== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. Pentagon's Propaganda Documents Go Online, but Will the TV Networks Ever Report this Scandal?
2. Fighting  Junk Mail via 'Do Not Mail' Lists: Devilish Details  and Front Groups
3. Deja Vu:  NYT, US Propaganda and War with Iran
4. What the Pentagon Pundits Were Selling on the Side: Propaganda Meets Corporate Lobbying
5. Weekly Radio Spin: Gas, Food and Lobbying

== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. More Pentagon Propaganda, Online
2. Industry Encourages More Regulation, USDA Declines
3. The Great Stonewall of China
4. Brits on the Lookout for Greenwashing
5. Lobbying: A Recession-Proof Industry
6. NPR Acknowledges Pentagon Propaganda Controversy
7. Managing Outrage (and Stalling Reforms)
8. SourceWatch Provides More Disclosure than Congress
9. The Wealth Behind the Stealth: Advocacy TV Ads Flood the Electoral Landscape
10. NBC's Brian Williams Defends Pentagon Propaganda
11. Citizen Journalism Shines in Alternet Blog by Scott Thill

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== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. PENTAGON'S PROPAGANDA DOCUMENTS GO ONLINE, BUT WILL THE TV NETWORKS EVER REPORT THIS SCANDAL?
by John Stauber
       Eight thousand pages of documents related to the Pentagon's
  illegal propaganda campaign, known as the  Pentagon military analyst
  program, are now online for the world to see, although in a format
  that makes it impossible to easily search them and therefore
  difficult to read and dissect.  This trove includes the documents
  pried out of the Pentagon by David Barstow and used as the basis for
  his stunning investigation that appeared in the New York Times on
  April 20, 2008.
       The Pentagon program, which clearly violated US law against
  covert government propaganda, embedded more than 75 retired military
  officers -- most of them with financial ties to war contractors --
  into the TV networks as "message surrogates" for the Bush
  Administration. To date, every major commercial TV network has
  failed to report this story, covering up their complicity and
  keeping the existence of this scandal from their audiences.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7299

2. FIGHTING  JUNK MAIL VIA 'DO NOT MAIL' LISTS: DEVILISH DETAILS  AND FRONT GROUPS
by Anne Landman
       A recent blog about the pro-junk mail lobby and its front
  group, Mail Moves America, drew many comments. Mail Moves America is
  a coalition of businesses that oppose efforts to create a legislated
  "Do Not Mail" list to protect citizens from being showered with
  unwanted junk mail. Junk mail is clearly a hot topic that arouses
  strong emotions on all sides. As electronic mail moves closer to
  overtaking paper mail as the medium of choice for written
  communication, it is clear that the Post Office remains an essential
  way to communicate and transfer goods. Still, many people are
  overwhelmed with junk mail and have little idea how to stop it.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7224

3. DEJA VU:  NYT, US PROPAGANDA AND WAR WITH IRAN
by John Stauber
       Greg Mitchell of Editor and Publisher  notes that New York
  Times military reporter Michael Gordon, "who contributed several
  false stories about Iraqi WMD in the run-up to the U.S. attack in
  Iraq," has been writing about Iran's alleged involvement in attacks
  against U.S. service members in Iraq. Gordon's latest article,
  "Hezbollah Trains Iraqis in Iran, Officials Say," is "based solely
  on unnamed sources," notes Mitchell.
       An article from McClatchy's Baghdad bureau also contradicts
  Gordon's New York Times piece. McClatchy reports that the Iraqi
  government "seemed to distance itself from U.S. accusations towards
  Iran." Iraqi government spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh said the
  government had formed a committee to find "tangible information"
  about Iranian activities in Iraq, instead of relying on "information
  based on speculation." Al-Dabbagh also told Agence France-Press that
  there is no "hard evidence" of Iranian support of insurgents in
  Iraq.
       Retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner has seen this
  sort of poorly-sourced reporting before in the New York Times as
  part of the propaganda campaign that led America directly into the
  disastrous quagmire in Iraq.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7294

