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THIS WEEK ’S NEWS
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. From “Disinfopedia” to “SourceWatch”
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. A Less Kind, Less Gentle Environmentalism
2. A Steady Diet of Lobbyists Turned Regulators
3. Third Parties in the Valley
4. Who Do You Trust?
5. A Trying-Not-To-Be-Captive Audience
6. PR Bloggers Missing in Action on Payola Scandal?
7. The American Dream
8. Afraid of Being an Island Unto Itself
9. Goodwill Hunting
10. Chain Reaction Letters
11. Intensifying the Information War
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== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. FROM “DISINFOPEDIA” TO “SOURCEWATCH”
by Sheldon Rampton If you’re wondering what happened to the “Disinfopedia,” our
wiki-based “encyclopedia of people, issues and groups shaping the public
agenda,” it hasn’t disappeared. We’ve just renamed it. It’s
now called SourceWatch. Launched in March 2003, the Disinfopedia has grown
rapidly to include more than 6,000 articles about PR firms, think tanks, industry-friendly
experts and many of the other individuals and institutions that play an important
role in shaping public opinion and public policies. We’re very happy
with the way supporters of our work have stepped forward to contribute information
and insights to the project. Along the way, however, we began to hear complaints
about the name, which some people felt sounded too “paranoid.” Others
pointed out that as the Disinfopedia grew, it came to include a range
of people and organizations, some of which are indeed guilty of deceptive practices,
but not all.
For the rest of this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/3205
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. A LESS KIND, LESS GENTLE ENVIRONMENTALISM
slate.msn.com/id/2112608/ What
do the Committee on the Present Danger
and the Natural Resources Defense Council have
in common? They both endorse Set America
Free,
an “energy security” plan put forward
by the Institute for the Analysis of Global
Security and other conservative think tanks.
Now, “many of the leading neoconservatives
who pushed hard for the Iraq war are going
green.” Prius owner James Woolsey and
bio-fuel enthusiast Frank Gaffney, among others, “want
to weaken the Saudis, the Iranians, and the
Syrians while also strengthening the Israelis.
Whether these ends are achieved with M-16s
or hybrid automobiles doesn’t seem to
matter to them.”
SOURCE: Slate, January 25, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/3211
2. A STEADY DIET OF LOBBYISTS TURNED REGULATORS
alternet.org/columnists/story/21041/ “Jonathan
L. Snare has been named to head the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration,” writes
Molly Ivins. “He used to be the lobbyist
for Metabolife, the ephedra diet pill that
attracted so much unpleasant attention. Ephedrine
was finally barred in 2003 after the Food and
Drug Administration decided it had caused 155
deaths. I guess we’re lucky Bush didn’t
put Snare at the FDA.” Snare is the second
industry insider appointed to a high-level
OSHA position by Bush, according to Ivins. “The
assistant secretary is John Henshaw,
a former health and safety chief for the chemical
company
Monsanto. In 40 months on the job, Henshaw
axed three dozen proposed regulations.”
SOURCE: AlterNet, January 20, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/3210
3. THIRD PARTIES IN THE VALLEY
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6852842/site/newsweek/ For
years, marketers have known that “sociable,
influential early adopters,” or connectors,
can drive sales. In California this month, “100
of Silicon Valley’s top venture capitalists,
entrepreneurs, lawyers, bloggers and promoters
will begin receiving cool new stuff for free. … These
movers and shakers promise to sample the products
and offer feedback to their manufacturers.
The companies hope that, if the mood strikes,
the Silicon Valley 100 will chat up, blog on,
or just plain recommend the products to friends
and colleagues, generating that most invaluable
of currencies: buzz.” Journalist and
blogger Dan Gillmor calls the organized buzz
effort “oddly creepy” and asks
for disclosure.
SOURCE: Newsweek, January 21, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/3208
4. WHO DO YOU TRUST?
news.ft.com/cms/s/81f2b4c6-6d7c-11d9-9b69-00000e2511c8.html The
Edelman PR firm’s annual eight country
survey found that “pressure groups and
charities have overtaken governments, media
and big businesses to become the world’s
most trusted institutions.” The trend
was most pronounced in the United States, where
trust in non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
climbed 20 percent since 2001. The Economist
says that NGOs’ push for corporate social
responsibility (CSR) shows that they don’t
understand capitalism. “The human face
that CSR applies to capitalism goes on each
morning, gets increasingly smeared by day and
washes off at night.” Pressure from NGOs
resulted in a total PR victory against business,
but “CSR reflects a mistaken analysis
of how capitalism serves society.”
SOURCE: Financial Times, January 23, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/3207
5. A TRYING-NOT-TO-BE-CAPTIVE AUDIENCE
www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-fg-reporting23jan23.story “Most
Western reporters have determined that their
only option is to turn to the U.S. and British
embassies for transportation help,” writes
the Los Angeles Times’ Alissa Rubin from
Iraq. “The embassies, with the power
to commandeer military helicopters, armed with
gunners and personal security details, allow
journalists to leapfrog the ring of danger
around Baghdad and visit the rest of the country. … But
with the mobility come some hindrances. Western
government officials exert control over the
journalists’ itineraries, set up interviews,
and decide who and what will be seen.” The
Independent’s Robert Fisk recently decried “hotel
journalism,” writing, “Rarely,
if ever, has a war been covered by reporters
in so distant and restricted a way.”
