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THIS WEEK’S NEWS
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. GE Brings PR, Lobbying Costs To Light
2. Ruder Finn Lands Heavy Metal PR Job
3. Think Tanks’ Compassionate Conservatism
4. New U.S. Army PR Bypasses MSM
5. A Lobby Shop’s Rise and Fall (and Rise Again?)
6. Ashcroft Group: “Let our Client’s Radar Soar”
7. Shooting the Documentary Makers
8. Science Agency Staff Criticise Spin Strategy
9. Parting of Ways at Medialink
10. Alexander Strategy Group in the K Street Gutter
11. The Iraq Sell (and Activist Smear) Jobs Continue
12. Cold Comfort from a Coal Baron
13. Corporate-Assisted Repression of Expression
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== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. GE BRINGS PR, LOBBYING COSTS TO LIGHT
www.odwyerpr.com/members/0111ge.htm
From 1990 to 2005, General Electric spent more than $122 million on public relations, lobbying and legal efforts, “to fight demands that it clean up three contaminated polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) sites,” reports O’Dwyer’s. The three sites are “a 200-mile stretch of the Hudson River (the nation’s biggest Superfund site), Housatonic River (Pittsfield, MA) and a transformer facility (Rome, GA).” GE’s disclosure comes after a decade of pressure from the Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment, a coalition of Roman Catholic groups that filed shareholder resolutions requesting the information. Coalition director Patricia Daly said the money could “have gone a long, long way in cleaning up the problem,” had it not been “wasted on PR, lobbying and courtroom delaying tactics.” The Environmental Protection Agency ordered GE to clean up the Hudson in 2002. GE now says it will reimburse the EPA $110 million for “past cost and future oversight delays,” and clean up the site.
SOURCE: O’Dwyer’s PR Daily (sub req’d), January 11, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4361
2. RUDER FINN LANDS HEAVY METAL PR JOB
www.prweek.com/us/search/article/534488/rf-seeks-clarify-mercury-issue-tuna-foundation
The PR firm Ruder Finn has landed an account with the U.S. Tuna Foundation to counter public concerns about mercury in canned tuna. The director of media relations at Ruder Finn, Nancy Glick, told PR Week that the foundation was working “aggressively” to defuse the issue and is working with public officials “who feel very strongly that we have to stop scaring the public.” Following a three-part series in the Chicago Tribune in December, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it would investigate the issue. Since March 2004, the Turtle Island Restoration Network have posted an online mercury in seafood calculator and lobbied for more stringent FDA testing. PR Week reports, “Ruder Finn is also working with the University of Maryland (UM) to promote realmercuryfacts.org, which responds to consumer confusion about mercury.”
SOURCE: PR Week, January 5, 2006 (sub req’d)
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4360
3. THINK TANKS’ COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM
releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=58926
As the toll mounts from U.S. political scandals, think tanks have provided new homes to some of the fallen. The Hudson Institute has appointed I. Lewis Scooter Libby as “a senior adviser.” In October 2005, Libby resigned from his position as Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, after being indicted on five counts including obstruction of justice. “Libby will focus on issues relating to the War on Terror and the future of Asia. He also will offer research guidance and will advise the institute in strategic planning,” the think tank stated. In December 2005, Doug Bandow resigned from both his role at the Cato Institute and as syndicated columnist with Copley News Service, after revelations that he had accepted payments from lobbyist Jack Abramoff. On January 1, Bandow started as vice president of policy at Citizen Outreach, a group that favours “limited-government public policies.”
SOURCE: Hudson Institute Media Release, January 6, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4359
4. NEW U.S. ARMY PR BYPASSES MSM
www.odwyerpr.com/members/0110msl_blogs.htm
“The U.S. Army has hired Manning Selvage & Lee to do outreach to pro-military bloggers,” the managing director of Hass MS&L, the firm’s Detroit office that focuses on “new media” and the automotive industry, told O’Dwyer’s. “The blogs are viewed as a way to distribute ‘good news’ about Iraq.” At least four bloggers have received an email from Hass MS&L, according to the Washington Post. “The Army believes that military blogs are a valuable medium for reaching out to soldiers,” the email explains. “To that end, the Army plans to offer you and selected bloggers exclusive editorial content.” Blogger Donald Sensing accepted the offer, saying, “I spent long enough in Army Public Affairs to know when I’m being fed baloney. … I predict the [Washington] Post and others of the dinosaur media will … say we are biased, as if they are not. … I am biased, I freely admit.”
