== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. The Election Protection Wiki: A Dynamic Website Helps Safeguard America’s Right to Vote
2. The Beginning of the End of Cigarettes for Sale in Pharmacies?
== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. Deceiving Images
2. US Contractors Paid to Pack Iraqi Media with Propaganda
3. Conflicted Pentagon Pundits Asked to ‘Fess Up
4. Will New Propaganda Ban Have an Impact?
5. Supreme Court to Hear Case About Low Tar/Low Nicotine Fraud
6. Not Following the Pharma Money
7. Costly Silence
8. Weekly Radio Spin: As the Global Financial Market Spins
9. FDA Tries to Pay Qorvis $300K Under the Table
10. Johns Hopkins Make Reports Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
11. Don’t We Deserve Better than More Attack Ads?
12. Energy Front Group Calls for Investigation of Environmentalists
13. Coal Burners Invest in Environmental Journalism
14. Justice, Texas-Style
——————————————————————–
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. THE ELECTION PROTECTION WIKI: A DYNAMIC WEBSITE HELPS SAFEGUARD AMERICA’S RIGHT TO VOTE
Contact: Conor Kenny, Managing Editor, Election Protection Wiki
Phone: (202) 277-6427; Email: conor@sourcewatch.org
The non-profit, non-partisan Center for Media and Democracy
(CMD) has launched a unique website to help safeguard the fairness
and integrity of US elections, using the power of citizen
journalism. The Election Protection Wiki is now online at
http://www.EPWiki.org . It enables citizens, journalists and
government officials to actively monitor the electoral process in
all 50 states and the District of Columbia. CMD and its community
of volunteer editors will continue to improve, expand and update the
EP Wiki beyond the upcoming November 4th election.
The EP Wiki is part of CMD’s award-winning SourceWatch
website and operates on wiki software which allows anyone who
registers on the website to participate in creating and updating
articles. SourceWatch contains in-depth articles on every member of
(and most candidates for) the US Congress at
http://www.Congresspedia.org . CMD employs both professional and
volunteer editors who work together online to ensure articles are
fair, accurate and fully documented.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7817
2. THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF CIGARETTES FOR SALE IN PHARMACIES?
by Anne Landman
On October 1, 2008, the city of San Francisco put a law into
effect that prohibits the sale of cigarettes in pharmacies.
Walgreens drug store chain and Altria/Philip Morris have filed
lawsuits against the city over the measure. In a September 30, 2008
statement about the new law, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom
related the city’s simple rationale: “Pharmacies should be places
where people go to get better, not where people go to get cancer.”
Familiar corner drug store chains like Rite Aid and Walgreens
have long cultivated an image of being all about health. Their web
sites feature photos of friendly-looking pharmacists in white coats
ready to help us with our health care needs. The Rite Aid company
Web site tells us they are “committed to the healthcare needs of our
customers.” CVS says its vision is to “strive to improve the quality
of human life” by making “high-quality health and pharmacy services
safe” and easy to access. Walgreens says it stands ready to help
people by supplying “health and wellness products” and health
information. If all this makes you feel that these drugstore chains
have your best interests at heart, it’s certainly by design. But
don’t be don’t be taken in too easily.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7809
== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. DECEIVING IMAGES
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7826
In November of last year, a panel of scholars met at the New York
Public Library to mark the 60th anniversary of George Orwell’s
landmark essay, “Politics and the English Language,” and to discuss
the current state of propaganda in American politics. A video from
that panel is now available on the internet. How are political
messages framed? How are they decoded by their audience? These and
similar questions are explored by panelists including George Lakoff,
a professor of cognitive linguistics and a guru of Democratic
political messaging; Republican pollster and messaging consultant
Frank Luntz; and Drew Weston, a professor of psychology and author
of The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of
the Nation. Among other things, the discussion demonstrates that
political pundits are no better at predicting the future than anyone
else. (Luntz, for example, repeatedly predicts that Hillary Clinton
will become the next president.) But if you want to understand how
rhetorical framing works and how political strategists strategize,
this 85-minute video provides some interesting examples.