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, January 23, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/3206
6. PR BLOGGERS MISSING IN ACTION ON PAYOLA SCANDAL?
journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2005/01/19/ktch_pr.html “For
PR bloggers especially,” writes Jay Rosen,
the Armstrong Williams cash-for-commentary
scandal “was a moment for them to shine
and for the most part they did not show up.” The
story of Williams and his $240,000 deal with
the Ketchum PR firm has been “nearly
invisible to PR bloggers, who, aside
from a few mentions here and there, have neglected
this juicy and far-reaching story.”
SOURCE: PressThink, January 19, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/3204
7. THE AMERICAN DREAM
www.esquire.com/features/articles/2004/041222_mfe_dream_1.html “In
all of Iraq, Jumana Hanna was the bravest witness
to the horror of Saddam’s regime, telling
the Americans of torture, rape, and mass murder,” writes
Sara Solovitch. Paul Wolfowitz recounted her
story to the Senate Foreign Relations Commitee.
Her suffering was described in agonizing detail
in a Washington Post story by Peter Finn. But
when Solovitch signed on to write a book about
Hanna, she discovered that her story was fiction.
The woman lionized as a brave survivor of Saddam
Hussein’s prisons was apparently a homeless
prostitute who successfully scammed U.S. officials
into giving her a new life in the United States. “Far
from being a story about the indomitability
of the human spirit,” Solovitch realized, “Hanna’s
tale now seemed to open a window on the coalition’s
naivete – the willingness of its leaders
to believe almost anything that fit their agenda.” (Faced
with Solovitch’s revelations, the Washington
Post has retracted its original story.)
SOURCE: Esquire, January 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/3203
8. AFRAID OF BEING AN ISLAND UNTO ITSELF
news.ft.com/cms/s/eae650fa-6a61-11d9-858c-00000e2511c8.html The
British government “is using taxpayers’ money
to hire a PR agency to extol the virtues of
(European Union) membership and explain why
the European constitution is a ‘success
for Britain.’” The London-based
firm Geronimo PR received a £40,000 ($US74,900)
contract to mount an “extensive communications
campaign,” prior to a public referendum
on the constitution, likely in 2006. The British
Foreign Office said the campaign is to inform,
not persuade, the public. However, a Foreign
Office memo obtained by the Financial Times
said that rejecting the constitution would “jeopardise
our position in the EU. … It would marginalise
and isolate us.”
SOURCE: Financial Times, January 19, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/3202
9. GOODWILL HUNTING
www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2990219 In
2003, two companies in the Manchester
neighborhood, Valero Refining and Lyondell-Citgo, “ranked
among the top dozen in the Houston area for
accidental releases of air contaminants.” But “the
men and women who live there rarely complain,” writes
the Houston Chronicle, perhaps because of the “free
car washes, donated computers, elementary school
essay contests and Easter egg hunts” the
companies sponsor. Valero’s annual car
wash “began in the late 1990s when the
plant accidentally sent a plume of fine dust
over the neighborhood’s tiny, bungalow-filled
streets.” A Valero spokesperson said, “That’s
not a payoff, it’s a gesture,” but “community
activists say the company handouts definitely
influence how neighborhoods react when the
plants’ actions aren’t so favorable.”
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle, January 16, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/3201
10. CHAIN REACTION LETTERS
www.app.com/app/story/0,21625,1180043,00.html A “rare
mailing” sent to 100,000 homes within
10 miles of “the oldest commercial [nuclear]
reactor in the country,” New Jersey’s
Oyster Creek plant, informed residents that “radiation
is everywhere – in the air, in the soil
and even in their bodies.” AmerGen, which
owns the plant, said the mailing “help[s]
the company meet federal requirements mandating
that reactor owners teach the public about
radiation and its effects.” The Asbury
Park Press writes that the mailing “coincides
with a push by AmerGen,” as it prepares “to
apply for a 20-year license renewal in July.” AmerGen
is also holding an information fair, “to
calm fears surrounding nuclear power
through education and to convince the public
that AmerGen
can live up to its motto: Safe, Clean
and Reliable.”
SOURCE: Asbury Park Press (New Jersey), January 19, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/3200
11. INTENSIFYING THE INFORMATION WAR
www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000760609 Media
training has increased for U.S. forces
going to Iraq, reports Editor & Publisher, “becoming
mandatory for Army troops since October” and
taking “higher priority” for Marines.
The training involves “one or two hours
of briefings by public-affairs specialists.” Soldiers “are
urged to speak with the press as a way of promoting
the positive elements of the operation, but
not to lie or speak about issues with which
they are not familiar.” Soldiers are
also given regularly updated, wallet-sized “talking
point” cards, “to keep up with
the conflict’s changing issues and the
proximity of embedded reporters.” The
North Carolina News & Observer reported
that one talking point given to troops at Fort
Bragg was, “We are not an occupying force.”
SOURCE: Editor and Publisher, January 18, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/3199
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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