THE WEEKLY SPIN, April 23, 2008 Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:14:47 -0500 (CDT) THE WEEKLY SPIN, APRIL 23, 2008 == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. Embedding Military Propagandists into the News Media 2. Election Math: How are Pennsylvania's delegates allocated? 3. This Earth Day, Let's Scrape off the Greenwash 4. Weekly Radio Spin: Merck's Having Chest Pains == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. Featured Participatory Project: Who Are the Pentagon's Pundits? == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. Extinguishing Media Coverage of Olympic Torch Protests 2. Trust Me, I Trust the Experts 3. Businesses Lobby During "Earth Month" to Protect Plastic Bags 4. Auto Racing for Clean Air? 5. Finally, Advertisers Have More Say 6. Media's Military Analysts Involved in "Psyops on Steroids" 7. Audit Reveals the PR Machine Behind Canadian Global Warming Skeptics 8. Obama and Clinton Get Down & Dirty with "Clean" Coal 9. Bad Times for Freedom's Watch 10. A Defense of Even Faker News 11. More Heart Attacks for Merck 12. King Coal Gets Green Help Down Under 13. State Legislators Have a Telecom Front Group's Number -------------------------------------------------------------------- == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. EMBEDDING MILITARY PROPAGANDISTS INTO THE NEWS MEDIA by John Stauber David Barstow of the New York Times has written the first installment in what is already a stunning exposi of the Bush Administration's most powerful propaganda weapon used to sell and manage the war on Iraq: the embedding of military propagandists directly into the TV networks as on-air commentators. We and others have long criticized the widespread TV network practice of hiring former military officials to serve as analysts, but even in our most cynical moments we did not anticipate how bad it was. Barstow has painstakingly documented how these analysts, most of them military industry consultants and lobbyists, were directly chosen, managed, coordinated and given their talking points by the Pentagon's ministers of propaganda. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/7241 2. ELECTION MATH: HOW ARE PENNSYLVANIA'S DELEGATES ALLOCATED? by Conor Kenny By Avelino Maestas With voters heading to the polls in Pennsylvania today, some people might be wondering how the delegates in Pennsylvania are alloted. Well, Congresspedia has you covered! Pennsylvania will send 187 delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August, including 29 superdelegates that will certainly help decide the nomination. Pennsylvania voters, on the other hand, will play a role in choosing the other 158 delegates today: 103 will be allocated by congressional district, while 55 are based on the statewide vote totals. As this CQ Politics article points out, regions in Pennsylvania that leaned toward Democrats in the most recent presidential and gubernatorial elections received more delegates from the state party. In addition, the state's 19 congressional districts use a proportional system to determine how many delegates a candidate receives at the convention. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will easily clear the 15% threshold mandated by the DNC, but the number of delegates they receive will depend on how well they perform in the districts. To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/7239 3. THIS EARTH DAY, LET'S SCRAPE OFF THE GREENWASH by Sheldon Rampton Today marks the 38th annual celebration of Earth Day, and once again the event comes with its fair share of PR hype and misleading marketing campaigns. In the spirit of dedicating ourselves to genuine concern for the planet, today is therefore a good time to look carefully at corporate environmental claims, some of which consist more of empty rhetoric than real substance. Companies like Wal-Mart are announcing environmental initiatives. General Electric has its "Ecomagnation" advertising campaign. In Singapore, a shopping center is advertising that customers can "shop to save planet earth" -- and if they buy enough, they might win a new car! The ritual of green hypocrisy frequently requires that companies and politicians redefine environmental progress in increasingly creative ways. Last week, for example, George W. Bush announced a plan to address the problem of global warming by "halting the growth" of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2025. Beyond the fact that this target date is 17 years in the future, what really means is that during those 17 years not only will greenhouse gas emissions continue, the amount of those emissions will continue to grow. As columnist Gail Collins observed in the New York Times, this would be akin to having an overweight person announce a plan to achieve "an 18 percent reduction in the rate at which he was gaining weight, to be reached within the next decade." To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/7226 4. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: MERCK'S HAVING CHEST PAINS by Judith Siers-Poisson 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 Barbie celebrates Earth Day, why Freedom's Watch is under scrutiny, and how some environmental groups could think giving "clean coal" a closer look makes sense. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we run down Merck's long history of using spin to counter their Vioxx scandal. 