| |
Sponsored by the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy:
www.prwatch.org
To support our work now online visit:
https://www.egrants.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2344-0|1118-0
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
SHARE US WITH A FRIEND (OR FIFTY FRIENDS)
Who do you know who might want to receive “The Weekly Spin”? Help
us grow our subscriber list! Just forward this message to people
you know, encouraging them to sign up at this link:
www.prwatch.org/cmd/subscribe_sotd.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS WEEK’S NEWS
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. Television Stations Respond… And It’s Worse Than You Think
2. Network neutrality, telecom company cash and Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.)
3. Neil Young Clobbers the Thought Police
4. Welcome To the Launch of Congresspedia
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. Wal-Mart’s Changing PR
2. Chertoff Proposes Disaster Embedding
3. Lincoln Group Work In Iraq “Completely Inept”
4. Connecticut Cuts ‘Ade at Schools
5. PR Exec: Fake TV News is Good for You!
6. Ketchum Lands Contract To Polish Russia’s Image
7. RJR Tobacco’s Push to Keep Smoke-Filled Rooms
8. Too Little of a Good Thing
9. The Flacks Are Coming, the Flacks Are Coming!
10. Radio Payola in NH – Politics as Usual?
11. White House Snow Job
12. Learning from, and Spinning, the Chernobyl Disaster
--------------------------------------------------------------------
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. TELEVISION STATIONS RESPOND… AND IT’S WORSE THAN YOU THINK
by Diane Farsetta
One news director says, “I have been instructed by corporate not to talk to you.”
Hours after the Center for Media and Democracy released our study on television stations’ widespread and undisclosed use of corporate video news releases (VNRs), a major organization of broadcast news executives issued its response.
“The Radio-Television News Directors Association strongly urges station management to review and strengthen their policies requiring complete disclosure of any outside material used in news programming,” read the statement. RTNDA went on to caution that decisions involving “when and how to identify sources … must remain far removed from government involvement or supervision.”
Unfortunately, RTNDA’s statement conflates “sources” with broadcast material funded by and produced for outside parties. It also conveniently ignores that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, under its authority to regulate broadcasters’ use of the public airwaves, already has disclosure requirements (PDF) on the books. But RTNDA’s stance does point to an important, underlying issue: how to ensure both news audiences’ right to know “who seeks to influence them,” and the editorial freedom of newsrooms.
For the rest of this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4762
2. NETWORK NEUTRALITY, TELECOM COMPANY CASH AND REP. BOBBY RUSH (D-ILL.)
by Conor Kenny
Is the Internet about to change from a free-spirited marketplace of “may the best Web site win” to a top-down, corporate-controlled glorified cable package? A diverse coalition of bloggers, academics, citizens groups and non-profit organizations think we’re in danger of just that. The Save the Internet coalition (SourceWatch profile) warns about the loss of “network neutrality”:
Congress is pushing a law that would abandon the Internet’s First Amendment — a principle called Network Neutrality that prevents companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast from deciding which Web sites work best for you — based on what site pays them the most. Your local library shouldn’t have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to have its Web site open quickly on your computer.
For the rest of this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4764
3. NEIL YOUNG CLOBBERS THE THOUGHT POLICE
by John Stauber
I’m listening to Neil Young’s new album, Living With War. It’s not my first time; I was lucky enough to be at a private listening last week in California. But now, along with millions of others connected to the Internet, I’m hearing it free of charge through my computer speakers, courtesy of Mr. Young and his absolutely brilliant bunch of guerrilla marketers and movement builders.
Peace groups including True Majority smartly have seized on the moment to mobilize Young’s listeners. Never before has any album moved so quickly from concept to completion to pre-release controversy, to the ears of millions of listeners. Mr. Young knows how to craft a message, and how to market it in a way that no one has before. He’s done it like a martial arts expert, utilizing the venom and energy of his attackers who don’t like this Canadian citizen’s urgent, compelling, pro-peace vision of the American dream.
