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THIS WEEK’S NEWS
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. Wal-Mart’s Blog Outreach-Turned-Ghostwriting
2. Quid Pro Glow: UK Government Funds Nuclear Lobbying
3. Coal Miners’ Slaughter
4. Pentagon OK’s Propaganda for Iraq (and Possibly Elsewhere)
5. The Iraq War Sell Job Keeps Unraveling
6. Los Angeles “News” Show for Sale
7. On Dubai Ports Deal, It’s Clinton vs Clinton
8. Historians Win Over Spy Agencies (For Now)
9. Corporations Told Actions More Important than Words
10. Boldly Militarizing Where No One Has Gone Before
11. Wal-Mart Front Group’s New Front Man
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== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. WAL-MART’S BLOG OUTREACH-TURNED-GHOSTWRITING
www.nytimes.com/2006/03/07/technology/07blog.html
Wal-Mart “began working with bloggers in late 2005 ‘as part of our overall effort to tell our story,’ said Mona Williams, a company spokeswoman.” Heading the blogger outreach is Marshall Manson, of the PR firm Edelman. Manson contacted bloggers who “wrote postings that either endorsed the retailer or challenged its critics.” He emailed one, “I’d like to drop you the occasional update … and an occasional nugget that you won’t hear about in the M.S.M.,” or mainstream media. But “some bloggers have posted information from Wal-Mart, at times word for word, without revealing where it came from,” reports the New York Times. Manson warned bloggers they might be “ripped” if someone noticed “nearly identical posts” copied from his emails. Wal-Mart’s also opposing state bills that require large companies to spend a minimum percentage of payroll costs on health insurance. Wal-Mart claims, “These bills … do nothing to take people off America’s uninsured list,” reports PR Week.
SOURCE: New York Times, March 7, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4522
2. QUID PRO GLOW: UK GOVERNMENT FUNDS NUCLEAR LOBBYING
www.sundayherald.com/54448
In Britain, “public money has been used to support a vigorous pro-nuclear campaign.” The campaign, Nuklear21, includes “workers from the defunct Chapelcross nuclear plant in Dumfries and Galloway,” who have been handing out leaflets at “Scottish party political conferences.” The leaflets call nuclear power “atoms for peace” and claim that “nuclear will help save the planet.” Nuklear21 has mailed every Member of Scottish Parliament and “is planning a mass lobby of the Westminster parliament.” The government-owned company British Nuclear Group admits to paying “travel and business expenses” for Nuklear21 since 1995. It’s also provided “’administrative support facilities’ such as offices and communication systems.” WWF Scotland’s director called it “clearly outrageous” that “taxpayers’ money has been secretly funding the nuclear industry to lobby for new reactors.” Prime Minister Tony Blair launched a national energy review in January, which is splitting members of “the Liberal Democrat Party, the Labour Party and the government’s green advisers.”
SOURCE: The Sunday Herald (Scotland), March 5, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4519
3. COAL MINERS’ SLAUGHTER
wvgazette.com/section/News/Other%20News/2006030430?pt=0
U.S. coal industry lobbyists have “resumed a longstanding effort to eliminate — or at least greatly weaken” the federal requirement for four full inspections a year at underground coal mines. Already this year, 21 coal miners have died, including 16 at West Virginia’s Sago Mine. Twenty-two miners died in all of 2005. “A decade ago, industry lobbyists and conservative activists” tried to eliminate the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). The failed 1995 effort was “backed by the Heritage Foundation.” Proposals to reduce mine inspections were floated in 1998 and 2000. Today, “longtime coal industry official” Dave Lauriski heads MSHA. John Correll, who previously testified for reduced inspections on behalf of the National Mining Association, holds a top MSHA post. MSHA now says it will “address this issue through nonregulatory means,” which reporter Ken Ward notes “would eliminate public review and public comment” from the process.
SOURCE: The Charleston Gazette (West Virginia), March 5, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4518
4. PENTAGON OK’S PROPAGANDA FOR IRAQ (AND POSSIBLY ELSEWHERE)
www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-infowar4mar04,0,1357115.story?coll=la-home-world
Declaring it “within our authorities and responsibilities,” the top U.S. general in Iraq, George Casey, announced that the Lincoln Group program that covertly places stories written by U.S. troops in Iraqi newspapers will continue. Navy Admiral Scott Van Buskirk is also reviewing the Iraq propaganda program. His review was previously described as finished but not public; the LA Times reports that it hasn’t yet been completed. Van Buskirk’s report “could pave the way for the Pentagon to replicate the practice … in other parts of the world.” But it’s also expected to “recommend that the Pentagon examine its regulations and procedures to determine whether it is appropriate to replicate the program.” Casey’s remarks on the controversial Iraq program came during a video teleconference with Pentagon reporters on Friday March 3.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, March 4, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4517
5. THE IRAQ WAR SELL JOB KEEPS UNRAVELING
hotstory.nationaljournal.com/articles/0302nj1.htm
“Two highly classified intelligence reports delivered directly to President Bush before the Iraq war cast doubt on key public assertions made by … administration officials as justifications for invading Iraq,” reports Murray Waas. The “President’s Summary” of National Intelligence Estimates “illustrates what the president knew and when he knew it,” explained a senior official. An October 2002 President’s Summary stated the Energy Department’s and State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research’s belief that aluminum tubes acquired by Iraq were “intended for conventional weapons.” At the time, Bush and others “were citing the tubes as clear evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program,” as other spy agencies claimed. A January 2003 President’s Summary stated “U.S. intelligence agencies unanimously agreed” that Saddam Hussein was “unlikely” to attack the United States. In other news, a BBC poll found 60% of respondents in 35 countries feel the Iraq war has increased the threat of terrorism. The poll also found that half of Iraqis favor a quick withdrawal of U.S. troops. A Gallup poll found two of three U.S. adults also favor imminent withdrawal.