SOURCE: Link TV
2. US CONTRACTORS PAID TO PACK IRAQI MEDIA WITH PROPAGANDA
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7825
The Washington Post provides a bit more information on the
previously reported $300 million US tax dollars paid to private
contractors to propagandize Iraq over the next three years. The
money will be used to “produce news stories, entertainment programs
and public service advertisements for the Iraqi media in an effort
to ‘engage and inspire’ the local population to support U.S.
objectives and the Iraqi government. … The four companies that
will share in the new contract are SOSi, the Washington-based
Lincoln Group, Alexandria-based MPRI and Leonie Industries, a Los
Angeles contractor. All specialize in strategic communications and
have done previous defense work.”
SOURCE: Washington Post, October 3, 2008
3. CONFLICTED PENTAGON PUNDITS ASKED TO ‘FESS UP
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7824
“The Federal Communications Commission has begun notifying several
TV military analysts that it is probing congressional complaints
that the pundits did not properly disclose their ties to the
Pentagon when reviewing the war in Iraq on air,” reports Paul
Bedard. The FCC sent letters to some of the so-called “Pentagon
pundits” on October 2, in response to a complaint filed with the
agency by Representatives John Dingell and Rosa DeLauro. Several of
the pundits named in the New York Times expose of the Pentagon
pundit program were employees of or lobbyists for military
contractors. The FCC letter to the pundits “suggests that TV
stations and networks may have violated two sections of the
Communications Act of 1934 by not identifying the ties to the
Pentagon.” The agency is asking the pundits “to respond to the
allegations of wrongdoing within 30 days.”
SOURCE: U.S. News & World Report blog “Washington Whispers,” October 6, 2008
4. WILL NEW PROPAGANDA BAN HAVE AN IMPACT?
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7823
In April 2008, the New York Times exposed the Pentagon pundit
scandal, where the Defense Department cultivated retired military
officials who are frequent media commentators, to serve as “message
force multipliers” for Bush administration policies on Iraq,
Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and other controversial topics. In
response, members of Congress condemned the program and called for
investigations. Three investigations are pending, but one bill
recently passed Congress. Senator John Kerry, its lead sponsor, says
the measure will ensure that “taxpayer money isn’t used to peddle
propaganda on the American people.” But the measure, introduced as
S. 3099, neither defines what constitutes “propaganda” nor
establishes enforcement mechanisms. It also bans Pentagon propaganda
“within the United States not otherwise specifically authorized,”
without clarifying if that extends to web-based or broadcast
materials intended for foreign audiences but accessible from the
United States. The Defense Department has claimed that
propagandizing U.S. audiences is permissible, as long as that was
not the government’s intent.
SOURCE: Press release, Senator John Kerry’s office, September 30, 2008
5. SUPREME COURT TO HEAR CASE ABOUT LOW TAR/LOW NICOTINE FRAUD
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7822
The U.S. Supreme Court opened its 2008-2009 session today by
hearing a case about whether cigarette makers have defrauded smokers
with implied claims about the relative safety of “light” and “low
tar” cigarettes. At issue is the question of preemption, a legal
doctrine that holds that federal laws can take precedence over some
state laws. The tobacco companies are arguing that they should not
be held responsible for labeling and advertising that was approved
by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC, which has long
required that cigarette packs be labeled as to how much “tar” and
nicotine they deliver, argues that the agency itself was fooled
because tobacco companies hid internal research data that showed
smokers did not benefit from switching to light or low tar
cigarettes. In August 2006, U.S. District Court Judge Gladys
Kessler, in the landmark U.S. Department of Justice case against the
industry, ruled that cigarette makers purposely misled smokers into
believing that light cigarettes were less safer than regular
cigarettes, and now more than 30 class action lawsuits on the issue
of the tobacco industry’s “light” and “low tar” cigarette fraud are
currently pending across the U.S. The Supreme Court’s ruling in this
case could either affirm or invalidate all of them.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, October 6, 2008
6. NOT FOLLOWING THE PHARMA MONEY
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7818
Medical research conflicts of interest are in the news lately,
thanks to recent congressional hearings by Senator Charles Grassley.
But are journalists part of the problem? A new study in the Journal
of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that reporters for
print and online media outlets failed 42 percent of the time to
mention drug company funding of research cited in their stories.
