== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. The Gardasil HPV Vaccine: Not the Shot in the Arm Merck Hoped for

== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. Public Diplomacy 2.0
2. PR Driving ‘Carbon Neutral’ Greenwashing
3. “Fixers” Fail to Keep Mortgage Execs’ Parachutes Golden
4. An Unhealthy Impact on Local Reporting
5. Weekly Radio Spin: Like Ads, Only More So
6. That Fixes Everything
7. A Climate Change Skeptic and His Supporters
8. Rebuff for Coal Power Giant
9. Government Flunks Secrecy Test

——————————————————————–

== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. THE GARDASIL HPV VACCINE: NOT THE SHOT IN THE ARM MERCK HOPED FOR
by Judith Siers-Poisson
       With the start of the school year, debate has heated up again
   about Gardasil, Merck’s vaccine against human papillomavirus. Since
  writing my series of four articles on The Politics and PR of
  Cervical Cancer last year, I have continued to track the
  developments and have noticed some interesting trends. While
  Gardasil has not been the financial jackpot that Merck was hoping it
  would be, there is still a steady push for vaccination and even
  still for mandates. Even though it has not played out as positively
  as Merck planned, it is too early to turn our attention away from
  their efforts to sell their so-called “vaccine against cancer.”
  Merck’s obvious corporate steamrolling has generated a public
  backlash and has also faced general concerns about possible health
  risks from vaccinations, along with conservative opposition to the
  idea of government health mandates.  These reactions slowed the
  company’s money train but didn’t bring it to a full stop.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7748

== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. PUBLIC DIPLOMACY 2.0
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7758
  After several months offline, former U.S. Foreign Service officer
  John Brown has reactivated his “Public Diplomacy Press and Blog
  Review,” which summarizes current news about public relations
  efforts by the United States and other countries. Brown’s latest
  bulletin includes several items on the State Department’s “Democracy
  Challenge,” a YouTube contest asking global citizens to complete the
  sentence, “Democracy is…” Other recent items discuss the PR damage
  to Russia’s image following its invasion of Georgia; results of a
  recent survey examining international preferences in the U.S.
  presidential election race; and links to video archives of old
  Soviet propaganda cartoons; and an essay by Brown himself about the
  difference between public diplomacy and propaganda.
SOURCE: Public Diplomacy Press and Blog Review, Version 2.0

2. PR DRIVING ‘CARBON NEUTRAL’ GREENWASHING
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7757
  The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) is alarmed
  about the extent of corporate greenwashing. The authority’s chief
  executive, Frank Goodman, explained, “You are not allowed to say
  your product is good for the environment unless you can prove this.
  Our code is very specific on this point.” Of particular concern are
  claims by companies that they have become “carbon neutral” by buying
  carbon offsets for their greenhouse gas emissions. John Curran, the
  environmental executive for Musgrave Group, which markets leading
  retail brands, said, “It’s easy to make the claim, but it is almost
  impossible to really be carbon neutral. … Low carbon is the best
  you can aim for. But once PR gets a hold of things, being seen as
  green can turn into a crusade for some companies.”
SOURCE: The Sunday Times (UK), September 14, 2008

3. “FIXERS” FAIL TO KEEP MORTGAGE EXECS’ PARACHUTES GOLDEN
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7751
  After taking control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie
  Mac, the U.S. government told their former chief executives that the
  “‘golden parachute’ payments contemplated under their contracts
  would not be paid.” The executives, Daniel Mudd and Richard Syron,
  “together were eligible to receive as much as $25 million” in
  severance — or “golden parachute” — payments, reports the
  Washington Post. Imagine what would have happened if Mudd and Syron
  had not “hired two of the nation’s best-regarded fixers.” Freddie
  Mac’s Syron hired George Sard, the head of the public relations firm
  Sard Verbinnen & Co, at his own expense. The firm’s clients have
  included home-living guru Martha Stewart, former New York Governor
  Eliot Spitzer and talk show host Nancy Grace. Sard said Syron didn’t
  want “a windfall,” just enough to assist with the transition. Fannie
  Mae’s Mudd hired “high-profile Washington lawyer Robert B. Barnett
  … with fees to be paid by Fannie Mae.” Barnett’s former clients
  include both Bill and Hillary Clinton, Republican strategist Karl
  Rove and former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan. In related
  news, the mortgage giants are no longer able to lobby. The
  restriction hit former Fannie Mae lobbyists at Ogilvy Public
  Relations, Johnson Madigan and Bryan Cave Strategies, among other
  firms, reports O’Dwyer’s.
SOURCE: Muckety.com, September 11, 2008

4. AN UNHEALTHY IMPACT ON LOCAL REPORTING
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7749
  “A hospital complains about a reporter and pulls ads from the
  paper. The paper reassigns him. The paper — offered three chances
  — declines to deny that one caused the other,” summarizes the
  Columbia Journalism Review. CJR was following up on a Wall Street
  Journal article about Carilion Health System, which is Roanoke,
  Virginia’s sole healthcare provider. Since Carilion established a
  local monopoly, “health-insurance rates in Roanoke have gone from
  being the lowest in the state to the highest.” In 2006, independent
  local doctors concerned about Carilion’s impact on the community and
  their practices launched the “Coalition for Responsible Healthcare.”
  Roanoke Times healthcare reporter Jeff Sturgeon reported on the
  controversy. But the paper “moved Mr. Sturgeon off the health-care
  beat after Carilion complained repeatedly about his coverage.
  Carilion says it communicated its displeasure to the paper’s
  editors, but never asked that Mr. Sturgeon be reassigned. Carilion
  withdrew most of its advertising from the paper, but says it did
  that as part of a reallocation of its ad budget.” Roanoke Times’
  managing editor told CJR, “We feel like we cover Carilion better
  than any other news media organization.” But he wouldn’t explain
  Sturgeon’s reassignment to transportation, saying, “We don’t get
  into personnel decisions and why we change beats.”
SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, September 9, 2008

5. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: LIKE ADS, ONLY MORE SO
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7746
  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 the cost of secrecy, “eco-driving”
  and greasing the skids for oil sands. In “Six Degrees of Spin and
  Fakin’,” a natural gas company decides to “be the media.” 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!
SOURCE: Center for Media and Democracy, September 12, 2008

6. THAT FIXES EVERYTHING
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7741
  The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) has issued a news
  release calling on the presidential campaigns of John McCain and
  Barack Obama to “uphold the highest standards of ethical practice in
  every facet of their campaign communications.” PRSA CEO Jeffrey
  Julin is offering himself for interviews as “a recognized expert in
  communications ethics.” Since assuming the helm of the PRSA in
  January, Julin has been trying to improve the industry’s ethical
  reputation. In June, for example, he posted a platitudinous
  statement on YouTube in response to a sarcastic CBS news commentary
  about Scott McClellan’s book on his misadventures as a spokesman for
  the Bush administration. Julin is also president of MGA
  Communications, a PR firm whose clients include Americans for
  Balanced Energy Choices, a front group for the coal industry that is
  “targeting the public, politicians, interest groups, and the media”
  during this year’s election campaign as part of what the Washington
  Post called a “$35 million campaign in primary and caucus states to
  rally public support for coal-fired electricity and to fuel
  opposition to legislation that Congress is crafting to slow climate
  change.”
SOURCE: PRSA news release, September 10, 2008

7. A CLIMATE CHANGE SKEPTIC AND HIS SUPPORTERS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7740
  Sammy Wilson, the Northern Ireland Minister for Environment, is an
  avowed climate change skeptic who claims that “there is no
  conclusive evidence that greenhouse gases are a major cause of
  climate change.” While Wilson’s claims are at odds with the science,
  former Greenpeace activist turned corporate consultant Patrick Moore
  supported Wilson, claiming that there are scientists on the United
  Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change who don’t believe
  climate change is man-made, “but their views are ignored.” However,
  as a consultant to the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, a Nuclear
  Energy Institute front group, Moore recently argued for new nuclear
  power stations, because “the greatest threat to the earth” is “our
  addiction to fossil fuels and the air pollution and greenhouse gas
  emissions they cause.” Another Wilson supporter is Tom Harris, the
  Executive Director of International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC)
  and a former executive with the High Park Group (HPG), a Canadian PR
  firm.
SOURCE: The News Letter (Belfast, Northern Ireland), September 10, 2008

8. REBUFF FOR COAL POWER GIANT
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7739
  The German power corporation E.ON has suffered a humiliating
  defeat in its attempt to have six Greenpeace protesters convicted of
  criminal damage for painting a slogan on the coal-fired Kingsnorth
  Power Station in the United Kingdom. The six argued that they had a
  “lawful excuse” for their action in trying to prevent further damage
  to the global climate. The defendants called evidence from the
  world’s leading climate scientist, James Hansen, who argued that
  there should be a moratorium on new coal-fired power stations and a
  phase out of existing coal-fired power stations in the absence of
  carbon capture and storage of emissions. E.ON currently has plans
  for thirteen new coal-fired power stations across Europe. In April,
  PR Week reported that E.ON UK had hired the PR firm Edelman to
  “counter opposition from green campaigners.” In response to the
  jury’s verdict E.ON UK stated that they were “surprised and
  disappointed” at the decision.
SOURCE: Reuters, September 11, 2008

9. GOVERNMENT FLUNKS SECRECY TEST
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7738
  A coalition of “consumer and good government groups, librarians,
  environmentalists, labor leaders, journalists, and others,”
  OpenTheGovernment.org, has found that secrecy by the Bush
  administration continues to expand. The top twenty-five government
  departments in terms of Freedom of Information Act  (FOIA) requests
  all continued to carry serious backlogs. In 2007 there was a two
  percent increase in FOIA requests over 2006, as well as a decrease
  in the number of documents declassified. “These trends indicate that
  citizens will have to wait even longer to know what their government
  is doing,” said Patrice McDermott, Director of
  OpenTheGovernment.org. Government secrecy is also expensive for
  taxpayers. “The report estimated the government spent almost $200 to
  maintain secrets for every dollar the government spent declassifying
  documents, a five percent increase over the 2006 ratio.” McDermott
  added, “The current administration continues to refuse to be held
  accountable to the public. In recent years, polls have shown that a
  growing number of Americans believe the federal government is
  secretive — terrible news for our democracy. Until we restore
  openness and accountability to the federal government, it will be
  impossible to win back the public’s trust.”
SOURCE: OMB Watch, September 9, 2008

——————————————————————–

The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
further information about media, political spin and propaganda. It
is emailed free each Wednesday to subscribers.

PR Watch, Spin of the Day, the Weekly Spin and SourceWatch are
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