THE WEEKLY SPIN, May 21, 2008 Date: Wed, 21 May 2008 10:37:14 -0500 (CDT) THE WEEKLY SPIN, MAY 21, 2008 == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. "10 Percent Intellectual": The Mind of Condoleezza Rice 2. Weekly Radio Spin: Smokin' the Competition == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. The Fall and Fall of Medialink Worldwide 2. Charlie Black Worked for the "Good" Dictators 3. The Biggest Loser Is the Biggest Placer 4. Media Hits by the Pentagon Pundits 5. Drug Companies: Marketing Machines Gone Awry 6. Rampton Reveals the Wires that Control the Public Mind 7. Nestling into the British Government 8. Shinawatra's Own Goal 9. Chart(er)ing a New Course for Invasion of Privacy 10. And the Losers Are ... Kids 11. Bigger Isn't Always Better 12. No Rush to Protect the Public 13. Philip Morris in the Driver's Seat on FDA Tobacco Bill 14. Big Push for Big Oil -------------------------------------------------------------------- == BLOG POSTINGS == 1. "10 PERCENT INTELLECTUAL": THE MIND OF CONDOLEEZZA RICE by John H. Brown "I tell my students that policy-making is 90 percent blocking and tackling and 10 percent intellectual."--Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, cited in Mary Beth Brown, Condi: The Life of a Steel Magnolia (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, Inc, 2007), p. 180. "When you never accomplish anything, your weekly summary of what you've done all week is just a bunch of 'accondishments' -- how you've filled the days."--Noah, a reader of "Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog: I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to" (May 5, 2008). Notwithstanding the low poll numbers of the president she serves, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is one of the few people within the Bush administration who has managed to remain relatively unscathed by the public and by pundits. Unlike some in the president's entourage who have left Washington due to criticisms of their performance or ethics, Rice's current standing at home is sufficiently adequate from a PR perspective to allow her (up to now) to stay on in her job without too many embarrassments. True, there have been calls to remove her from her current position because of her recently disclosed role in the administration's use of torture. And doubts about Rice's qualifications as Bush's foreign-policy guru have existed for years, with, for example, her former National Security Council boss in the administration of George H.W. Bush, Brent Scowcroft, stating in 2005 that her "expertise is in the former Soviet Union and Europe. Less on the Middle East." More recently, an article by Patrick Seale, a British writer on the Middle East, talks about "The Tragic Futility of Condoleezza Rice." But Condi, rising as she has from her solidly middle-class origins in Birmingham, Alabama to the highest echelons of the US government, remains a subject of admiration. Earlier this year the Harris Poll reported that Rice was "still the 'shining star' of the administration." A 2006 profile by BBC News gushed that "Rice's intellectual brilliance is undisputed," and she "has consistently been one of the most popular members of the Bush administration." Pundits have repeatedly floated her name as a possible Republican vice presidential running mate for John McCain. "For a party that up to now has been clueless about how to run against either a woman or a person of color, Condoleezza Rice is pure political gold," explained Nicholas Von Hoffman in a commentary for CBS News. In fact, Rice's genius and foreign-policy expertise are more image than substance, as recent biographies by Elisabeth Bumiller and Marcus Mabry suggest. In her ascendance to power, Rice's main instrument has not been ground-breaking thinking about important international issues, but rather what Mabry characterizes as "her phenomenal skill at spinning." To read the rest of this item, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/node/7327 2. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: SMOKIN' THE COMPETITION 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 why we should pity the oil industry, how invasion of privacy is sold as a good thing, and kids fighting back. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we look at Philip Morris's ability to see into the future. 