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THIS WEEK’S NEWS
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. The Media War and Journalist Thought Crimes
2. Essential2: Better Flacking Through Chemistry
3. U.S. Public Diplomacy Goes South
4. Holy Product Placement, Batman!
5. Crunch Time for School Junk Food?
6. CNN Features Real News About Fake TV News
7. K Street to Get a TM?
8. Public Service or War Propaganda?
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== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. THE MEDIA WAR AND JOURNALIST THOUGHT CRIMES
www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002345682
“When Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld appeared on Rush Limbaugh’s talk radio show” recently, he made several remarks “on the subject of press coverage in Iraq” that have mostly escaped notice, writes Editor and Publisher. Rumsfeld said that “the terrorists, Zarqawi and bin Laden and Zawahiri, those people have media committees. They are actively out there trying to manipulate the press in the United States. … They’re much better at (laughing) managing those kinds of things than we are.” He also said, “There have been far fewer journalists who have stepped up to become embedded” with military units in Iraq. One reporter told Rumsfeld that the perception was that embedded journalists “were really part of the problem.” Rumsfeld commented, “I think that’s an inexcusable thought.”
SOURCE: Editor and Publisher, April 18, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4739
2. ESSENTIAL2: BETTER FLACKING THROUGH CHEMISTRY
www.prweek.com/us/features/article/554052/Honeywell+sees+wisdom+joint+effort+Nobel+Media/
Working with Ogilvy PR, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) launched its “Essential2" PR campaign last year, “to reposition the $550 billion industry as not only imperative, but advantageous to all aspects of modern life.” Essential2 includes “national cable TV spots, print ads, and a policymaker education program.” PR Week profiles the campaign’s outreach to chemical company employees. ACC named “campaign coordinators at each of its 129 member companies” and provided them with “articles on topics ranging from chemistry’s role in preventing house fires to keeping NASCAR drivers safe.” ACC also designed an online “employee ambassador” kit with tips on “how to discuss the benefits of chemistry, write educational letters to the editor, contact government officials, and generate school and community group speaking opportunities.” ACC members include Dow Corning, Bayer, DuPont and Carus Chemical, which hosted an employee ice cream social where “ACC’s MTV-style motivational video screened as entertainment.”
SOURCE: PR Week (sub req’d), April 17, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4738
3. U.S. PUBLIC DIPLOMACY GOES SOUTH
www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/14368770.htm
The U.S. State Department’s Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy, Karen Hughes, has “launched a campaign to make her government simpatico” to Latin America. Last month, Hughes visited Brazil, Panama, El Salvador, Chile and Colombia. She wants to make U.S. aid in the region “more visible and higher profile.” Latin American countries are receiving “more money for student and youth exchange programs, as part of a worldwide effort to bring young people into the United States.” Hughes explained, “I’m focused particularly on young people and those who influence them.” Other changes include adding eight regional public diplomacy officers, “to write up press releases, manage cultural and student exchanges and attend speaking events,” and using the State Department’s “rapid-response unit” to help ambassadors respond to breaking news. A recent poll found “three out of every five Latin Americans distrust the United States.”
SOURCE: Miami Herald, April 18, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4737
4. HOLY PRODUCT PLACEMENT, BATMAN!
online.wsj.com/article/SB114532350031828284.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
“Product placement has become commonplace in movies and TV shows. Now it’s coming to comic books — in part because the industry’s two giants, DC and Marvel, are promoting some of their titles as places to reach one of Madison Avenue’s most elusive audiences: guys in their 20s,” reports Brian Steinberg. DC Comics’ new miniseries, called “Rush City,” will have “visible promotional support from General Motors Corp.’s Pontiac.” The series’ hero will drive a Pontiac Solstice. Marvel Entertainment “has begun putting the ‘swoosh’ logo from Nike Inc. in the scenes of some of its titles, such as ‘New X-Men.’ So far, the emblem has appeared on a car door and on a character’s T-shirt.” Marvel also signed a deal with DaimlerChrysler, in which the new Dodge Caliber may be featured in their comic books’ cityscapes, “on billboards, T-shirts or signs over the next four to eight months.”