SOURCE: O’Dwyer’s PR Daily (sub req’d), January 10, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4358
5. A LOBBY SHOP’S RISE AND FALL (AND RISE AGAIN?)
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/09/AR2006010901996.html
The Alexander Strategy Group lobbying firm “will shut down at the end of the month because of its ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former House majority leader Tom DeLay.” ASG owner Ed Buckham said, “Reports in the press have made it difficult to continue as a lobbying/political entity.” ASG lobbyist — and former DeLay staffer and Abramoff associate — Tony Rudy may leave the firm before it closes. “The end of DeLay’s leadership role was a major blow,” wrote the Washington Post. “Former DeLay associates have said that ASG and Buckham were key gatekeepers for DeLay with outsiders including lobbyists and their corporate clients.” ASG’s clients include Microsoft and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. “The 12 lobbyists who now work at ASG — other than Rudy and Buckham — intend to start a successor firm and intend to keep as many of the clients as possible.”
SOURCE: Washington Post, January 10, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4357
6. ASHCROFT GROUP: “LET OUR CLIENT’S RADAR SOAR”
thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/010406/news2.html
Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s lobbying firm has at least two new clients. Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) hired the Ashcroft Group “to help secure the U.S. government’s approval to sell a weapons system to the South Korean Air Force.” Since their early-warning radar system uses U.S. military technology, IAI must “secure approval from the Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls” for the sale. The Hill notes, “Israel has come under criticism from the U.S. government for selling arms to countries hostile to the United States, such as China and South Africa.” O’Dwyer’s reports that the France-based company LTU Technologies also hired the Ashcroft Group, “to land homeland security contracts.” LTU products perform “content-based search, retrieval and classification of images and videos” and also monitor email.
SOURCE: The Hill, January 4, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4355
7. SHOOTING THE DOCUMENTARY MAKERS
www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1682207,00.html
U.S. troops in Baghdad “blasted their way into the home of an Iraqi journalist” working with British media outlets on an investigation of “claims that tens of millions of dollars worth of Iraqi funds held by the Americans and British have been misused or misappropriated.” The troops fired into the room where Dr. Ali Fadhil, an award-winning journalist, and his family were sleeping, then hooded and detained him for a few hours. The troops also took videotapes related to the documentary, which have not yet been returned. Callum Macrae, the director of the documentary, called “the timing and the nature” of the raid “extremely disturbing,” as it came days after they explained the project to U.S. authorities. “We need a convincing assurance from the American authorities that this terrifying experience was not harassment and a crude attempt to discourage Ali’s investigation,” said Macrae.
SOURCE: The Guardian (UK), January 9, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4354
8. SCIENCE AGENCY STAFF CRITICISE SPIN STRATEGY
www.control.com.au/bi2006/271Browse13.pdf
Dr. Michael Borgas, the staff association president at CSIRO, the Australian government-funded science agency, harshly criticized the agency’s censorious approach to journalists. “A business model, or even the appearance of a compliant, unquestioning propaganda-driven organisation, is not an acceptable strategy for CSIRO,” he wrote. After Dr. Peter Pockley published articles critical of CSIRO management in Australasian Science, CSIRO banned interviews with him. (The ban lasted for eleven months, until June 2005.) Pockley says public attacks on Australasian Science were “orchestrated” by Donna Staunton, CSIRO’s Executive Director of Communications and a former tobacco industry lobbyist. Borgas wrote that CSIRO staff association members “cannot comprehend why reasonable requests for information have become such an issue, even in the context of critical articles in Australasian Science. … Science needs to be open to full and transparent scrutiny and often has to deal with conflict and dispute.” Neither CSIRO nor Staunton responded to the Australian Financial Review’s request for comment.
