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THIS WEEK’S NEWS
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. What Media Democracy Looks Like: Testifying in Milwaukee
2. A View of 9/11 from North of the Border
3. “The Best War Ever” — Watch the Web Movie, Read the Book, Learn the Truth About Iraq
4. Latest Update: Exposing Earmarks
5. Update: Congress vs. the President
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. The Year of Lobbying Dangerously
2. How 9-11 Changed the News
3. Corporate Spin Can Come in Disguise
4. More Journalists On U.S. Government Payroll
5. Wal-Mart Sends in the Tanks
6. Profs Smell Smoke in Food Marketing to Kids
7. Breathless Audacity
8. Open Letter to ABC
9. Pharma PR Tries to Spin Gold From Yawn
10. Sept 7 in Milwaukee: Future of Media FCC Hearing
== UPCOMING EVENTS ==
1. SEATTLE – The Best War Ever
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== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. WHAT MEDIA DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE: TESTIFYING IN MILWAUKEE
by Diane Farsetta
“Media democracy” is a term that everyone defines a little differently. Is it quality reporting that not only informs about local, national and international issues, but also facilitates citizen involvement? Is it having the diversity of our communities represented among media owners? Is it giving local programmers access to the airwaves? Is it holding broadcasters to the terms of their freely-granted licenses? Is it ensuring a variety of news and cultural media offerings?
One thing’s for sure — what happened last Thursday in Milwaukee was media democracy in action. More than 300 people attended the Town Meeting on the Future of the Media, which was organized by the media reform group Free Press and co-sponsored by the Center for Media and Democracy. The event gave attendees the opportunity to tell Federal Communications Commission members Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps how well the media are serving their communities.
For the rest of this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5168
2. A VIEW OF 9/11 FROM NORTH OF THE BORDER
by Judith Siers-Poisson
I happened to be in Vancouver Sunday evening and all day Monday, so spent 9/11 north of the border. While people in the U.S. and other parts of the world only had The Path to 9/11 docudrama as a television viewing choice, I was fortunate to be able to watch two excellent documentary films about 9/11 and its aftermath aired by the Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC). I also enjoyed the unique perspective of watching them in the home of Amy and Gregor Robertson, a member of the Britsh Columbia Legislative Assembly. Journalist Linda Solomon, who was living 15 blocks from the World Trade Center on 9/11, was also there. You can read her article about how 9/11 affected her here.
For the rest of this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5169
3. “THE BEST WAR EVER” — WATCH THE WEB MOVIE, READ THE BOOK, LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT IRAQ
by John Stauber
The Best War Ever: Lies, Damned Lies and the Mess in Iraq is the new Sheldon Rampton / John Stauber book on sale everywhere September 14. You can preorder it and view a powerful web movie based on the book at www.TheBestWarEver.com. The book explains how the propaganda that misled America into war is leading to defeat. The Best War Ever is a follow-up to Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush’s War on Iraq, published in July 2003. That was the first book to expose the deceptions that sold the war. Although Weapons of Mass Deception was a New York Times bestseller, the same mainstream media who behaved like a government propaganda arm to cheerlead America into war largely ignored it. To bypass such censorship, this time the authors asked filmmaker Matt Thompson to produce a web movie based on the new book. It’s viewable at www.TheBestWarEver.com. Check it out. You can watch the short film, order the new book, and even sign the Voters For Peace Pledge to only support politicians who make peace their priority.
For the rest of this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5164
4. LATEST UPDATE: EXPOSING EARMARKS
by Elliott Fullmer
The politics of ?secret holds? continues in the Senate.
After deciding to drop his original hold on the Coburn-Obama-McCain-Carper earmark reform bill, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) first reinstated it, and has now dropped it yet again.
For the rest of this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5159
5. UPDATE: CONGRESS VS. THE PRESIDENT
by Conor Kenny
A few weeks ago, we first posted on the subject of presidential signing statements. At that time, we issued a challenge to all the citizen journalists out there to help us pin down the positions of the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sen. Arlen Specter?s (R-Pa.) Presidential Signing Statements Act, where the bill currently resides. The bill would grant Congress the right to file suit in order to determine the constitutionality of signing statements.
With your help, and some research of our own, we’ve been able to pin down the positions of half the members of the committee (nine of eighteen). Special thanks to one of Sen. Mike DeWine’s Ohio constituents, who sent in an email he got from the senator on the subject. We’ve put calls into the offices of the other nine, but for whatever reason they are unwilling or unable to come out publicly on the bill. The current count: five in support, two opposed, and two officially uncommitted. For the full breakdown, see the handy chart on our presidential signing statements page.