For the rest of this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4758
4. WELCOME TO THE LAUNCH OF CONGRESSPEDIA
by Conor Kenny
Welcome to the debut of Congresspedia, the “citizen’s encyclopedia on Congress.” Congresspedia is a bold new experiment by the Center for Media and Democracy and the Sunlight Foundation in distributed citizen journalism. It is based on the wiki model (think Wikipedia) and is a subset of the Center’s SourceWatch wiki.
We are starting with 539 articles – one for every current member of Congress, the non-voting delegates, and former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham. However, we hope that this is only the foundation upon which Congresspedia contributors (like you!) will build upon by not just adding to those profiles but also by creating new articles on any subject related to Congress that falls within the bounds of our policies and article guidelines.
For the rest of this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4752
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. WAL-MART’S CHANGING PR
www.nwaonline.net/articles/2006/04/26/business/02wmssmiley.txt
“Executives with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. kept stressing during the company’s recent media conference that the world’s largest retailer is always changing,” reports Anita French. “Wal-Mart made much of the revamping of its information Web site, walmartfacts.com, during the conference.” The revamp of the website, which the company set up “to counter what the company said was false information circulated about Wal-Mart,” will allow visitors to more “quickly find information about our company,” explained a Wal-Mart spokesperson. Last month, PR Week reported on a new Wal-Mart initiative, “to pursue new-store construction in neglected urban areas” while simultaneously trying to “curry favor with the small businesses that will soon have Wal-Mart as a neighbor and competitor.” Another Wal-Mart spokesperson said the planned “host of community relations measures targeting small businesses” will “help these small businesses learn how to thrive with Wal-Mart in the neighborhood.”
SOURCE: The Morning News (Arkansas), April 26, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4776
2. CHERTOFF PROPOSES DISASTER EMBEDDING
www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6328620.html?display=Breaking+News
“Reporters will be embedded with the government during natural disasters, according to a plan outlined by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff at the Radio-Television News Directors Association convention,” writes John Eggerton. Chertoff assured the audience, “We’re not going to be censoring information,” since the program wouldn’t involve battleground situations. Eggerton notes that during the crisis around Hurricane Katrina, “reporters seemed to know more about what was happening on the ground than the administration did.” So, the new embed program might benefit government officials more than reporters — or affected communities.
SOURCE: Broadcasting & Cable, April 27, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4775
3. LINCOLN GROUP WORK IN IRAQ “COMPLETELY INEPT”
www.odwyerpr.com/members/0502lincoln.htm
O’Dwyers PR Daily reports that Bill Dixon and Laurie Adler, who handled PR for the Lincoln Group which gained notoriety for using Pentagon funds to plant news articles in Iraqi newspapers, have jumped ship. Dixon only started with the company in January while Adler served as the company’s main spokesman. In the Columbia Journalism Review Daniel Schulman reports that a U.S. army officer, who helped select the company for contracts in Iraq, was scathing in his assessment of their work. “They were sending guys over there that had absolutely no knowledge of Iraqis whatsoever. … It was a scheme written up on a cocktail napkin in D.C. They were just completely inept,” the officer said.
SOURCE: O’Dwyers PR Daily (sub req’d), May 2, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4774
4. CONNECTICUT CUTS ‘ADE AT SCHOOLS
www.courant.com/news/local/hc-soda0428.artapr28,0,7703359.story?coll=hc-headlines-home
Gatorade and Powerade, as well as soda and other sports drinks, will be banned from Connecticut schools after a “feverish” double-team by Coca-Cola and Pepsi failed to stop the state’s House of Representeatives from passing “the strongest school nutrition law in the nation.” A flier distributed by Coke’s PR reps, Sullivan & LeShane, attacked the bill, urging, “It is counterproductive to tell an 18-year-old who can drive a car, fly a plane, enlist in the military…and get an abortion that they can’t have a soft drink.” But on May 3, 2006, Coke lowered its red flag, announcing with other beverage companies a nationwide voluntary ban on school day soft drinks, to be phased in by 2010. (The “ban,” which goes farther than earlier voluntary measures, would still allow the sale of sports drinks, as well as all sodas after school hours.) While strong on soft drinks, Connecticut’s new law does not regulate snack foods. Instead, the state has created a voluntary incentive for schools to stock healthier snacks. Federal legislation is pending to require healthier school snack foods nationally.
