The Weekly Spin, February 13, 2008 Date: Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:05:34 -0600 (CST) THE WEEKLY SPIN, FEBRUARY 13, 2008 == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. Featured Participatory Project: Tracking the Superdelegates in the Democratic Primary == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. Unspinning the U.S. Elections 2. Merck Minimizes Accusations It Swindled the U.S. Government 3. Big Oil: Coming Soon to a Rotary Club Near You! 4. GM Runs from RAN, then Discusses Greenwashing 5. AAEI - How Democrats Took Over and Betrayed the Peace Movement 6. Weekly Radio Spin: Who's Agent Orange's Agent? 7. Rather than Surrender to Terror, Romney Quits 8. Meijer Admission 9. Science for Hire Comes Under Fire 10. Ad Industry Pushes Back on Product Placement 11. North American Governments Ponder How Best to Boost Their Wars -------------------------------------------------------------------- == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. FEATURED PARTICIPATORY PROJECT: TRACKING THE SUPERDELEGATES IN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY http://www.prwatch.org/node/6987 As Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama run neck-and-neck in the Democratic primary, a "brokered" convention is possible where the Democratic delegates cut deals and shift sides to give one candidate the threshold they need to gain the party's nomination. About 1/4 of the delegates who will head to Denver in August are so-called "superdelegates" whose voting status comes from their party or elected positions and who are not bound by the results of the primary elections or caucuses in their home states. Who are these "superdelegates" and which candidate are they committed to? Will they go along with the voters from their state or go their own way? We've teamed up with the folks at OpenLeft and LiteraryOutpost to engage citizens like you in tracking down the answers in the new Superdelegate Transparency Project on Congresspedia. There you'll find a variety of ways to help bring transparency to this profoundly important but little-understood process, all with the helpful support of the staff editors if you should require it. Because democracy requires vigilance and accountability. SOURCE: Congresspedia's Superdelegate Transparency Project == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. UNSPINNING THE U.S. ELECTIONS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6990 The Center for Media and Democracy is contributing biweekly radio reports on politics and spin to "Election Unspun," a daily news show put together by Pacifica Radio and Free Speech Radio News. CMD's first "Election Unspun" segment focuses on the public relations pros in the top tier of the Democratic presidential campaigns -- Burson-Marsteller's Mark Penn on Senator Hillary Clinton's team, and David Axelrod of AKP&D Message & Media on Senator Barack Obama's team. Recently, another PR executive became Clinton's campaign manager -- Maggie Williams, who headed the Fenton Communications firm after serving as Clinton's chief of staff, when she was First Lady. SOURCE: Election Unspun, February 13, 2008 2. MERCK MINIMIZES ACCUSATIONS IT SWINDLED THE U.S. GOVERNMENT http://www.prwatch.org/node/6985 The pharmaceutical company Merck agreed to a $650 million settlement to escape charges that it routinely overbilled the U.S. government for medicines. The government accused Merck of giving or selling pills to hospitals at low or no cost to hook poor patients on expensive medicine, so that when the patients were discharged, they would continue taking the drugs with the government footing the bills. A spokesman for the group Taxpayers Against Fraud said the situation was "heroin-dealer economics ... your first shot is for free, and after that it becomes more expensive ... not to the hospital, but to Medicaid, which is paying the bill." A press release about the settlement on Merck's Web site minimized the gravity of the charges, saying the settlement was "related to disputes over the proper calculation of Medicaid rebates" and "certain past sales and marketing activities that ended in 2001." SOURCE: Washington Post, February 8, 2008 3. BIG OIL: COMING SOON TO A ROTARY CLUB NEAR YOU! http://www.prwatch.org/node/6984 The American Petroleum Institute's (API's) efforts to assuage public resentment of the oil industry apparently know no bounds. API's Denise McCourt recently addressed a Rotary Club meeting in Charleston, West Virginia. "The oil and natural gas industry hasn't done a very good job telling people about energy issues," McCourt told the group. So poor Big Oil has taken "a little bit of abuse by the people running for office." McCourt told the audience that higher gas prices don't necessarily mean "atrocious profits" for oil companies. She compared what she said were 2007 profit rates of 7.6 cents per dollar of sales for the oil industry with 9.2 cents per dollar of sales for all manufacturing, except automobiles. Luckily, the reporter covering McCourt's talk realized that ExxonMobil just set the record for "the largest annual profit by a U.S. company -- $40.6 billion." SOURCE: The Charleston Gazette (West Virginia), February 12, 2008 4. GM RUNS FROM RAN, THEN DISCUSSES GREENWASHING http://www.prwatch.org/node/6983 In January, General Motors launched a new website, "GMnext" (which includes a wiki), to mark its 100th anniversary and showcase "ideas on future automotive technologies." Instead, environmental activists posted critiques of the company. GM called the posts on climate change and other issues "diatribes loaded with propaganda," and shut down the interactive part of the site. "We weren't going to lose control of our own site," explained the automaker. Instead, GM's Brent Dewar answered pre-submitted questions on greenwashing during an online chat on February 6. Rainforest Action Network slammed Dewar for "the large number of questions he ignored and the indirect responses he gave to the most pointed inquiries." Marketing professor Clay Voorhees sees GM's efforts as "part of a new push for authenticity by companies," reports Detroit News. Over the past year, GM has also "invited dozens of bloggers to car shows across the U.S., setting up face-to-face interviews with senior executives." SOURCE: Financial Times, February 6, 2008 5. AAEI - HOW DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER AND BETRAYED THE PEACE MOVEMENT http://www.prwatch.org/node/6981 Matt Taibbi analyzes how "Democrats have surrendered to Bush on Iraq and betrayed the peace movement for their own political ends." He faults the MoveOn-led Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, "a political tool for the Democrats -- one operated from inside the Beltway and devoted primarily to targeting Republicans. ... At the forefront of the groups are Thomas Matzzie and Brad Woodhouse... [M]uch of the anti-war group's leadership hails from a consulting firm called Hildebrand Tewes -- whose partners Steve Hildebrand and Paul Tewes served as staffers for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. ... This is the kind of conflict of interest that would normally be an embarrassment in the activist community. ... The really tragic thing about the Democratic surrender on Iraq is that it's now all but guaranteed that the war will be off the table during the presidential campaign. Once again ... the Democrats have ... done nothing but vote for war and cough up every dime they've been asked to give, every step of the way." Besides MoveOn others in the AAEI coalition include Americans United for Change, Campaign for America's Future, Center for American Progress, SEIU, USAction, VoteVets.org, Win Without War and Working Assets. Both Hildebrand and Tewes are "senior strategists" for presidential candidate Barack Obama. SOURCE: Rolling Stone, February 21, 2008 6. