THE WEEKLY SPIN, January 23, 2008 Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:33:26 -0600 (CST) THE WEEKLY SPIN, JANUARY 23, 2008 == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. New Participatory Project: Help Clean Up TobaccoWiki's "People" Database == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. Bush's 935 Weapons of Mass Deception 2. Corporate Responsibility or "Hidden Campaigns"? 3. Flacks Posing as 'Citizen Journalists' 4. War on Iran, Anyone? How the Pentagon Spun the Speedboats 5. It's the War, Healthcare and the Economy, Stupid 6. FCC to Extend a Life Raft to News Viewers 7. "Clean Coal" for the Candidates 8. More Selective Science from Pharmaceutical Front Group 9. Weekly Radio Spin: A Strange Attraction to Fossil Fuel 10. Swift Boating John McCain 11. War, What Is it Good For? Electing Democrats in '08 12. Drug Companies Dope Their Research -- It's All Good! 13. They Want Influencers for More New Recruits 14. Cigarette Pack-Shaped Books Get British American Tobacco Steamed 15. Former FEMA Staffer Walks off with PIER 16. Britain's Nuclear Option Draws Heat -------------------------------------------------------------------- == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. NEW PARTICIPATORY PROJECT: HELP CLEAN UP TOBACCOWIKI'S "PEOPLE" DATABASE http://www.prwatch.org/node/6916 We need help tidying up Tobaccowiki's expansive database of people involved with the tobacco industry. Many of the descriptions in the database are currently in fragmented sentences. For example, the description of Betsy Agle says "(EPA Indoor Air Branch employee)." We would rather it say "Betsy Agle was a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Indoor Air Branch employee." You don't need to add information to any of the descriptions in the database; we just want to correct any punctuation errors and make sure the descriptions that already exist are in whole sentences. You can work on any part of the list, and do as much or as little as you want. To get started, go to the Tobacco documents biographies page, click on any letter of the alphabet and start editing any of the entries in the list that need cleanup. 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! SOURCE: Tobaccowiki.org == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. BUSH'S 935 WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION http://www.prwatch.org/node/6917 The Center for Public Integrity "has released the first analysis of its kind, Iraq - The War Card: Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War ... identifying 935 false statements by eight top administration officials that mentioned Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction, or links to Al Qaeda, on at least 532 separate occasions. The false statements included in the analysis were made by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and White House press secretaries Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan." In July, 2003, the Center for Media and Democracy released the first book detailing the Bush propaganda campaign that lied the US into war, titled Weapons of Mass Deception. SOURCE: Center for Public Integrity 2. CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY OR "HIDDEN CAMPAIGNS"? http://www.prwatch.org/node/6915 The General Chairman of Indonesia's National Commission for Child Protection, Seto Mulyadi, called tobacco companies' corporate social responsibility programs "hidden cigarette campaigns." Mulyadi said that cigarette companies "do free advertising through their CSR programs." Mulyadi is proposing a complete ban on cigarette advertising in Indonesia, after a study by the country's Public Health Department revealed that up to 81 percent of youth surveyed from 353 junior, senior and vocational schools admitted to having participated in activities sponsored by cigarette companies. As many as 51 percent of the respondents said they thought it was acceptable for a cigarette company to sponsor artistic performances and sporting events in schools; 93.3 percent could recite slogans used in cigarette commercials. Not only are youth familiar with the slogans, they use them in daily conversation, said the Secretary General of Indonesia's Child Protection Commission. SOURCE: Tempo Interactive, Jakarta, January 18, 2008 3. FLACKS POSING AS 'CITIZEN JOURNALISTS' http://www.prwatch.org/node/6912 When the Tallahassee Democrat combed the community in early 2007 for residents whose blogs and articles could fill out the paper's local coverage, Stacey N. Getz was happy to sign on. "Getz's Let's Talk Tallahassee blog is a paean to civic boosterism, inviting readers to submit ideas to help business leaders and developers improve the city," writes Adam Weinstein. But Getz didn't disclose that her PR firm, CoreMessage, had worked for Wal-Mart Stores when she wrote a blog post bashing the company's critics as "illogical lunatics." Weinstein argues that this exemplifies a problem with the news industry's growing embrace of citizen journalism. "As newspapers' circulation numbers and ad revenues free-fall, their executives have