SOURCE: Australasian Science, January/February 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4353
9. PARTING OF WAYS AT MEDIALINK
phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=82939&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=801216&highlight=
Medialink Worldwide has announced that it is parting ways with J. Graeme McWhirter, who co-founded the company nineteen years ago and, until December 31, 2005, was a director and executive vice-president. Medialink is the biggest producer of fake news products such as video news releases. Under the “separation agreement” with Medialink Worldwide, McWhirter will be paid $180,000 for consultancy services until July 1, 2006, and will receive a total severance payment of $1.5 million over the next five years.
SOURCE: Medialink Media Release, January 5, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4351
10. ALEXANDER STRATEGY GROUP IN THE K STREET GUTTER
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=arXHk9Sp9kkM&refer=us
“Representative Tom DeLay’s campaign to get Republicans to dominate Washington lobbying may have worked too well for the Alexander Strategy Group,” writes Bloomberg. The lobbying and political strategy firm “has links to no fewer than three of the scandals convulsing the U.S. capital.” ASG partner Tony Rudy “is now a focus of the federal investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff.” Founder Ed Buckham “set up a South Korea junket for his old boss,” DeLay, “that violated ethics rules.” Lobbyist Jim Ellis “faces money-laundering charges in Texas along with DeLay.” Lastly, ASG represents Group W Advisors, Inc., a defense contractor owned by Brent Wilkes, who “is one of the four un-indicted co-conspirators in a Nov. 28 criminal complaint for allegedly bribing” Representative Cunningham, who pled guilty to graft and resigned from Congress.
SOURCE: Bloomberg, January 6, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4350
11. THE IRAQ SELL (AND ACTIVIST SMEAR) JOBS CONTINUE
thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/010406/iraq.html
“After the White House’s aggressive response to [Iraq] war critics led to higher poll numbers for the president, congressional Republicans … are looking to fight their own aggressive campaign,” reports The Hill. After returning from recess, Republicans plan “to amplify the stories of individual soldiers who still believe in their mission.” (A recent survey of active-duty troops by the Military Times found decreasing support for both President Bush and the Iraq war, though military approval ratings for both remain higher than the general U.S. population’s.) Senate Republican Conference Chair Rick Santorum is heading the PR push. Santorum said “letters from U.S. soldiers and their families” prompted him to launch the campaign. One such letter, from Sgt. Michael Sarro of the Pennsylvania National Guard, offered help for “the senator and the fight against anti-war activists.”
SOURCE: The Hill, January 4, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4349
12. COLD COMFORT FROM A COAL BARON
www.odwyerpr.com/members/0105dix_eaton.htm
The PR firm Dix & Eaton “is serving as ‘media coordinator’ for International Coal Group, the owner of the Sago Mine in West Virginia in which a dozen miners lost their lives,” reports O’Dwyer’s. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration had cited Sago Mine for 276 safety violations in 2004 and 2005, “including 120 that were considered ‘significant and substantial.’” ICG, which bought the mine in November 2005, “has established a $2 million fund for the families of the lost miners.” ICG owner, New York billionaire Wilbur Ross, said he understands the families’ trauma since “I lost my own father when I was a teen-ager.” Dix & Eaton has worked for Diebold, the International Steel Group and Adelphia.
SOURCE: O’Dwyer’s PR Daily (sub req’d), January 5, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4348
13. CORPORATE-ASSISTED REPRESSION OF EXPRESSION
online.wsj.com/article/SB113646995897338592.html?mod=mm_hs_media
Microsoft shut down “a popular Chinese-language blog” by journalist Zhao Jing on December 30, on the grounds that it “has run edgy content potentially offensive to Chinese authorities.” The blog “had criticized the government’s firing of top editors at a progressive Beijing newspaper.” Microsoft stated, “Most countries have laws and practices that require companies providing online services to make the internet safe for local users. … In China, local laws and practices require consideration of unique elements.” Mr. Zhao’s earlier blog, hosted by the Scottish company Blog-City, was also blocked for writing about another newspaper. The Chinese government requires bloggers to register and prohibits online postings that are “against state security and public interest.” Last year, Yahoo helped identify another Chinese journalist now serving a 10-year prison sentence for emailing a secret government order; Cisco Systems has sold web filter programs to Chinese authorities.
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub req’d), January 5, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4347
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