goforth. With "a good spokesperson, a good topic, and ... some news that relates back to [viewers'] lives, you can do an SMT for everything," Goforth enthuses. Medialink Worldwide is also regionalizing its SMTs. For a recent Aflac-sponsored SMT with a baseball theme, Medialink informed stations of local children involved in the "All-American High School Baseball Classic." SOURCE: PR Week, October 8, 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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