decided that publications must go 'hyper-local' and online, and they've enlisted the help of amateurs such as Getz to do it. But as her Wal-Mart plug shows, the newspaper industry's embrace of 'citizen journalism' has a downside. Reader-submitted content rarely gets vetted by editors. ... By forcing their beleaguered staffs to depend on outsiders for content, then running the content without much editorial oversight, newspapers may be taken in by crackpots and sly marketers who make Jayson Blair look like a grade-school plagiarist." SOURCE: Mother Jones, January/February 2008 4. WAR ON IRAN, ANYONE? HOW THE PENTAGON SPUN THE SPEEDBOATS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6911 "Senior Pentagon officials, evidently reflecting a broader administration policy decision, used an off-the-record Pentagon briefing to turn the January 6 US-Iranian incident in the Strait of Hormuz into a sensational story demonstrating Iran's military aggressiveness," reports Gareth Porter. The incident, described by Pentagon officials as a "careless, reckless and potentially hostile" provocation by Iranian boats that nearly led to gunfire, was actually a nonthreatening, "almost routine" encounter that officials in Washington distorted. "The initial press stories on the incident, all of which can be traced to a briefing by deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs in charge of media operations, Bryan Whitman, contained similar information that has since been repudiated by the navy itself," Porter writes. "Then the navy disseminated a short video into which was spliced the audio of a phone call warning that US warships would 'explode' in 'a few seconds.'" SOURCE: Asia Times, January 17, 2008 5. IT'S THE WAR, HEALTHCARE AND THE ECONOMY, STUPID http://www.prwatch.org/node/6910 "Several of the leading presidential candidates have adopted 'change' as a campaign theme and have rushed to claim that they themselves are the candidates for change," notes Frank Newport of the Gallup polling organization. "But exactly what form that 'change' should take has been a little murky. Change is such a broad concept that -- like a Rorschach inkblot test -- an individual can read into it what he or she wants." To clarify things a bit, Gallup surveyed Americans to ask what type of change they wanted. The three most common answers were: end the war in Iraq/bring troops home (26 percent); healthcare reform (19 percent); and fix the economy/create more jobs (18 percent). Stopping illegal immigration came in fourth, at 10 percent. SOURCE: Gallup, January 17, 2008 6. FCC TO EXTEND A LIFE RAFT TO NEWS VIEWERS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6908 Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said he expected the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to move forward on "a large raft" of complaints against television stations, for undisclosed video news releases (VNRs). He said, "Whether dealing with payola or VNRs or product placement, the commission's fundamental concern is the same. The American public deserves to know when someone is trying to persuade them ... and so I am glad we are really bringing that to the forefront of our enforcement efforts." Based on the Center for Media and Democracy's three reports on the fake news spots, CMD and Free Press filed complaints with the FCC against 112 television stations. In September 2007, the FCC proposed its first-ever fines for fake news. Comcast received (and appealed) liability notices for its cable channel CN8 having aired five VNRs without disclosure. The complaints against the other 111 stations are still pending. SOURCE: Broadcasting & Cable, January 17, 2008 7. "CLEAN COAL" FOR THE CANDIDATES http://www.prwatch.org/node/6907 The coal industry front group calling itself Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC) "is waging a $35 million campaign in primary and caucus states to rally public support for coal-fired electricity and to fuel opposition to legislation that Congress is crafting to slow climate change." ABEC has already spent $1.3 million on ads in Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina. Its ads talk about "clean coal" and "70 percent cleaner" coal plants, though those reductions have been mostly in non-greenhouse gases. "About 50 people, many of them paid, walked around as human billboards and handed out leaflets outside Tuesday's Democratic debate in Nevada with questions for voters to ask the candidates," reports Steven Mufson. Facing increased public opposition, coal companies gave more money to ABEC and the industry lobbying group the National Mining Association. As reported in a previous Spin, ABEC's PR plan singles out Nevada for "issues management," presidential candidate outreach and connecting with "cities and communities critical to helping shape policy at the grassroots level." SOURCE: Washington Post, January 18, 2008 8. MORE SELECTIVE SCIENCE FROM PHARMACEUTICAL FRONT GROUP http://www.prwatch.org/node/6905 The Center for Science in the Public Interest is criticizing the Providence Journal for publishing an op-ed