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! To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/7222 == BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST == 1. FEATURED PARTICIPATORY PROJECT: WHO ARE THE PENTAGON'S PUNDITS? http://www.prwatch.org/node/7240 On Sunday, the New York Times outed the Pentagon's "military analyst program," an extensive effort to cultivate retired military officers as "message force multipliers" or "surrogates" spouting Bush administration talking points on Iraq and other hot-button issues. We've compiled a list of known participants, and started SourceWatch profiles on each. Can you help us uncover more about the Pentagon's pundits? What did they say, on what news programs? Do they also lobby on behalf of defense contractors? More information on the program is at http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pentagon_military_analyst_program. The list of participants is also at http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Investigating_the_Pentagon%27s_pun dits, with tips on how to investigate each. If this is your first time editing on SourceWatch, you can go to www.SourceWatch.org for more information. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! SOURCE: SourceWatch, April 23, 2008 == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. EXTINGUISHING MEDIA COVERAGE OF OLYMPIC TORCH PROTESTS http://www.prwatch.org/node/7242 Pro-Tibet groups plan protests when the Olympic Torch procession gets to Canberra, the Australian capital, but the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) has taken pre-emptive steps to minimize unfavourable media coverage. Paul Maley reports that "only a small clutch of media would be allowed to travel with the torch inside the security corridor." The Australian Capital Territory government's director of communications, Jeremy Lasek, said BOCOG "stipulated" that "the host broadcaster for the TV and radio rights gets a slot" in the media vehicle accompanying the torch. The national president of the Council for Civil Liberties, Terry O'Gorman, countered that there's a "clear conflict of interest" in giving preference to media companies with broadcast rights to the Games. "They've got an interest in promoting the Games and minimising any negative impact that the protests would have on the Games coverage," he said. Hill & Knowlton has the PR contract with BOCOG. SOURCE: The Australian, April 22, 2008 2. TRUST ME, I TRUST THE EXPERTS http://www.prwatch.org/node/7238 A federal appeals court in Manhattan has ruled that Christine Todd Whitman, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, cannot be held personally liable for false reassurances that she gave about the air quality in New York City following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. As we reported previously, reassurances from Whitman's EPA encouraged rescue workers to dig through the rubble, often without face masks or other respiratory protection, in their frantic search for survivors. Hundreds of firefighters and other rescue workers subsequently became disabled from "World Trade Center cough" linked to asbestos and other deadly dust caused by the collapse of New York's Twin Towers. In defense of her handling of the crisis, Whitman says that "Every statement I made was based on what experts, who had a great deal of experience in these things, conveyed to me." (Whitman now works as a spokesperson for the nuclear power industry, which is also safe according to their experts.) SOURCE: New York Times, April 23, 2008 3. BUSINESSES LOBBY DURING "EARTH MONTH" TO PROTECT PLASTIC BAGS http://www.prwatch.org/node/7236 The Progressive Bag Alliance, the American Chemistry Council and Wal-Mart Stores were among the parties who successfully lobbied Democratic Pennsylvania State Representative Lisa Bennington to weaken a bill she introduced that would have phased out the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags at large grocery stores. The business and industry groups convinced the legislator to water down her bill, so that retailers are only required to offer bag recycling programs. The change fits a lobbying strategy used repeatedly by the Progressive Bag Alliance, a front group for plastics and polymer manufacturers. Wal-Mart quietly lobbied against this bill while greening up its public image. The giant retailer announced new "Earth-friendly" products like organic disposable baby wipes, and ran "Earth Month" TV ads featuring people standing in forests, grassy fields and by streams, while promoting Wal-Mart products. SOURCE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 22, 2008 4. AUTO RACING FOR CLEAN AIR? http://www.prwatch.org/node/7234 Swiss auto racer Simona De Silvestro isn't only "the second woman in the 34-year history of the Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda to win a race with her victory in the Imperial Capital Bank Atlantic Challenge of Long Beach." Believe it or not, there's another sponsor involved -- the U.S. nuclear power lobby group the Nuclear Energy Institute. "It was a very tough weekend, especially on Friday, but we got everything together," De Silvestro said about her recent win. "For the race, I was pretty confident, because the car felt really good. ... I also need to thank the Nuclear Energy Institute for supporting me. I am proud to be a brand ambassador for the Nuclear Clean Air Energy Initiative." SOURCE: Champ Car Atlantic News, April 20, 2008 5. FINALLY, ADVERTISERS HAVE MORE SAY http://www.prwatch.org/node/7233 NBC Universal and Omnicom's Media Group