SOURCE: Hartford Courant, April 26, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4772
5. PR EXEC: FAKE TV NEWS IS GOOD FOR YOU!
www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6329692.html?verticalid=311&industry=Editorials&industryid=1034
In a contributed column titled “Are Video News Releases All Bad?,” Kevin E. Foley, the president of the Atlanta-based PR company KEF Media Associates, criticized the Center for Media and Democracy’s (CMD) recent report on the widespread and undisclosed use of video news releases (VNRs). Foley acknowledges that television stations often use VNRs as a cheap source of “news” filler but defends their use without disclosing who sponsored them. He argued, “CMD would have us believe that some great social harm is being done if a VNR isn’t attributed, but if the newscaster airs a story that holds the viewer’s attention and the viewer walks away informed or entertained, who has been hurt?” The report documented an instance where Ohio-based WYTV-33 broadcast an 80-second news feature on MimyX, a prescription skin cream for eczema, where safety information included in the VNR was entirely edited out of the “story.”
SOURCE: Broadcasting & Cable, May 1, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4768
6. KETCHUM LANDS CONTRACT TO POLISH RUSSIA’S IMAGE
news.ft.com/cms/s/13bcae1e-d87c-11da-9715-0000779e2340.html
The Russian government has signed a multi-million dollar deal with the Washington office of the PR company Ketchum and its Brussels-based sibling, GPlus Europe. The Financial Times reports that the contract is “to improve the presentation of Russia’s presidency of the Group of Eight leading nations.” Last week, U.S. Republican Senator from Arizona, John McCain, criticized the decision in January by the Russian government controlled company, Gazprom, to cut off gas supplies to the Ukraine. The deputy press attaché to Mr Putin, Dmitry Peskov, told the Financial Times that Russia’s 12-month presidency stint of the G8 “didn’t get off to a good start on the communications front.” “Perhaps if we had already been working then with some kind of communications company things would have been different,” he said.
SOURCE: Financial Times, April 30, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4767
7. RJR TOBACCO’S PUSH TO KEEP SMOKE-FILLED ROOMS
www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1146300099124790.xml&coll=2 The R.J.
Reynolds Tobacco Company is supporting a bid by the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association to amend the Ohio constitution to exempt businesses such as bars, restaurants and bowling alleys from smoking restrictions. The amendment would also override a number of local ordinances banning indoor smoking. To gather 300,000 signatures to put the amendment on the ballot in November, the business lobby is running web advertisements offering $1.50 for each signature collected. “If people knew that R.J. Reynolds is funding the push, I think they’d think twice about it,” Ken Slenkovich, the director of policy and planning for the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, told The Plain Dealer.
SOURCE: The Plain Dealer, April 29, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4763
8. TOO LITTLE OF A GOOD THING
www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Speaker_caught_ditching_hydrogen_for_SUV_0428.html
The Raw Story reports that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert just couldn’t wait to get back into his SUV after a photo op and short ride in a hydrogen car. After expressing their outrage at skyrocketing gas prices, Hastert and several congressional colleagues left the Washington DC gas station to return to the Hill, which was just blocks away. But instead of finishing the trip in the hydrogen car or, dare we say, walking the rest of the way, Hastert made a quick pit stop to hop into his SUV. The Associated Press, which caught the Speaker mid-switch, reported that he was not the only one to change vehicles, but did not name other names.