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/7339 == SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS == 1. THE FALL AND FALL OF MEDIALINK WORLDWIDE http://www.prwatch.org/node/7349 The first quarter report of 2008 by Medialink Worldwide -- the largest producer of fake news products such as video news releases (VNRs) and audio news releases (ANRs) -- makes for grim reading for investors. The company reports that revenues from "media communications services" dropped by 18% overall, with a 9.2% drop in the U.S. and 41.6% internationally. Medialink's President and CEO, Larry Moskowitz attributes the slump to "the overall economic downturn in the first quarter of 2008." Many investors are aren't waiting for the company's fortunes to improve and are voting with their feet. Since the start of 2008, the company's share price has dropped by over 72%. SOURCE: Medialink Worldwide, May 15, 2008 2. CHARLIE BLACK WORKED FOR THE "GOOD" DICTATORS http://www.prwatch.org/node/7348 Charlie Black, the chief campaign adviser for Republican Party Presidential aspirant John McCain, has dismissed calls that he should resign due to his many years of lobbying work for BKSH & Associates, calling the calls "complete inside-the-beltway nonsense." MoveOn recently launched an advertisement demanding McCain fire Black. "John McCain's chief adviser, lobbyist Charlie Black, worked for some of the world's worst dictators -- mass murderers, terrorists, and tyrants. Call McCain and tell him to fire Charlie Black," the group's website states. Black defended working for dictators -- including Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines and Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire -- insisting that he never worked for foreign clients "without first talking to the State Department and the White House and clearing with them that the work would be in the interest of U.S. foreign policy." SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), May 19, 2008 3. THE BIGGEST LOSER IS THE BIGGEST PLACER http://www.prwatch.org/node/7347 According to the Nielsen Company, product placements on broadcast television increased 39 percent during the first quarter of 2008. All told, there were 117,976 brand occurrences on cable and broadcast networks in the first three months of the year. The show with the most product placements was NBC's "The Biggest Loser," followed by "American Idol" on Fox, "The Apprentice" on NBC, "Deal or No Deal" on NBC, and "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" on ABC. On cable television, the leaders were "American Chopper," "Project Runway," "L.A. Ink," "Real World Road Rules Challenge," and "Making The Band 4." SOURCE: Center for Media Research, May 16, 2008 4. MEDIA HITS BY THE PENTAGON PUNDITS http://www.prwatch.org/node/7346 On the heels of last month's New York Times investigative report exposing the hidden relationship between media military analysts and the Pentagon and defense industries, Media Matters for America has documented more than 4,500 media appearances by the Pentagon pundits on ABC, ABC News Now, CBS, CBS Radio Network, NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, CNN Headline News, Fox News, and NPR. "In the face of such damning evidence, the silence of those in the media who hosted or quoted these military analysts more than 4,500 times reeks of irresponsible journalism," said Karl Frisch, a spokesman for Media Matters. "Because the media have failed to follow up on this story with the tough questions one would expect, members of Congress have been forced to act. It's time for the media to step up and do their job." One reporter answering the call is Alyssa Rosenberg at The New Republic, who is reviewing the 8,000 pages of Department of Defense documents obtained by the Times to produce a series of "DOD Document Dumps." Reading through the documents, she writes, is "like paging through a flip book from hell. Anyone who has watched cable news for more than five minutes over the past few years won't be shocked to find that the Bush administration used self-serving talking points to promote the war. But browsing through years of spin all at once, the thing that strikes me most is that anyone actually fell for the clunky attempts at minting catch-phrases and laughably convoluted logic the military and its mouthpieces were peddling." SOURCE: Media Matters for America, May 13, 2008 5. DRUG COMPANIES: MARKETING MACHINES GONE AWRY http://www.prwatch.org/node/7344 New York Times reporter Melody Petersen, who covered the pharmaceutical industry for four years, has now published a book titled Our Daily Meds: How the pharmaceutical companies transformed themselves into slick marketing machines and hooked the nation on prescription drugs. In her book, Petersen refutes the commonly-held notion that drug companies plow their profits back into research to develop life-saving drugs, and concludes instead that drug companies primarily put their profits into influencing medical science and marketing drugs. Petersen writes, "With their hoards of cash, the companies have readily handed money to patient groups, hospitals, universities, physician societies, government agencies and just about any organization they want on their side. ... The industry's cash-filled coffers have given it a stranglehold on medical science." Petersen also exposes the problems with direct-to-consumer advertising and the drug industry's portrayal of common conditions, like anxiety and urinary frequency, as illnesses, as a way to convince people they need medication. SOURCE: Bill Moyers Journal, PBS, May 16, 2008 6. RAMPTON REVEALS THE WIRES THAT CONTROL THE PUBLIC MIND http://www.prwatch.org/node/7342 CMD research director Sheldon Rampton gave a talk recently to employees at Google, titled "The Wires