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THE WEEKLY SPIN, October 26, 2005
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THIS WEEK’S NEWS
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. Academic Freedom Ain’t What It Used to Be
2. One Step Forward (But Two Back) in the Fight Against Fake News
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. And Now, for the Local Fake News
2. The Big Picture
3. Cheney-Rumsfeld Cabal’s Amateur Hour
4. Monsanto’s Anti-Politics Machine
5. E-voting Not Yet Ready for Prime Time
6. The Little Red-Handed Lobby Shop and the Wolf
7. The Plame Blame Game?
8. Not Too Many Miers Admirers
9. Buzz Cut
10. How a Lobbyist Stacked the Deck
11. Public Diplomacy after Psyops Atrocities
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== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. ACADEMIC FREEDOM AIN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE
by Laura Miller This summer the Wisconsin-based staff of the Center for Media and Democracy had the pleasure of working with Molly Riordan, an Ithaca College student, who came out to Madison to be our intern. A smart and politically engaged student, Riordan quickly took to our work, adding and editing numerous articles on SourceWatch, our collaborative online encyclopedia of the people, issues and groups shaping public opinion and public policy.
I suggested that she write an article on something of interest to her. What resulted was the cover story for the third quarter issue (now available online) of our award-winning quarterly publication PR Watch. In her article “Academic Freedom Takes a Step to the Right,” Riordan takes a look at Students for Academic Freedom, a conservative organization with over a hundred campus chapters that claims to promote “academic diversity.” Closer examination of SAF reveals its close affiliation with “Marxist-turned-conservative activist” David Horowitz and a pattern of only identifying cases involving conservative students resisting alleged “leftist indoctrination.”
For the rest of this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4104
2. ONE STEP FORWARD (BUT TWO BACK) IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FAKE NEWS
by Diane Farsetta “Myself and others felt violated by the first bill,” said Doug Simon, the founder, president and CEO of D S Simon Productions, a major producer of the faux television news reports known as video news releases (VNRs).
Simon was referring to the Truth in Broadcasting Act (S 967). In its original incarnation, this bill would have required a “conspicuous” disclosure to accompany any government-produced or -funded prepackaged VNR or the radio equivalent, an audio news release (ANR).
For VNRs, the Act rightly mandated “continuous” on-screen notification of the material’s source, such as the words “Produced by the U.S. Government.” Moreover, the Act made it illegal to remove the disclosure.
That Act was considered by the Senate Commerce Committee on October 20. What the committee passed, however, was significantly different. Even the name had changed, to the “Prepackaged News Story Announcement Act.”
And now, Doug Simon likes it.
For the rest of this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4105
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. AND NOW, FOR THE LOCAL FAKE NEWS
www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-1/113012948759130.xml&coll=1
The mayor and city council of Newark, New Jersey “hired a fledging newspaper called Newark Weekly News to publish ‘positive news’ about the city – and will pay $100,000 over the next year for it.” The no-bid contract specifies that the paper will “generate stories based on leads” from the mayor’s spokesperson and city communications staff. A senior scholar at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies said, “If you are publishing government propaganda in the guise of neutral, detached reporting, that’s about as unethical as you can get.” Rutgers University journalism department chair John Pavlik New York Times” target=”_blank”>told the New York Times that the arrangement was “fake news.” In New York, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg “picked up the endorsement of an influential black minister at a Harlem restaurant last month,” some of the diners who “were quoted in news stories” as “regular people” were actually campaign volunteers. At least three people whose glowing quotes about Bloomberg were printed didn’t identify themselves “as being affiliated with the campaign,” Boston Globe” target=”_blank”>reported the Boston Globe.
SOURCE: The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey), October 24, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4118
2. THE BIG PICTURE
www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/002885.html
As the indictments stemming from Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation are revealed, several columnists and bloggers have been keeping the larger context of the Plame leak in view. Laura Rozen writes at War and Piece, “the Vice President’s office was leading an all-out propaganda war – every bit as choreographed as the pre-war propaganda campaign by the same officials – to blame the CIA for the fact that there weren’t any WMD to be found in Iraq after all, and the chief stated reason for the war was collapsing. And it enlisted not just leaks to reporters about Valerie Plame to conduct that war against the CIA. It also enlisted key Republican officials in Congress, to buck up its narrative, and literally divert attention from the role of the White House and executive branch offices in citing truly dubious Iraq intelligence – some, including the Niger yellowcake claims, not supported by the intelligence community at all. And Congress so far has gone along.”