4. WHAT THE PENTAGON PUNDITS WERE SELLING ON THE SIDE: PROPAGANDA MEETS CORPORATE LOBBYING
by Diane Farsetta
       The Pentagon launched its covert media analyst program in
  2002, to sell the Iraq war.  Later, it was used to sell an image of
  progress in Afghanistan, whitewash the U.S. detention center at
  Guantanamo Bay, and defend the Bush administration's warrantless
  wiretapping, as David Barstow reported in his New York Times expose.
       But the pundits weren't just selling government talking
  points.  As Robert Bevelacqua, William Cowan and Carlton Sherwood
  enjoyed high-level Pentagon access through the analyst program,
  their WVC3 Group sought "contracts worth tens of millions to supply
  body armor and counterintelligence services in Iraq," reported
  Barstow.  Cowan admitted to "push[ing] hard" on a WVC3 contract,
  during a Pentagon-funded trip to Iraq.
       Then there's Pentagon pundit Robert H. Scales Jr.  The
  military firm he co-founded in 2003, Colgen, has an interesting
  range of clients, from the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S.
  Special Operations Command, to Pfizer and Syracuse University, to
  Fox News and National Public Radio.
       Of the 27 Pentagon pundits named publicly to date, six are
  registered as federal lobbyists.  That's in addition to the less
  formal -- and less transparent -- boardroom to war-room influence
  peddling described above.  (There are "more than 75 retired
  officers" who took part in the Pentagon program overall, according
  to Barstow.)
       The Pentagon pundits' lobbying disclosure forms help chart
  what can only be called a military-industrial-media complex.  They
  also make clear that war is very good for at least some kinds of
  business.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7282

5. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: GAS, FOOD AND LOBBYING
by Judith Siers-Poisson
       Listen to THIS WEEK'S EDITION of the "Weekly Radio
  Spin," the Center for Media and Democracy's audio report on the
  stories behind the news. This week, we look at corporate welfare
  daddies, activist orangutans, and update the Pentagon's pundit
  scandal. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we travel back in time
  to Watergate, and campaign donations in small unmarked bills. The
  Weekly Radio Spin is freely available for personal and broadcast
  use. Podcasters can subscribe to the XML feed on
  www.prwatch.org/audio or via iTunes. If you air the Weekly Radio
  Spin on your radio station, please email us at editor@prwatch.org to
  let us know. Thanks!
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7286

== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. MORE PENTAGON PROPAGANDA, ONLINE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7292
  As part of its plan to expand online "information operations," the
  Pentagon is launching "a global network of foreign-language news
  websites ... and hiring local journalists to write current events
  stories and other content that promote U.S. interests," reports
  Peter Eisler. The Pentagon launched Matawani.com last year, an
  Arabic-language site with Iraq news; other sites are being developed
  for Asian and Latin American audiences. Like the Pentagon's
  older "news" sites, aimed at North Africa and Southeast Europe, the
  new sites only disclose U.S. Defense Department involvement on a
  single page reached via a small "about" link at the bottom of the
  site. The goal of the Pentagon's "Trans Regional Web Initiative" is
  to launch "a minimum of six" websites run by regional U.S. military
  commands. Assistant Secretary of Defense Michael Vickers said, "Our
  adversaries use the Internet to great advantage," so the Pentagon
  must counter their messages with "truthful information, and these
  websites are a good vehicle." Harvard University's Marvin Kalb
  called the websites "deliberate deception" that "weakens the image
  of journalism as an objective bystander."
SOURCE: USA Today, May 1, 2008

2. INDUSTRY ENCOURAGES MORE REGULATION, USDA DECLINES
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7290
  The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been criticized for not
  totally banning "downer" cows -- animals "too sick or hurt to stand
  for slaughter" -- from the food supply. So "when a coalition of
  major industry groups reversed their position and joined animal
  advocates and several lawmakers in calling for an absolute ban," why
  wouldn't the USDA agree? Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer hasn't
  responded to the new stance of the American Meat Institute and other
  industry groups. So, industry leaders are encouraging meat producers
  to institute their own voluntary ban. But the Humane Society of the
  United States says a total ban is needed and "the USDA should take
  immediate action." The limited regulation of downer cows was
  instituted after mad cow disease was found in the U.S. and Canada.
  CMD staffers John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton wrote about the issue
  in their 1997 book "Mad Cow USA."
SOURCE: Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA), April 29, 2008

3. THE GREAT STONEWALL OF CHINA
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7284
  The Chinese government has unveiled a new regulation that China
  View, an English language website of the government-owned Xinhua
  News Agency, reports "includes a 'freedom of information' provision
  that gives the public, whether individuals or organizations, the
  right to request government information by making a written
  application (paper or electronic)." However, Rowan Callick reports
  in The Australian that a pilot program in three of China's biggest
  cities in 2004 "indicates the chances of Chinese journalists making
  use of this embryonic freedom of information regulation are very
  slim." The only request by a journalist in the trial was from Ma
  Sheng, a legal affairs reporter for Communist Party-owned Liberation
  Daily in Shanghai. Ma sought a copy of a map "from a district-level
  planning bureau where, he believed, a corrupt deal had been made
  with a developer that involved the removal of many residents to
  clear the way for luxury apartments." His request was denied and,
  after several twists in the saga, Ma lost his job. The development
  went ahead.
SOURCE: China View, April 30, 2008