that Control the Public Mind." The talk, part of Google's "tech talk" series, described the history of the public relations industry, dating back to the early 20th century and the work of PR industry founder Edward Bernays. Sheldon is the co-author (with John Stauber) of six books written for CMD, and he is the father of CMD's SourceWatch website which he conceptualized and launched in 2003 and which today is the most successful 'wiki' encyclopedia dedicated soley to public affairs, politics, and accurate, fair information about the people, organizations and issues shaping the public agenda. You can view the presentation at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUY9ahSCMG0 SOURCE: YouTube 7. NESTLING INTO THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT http://www.prwatch.org/node/7337 As CMD has reported previously, the infant formula industry in the U.S. is committed to making sure that women aren't, as they put it, made to feel guilty about not breast feeding. But it seems that formula producers are also looking to make inroads in Europe, where rates of breast feeding are far higher than in the U.S. The Independent "has uncovered strong ties between Nestle, the world's largest baby milk manufacturer, and the Department of Health. Rosie Cooper, a parliamentary private secretary to the Health minister Ben Bradshaw, is undergoing a year-long Industry and Parliament Trust fellowship with Nestle, and in February went for a week to South Africa as a guest of the group to oversee its corporate social responsibility activities." Three other Labor Party members of Parliament accompanied her at Nestle's expense. Critics are alarmed that the corporation has made such inroads into the government. A spokesperson for Baby Milk Action, which together with UNICEF, Save the Children and the National Childhood Trust, has organized a boycott of Nestle, said "Time and again we see Nestle trying to ingratiate itself with health workers and policymakers through gifts, free trips, sponsorship and so-called partnerships. Surely the Government should not look to companies to fund and organise trips such as this." SOURCE: The Independent (UK), May 11, 2008 8. SHINAWATRA'S OWN GOAL http://www.prwatch.org/node/7336 Former Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, has called in the founder of of the U.K-based PR firm, Bell Pottinger, Tim Bell, to help rebuild his image. Shinawatra, who bought the Manchester City soccer club last year, has infuriated supporters, players and board members by signaling his intent to dump the popular club manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson. Players recently canvassed the possibility of boycotting a promotional tour of Thailand. PR Week reports that Shinawatra relied on a PR campaign to help puff his image when he first bought the club. "Many fans were won over earlier this season by a dizzying round of star signings and Shinawatra clips on You-Tube, including one of him attempting to sing Blue Moon. Shinawatra was soon known as 'Frank Sinatra' by the City fans, a name conjured up by the PR team to soften his image," David Quainton reports. SOURCE: PR Week, May 15, 2008 9. CHART(ER)ING A NEW COURSE FOR INVASION OF PRIVACY http://www.prwatch.org/node/7335 Charter Communications, one of the largest Internet Service Providers (ISP) in the U.S., recently sent letters to some of its 2.7 million customers with details of a new initiative. "Charter is billing its new web tracking program as an 'enhancement' for customers' web surfing experience. ... The pilot program is set to begin next month. 'Browsing the web can become more like flipping through your favorite magazine, where you see ads that are appealing to you and enhance your enjoyment and the utility of the experience,' the company's letters read." Charter says that it is piloting the program in four of its markets: Ft. Worth, Texas; San Luis Obispo, California; Oxford, Massachusetts, and Newtown, Connecticut. The "enhancement" will be difficult to refuse. "Users can opt out of the system, but have to give their full name and address to get an opt-out cookie. The process would have to be repeated for every browser on every computer in a home to block the service, and would have to be reset if cookies are ever deleted." Wired's Ryan Singel says the plan "effectively turns the ISP into the ultimate third-party tracking network." Charter's plan is similar to one developed in the U.K. by Phorm, "a London company with alleged spyware roots." But consumer outrage in Britain has prevented any ISPs from putting it in place. SOURCE: Wired Blog Network: Threat Level, May 13, 2008 10. AND THE LOSERS ARE ... KIDS http://www.prwatch.org/node/7334 On June 6, limos will be lined up, the red carpet will be rolled out, and decked out attendees will have their photos snapped by swarming paparazzi. But this isn't your usual Hollywood awards ceremony. Instead, it is the 4th annual Fame & Shame Awards, sponsored by the New Mexico Media Literacy Project and New Mexico Voices for Children in collaboration with the