Digital are partnering to create online videos "that help advertisers sell their products." The first "Digital Studio" programs will include "a science-fiction series starring Rosario Dawson called 'Gemini Division' and a quirky comedy about a college-aged zombie called 'Woke Up Dead,'" reports AP. Initial advertisers include Intel, Cisco Systems and Microsoft. Omnicom's Matt Spiegel said the collaboration provides "a unique way of giving brands a seat at the table with writers and producers in developing episodic programming that ties directly to brand needs." The videos "will be broadcast on NBC Universal's digital properties, such as Web sites." SOURCE: Associated Press, April 18, 2008 6. MEDIA'S MILITARY ANALYSTS INVOLVED IN "PSYOPS ON STEROIDS" http://www.prwatch.org/node/7229 In early 2002, as "detailed planning for a possible Iraq invasion" began, then-Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke launched the Pentagon military analyst program as "the main focus of the public relations push to construct a case for war," reports David Barstow. The gist of the program was the recruitment of "key influentials" to help sell a wary public on the war. The former Hill & Knowlton executive and her senior aide, Brent Krueger, signed up more than 75 retired military officers, who appeared on television and radio news shows as military analysts, and/or penned newspaper op/ed columns. The Pentagon referred to the military analysts as "message force multipliers" or "surrogates," and held weekly meetings with them, which continue to this day. The Defense Department also paid for some analysts to travel to Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, encouraging them to counter negative press with Pentagon talking points. Former NBC military analyst Kenneth Allard called the effort "psyops on steroids." Many of the analysts were also lobbyists for defense contractors, and boasted of their Pentagon access to potential clients. This financial conflict discouraged the analysts from questioning or criticizing the Pentagon's claims. The Pentagon also tracked what the analysts said, via a six-figure contract with Omnitec Solutions, as William Cowan learned. He was fired from the Pentagon analysts group after saying on Fox News that the United States was "not on a good glide path right now" in Iraq. SOURCE: New York Times, April 20, 2008 7. AUDIT REVEALS THE PR MACHINE BEHIND CANADIAN GLOBAL WARMING SKEPTICS http://www.prwatch.org/node/7227 An audit review (pdf) of over $507,000 (Canadian) contributed to two University of Toronto "research accounts" has revealed that C$123,427 was routed to Friends of Science (FoS) -- a group lobbying the Canadian government against taking action on global warming. The audit, which was prompted by persistent inquiries from a volunteer SourceWatch editor, revealed that over C$100,000 was paid to APCO Worldwide for "strategic communications services." In addition, Morten Paulsen Consulting, the firm of lobbyist Morten Paulsen, invoiced FoS for over C$25,000 for developing radio advertisements and purchasing air time in five Ontario markets during the 2006 Canadian election. Additional amounts of over C$25,000 were also paid to Paulsen's current employer, the PR and lobbying firm Fleishman-Hillard, and the video production company Directors Chair. In a press release, the University noted that it had "advised Elections Canada and Canada Revenue Agency of its concerns regarding the accounts Friends of Science and the ongoing auditor's review." SOURCE: University of Calgary, April 14, 2008 8. OBAMA AND CLINTON GET DOWN & DIRTY WITH "CLEAN" COAL http://www.prwatch.org/node/7225 The Associated Press reports, "Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are walking a delicate line as they promise to aggressively tackle global warming while trying to assure voters that they continue to believe in the future of coal," the energy source responsible for "nearly 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas, each year. ... 'They keep using the term clean coal. They absolutely are pandering the coal industry's propaganda; there's no such animal as clean coal," said Brent Blackwelder, president of the environmental group Friends of the Earth. AP notes that Obama and Clinton's love affair with Big Coal pleases the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a coal industry front group formed on April 17 by the merger of Americans for Balanced Energy Choices and the Center for Energy and Economic Development. SOURCE: Associated Press, April 19, 2008 9. BAD TIMES FOR FREEDOM'S WATCH http://www.prwatch.org/node/7220 The Freedom's Watch Louisiana ad A recent New York Times story describes the Republican-linked pro-war group Freedom's Watch as "beset by internal problems" and unclear on "what kind of role, if any, it will actually play this fall" in the U.S. presidential elections. Freedom's Watch is currently running ads in Louisiana which claim that the Democratic candidate in a special Congressional election supports higher taxes. The ads prompted a formal complaint from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, accusing Freedom's Watch of illegally coordinating with the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). The Democrats point out that the "metadata" of the ad script file identifies the NRCC as the originator, and that former NRCC employee Carl Forti -- who now works for Freedom's Watch -- was the last person to edit the script. They note that the Freedom's