4. BRITS ON THE LOOKOUT FOR GREENWASHING
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7281
  British consumers are mad, and they aren't going to take it
  anymore. In its annual report, the advertising watchdog organization
  Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) recorded more than four times as
  many complaints against corporations for greenwashing in 2007 as in
  the previous year. "The ASA has already censured several
  high-profile companies including Suzuki, Shell, Ryanair and Toyota
  for the practice of 'greenwash' -- where companies are found to have
  misled consumers on their environmental practices as a business or
  of the particular benefits of a product or service." The Shell ad
  that caused concern featured a graphic of a refinery that spewed
  flowers from its smokestacks. The communications firm Futerra also
  released a report, using in part the ASA findings, that found that
  the auto and energy industries were those most likely to receive
  complaints. The Futerra agency also published a greenwash guide,
  with tips on how to spot the tactic in action. The list  includes
  fluffy language, a green product vs. a dirty company, suggestive
  pictures, and what they call "best in a bad class" as warning signs.
SOURCE: The Guardian (UK), May 1, 2008

5. LOBBYING: A RECESSION-PROOF INDUSTRY
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7279
  While the U.S. economy has been slowing, lobbyists have been
  making more than ever. According to the Center for Responsive
  Politics, "businesses, labor unions, governments and other interests
  spent a record $2.79 billion to lobby Washington in 2007, up 7.7
  percent or $200 million in spending the year before." The automotive
  industry spent a new high of $70.3 million lobbying Congress in
  2007; a 19.6% increase over 2006. The change was due in large part
  to efforts to oppose the enactment of higher fuel efficiency
  standards. General Motors was responsible for over $14 million in
  lobbying expenditures, while Ford spent $7.2 million, followed by
  Toyota with $5.9 million. But the auto industry was not the biggest
  spender. Trade groups like AARP and the Pharmaceutical Research and
  Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, topped it. And GM came in fifth
  in spending by corporations, trailing General Electric, ExxonMobil,
  AT&T and Amgen. Center for Responsive Politics executive director
  Sheila Krumholz said, "At a time when our economy is contracting,
  Washington's lobbying industry has been expanding. Lobbying seems to
  be a recession-proof industry. In some respects, interests seek even
  more from our government when the economy slows."
SOURCE: Detroit News, May 1, 2008

6. NPR ACKNOWLEDGES PENTAGON PROPAGANDA CONTROVERSY
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7277
  One of the over 75 pundits revealed by the New York Times as being
  part of the Pentagon military analyst program was Robert H. Scales
  Jr. In 2003, Scales founded a defense consulting firm, Colgen, which
  lists both National Public Radio (NPR) and and Fox News as clients.
  NPR's Ombudsman, Alicia C. Shepard, wrote on her blog that since
  February 2003 Scales "has been on NPR 67 times, most often (28
  appearances) on All Things Considered (ATC). The latest was March
  28, when he gave ATC listeners an assessment of the fifth
  anniversary of the war. ... Only once in December 2006 was Scales'
  relationship to Colgen mentioned." While 40 NPR listeners protested
  against any further use of Scales, Shepard disagreed. "Rather than
  toss Scales off the air and lose his practical and scholarly
  knowledge of the Army, in the future NPR should always be
  transparent and identify him as a defense consultant with Colgen,"
  she wrote. NPR also developed new guidelines for "vetting guests"
  which state, "Ask the guest if he/she has any conflicts of
  interest."   Meanwhile, Editor & Publisher notes "the news chiefs
  and on-air hosts at CNN, FOX, ABC, NBC, and CBS, have had little
  reaction," apparently hoping it all blows over.
SOURCE: NPR Ombudsman column, April 28, 2008

7. MANAGING OUTRAGE (AND STALLING REFORMS)
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7276
  As gas and food prices rise, so does scrutiny of industry profits.
  But "food and energy companies have learned a lot since the 1970s
  about how to deal with public indignation," writes George Anders. In
  1980, "Congress hit the energy industry with a windfall profits tax"
  that lasted until 1988. While Congress is holding hearings now, oil
  executives "are better at deflecting attention from their own
  companies, arguing that state-owned, foreign oil companies control
  most of the world's reserves, and that financial speculators" drive
  price fluctuations. As they prepare to announce their first-quarter
  2008 earnings, Exxon Mobil executives are "hammering out possible
  responses to questions ... about the sheer size of the company's
  profit." The largest U.S. ethanol producer, Archer Daniels Midland,
  is holding conference calls decrying the "misguided attacks on
  biofuels," to "avoid being portrayed as the villain in rising
  farm-product prices." Oil companies "have hired plenty of lobbyists
  and supported trade groups, such as the American Petroleum
  Institute. ... Food companies may soon find themselves redoubling
  similar efforts of their own."
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), April 30, 2008