article by Robert Goldberg while failing to disclose that Goldberg and his organization, the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, receive financial support from the pharmaceutical industry. Goldberg's article attacked the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for limiting reimbursement for erythropoetins, a class of anti-anemia drugs. (The government's decision to limit use of these drugs is prompted by concern that they may increase risk of earlier death when given to cancer patients.) The co-founder of CMPI is Peter Pitts of Manning, Selvage & Lee, a public relations firm with numerous pharmaceutical industry clients. Physician Roy M. Poses of the Foundation for Integrity and Responsibility in Medicine has examined Goldberg's op-ed piece and found numerous deceptive statements, most notably his claim that "America's Medicare program is willing to let seniors suffer and die sooner from cancer." To make this argument, Poses writes, Goldberg "ignored the most relevant evidence while criticizing less relevant studies." He points out that Goldberg ignored six studies which "raise the concern that erythropoetins, rather than preventing early death, may hasten early death." SOURCE: Integrity in Science Watch, January 14, 2008 9. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: A STRANGE ATTRACTION TO FOSSIL FUEL http://www.prwatch.org/node/6904 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 look at Tony Blair's new gig, how to make people love fossil fuel and one news director's stand against fake news. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we tell you how many steps it takes to get from the U.S. Marines to Third World dictators. 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: Weekly Radio Spin, January 18, 2008 10. SWIFT BOATING JOHN MCCAIN http://www.prwatch.org/node/6902 "A shadowy group calling itself Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain has been busy," reports Kevin Connolly, "handing out flyers implying that in Mr. McCain's long spell as a prisoner of war in Hanoi, during which he was tortured, he gave information to America's enemy. The evidence? Well, there isn't any. It's a straightforward attempt to take one of Mr. McCain's best cards -- his status as a war hero -- and use it against him." VVAJM's members include Ted Sampley, who previously attacked other U.S. veterans in Congress including 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry and Pennsylvania Representative John Murtha. In addition to VVAJM, attacks on McCain and several other Republican presidential candidates have been launched by "Common Sense Issues," a group working on behalf of candidate Mike Huckabee. In response to the current attacks, McCain has "mobilised a group of volunteers called 'the Truth Squad' to lead his rebuttal of the rumours," Connolly reports. "We shall see how they fare." SOURCE: BBC, January 18, 2008 11. WAR, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? ELECTING DEMOCRATS IN '08 http://www.prwatch.org/node/6901 Ryan Grim reports that the biggest and best-funded organizations in the liberal peace movement, primarily MoveOn and the groups in its Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (AAEI) coalition, are no longer advocating that Congress end the war. This year "the groups instead will lower their sights and push for legislation to prevent President Bush from entering into a long-term agreement with the Iraqi government that could keep significant numbers of troops in Iraq for years to come. ... The groups believe this switch in strategy can draw contrasts with Republicans that will help Democrats gain ground in November." AAEI's PR spokesperson, Moira Mack of Hildebrand Tewes Consulting, called it "the perfect legislative opportunity." In other words, as CMD's Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber noted last March, for MoveOn and other Democrat-aligned peace groups it's not about ending the war, it's about electing Democrats. Most of the tens of millions of dollars that MoveOn and AAEI have spent lobbying and organizing for "peace" has been directed at pressuring and embarrassing pro-war Republicans, while the Democratic Congress has continued to fund the war and pro-war Democrats have generally been given a pass. SOURCE: Politico.com, January 17, 2008 12. DRUG COMPANIES DOPE THEIR RESEARCH -- IT'S ALL GOOD! http://www.prwatch.org/node/6900 The pharmaceutical industry is using a novel technique to cheer up people who suffer from clinical depression -- only publishing favorable studies about the effects of its antidepressant medications. A new study in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at 74 studies registered with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Of the 36 favorable studies, all but one was published. Of the 37 unfavorable studies, all but three were "either not published (22 studies) or published in a way that, in our opinion, conveyed a positive outcome (11 studies)." As Newsweek science writer Sharon Begley observes, "The result of this selective publication is no less than a