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: WHO'S AGENT ORANGE'S AGENT? http://www.prwatch.org/node/6980 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 how Canada is selling its Afghan military mission, Blackwater's "redwashing" and product placement disclosure. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we tell you how many steps it takes to get from defending Agent Orange to spraying it from planes. 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, February 8, 2008 7. RATHER THAN SURRENDER TO TERROR, ROMNEY QUITS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6977 Mitt Romney has suspended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, saying that if he continued it would "be making it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win" and that he cannot let his campaign "be a part of aiding a surrender to terror." Romney argued in a speech before the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington that the war in Iraq is an important part of America's war on terrorism. SOURCE: New York Times, February 7, 2008 8. MEIJER ADMISSION http://www.prwatch.org/node/6975 The Meijer retail chain has issued a public apology, admitting that it "likely violated campaign finance and reporting laws" and pledging to "comply with any and all direction, penalties, fines or other actions required by the Department of State" in connection with its covert effort to manipulate elections in Acme Township, Michigan, where local officials opposed its plan to build a store. Meijer used Seyferth, Spaulding, Tennyson Inc., a public relations firm based in Grand Rapids, to set up several front groups for the purpose of harassing local officials and orchestrating a recall election. Ginny Seyferth, the president of the PR firm, responded to Meijer's statement by saying, "We stand by Meijer and look forward to the complete resolution of this matter." SOURCE: Grand Rapids Press, February 5, 2008 9. SCIENCE FOR HIRE COMES UNDER FIRE http://www.prwatch.org/node/6974 The U.S. Congress is investigating the Weinberg Group, a science consulting firm that promises to help clients "clear regulatory hurdles and defend products in the court and media." Representative John Dingell (Democrat of Michigan) said the firm's practices "raise serious issues about whether science is for sale." The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which Dingell chairs, has asked the firm for records of its work on Bisphenol A and other chemicals. Some studies have linked Bisphenol A, which is present in a wide range of plastics, to cancer and hormone disruptions. In 2006, Paul D. Thacker reported on a Weinberg Group memo in which the firm told the chemical company DuPont that it could help "shape the debate" about the safety of its products. "We will harness ... the scientific and intellectual capital of our company with one goal in mind -- creating the outcome our client desires," added the memo. SOURCE: ABC News, February 6, 2008 10. AD INDUSTRY PUSHES BACK ON PRODUCT PLACEMENT http://www.prwatch.org/node/6973 Shortly after a majority of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) members voted to review disclosure rules for product placement on television, the advertising industry is lobbying the agency to slow down. American Association of Advertising Agencies and Association of National Advertisers representatives met with FCC commissioner Robert McDowell, arguing that "if the FCC did anything, it should open an inquiry rather than proposing rule changes," reports Broadcasting & Cable. The industry groups called the current sponsorship identification rules sufficient, noting "the Federal Trade Commission's 2005 finding that no action was warranted on product placement absent a showing that it was unfair, deceptive or harmful." They also stressed that there are "differences between paid endorsers, products that are 'embedded' in programming but are not sponsored, products that are embedded but make no claim about a product and paid-for product integration." TV Week reports that "spending on product placement on TV topped $941 million in 2005, up 70.5% from 2004." SOURCE: Broadcasting & Cable, February 5, 2008 11. NORTH AMERICAN GOVERNMENTS PONDER HOW BEST TO BOOST THEIR WARS http://www.prwatch.org/node/6972 "A key part of Ottawa's public relations campaign" in support of its controversial military mission in Afghanistan is frequent phone calls where "senior federal officials ... plot strategy." All Afghan mission matters "are vetted through the Privy Council Office, the bureaucratic wing of the Prime Minister's Office," leading to charges of top-down media management. "It's not about communications," said one anonymous Canadian official. "It's about keeping the press gallery at bay." Recently, a panel led by former Liberal cabinet minister John Manley criticized Canada's approach to Afghanistan. The panel called for "franker and more frequent" public briefings, and a greater emphasis on diplomacy and reconstruction. In the United States, the controversial Pentagon program "America Supports You" (ASY) is reviewing its PR contract, reports O'Dwyer's. ASY, which is under investigation for its financial practices, currently works with the PR firm Susan Davis International. The Pentagon will ask Washington DC firms to submit proposals for ASY's "national strategy and outreach program, web and interactive work, events and PSAs." It's not clear if Susan Davis will be invited to, or would choose to, submit a proposal to continue its work with ASY. SOURCE: Toronto Star (Canada), February 4, 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. 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. To subscribe to the Weekly Spin, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/sub CMD also sponsors SourceWatch, a collaborative research project that invites anyone (including you) to contribute and edit articles. 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