SOURCE: WarandPiece.com, October 19, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4117
3. CHENEY-RUMSFELD CABAL’S AMATEUR HOUR
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/19/AR2005101902246.html
Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff at the State Department until early this year, publicly blasted the Bush Administration, including accusing George W. Bush of “cowboyism.” The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank writes, “He said the vice president and the secretary of defense created a ‘Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal’ that hijacked U.S. foreign policy.” Speaking at the New America Foundation, Wilkerson said, “I’m not sure the State Department even exists anymore,” referring to U.S. public diplomacy. “And how about Karen Hughes’ efforts to boost the country’s image abroad? ‘It’s hard to sell [manure],’ Wilkerson said, quoting an Egyptian friend,” Milbank writes. As part of an oral history project, another State Deparment veteran said Bush’s rush to invade Iraq was driven by “clear political pressure.” Robin Raphel, who was coordinator for Iraq assistance, said after the invasion it became clear that U.S. officials “could not run a country we did not understand… . It was very much amateur hour,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
SOURCE: Washington Post, October 20, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4116
4. MONSANTO’S ANTI-POLITICS MACHINE
www.ijoeh.com/pfds/IJOEH_1104_Patel.pdf
“One large and important producer of genetically modified (GM) crops – Monsanto – has engineered public opinion to reduce critical scrutiny,” writes a group of South African, Mexican and American academic researchers. Monsanto has followed “a tried-and-true set of PR tactics designed to tie GM crops to the question of hunger, to silence debate on the topic, and to challenge critics as technophobic. This PR strategy removes debate that is vital for public and environmental health.” In portraying GM crops as a “solution” to hunger worldwide and promoting company defenders from developing countries, Monsanto has positioned itself “as a development partner, as a benevolent philanthropist who has technology to ‘share.’” This PR strategy is “seductive,” the researchers explain, in that it suggests easy answers to complex problems. It also “attempts to depoliticize; the public relations machinery, through active co-optation, becomes an ‘anti-politics machine.’”
SOURCE: International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, October – December 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4115
5. E-VOTING NOT YET READY FOR PRIME TIME
www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,105684,00.html
“Questions about the security and accuracy of electronic voting systems are likely to continue into the 2006 national elections, because the U.S. government has not yet completed work on electronic voting guidelines,” according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report concluded, “Important changes to the voting standards have not yet been completed, the system certification and laboratory accreditation programs are still in development, and a system software library has not been updated or improved since the 2004 election.” The Election Assistance Commission, a federal body established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002, responded, “We have already made significant progress on GAO’s recommendations.”
SOURCE: Computerworld, October 24, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4114
6. THE LITTLE RED-HANDED LOBBY SHOP AND THE WOLF
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/sudan_usa_congress_dc
While human rights groups denounce the Sudanese government’s “condoning of the action of a violent militia which is raping and killing innocent women, men and children and pillaging villages in Darfur,” a U.S. firm is lobbying for Sudan. Representative Frank Wolf said he was “shocked” that the State Department granted C/R International a waiver “from an order barring U.S. companies from doing business with Sudan.” Rep. Wolf wrote Secretary of State Rice that the waiver “conflicted with the administration’s push … to tighten sanctions” on Sudan. Sudan hired C/R, at $530,000 per year, “to promote the country’s north/south peace agreement, and highlight Sudan’s role in fighting terror,” O’Dwyer’s PR Daily” target=”_blank”>reported O’Dwyer’s PR Daily. C/R head Robert Cabelly is “a former Fleishman-Hillard and State Dept. official who has repped Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia and the South Africa Foundation.” Rep. Wolf also criticized Patton Boggs for “trying to polish the image of Saudi Arabia” and Akin, Gump for “trying to assist China in buying a U.S. oil company.”
SOURCE: Reuters, October 21, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4112
7. THE PLAME BLAME GAME?
www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/10/25/bush_in_pr_blitz_amid_leak_probe/
“With indictments” in the Plame leak case possibly looming, “Republicans are preparing a public relations blitz aimed at shoring up public support for the Bush administration,” writes the Boston Globe. “The outlines … emerged on the Sunday talk shows,” when guests like Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said perjury charges would be technicalities, “just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste.” Other Republican angles, the Wall Street Journal reports” target=”_blank”>Wall Street Journal reports, include “complaining about prosecutorial overreach” and questioning the credibility of retired diplomat Joseph Wilson. The Republican National Committee circulated a document titled, “Joe Wilson’s Top Ten Worst Inaccuracies and Misstatements.” A top Democratic talking point is that the case “is about how the Bush administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to bolster its case for war in Iraq.” Democrats are also urging “a thorough housecleaning” and throwing “Mr. Bush’s oft-repeated claims of integrity back at him.”