SOURCE: The Raw Story, April 28, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4761
9. THE FLACKS ARE COMING, THE FLACKS ARE COMING!
www.webershandwick.com/newsroom/newsrelease.cfm/contentid,14071.html
Weber Shandwick Worldwide, one of the world’s largest PR firms, has announced a significant expansion into Eastern and Central Europe. It has opened new offices in Poland, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and added affiliate offices in Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Shandwick’s partner in these efforts is McCann WorldGroup, which is, along with Shandwick, a subsidiary of the InterPublic Group. This is in addition to their existing presence in Bulgaria, Hungary, Macedonia, Russia, and Ukraine. “We have expanded our reach across Europe to better serve our clients through increased collaboration and the sharing of best practices,” said Harris Diamond, chief executive officer of Weber Shandwick. “For international clients, this expansion offers a broader geographic footprint covering areas where they see growth opportunities. And local clients in these markets will now have access to one of the world’s leading communications networks.”
SOURCE: Weber Shandwick Worldwide, April 21, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4759
10. RADIO PAYOLA IN NH – POLITICS AS USUAL?
www.nhpr.org/node/10626
“[New Hampshire] GOP Gubernatorial candidate Jim Coburn is facing an uphill battle. He’s a one-term state rep. trying to unseat a Governor with high poll numbers and plenty of resources. That said, Jim Coburn is not working alone. Since late march, the former high-tech entrepreneur’s campaign has been run by Meridian Communications, the PR firm that … is also assisting New York Governor George Pataki as he explores a Presidential bid. But Meridian’s co-founder, former TV-news reporter Jack Heath, does more than just advise candidates and companies on how to get good press. He also gives them press on his daily radio talk show. … The Center for Media and Democracy’s John Stauber says such conduct raises basic questions about the content of all of Heath’s broadcasts, calling it ‘very dishonest and less than ethical.’ “ After New Hampshire Public Radio broke this story, it was picked up by the Associated Press and the Boston Globe.
SOURCE: New Hamphsire Public Radio, April 27, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4757
11. WHITE HOUSE SNOW JOB
www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tony_Snow
Do you think it’s easy flacking for an unpopular lame duck president who has mired the nation in an unnecessary and brutal war that is draining the treasury and has turned world opinion against the United States? What PR guy could possibly be persuaded to take this job? Tony Snow, former talk show host and commentator for Fox News.
SOURCE: SourceWatch article on Tony Snow, April 26, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4756
12. LEARNING FROM, AND SPINNING, THE CHERNOBYL DISASTER
www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-chernobyl-director.html
“Chernobyl has not taught anything to anyone,” Viktor Bryukhanov, the former director of the infamous nuclear power plant, told a Russian magazine. Twenty years after the disaster, Bryukhanov said plant employees had made mistakes, but “official investigations into the cause of the disaster had been a whitewash designed to exonerate the nuclear industry.” Nature magazine noted that “arguments over the death toll of Chernobyl are as politically charged as ever.” In addition to politics, “uncertainty about the health effects of low doses of radiation” also complicates assessments. Death toll estimates range from 4,000 to 100,000 people. In the U.S., the Nuclear Energy Institute marked the Chernobyl anniversary by unveiling a new pro-nuclear PR campaign, headed by Hill & Knowlton.
SOURCE: Reuters, April 25, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4755
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Weekly Spin is compiled by staff and volunteers at the Center
for Media and Democracy (CMD), a nonprofit public interest
organization. To subscribe or unsubcribe, visit:
www.prwatch.org/cmd/subscribe_sotd.html
Daily updates and news from past weeks can be found in the “Spin of
the Day” section of CMD’s website:
www.prwatch.org/spin
Archives of our quarterly publication, PR Watch, are at:
www.prwatch.org/prwissues
CMD also sponsors SourceWatch, a collaborative research project
that invites anyone (including you) to contribute and edit
articles. For more information, visit:
www.sourcewatch.org
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
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Contributions to the Center for Media and Democracy are
tax-deductible. Send checks to:
CMD
520 University Avenue, Suite 227
Madison, WI 53703
To donate now online, visit:
https://www.egrants.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2344-0|1118-0
_______________________________________________
Weekly-Spin mailing list
Weekly-Spin@prwatch.org
two.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/weekly-spin |