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THIS WEEK'S NEWS

1. Fear And The Undecided Voter
2. Bunches of Banana Republicans
3. Wal-Mart Gets PR Help From Hill & Knowlton
4. Tuning in to the Void
5. Luntz Gets His Lumps
6. Sorry, No Hablo Diplomacia
7. Scenes from Spin Alley
8. Drug Ads Just Got Harder to Swallow
9. Asbestos PR Down Under
10. Venezuela Promotes Lefty Image
11. Iraq: Advertising the Best Intentions
12. The Rotten Taste of Success
13. The John Kerry Attack Matrix
14. Iraq: Spinning Quagmire into Gold
15. Operation American Repression
16. Poll Dance
17. Gearing Up for the Post-Debate Debate
18. PR Threats and Opportunities in Moblogs
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1. FEAR AND THE UNDECIDED VOTER
nytimes.com/2004/10/05/science/05fear.html “For all the policy differences it revealed, the presidential debate last week also highlighted what has become a predominant theme in this presidential campaign: fear,” the New York Times reports. “President Bush implied that Senator John Kerry's 'mixed message' on Iraq would only encourage the enemy. Mr. Kerry warned that Mr. Bush's 'certainty' could needlessly extend a bloody occupation. Each side hopes that fear of a future shaped by the opposing candidate will help win over undecided voters. Yet psychologists who study the effect of emotion on voting behavior say that undecided voters are the least likely to respond to fear as a persuasion tactic. In fact, new research suggests that it is the politically informed partisan voter who is most susceptible to persuasion by fear and anxiety. Voters who are truly undecided, many political scientists argue, are not so much torn between the candidates as tuned out, and they do not feel strongly enough about issues to be swayed by threatening messages.”
SOURCE: New York Times, October 5, 2004
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096948801

2. BUNCHES OF BANANA REPUBLICANS
thehill.com/news/10052004/agenda.aspx The number of “invitation-only conservative gatherings” on Capitol Hill is increasing. The Conservative Working Group, Values Action Team, Fiscal Action Team, and others, through regular meetings, were “instrumental in defeating the Law of the Sea Treaty” and “a driving force behind the failure of the Senate to renew the assault-weapons ban.” They helped “force the resignation two weeks ago of a spokeswoman conducting an inquiry into the United Nations' oil-for-food program,” after the Heritage Foundation “complained that she wrote an op-ed two years ago that was critical of President Bush.” A Boston Globe special report found (as did Banana Republicans), “With one party controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress … the way laws are made in America” is changing, to favor “secrecy and speed over open debate and negotiation.”
SOURCE: The Hill, October 5, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1096948800
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096948800

3. WAL-MART GETS PR HELP FROM HILL & KNOWLTON
www.prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=223776&site=3 “Wal-Mart is working with Hill & Knowlton on a PR campaign designed to rehabilitate the much-maligned company's reputation in California and pave the way for 40 new Wal-Mart Supercenters in the state in the next few years,” PR Week reports. The world's largest retailer published an “open letter to California residents” in 15 California newspapers on September 23. “As the company has grown, we've become a target for negative comments from certain elected officials, competitors and powerful special interest groups,” Wal-Mart wrote. PR Week reports that several of H&K's California offices have been working with Wal-Mart for several months on the PR effort, “primarily handling media relations tasks.” Wal-Mart announced plans to add 55 million square feet of retail space in 2005, representing an 8 percent increase in retail space for the company, which had a record setting $134.5 billion in net sales for the six months ended July 31, 2004.
SOURCE: PR Week (sub. req'd.), October 4, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1096862403
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096862403

4. TUNING IN TO THE VOID
www.nytimes.com/2004/10/04/opinion/04mon4.html The Wisconsin Advertising Project estimates that “many voters – nearly 60 percent – have not been exposed to any of the 530,000 campaign ads aired so far in the most expensive presidential campaign ever.” A companion project researching local TV news “found only 44 percent of local stations offer[ed] any campaign coverage at all in the 2002 elections. Most of this involved horse-race babble crammed into the final days.” In 2000, “there were almost four times as many local campaign ads as political stories. Perversely, one study found there's more useful and engaging information in a political ad – particularly a negative ad – than in a local campaign story.”
SOURCE: New York Times, October 4, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1096862402
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096862402

5. LUNTZ GETS HIS LUMPS
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4636-2004Oct3.html Pollster Frank Luntz “is crying foul after MSNBC canceled his long-scheduled focus group two days before the debate. … 'I think they buckled to political pressure,' says Luntz, who has advised Republicans from Newt Gingrich to Rudy Giuliani.” An MSNBC spokesperson said the decision “had nothing to do with Frank's past work or politics.” The liberal group Media Matters for America had urged MSNBC not to include Luntz in their debate coverage, due to his “partisan Republican ties and history of questionable scientific methodology.” But Luntz, who went ahead with the focus groups, concluded, “Bush had already lost the debate after just the first 15 minutes.”
SOURCE: Washington Post, October 4, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1096862401
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096862401