SOURCE: National Journal, March 2, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4515
6. LOS ANGELES “NEWS” SHOW FOR SALE
hollywoodhotline.typepad.com/watcher/2006/03/questions_on_ma.html
“An anchor at KTLA-TV received a customized dining-room makeover worth more than $10,000 for her own home, in what a local furniture merchant says was meant to be a swap of free goods and services … for favorable coverage on the station’s ‘Morning News’,” reports the LA Times. The segment was taped in September 2005 but never aired, leading the merchant to warn, “If it doesn’t air,” KTLA’s Michaela Pereira will “be treated like a paying customer.” Pereira agreed to return some items and pay for others. Pereira and two other KTLA anchors were also recently exposed for accepting “free accommodations in exchange for” favorable coverage of “the newly renovated Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena.” The KTLA anchors stayed in “deluxe guestrooms, which on a weeknight would cost $300 to $400.” The “Morning News” executive producer claimed they “try to acknowledge” when services are provided, but admitted that the KTLA anchors “did not specifically mention that the rooms were provided free.”
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4514
7. ON DUBAI PORTS DEAL, IT’S CLINTON VS CLINTON
www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ports3mar03,0,5735366.story?coll=la-home-nation
U.S. House Armed Services Committee chair Duncan Hunter will introduce legislation “to prevent foreign companies from controlling facilities determined to be critical to U.S. national security.” If passed, the bill would nix the Dubai Ports World deal to manage major U.S. ports. Meanwhile, DP World received advice from former President Clinton, who “talked with leaders of the company about a public relations strategy to rescue the deal,” reports the LA Times. Clinton suggested that DP World support a “’cooling off period’ to allow for a full investigation of the transaction,” according to O’Dwyers — which they did. Clinton also “suggested they hire his former spokesman, Joe Lockhart, to assist in their public relations campaign. Lockhart decided against doing so.” Clinton’s assistance “proved awkward” for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who “has strongly opposed” the DP World deal, in part because it affects New York facilities.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, March 3, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4513
8. HISTORIANS WIN OVER SPY AGENCIES (FOR NOW)
nytimes.com/2006/03/03/politics/03archives.html
“After complaints from historians, the National Archives directed intelligence agencies … to stop removing previously declassified historical documents from public access and urged them to return to the shelves as quickly as possible many of the records they had already pulled,” reports the New York Times. There will be a “moratorium” on reclassifications until the archives’ Information Security Oversight Office completes an audit “to determine which records should be secret.” Allen Weinstein, the chief U.S. government archivist, told historians that reclassifications might continue post-audit, but any future program would be “guided by better standards” and “more transparent.” Intelligence historian Matthew Aid called the moratorium “a positive first step,” but noted that “the real deals are going to get made” when the National Archives meets with the intelligence and military agencies who are behind the reclassification program, on March 6.
SOURCE: New York Times, March 3, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4512
9. CORPORATIONS TOLD ACTIONS MORE IMPORTANT THAN WORDS
www.ethicalinvestor.com.au/
Australian social researcher Hugh Mackay has little time for companies that try to use corporate social responsibility as a PR and marketing tool. “Nothing diminishes virtue like trying to draw other people’s attention to it. You’re a good corporate citizen? Get on with it, then, don’t brag about it,” he said in a speech launching a fundraising campaign for a non-profit disability group. “If we are doing the right thing for a commercial advantage, we’ve missed the point of good corporate citizenship. Ethics is not a business tool,” he said.
SOURCE: Ethical Investor, March 2, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4510
10. BOLDLY MILITARIZING WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE
www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70303-0.html
“Lobbyists from the fledgling commercial space industry are besieging Capitol Hill, hoping to persuade the government to hand out contracts to help put the U.S. military into orbit,” reports John Lasker. The main “talking point” for the 50 to 75 lobbyists is “how the private sector can help the U.S. military build space-based weapons a lot faster and with a lot less of taxpayers’ money.” The Defense Department’s report Joint Vision 2020 advocates for “Full Spectrum Dominance,” or overwhelming power on land, sea, air and space. “We need to operate in the realm of space,” a U.S. Space Command public affairs officer told Wired. Bruce Gagnon, the director of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and an Air Force veteran, criticizes these plans. For that, he’s been secretly monitored by NASA and the U.S. Air Force, according to court documents uncovered by the American Civil Liberties Union.
SOURCE: Wired News, March 1, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4509
11. WAL-MART FRONT GROUP’S NEW FRONT MAN
www.blackcommentator.com/173/173_cover_andy_young.html
“Black History Month 2006 ended on a jarring note,” writes Bruce Dixon. “Andrew Young, a former member of Dr. King’s inner circle … who went on to serve three terms in Congress, a stint as UN ambassador and two terms as mayor of Atlanta … announced on February 27, 2006 that he would chair Working Families for Wal-Mart, a media sock-puppet.” Young, now an international business consultant, previously flacked for Nike. Young conducted a review of Nike’s Asian operations, concluding there was “no evidence or pattern of … abuse or mistreatment of workers.” A separate report, conducted weeks later, detailed “unsafe, inhuman and abysmal conditions.” Young also helped found the first Nigerian Presidential Library, which is under investigation by Nigeria’s Ethics and Financial Crimes Commission. Young’s firm, Good Works International, then “landed the lobbying contract to represent Nigeria in the U.S.” When Young explained his Wal-Mart work on an Atlanta radio station, “the response was overwhelmingly negative,” reports Dixon.
SOURCE: The Black Commentator, March 2, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4508
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