8. SOURCEWATCH PROVIDES MORE DISCLOSURE THAN CONGRESS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7275
  The post-Abramoff lobbying disclosure reforms have started -- and
  so far, they're underwhelming. "Confusing shortcuts are already
  being mapped and loopholes mined," reports Jeanne Cummings. "Among
  the information that is supposed to be available to the public now
  is a listing of the financial backers of the shadowy coalitions with
  apple-pie-sounding names," like Americans for American Energy, the
  Clean and Safe Energy Coalition and Americans for Prosperity. But
  most weren't listed in either the House or Senate disclosure
  database, and the few that were didn't "list the paying members of
  their coalition." Part of the problem is that Congress "exempted the
  financing of grass-roots lobbying from the law. That created a giant
  loophole for all advocacy organizations to exploit." In fact,
  Cummings found more on these groups, "culled from media reports,
  websites, press releases and Internal Revenue Service documents," on
  CMD's very own SourceWatch site.
SOURCE: Politico.com, April 29, 2008

9. THE WEALTH BEHIND THE STEALTH: ADVOCACY TV ADS FLOOD THE ELECTORAL LANDSCAPE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7274
  The Center for Public Integrity has begun a five part report on
  the stunning impact of big money advocacy groups in electoral
  politics, from MoveOn to Freedom's Watch.  "Their names roll off the
  tongue with a patriotic cadence:  Freedom's Watch, Democracy
  Alliance, Citizens United, Progress for America, Foundation for a
  Secure and Prosperous America. These are the new giants of American
  politics, the well-funded groups organized behind a veil of secrecy
  to influence the voters' choice for president of the United States
  in 2008.  Financed by many of the nation's wealthiest investors and
  business leaders, as well as millions of small donors, these
  organizations are responsible for a flood of political attack
  advertising. ... With their identities hidden under stunningly
  misleading names and legal technicalities, many offered questionable
  facts and unproven charges intended to confuse voters or appeal to
  their worst prejudices."
SOURCE: Center for Public Integrity, April 30, 2008

10. NBC'S BRIAN WILLIAMS DEFENDS PENTAGON PROPAGANDA
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7273
  Author Glenn Greenwald notes, "It has now been more than ten days
  since the New York Times exposed the Pentagon's domestic propaganda
  program involving retired generals and, still, not a single major
  news network has even mentioned the story to their viewers, let
  alone responded to the numerous questions surrounding their own
  behavior."  Greenwald helped prod NBC's Brian Williams into at least
   blogging about this issue, but "the essence of Williams' response
  [is] he did absolutely nothing wrong. Nor did any of the military
  analysts used by NBC News. Nor did his network.   ...  Just consider
  what is going on here. The core credibility of war reporting by
  Brian Williams and NBC News has been severely undermined by a major
  NYT expose. That story involves likely illegal behavior by the
  Pentagon, in which NBC News appears to have been complicit,
  resulting in the deceitful presentation of highly biased and
  conflicted individuals as 'independent' news analysts. Yet they
  refuse to tell their viewers about any of this, and refuse to
  address any of the questions that have been raised."
SOURCE: Salon.com, April 30, 2008

11. CITIZEN JOURNALISM SHINES IN ALTERNET BLOG BY SCOTT THILL
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7272
  An April 7, 2008 citizen journalism task asked people to
  investigate tobacco industry brainstorming documents at the Legacy
  Tobacco Documents Library. That request led to a marvelous blog
  titled "The Sick and Crazy Science Tobacco Companies Pursue to Get
  You Hooked," posted on Alternet by Scott Thill, in which he
  describes some of his finds, including a bizarre research project to
  investigate the effect of a chemical in cigarette smoke called
  nitric oxide on cat penises. From nacho cheese-flavored cigarettes
  to on-pack contests to win everything from Clearasil to used
  celebrity underwear, tobacco industry brainstorming documents
  contain an untold number of bizarre marketing, advertising and
  product design ideas. Thill's blog praises TobaccoWiki's
  Brainstorming documents page, as well as citizen journalism and the
  new ways that research wikis are allowing people to compile and
  share information.
SOURCE: Alternet, April 26, 2008

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