Smoke Free Movies Campaign. The "fame" part of the ceremony will recognize New Mexico teens that are working to encourage their peers to not start smoking, or to quit if they have. They are vying for the Youth Kicking Tobacco's Butt Advocate of the Year Award. The "shame" segment targets the entertainment industry. "The ceremony also hands out 'Shamie Awards' to actors, actresses, directors and producers who glamorize smoking in Hollywood movies. This year's nominees include Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and Jamie Foxx as Actor Who Glamorizes Smoking the Most, Beyonce and Emma Thompson as Actress Who Glamorizes Smoking the Most, and Hairspray, Ocean's Thirteen and Wild Hogs (shot in New Mexico) as Most Popular Teen Movie That Glamorizes Smoking." SOURCE: New Mexico Media Literacy Project 11. BIGGER ISN'T ALWAYS BETTER http://www.prwatch.org/node/7333 Colorado Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Bob Schaffer proclaims his devotion to the state in his latest television ad, saying "Colorado is my life ... I proposed to Maureen on top of Pike's Peak ... " Problem was, the mountain featured in the ad was Mount McKinley in Alaska, not the famous Pikes Peak in Colorado. The spot ran in the two most conservative areas of the state, but the error was caught quickly by people, including Schaeffer's Democratic challenger Mark Udall, who recognized the incorrect peak. Schaffer's campaign manager said the spot would be re-edited to replace Mt. McKinley with Colorado mountains, and would start running again almost immediately. SOURCE: The Denver Post, May 15, 2008 12. NO RUSH TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC http://www.prwatch.org/node/7329 Some U.S. Congresspeople want to limit direct to consumer marketing of drugs. Rep. Bart Stupak is head of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce investigative panel. At a hearing to discuss specific ads by Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Schering-Plough, Stupak said that "It appears that we need to enforce significant restrictions on DTC (direct-to-consumer) ads to protect American consumers from manipulative commercials designed to mislead and deceive for the profit of pharmaceutical companies." Referring to the fact that other than New Zealand, the U.S. is the only country to allow direct to consumer advertising of drugs he added, "Pharmaceutical companies should consider it a privilege to be allowed to air DTC ads in this country. We should make sure that pharmaceuticals companies conduct themselves responsibly." The ranking Republican on the committee, John Shimkus of Illinois, said that since the Food and Drug Administration was just recently given oversight of drug ads, it is too soon for congressional intervention. But as CMD has reported previously, there is significant concern as to whether the FDA and other government agencies are able and willing to stand up to industry and government pressure. SOURCE: Bulldog Reporter's Daily Dog, May 12, 2008 13. PHILIP MORRIS IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT ON FDA TOBACCO BILL http://www.prwatch.org/node/7328 The proposed Food and Drug Administration tobacco bill currently under consideration would ban artificial flavors like cinnamon and cherry from cigarettes, but strangely gives special protection to menthol. Public health advocates wonder why menthol has been exempted from the bill, especially when it masks the harsh taste of cigarettes for beginners. A 2006 study also showed that menthol makes it harder for addicted smokers to quit. Menthol brands are also disproportionately popular among African Americans; seventy percent of blacks smoke menthols, compared to only 30 percent of whites. While African Americans smoke less than whites overall, they suffer higher rates of cancer and other tobacco-induced diseases. Despite all this, legislators believe that menthol cannot be eliminated as a cigarette flavoring under the bill because menthol is crucial to the $70 billion cigarette market. It is of particular importance to Philip Morris, which has been planning for, and driving FDA regulation of cigarettes since 1999. The watered-down terms resulted from legislators' belief that the bill won't pass without PM's buy-in. SOURCE: New York Times, May 13, 2008 14. BIG PUSH FOR BIG OIL http://www.prwatch.org/node/7323 Faced with a national outcry over the high price of gasoline and soaring profits for energy companies, the American Petroleum Institute has launched a multimillion-dollar PR and advertising campaign to convince the public that "rising energy prices are not the producers' fault and that government efforts to punish the industry, especially with higher taxes, would only make pricing problems worse," reports Jeffrey H. Birnbaum. Consumer groups such as the Consumer Federation of America are complaining that the industry "is using its outlandish profits to make even more money, and that its advertisements use statistics selectively." SOURCE: Washington Post, May 9, 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