SOURCE: The Boston Globe, October 25, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4111
8. NOT TOO MANY MIERS ADMIRERS
online.wsj.com/article/SB113016185172677527.html?mod=world_news_whats_news
Two new conservative campaigns are urging Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers to withdraw her name from consideration, or have President Bush withdraw it. WithdrawMiers.org is headed by direct-mail titan Richard Viguerie and supported by the American Conservative Union, National Review, Republican National Coalition For Life, Patrick Buchanan and Phyllis Schlafly, among others. A similar group, Americans for Better Justice, was created by David Frum and Linda Chavez to collect “signatures and money to campaign against Ms. Miers’s confirmation.” PR Week notes” target=”_blank”>PR Week notes that the “discord among conservatives … has resulted in lower spending in advertising and grassroots campaigns” in support of Miers. Progress for America “was the only group to purchase TV airtime in the first week after she was nominated.” And the group spent less than 40 percent of what they spent “on TV ads in support of John Roberts in the first week following his nomination.”
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub. req’d.), October 25, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4110
9. BUZZ CUT
www.commercialalert.org/news-releases.php?article_id=807&subcategory_id=&category=&year=2005&month=10&day=18
The nonprofit advocacy group Commercial Alert is calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate whether buzz marketers are violating federal law prohibiting deceptive advertising. In a six-page letter, Consumer Alert director Gary Ruskin details numerous instances of corrupt practices. “Buzz marketing is also known as ‘guerrilla’ or ‘stealth’ marketing,” Ruskin notes. “The terms are significant because they suggest the subterfuge that corporations are working on the buying public.” The letter asks the FTC to review evidence that “companies are perpetrating large-scale deception upon consumers by deploying buzz marketers who fail to disclose that they have been enlisted to promote products. This failure to disclose is fundamentally fraudulent and misleading.” In particular, Ruskin urges the FTC to investigate Proctor & Gamble’s Tremor, which has enlisted about 250,000 teenagers in its buzz marketing sales force, “by issuing subpoenas to executives … to determine whether their endorsers are disclosing that they are paid marketers.”
SOURCE: Commercial Alert, October 18, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4108
10. HOW A LOBBYIST STACKED THE DECK
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/15/AR2005101501539.html
The Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal continues to unravel. In a page one story, the Washington Post shows how Abramoff helped eLottery, a company that sells lottery tickets online, defeat the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 2000 by paying a coalition of Christian and other conservative groups to oppose the bill on the grounds that it would promote gambling. Dirty tricksters include Ralph Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition, anti-tax conservative Grover Norquist, Robin Vanderwall of the Faith and Family Alliance (currently serving a seven-year prison term for internet solicitation of sex with minors). The Post report also notes the role of Matthew Blair, a freelance lobbyist working for the Shandwick Worldwide PR firm, who tried to get Florida governor Jeb Bush to sign a public letter opposing the anti-gambling bill. (When Bush refused, Blair forged Bush’s signature and sent out the letter anyway.)
SOURCE: Washington Post, October 16, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4103
11. PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AFTER PSYOPS ATROCITIES
news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article320961.ece
While embedded with a U.S. Army unit in Afghanistan, Australian journalist Stephen Dupont filmed “U.S. soldiers burning the bodies of the suspected Taliban fighters” near Kandahar. Afterwards, members of a U.S. Army psychological operations unit “read taunting messages about the act over a loudspeaker to the nearby village,” which “was believed to be harboring Taliban soldiers,” Dupont reported. One message called the Taliban “cowardly dogs,” adding, “you allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burned.” The goal was “to incite that much anger from the Taliban so the Taliban could attack them. … That’s the only way they can find them,” said Dupont. U.S. embassies have been instructed “to make clear that what people might see on the videotape is not reflective of the actions of the vast majority of our U.S. military. … They are not reflective of our values,” O’Dwyer’s” target=”_blank”>reports O’Dwyer’s. U.S. PR czar Karen Hughes, who is visiting Indonesia, is “fully prepared to deal with this issue,” said a State Department spokesperson.
SOURCE: The Independent (UK), October 20, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
www.prwatch.org/node/4101
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