For the rest of this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5156
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. THE YEAR OF LOBBYING DANGEROUSLY
www.publicintegrity.org/icij/default.aspx?aid=519
“Indonesia’s national intelligence agency used a former Indonesian president’s charitable foundation to hire a Washington lobbying firm … to press the U.S. government for a full resumption of controversial military training programs,” reports the Center for Public Integrity’s International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The firm, Collins & Co., was retained by the Gus Dur Foundation in May 2005, for $30,000 a month, to “remove legislative and policy restrictions on security cooperation with Indonesia.” From June to October 2005, “Collins & Co. lobbyists, sometimes accompanied by [Indonesian intelligence] officials, met with several key members of Congress and their staffs,” including Senators Leahy, Hagel and Murkowski, an aide to Senator Obama, and Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. In late 2005, the State Department “fully reinstated military cooperation and aid to Indonesia.” The Gus Dur Foundation’s mission is to build orphanages, libraries and schools. The man who signed the lobbying contract on the foundation’s behalf said former Indonesian president Wahid “didn’t know” about it.
SOURCE: International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, September 7, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5166
2. HOW 9-11 CHANGED THE NEWS
www.journalism.org/node/1839
“How did 9-11 change the news?” asks the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ). To answer the question, ADT Research’s Tyndall Report analyzed network evening news shows, comparing “the four years of network newscasts prior to 2001" with “the four years since.” The study reveals “increased coverage of foreign policy and global conflict … but less coverage of domestic issues.” PEJ writes, “A rise in foreign coverage may not surprise anyone. U.S. troops are currently fighting and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. The issue of global terrorism is the new question of our times.” Yet, “the balance between reporting-driven ‘hard news’ and softer features, interviews and commentaries remained virtually unchanged after 9-11.” The topics with the steepest decline in U.S. network news coverage since 9-11 are drugs, alcohol and tobacco; space, science and technology; and crime, penal policy and law enforcement.
SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism (U.S.), September 11, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5165
3. CORPORATE SPIN CAN COME IN DISGUISE
www.sptimes.com/2006/09/10/news_pf/Worldandnation/Corporate_spin_can_co.shtml
“If McDonald’s makes the case that fast food is nutritious or ExxonMobil argues against higher taxes, it looks like simple self-interest. But when an independent voice makes the case, the ideas gain credibility. So big corporations have devised a form of idea laundering, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to seemingly independent groups that act as spokesmen under disguise. Their views wind up on the opinion pages of the nation’s newspapers – often with no disclosure that the writer has financial ties to the companies involved. A few examples: James K. Glassman, a prominent syndicated columnist, denounced Super Size Me, a movie critical of McDonald’s. Readers were not told that McDonald’s is a major sponsor of a Web site hosted by Glassman. … Steven Milloy, an analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, wrote a column in the Washington Times that sided with the oil industry against windfall profits taxes. Readers weren’t told that groups closely affiliated with Milloy have received at least $180,000 from ExxonMobil. By having others deliver their talking points, the companies stay above the fray, said John Stauber, whose Center for Media and Democracy tracks corporate front groups. ‘What these companies are doing is paying somebody else to attack their critics while keeping their fingerprints off the attack.’”
SOURCE: St. Petersburg Times (Florida), September 10, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5163
4. MORE JOURNALISTS ON U.S. GOVERNMENT PAYROLL
www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15466239.htm
Ten Miami journalists have been paid by the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) for their involvement in programs for the anti-Castro propaganda stations, Radio Mart? and TV Mart?. The OCB is a unit of the the U.S. government-funded Broadcasting Board of Governors. Three of the ten were journalists with El Nuevo Herald. “Pablo Alfonso, who reports on Cuba and writes an opinion column, was paid almost $175,000 since 2001 to host shows on Radio Mart? and TV Mart?. El Nuevo Herald freelance reporter Olga Connor, who writes about Cuban culture, received about $71,000, and staff reporter Wilfredo Cancio Isla, who covers the Cuban exile community and politics, was paid almost $15,000 in the last five years,” Oscar Corral wrote. Alfonso and Isla have been fired by El Nuevo Herald and Connor’s freelance relationship terminated. The director of OCB, Pedro Roig, defended the payments.