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub req’d), April 18, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4736
5. CRUNCH TIME FOR SCHOOL JUNK FOOD?
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0604140127apr14,1,6207503,print.story?coll=chi-news-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), a frequent proponent of legislation protecting children, is now taking on a formidable opponent: the snack industry. Matthew Chayes reports that Harkin has introduced legislation that would tighten the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) definition for “foods of minimal nutritional value.” Harken wants USDA guidelines to limit saturated fat, trans fat, added sugar and other bad stuff in schools, instead of filtering foods by their nutrients. Aside from advocating voluntary guidlines, industry groups like the Center for Consumer Freedom say the problem isn’t the food, it’s the kids and parents. Industry consultant Lisa Katic told the Tribune, “The industry’s not going to support a bill that’s not showing results.” She added that children need more pushups, not less fat or sugar. Kelly Brownell, director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders, told the New York Times that he fears “that the food industry, with the soft drink industry taking the lead, will work its hardest to weaken or kill this act.”
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, April 14, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4735
6. CNN FEATURES REAL NEWS ABOUT FAKE TV NEWS
www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/reliable.sources/ Our groundbreaking exposé
“Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed” continues to make waves. Dan Price, co-author of the report with CMD’s Diane Farsetta, was interviewed Sunday, April 16, by Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post on his CNN Reliable Sources program. Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein was also interviewed and pledged bipartisan action from the FCC. Dan Price is a CMD research consultant and novelist who has his own website. If you click here you can view on Dan’s site his appearance on CNN’ s Reliable Sources. It’s some of the best news you will ever watch and yes, it is real. Our colleagues at Free Press have made it easy for you to contact the FCC to ask the agency to investigate this abuse of the public airwaves and to penalize stations that break the law by deceiving their audiences with undisclosed fake news. Act today, and ask five friends to do the same.
SOURCE: CNN’s Reliable Sources, April 16, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4734
7. K STREET TO GET A TM?
thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/041206/news2.html
While “most other Republicans” are avoiding the phrase K Street Project, following lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s January agreement to plead guilty to corruption charges, Grover Norquist is seeking to trademark it. Norquist’s organization, Americans for Tax Reform, runs the project as what he describes as “an innocuous list of job openings for Washington lobbyists and a database of lobbyists’ political ties and federal campaign contributions. The lists are circulated among high-level conservatives, with critics calling the efforts an improper ‘whitelisting’ and ‘blacklisting’ of potential hires,” reports The Hill. Norquist says the K Street Project, which he founded in 1989, has been wrongly described as “a nefarious practice of Republican lawmakers pressuring groups to hire right-leaning employees.” Trademarking the phrase will allow conservatives to “jealously guard the real phrasing” and to “sue anyone who says it wrong and make lots of money,” explained Norquist.
SOURCE: The Hill, April 12, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4733
8. PUBLIC SERVICE OR WAR PROPAGANDA?
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/08/BUGROI5SPN1.DTL&hw=propaganda&sn=001&sc=1000
In early April, “a public-service advertising campaign began … encouraging Americans to show support for American troops.” The San Francisco Chronicle asks, “Is it a genuine message of gratitude or poorly designed advocacy for the war in Iraq?” The non-profit Advertising Council designed the print, radio and online ads for the U.S. Defense Department. The spots direct people to the Department’s “America Supports You” website. Some marketing professionals “said they believe the message crosses into partisan territory.” The founder of Venables, Bell & Partners remarked, “I feel the war propaganda machine.” Ad Council president Ellis Verdi rejected the criticism, saying, “What’s important is that these are 18-year-old human beings, Americans, who are under stress.” The Ad Council was formed in 1942, to increase support for World War II; its campaigns from that time include Rosie the Riveter and “Loose Lips Sink Ships.”
SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, April 8, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4732
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