Watch ad and an NRCC ad for the same race use the same graphics and similar scripts, and the Freedom's Watch ad debuted the day after the NRCC stopped airing its ad. Patrick McCarthy, who wrote the ad for Freedom's Watch, said "an innocent mistake caused the document to appear as if it came from the NRCC," reported the Washington Post. McCarthy, a former NRCC employee, "said he pulled up an old ad template from his NRCC days and wrote the Louisiana ad script over it." SOURCE: The Raw Story, April 16, 2008 10. A DEFENSE OF EVEN FAKER NEWS http://www.prwatch.org/node/7219 Reed Pence of MediaTracks Communications wants his fellow public relations professionals to know there's nothing wrong with "guaranteed placement" -- paying to have radio or television stations air fake news. "Many PR pros face the challenge of acquiring coverage for a product that isn't newsworthy," he writes in a letter to PR Week. "Some believe that [guaranteed placement] is just advertising," but it's not, he claims. "For example, when presented as part of a nationally syndicated radio news program, an audio news release might only have news content surrounding it. Selecting this vehicle eliminates the 'situated among advertisements' concern that listeners might tune the message out." Though Pence suggests using guaranteed placement for "stories with less news value," he also claims that stations air the guaranteed spots "not because they are paid to do so, but because the programs provide a service to listeners." SOURCE: PR Week letters, April 14, 2008 11. MORE HEART ATTACKS FOR MERCK http://www.prwatch.org/node/7218 Two studies of internal Merck documents concluded that the pharmaceutical company had "violated scientific-publishing ethics by ghostwriting dozens of academic articles, and minimized the impact of patient deaths in its analyses of some human trials." The internal documents surfaced during litigation against Merck, by people who had taken the painkiller Vioxx and suffered heart attacks or other problems. Five of the six authors of the studies, which were published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, "served as paid consultants to plaintiffs' lawyers in Vioxx lawsuits." One study found that medical papers on Vioxx "were often prepared by unacknowledged authors and subsequently attributed authorship to academically affiliated investigators who often did not disclose financial support." The other study concluded that Merck "neither provided to the FDA nor made public in a timely fashion" evidence that Vioxx use was linked to increased risk of death. A Merck researcher called the findings "false and misleading." SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), April 16, 2008 12. KING COAL GETS GREEN HELP DOWN UNDER http://www.prwatch.org/node/7217 "In a public relations coup for the coal industry," the Australian Coal Association is working with "two prominent environment groups, WWF and the Climate Institute, and the miners' union, to call on the Rudd Government to set up a national task force to develop 'Clean Coal,'" reports Marian Wilkinson. Australia's Green Party and other environmental groups are calling the new alliance "a greenwash for the coal industry over its response to global warming." Greens senator Christine Milne said the government shouldn't give the coal industry more subsidies. "If you believe the polluter should pay, the coal industry is the classic case," she said. "For the last 100 years it had made massive profits at the expense of the atmosphere and the climate and now is the time for them to pay for their own research." WWF's Greg Bourne said his group joined the industry effort because "we need to know quickly" whether "clean coal" technology can work. "If it's not going to work we need to know even more quickly," he added. SOURCE: The Sydney Morning Herald, April 15, 2008 13. STATE LEGISLATORS HAVE A TELECOM FRONT GROUP'S NUMBER http://www.prwatch.org/node/7216 "Mywireless.org," a group that's "working hard to kill a cell phone reform bill at the Minnesota legislature," describes itself as "a non-profit consumer advocacy organization" formed to protect cell phone users' "freedom, value, security and mobility." But it's "staffed almost entirely by telecommunications industry executives, drawn mainly from the ranks of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association," reports Andy Birkey. The group claims that the Minnesota Wireless Telephone Consumer Protection Act would increase cell phone charges. It's hired corporate lobbyists and run ads against the bill, and is encouraging people "to send a canned and misleading e-mail message condemning the bill to their legislators." The bill actually "would guarantee customers accurate information about billing and service area coverage." One state legislator who received the Mywireless.org-generated emails responded, "It is no more expensive to make the terms of a [cell phone] contract transparent than to hide billing and pricing practices. ... The wireless companies lied to the public, convincing many to oppose a bill they would support if they saw the legislation." SOURCE: Minnesota Monitor, April 11, 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. For more information, visit: http://www.sourcewatch.org Contributions to the Center for Media and Democracy are tax-deductible. To donate now online, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/donate Don't want to receive this email? Unsubscribe at http://www.prwatch.org/unsub