distortion of science and -- since these are studies that drive what doctors advise their patients to do and what patients ask for -- a perversion of the biomedical system in which untainted results are supposed to benefit public health." SOURCE: Newswseek, January 17, 2008 13. THEY WANT INFLUENCERS FOR MORE NEW RECRUITS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6898 "The U.S. Marine Corps is rolling out a new ad campaign this week in an effort to target teachers, coaches, clergy and other groups that tend to have influence on kids' career paths," reports the Wall Street Journal. The Marines "previously aimed its marketing directly at young adults," running ads on Walt Disney's ESPN or News Corporation's FX. But the new spots will run during Fox's "American Idol," which "has a broader audience that includes adults as well as kids." The WPP Group advertising firm JWT designed the Marines' new television spots; the campaign also includes print and online ads. One ad "features a line of Marines standing in formation in front of landmarks across the U.S. such as the Golden Gate Bridge and Independence Hall." The campaign's focus on "influencers" is consistent with the U.S. Army's recruiting efforts, which the Center for Media and Democracy previously reported on. Their slogan "Army strong" was chosen, in part, to appeal to influencers. SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), January 16, 2008 14. CIGARETTE PACK-SHAPED BOOKS GET BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO STEAMED http://www.prwatch.org/node/6897 Capitalizing on the public's familiarity with cigarette brands, a publisher and design company in the United Kingdom has released a set of literary classics designed to look like cigarette packs. The company timed the appearance of the books, called "Tales to Take Your Breath Away," to coincide with a new ban on smoking in workplaces and public venues in the UK. The co-founder and creative director of Tank, the agency that produced the books, claims the cigarette-pack design has "introduced reading to people who don't take in much literature." The company's Web page about the books justifies the design by saying, "As one habit dies hard, another takes hold. ... Cigarette packs are iconic objects, familiar, tried and tested, and over time TankBooks will become iconic objects in their own right." British American Tobacco, however, claims that the book containing the Hemingway classics "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and "The Undefeated" too closely resembles a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes. BAT believes the association could threaten the health of its brand. SOURCE: The Guardian (UK), January 16, 2008 15. FORMER FEMA STAFFER WALKS OFF WITH PIER http://www.prwatch.org/node/6896 If the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had used his new company's "communications management systems, the ill-fated press conference about the California wildfires would not have happened," former FEMA public affairs director John "Pat" Philbin told O'Dwyer's. After an October 2007 press conference where FEMA staffers posed as reporters, asking questions of their boss, Philbin was denied a planned promotion to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. He was recently hired by PIER Systems, as a senior vice president and head of their East Coast operations. In a statement, PIER (which stands for "public information emergency response") said of the FEMA fake news conference: "It was clear to us that Pat became aware of the planning errors while things were happening. ... He accepted responsibility ... and he has paid a very high price." PIER's clients include BP, Shell, Allstate and the Office of Homeland Security. SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), January 16, 2008 16. BRITAIN'S NUCLEAR OPTION DRAWS HEAT http://www.prwatch.org/node/6895 The British government's recent decision to encourage new nuclear power plants has attracted much scrutiny. Andy Rowell and Richard Cookson report that "the Government held at least nine secret meetings at Downing Street with the bosses of nuclear energy companies while it formulated controversial plans for a new generation of the power plants." Prime Minister Gordon Brown's energy adviser met with representatives from British Nuclear Fuels, British Energy, E.ON, EDF and the World Nuclear Association. But "there are no official records of the meetings," and officials "initially tried to block details of the meetings." The British government's own Sustainable Development Commission criticized the nuclear power decision as "the wrong option" and dismissive of "legitimate concerns expressed by the general public," reports the Financial Times. Lastly, an official inquiry may be launched into "two senior ex-ministers who will earn tens of thousands of pounds on top of their parliamentary salaries by working for the nuclear industry," according to The Times. SOURCE: The Independent (UK), January 13, 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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