SOURCE: Miami Herald, September 8, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5162
5. WAL-MART SENDS IN THE TANKS
www.nytimes.com/2006/09/08/business/08walmart.html
“As Wal-Mart Stores struggles to rebut criticism from unions and Democratic leaders, the company has discovered a reliable ally,” report Michael Barbaro and Stephanie Strom: “prominent conservative research groups like the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation and the Manhattan Institute,” as well as lesser-known think tanks such as the Pacific Research Institute. “Top policy analysts at these groups have written newspaper opinion pieces around the country supporting Wal-Mart, defended the company in interviews with reporters and testified on its behalf before government committees in Washington.” What the think tanks haven’t done is disclose the more than $2.5 million in funding they’ve received from Wal-Mart over the past six years. The National Committee on Responsive Philanthropy has compiled a report detailing the political objectives of Wal-Mart’s charitable activities, titled “The Waltons and Wal-Mart: Self-Interested Philanthropy.”
SOURCE: New York Times, September 8, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5161
6. PROFS SMELL SMOKE IN FOOD MARKETING TO KIDS
www.smh.com.au/news/national/ads-for-junk-food-likened-to-pushing-cigarettes/2006/09/05/1157222132672.html
Governments should learn a lesson from tobacco marketeers and restrict junk food advertising aimed at children, says a prominent obesity specialist. Boyd Swinburn, professor of population health at Deakin University in Australia, was one of several members of a global task force on obesity who called for international standards on advertising food products to children. “If you put a child in a sweet shop and say ‘Choose not to consume that’, it’s an almost impossible responsibility,” said Neville Rigby, director of policy and public affairs for the London-based International Obesity task force. (Companies like Altria have historically launched joint efforts to combat criticism of tobacco and food industry policies.) Papers and talks presented at the International Congress on Obesity in Australia were promptly attacked by snack food and restaurant industry advocates. Food industry PR flacks allege that at least one obesity task force member is underwritten by pharmaceutical companies seeking to market antiobesity medications. Many conference participants are calling on the UN’s World Health Organization to promulgate uniform restrictions on food marketing to children.
SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald, September 6, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5160
8. OPEN LETTER TO ABC
openlettertoabc.blogspot.com
A group of activists has launched an Open Letter to ABC and its parent company, Disney, challenging the network’s right-wing bias and factual distortions in its upcoming docudrama, “The Path to 9/11.” The open letter includes information about Disney’s history of caving to the right, the right-wing only marketing campaign used to promote the film, and rebuttals of its fabrications. The New York Times and Editor and Publisher magazine are also reporting on the controversy around the film.
SOURCE: Open Letter to ABC, September 5, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5157
9. PHARMA PR TRIES TO SPIN GOLD FROM YAWN
www.prweek.com Americans may tire quickly of some pharmaceutical PR, but they’ve got nowhere to turn (certainly not in bed) when it comes to a new campaign sponsored by the makers of a sleep-fighting medication, Provigil. Drug-maker Cephalon hired Dorland Global Public Relations, which has spun consumers’ disinterest in “sleepiness” into a Homeland Security-like campaign for “alertness.” The trick: target employers. “No employer is going to allow you to bring advertising into their marketplace,” notes Cephalon PR director Sheryl William. Instead, employers opened the door when Dorland created an “education” campaign, including two ex-NASA scientists, to warn employers that the lack of alertness at work could be dangerous. Among other things, Provigil has FDA approval for treatment of “shift work sleep disorder”—a condition that can result from employers’ rotating shift requirements. Dorland also created a website and launched a pilot in Atlanta and Chicago that included street interviews and visits to baseball games. The “alertness” website (which gently leads the viewer to Cephalon) has reached four times its hoped-for audience.
SOURCE: PRWeek, August 28, 2006 (sub req’d)
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5155
10. SEPT 7 IN MILWAUKEE: FUTURE OF MEDIA FCC HEARING
www.prwatch.org/node/5112 Do you want more quality journalism? Are you concerned about the consolidation of media ownership? Is your community fairly represented in the media? Tell the U.S. Federal Communications Commission directly, at the “Town Meeting on the Future of Media” in Milwaukee! The Center for Media and Democracy is co-sponsoring the September 7 event, at which members of the public will share media concerns with FCC Commissioners Copps and Adelstein. See our website or Free Press’ website for more information. At a similar hearing in Los Angeles this week, FCC Commissioners heard from people concerned “that the consolidation of station ownership had led to a pronounced decline in in-depth news reporting, diversity of viewpoints and quality children’s programming,” and from Hispanic community members concerned about media labor practices and racist radio programming, reports the LA Times.
SOURCE: Center for Media and Democracy, September 6, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5153
== UPCOMING EVENTS ==
1. SEATTLE – THE BEST WAR EVER
Date: 09/19/2006 – 20:30 to 09/19/2006 – 22:00 Co-Author John Stauber speaking.
Location: Seattle, WA, Elliot Bay Book Company
URL: www.elliottbaybook.com/
For the further information, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/5015
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