6. SORRY, NO HABLO DIPLOMACIA
prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=223773&site=3 “Mixed messages, poor coordination and inadequately trained officials” are hampering America's overseas diplomacy, concludes the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. Many ambassadors – “the primary messengers for policy goals in their host country” – “are uncomfortable serving as advocates in the media and in front of mass audiences.” More than one-fifth of U.S. foreign service officers overseas “did not meet the foreign-language speaking requirements of their positions.” One commission member said post-9/11 visa delays were damaging international scholarship programs, “a key historical component of public diplomacy. … Are we so incompetent that in order to keep [terrorists] out we must keep everybody out?”
SOURCE: PR Week (sub. req'd), October 4, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1096862400
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096862400

7. SCENES FROM SPIN ALLEY Notwithstanding efforts to put a Bush spin on Thursday's presidential debate, several opinion polls agree that John Kerry beat George Bush in Thursday's presidential debate. Even Republican pundit Jay Nordlinger says that Bush “did poorly,” “seemed a little desperate,” “reminded me of Dan Quayle,” engaged in “robotic repetition” of memorized phrases, and “gave the appearance of being what his critics charge he is: callow, jejune, unserious.” Conservatives did manage to come up with a few “undecided” voters who said they thought Bush won, but it turns out the undecideds were actually Republicans activists posing as independent.
Web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1096702110
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096702110

8. DRUG ADS JUST GOT HARDER TO SWALLOW
online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB109658534610233113,00.html?mod=mm%5Fhs%5Fadvertising “Pharmaceutical advertising has exploded over the past decade to become the 10th-largest advertising category in the U.S. … Last year, expenditures for prescription-drug ads jumped 24% to $3.21 billion.” After Merck recalled its arthritis and pain medicine Vioxx, direct-to-consumer drug advertising is facing renewed scrutiny. “Advertising and promotions played a major role in making people think Vioxx was safer and more effective than it is,” said Public Citizen's Health Research Group director. “If we see product liability emanating from Merck's decision … it will … encourage drug companies to disclose the maximum amount of a drug's risks in their advertising,” said former FDA associate commissioner Wayne Pines.
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (reg. req'd.), October 1, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1096603201
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096603201

9. ASBESTOS PR DOWN UNDER
www.canuckflack.com/archives/000574.html “Down in Australia, James Hardie Industries is stumbling through an asbestos compensation scandal,” writes Colin McKay. “Public relations in such an environment is incredibly difficult – and even worse if you mishandle the media.” The company has managed to enrage journalists by reneging on promises to grant interviews and by organizing a press conference and then refusing to allow questions from the 20 reporters who showed up.
SOURCE: Canuck Flack (weblog), October 1, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2004.html#1096603200
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096603200

10. VENEZUELA PROMOTES LEFTY IMAGE
www.nytimes.com/2004/09/30/business/media/30adco.html Venezuela has launched an advertising campaign “pitching itself as an egalitarian nirvana where petro-dollars are funneled straight to the poor,” reports the New York Times. “The idea, say Venezuelan officials, is to show American business executives and policy makers that a happy country is a stable one, even if many in Venezuela would disagree.” The ads were created by Underground Advertising, a small San Francisco firm that does work for non-profit and progressive organizations. “The purpose [of the ads], of course, is to show that the Ch·vez government has grassroots support, and counter Bush administration spin that he is a lefty commie who loves to hang out with Fidel,” Kevin McCauley, an editor for the trade publication O'Dwyer's PR, told the Times. Venezuela uses the well-connected Patton Boggs firm for lobbying in Washington.
SOURCE: New York Times, September 30, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/September_2004.html#1096516804
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096516804

11. IRAQ: ADVERTISING THE BEST INTENTIONS
www.odwyerpr.com/members/washington_report/index.htm The major PR contract for the Multi National Corps-Iraq was awarded to Iraqex, a “business clearinghouse company formed specifically to provide a swath of services in the war-torn country.” The Washington DC-based Lincoln Alliance Corporation, a “business 'intelligence' company that handles services from 'political campaign intelligence' to commercial real estate in Iraq,” set up Iraqex last year. Iraqex has four Iraq offices, including in Baghdad and Basra. Iraqex will develop video and print publications, purchase TV and radio time, and oversee public affairs and advertising for MNC-I, to ensure “that the Coalition gains widespread Iraqi acceptance of its core themes and messages.”
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (reg. req'd.), September 30, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/September_2004.html#1096516803
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096516803

12. THE ROTTEN TASTE OF SUCCESS
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60823-2004Sep29.html “Food industry lobbyists met privately with Bush administration officials 10 times while the government was crafting rules to protect the food supply from bioterrorism.” The Center for Science in the Public Interest stated, “The result is regulations that the industry likes, but that don't fully protect the public interest.” The Grocery Manufacturers of America, Altria Group and others lobbied to weaken proposed regulations requiring importers to notify the Food and Drug Administration before food shipments arrive from overseas. One GMA lobbyist explained, “We all want regulations to protect against bioterrorism, but in a way to achieve the goals and allow the business to operate in an efficient manner.”
SOURCE: Washington Post, September 30, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/September_2004.html#1096516802
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096516802

13. THE JOHN KERRY ATTACK MATRIX
www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,65142,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1 In some respects, the real presidential debate will take place in cyberspace, reports Wired magazine. “The Bush campaign has launched a massive rapid-response effort called Debate Facts to rebut challenger John Kerry's assertions during the debates,” writes Louise Witt. “The campaign will provide a live feed to about 5,000 conservative blogs that subscribe to its news alerts. Debate Facts is similar to the “war room” the Bush campaign and the Republican National Committee set up in Boston during the Democratic convention – only much larger and more sophisticated.” Staffed with a large team of policy, Internet and PR experts, Debate Facts will work closely with Republican luminaries including Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, Rudy Giuliani and John McCainto spin the post-debate debate, using carefully crafted talking points that they have compiled into a 150-page book called The John Kerry Attack Matrix.
SOURCE: Wired, September 30, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/September_2004.html#1096516801
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096516801

14. IRAQ: SPINNING QUAGMIRE INTO GOLD
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60725-2004Sep29.html The Washington Post reports on an “unusual public-relations effort by the Pentagon and the U.S. Agency for International Development … to improve Americans' opinions about the Iraq conflict.” USAID's reports on the number of insurgent attacks are now “restricted to those who need it for security planning.” The Pentagon “is sponsoring a group of Iraqi Americans and former officials from the Coalition Provisional Authority to speak at [U.S.] military bases.” And “the U.S. government and a representative of President Bush's reelection campaign” were “heavily involved in drafting the speech given to Congress last week by interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.”
SOURCE: Washington Post, September 30, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/September_2004.html#1096516800
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096516800

15. OPERATION AMERICAN REPRESSION
www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/29/military_justice/index.html “An Army Reserve staff sergeant who last week wrote a critical analysis of the United States' prospects in Iraq now faces possible disciplinary action for disloyalty and insubordination,” reports Eric Boehlert. “If charges are bought and the officer is found guilty, he could face 20 years in prison. It would be the first such disloyalty prosecution since the Vietnam War. The essay that sparked the military investigation is titled “Why We Cannot Win” and was posted Sept. 20 on the conservative antiwar Web site LewRockwell.com. Written by Al Lorentz, a non-commissioned officer from Texas with nearly 20 years in the Army who is serving in Iraq, the essay offers a bleak assessment of America's chances for success in Iraq.”
SOURCE: Salon.com, September 29, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/September_2004.html#1096430400
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16. POLL DANCE
www.campaigndesk.org/archives/000963.asp After MoveOn.org accused the Gallup polling firm of using a survey methodology that stacks the deck in favor of Republicans, CNN (which uses Gallup) responded with a news segment that “implicitly confirmed a criticism of itself that was leveled in the MoveOn ad: the charge that CNN winds up 'acting as unquestioning promotional partners [with Gallup], rather than as critical journalists.'” Gallup's polls have shown a substantial lead for Bush, but other recent polls say that Kerry and Bush are dead even.
SOURCE: CJR Campaign Desk, September 28, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at: www.prwatch.org/spin/September_2004.html#1096344002
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096344002

17. GEARING UP FOR THE POST-DEBATE DEBATE
www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_09_26.php#003525 “If 2000 was any indication,” writes Joshua Micah Marshall, the winner of this week's presidential campaign debate “won't be determined during the 90 minute encounter itself but during the spin war that will follow it. And with the advantage the Republicans have on the cable nets, talk radio and chat TV shows, the odds are stacked in their favor.” In 2000, the initial public reactions to the first Bush/Gore debate had Gore coming out on top. “It was only after several days of pundit churn that Bush became the winner,” Marshall notes. “The Bush team won the post-debate debate.” In the runup to this year's first debate, he notes, “Republicans are already leaking hints and taunts about whether Kerry will sweat profusely under the lights, whether he's too tanned and other similar nonsense. But the antic nature of these taunts doesn't mean they won't be effective. They're meant to throw the other side off balance and, in a related manner, to provide grist for a catty and frivolous press corps.”
SOURCE: Talking Points Memo, September 28, 2004
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096344001

18. PR THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN MOBLOGS
www.micropersuasion.com/2004/09/pr_threats_and_.html “Moblogging – short for 'mobile blogging' – will have a bigger impact on the public relations industry than any other technological change in the past five years,” writes Steve Rubel. As weblogs begin to broadcast content from “an intelligent arsenal of millions of connected mobile devices … suddenly the PR professional is faced with an entirely new set of challenges and opportunities.” One of the threats, Rubel warns, is that corporate secrets and intellectual property are bound to leak onto the internet. On the other hand, “Moblogging offers PR pros the opportunity to leverage new tools to generate buzz.”
SOURCE: Micro Persuasion weblog, September 27, 2004
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit: www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1096257603

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