When asked, however, 88 percent of newspaper editors insisted that
their publications “always or often” included funding information in
their stories — even though only 3 percent actually had a policy
requiring such disclosure. “If you’re wondering about professional
standards,” comments Merrill Goozner, “the Association of Health
Care Journalists lists reporting the financing of research and
conflicts of interest of researchers as its number one guideline for
health care reporters. This latest survey shows that the word has
yet to filter down to the majority of reporters out there.” The JAMA
study also found that 67 percent of news stories mentioned the brand
names of drugs rather than their generic names, further reinforcing
pharmaceutical industry marketing campaigns. Once again, editors of
the offending publications claimed that their reporting practices
were better than they actually were, with 77 percent of editors
insisting that they always or often reported only the generic names
of medications.
SOURCE: Gooz News, October 1, 2008
7. COSTLY SILENCE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7816
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), a UK
government agency charged with deciding whether drugs should be
subsidized by the British government, has been criticized by some
patient groups for refusing to approve new and expensive drugs.
Groups including the National Kidney Federation, the Arthritis and
Musculoskeletal Alliance, the National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society,
Beating Bowel Cancer, the Royal National Institute for the Blind and
the Alzheimer’s Society have all objected against NICE decisions.
“All of these charities received sums of up to six figures from drug
companies in 2007,” reports Jeremy Laurance, the health editor with
The Independent. “A positive decision by NICE on a drug not only
guarantees sales to the NHS but can influence global markets worth
billions of pounds. Yet none of the charities named has criticised
the high prices charged by the pharmaceutical companies for their
products in their recent campaigns,” he wrote.
SOURCE: The Independent (UK), October 1, 2008
8. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: AS THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL MARKET SPINS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7814
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 dangers posed by
environmentalists, university payola and the FDA’s spin doctors. In
“Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin’,” we learn about one patriotic
sounding front group. 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, October 3, 2008
9. FDA TRIES TO PAY QORVIS $300K UNDER THE TABLE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7808
After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was “pummeled by
Congress for poor inspections of tainted vegetables, drugs and other
products,” the agency wanted public relations help. First, it hired
Mildred Cooper as “a temporary FDA consultant … on a two-year
contract to advise FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach and
other officials.” Cooper, who previously did public affairs work for
the Defense Department and Federal Emergency Management Agency, then
contacted a friend at the PR firm Qorvis Communications. The friend
directed her to Qorvis crisis communications director Don Goldberg.
Goldberg worked with Cooper to steer an additional FDA contract to
Qorvis. But, as Goldberg explained, “It was not appropriate [for the
FDA] to hire Qorvis directly.” Instead, the PR proposal came from
Alaska Newspapers Inc. (ANI), “a firm owned by an Alaska Native
corporation that does not have to compete for federal work.” Emails
between the FDA’s Cooper and Qorvis’ Goldberg show that ANI agreed
beforehand to give the $300,000 no-bid contract to Qorvis. Qorvis
also works for the drug industry group PhRMA. The FDA contract,
which was supposed to “create and foster a lasting positive image of
the agency for the American public,” has since been suspended. The
House Committee on Energy and Commerce may investigate the contract,
according to chair John Dingell.
SOURCE: Washington Post, October 2, 2008
10. JOHNS HOPKINS MAKE REPORTS BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7807
As part of a broader public relations and lobbying push,
Kazakhstan’s government paid Johns Hopkins University to author
three reports about the country. The arrangement was brokered
through APCO Worldwide, Kazakhstan’s Washington DC lobbying firm.
The Kazakh government paid $52,300 for reports titled “Kazakhstan’s
New Middle Class” and “Parliament and Political Parties in
Kazakhstan.” A third report, “Kazakhstan in its Neighborhood,” was
“also underwritten by the government,” but lobbying reports that
would disclose the amount paid for it are not yet available. The
reports, issued by the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at Johns
Hopkins, do not disclose the Kazakhstan funding. Institute director
S. Frederick Starr said their “relationship was only with the
lobbying firm and not directly with the government.” He added that
“the entire editorial process was 100 percent in our hands.” The
author of the third report, Hudson Institute fellow Richard Weitz,
said, “It’s an important topic so I would have written about it
anyway.” The Kazakhstan funding also required the Johns Hopkins
Institute to sponsor “think tank discussions” on each report,
“sponsored by the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute.”
SOURCE: ABC News, September 29, 2008
11. DON’T WE DESERVE BETTER THAN MORE ATTACK ADS?
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7805
As the political action committee (PAC) “Our Country Deserves
Better” prepares for its national tour of “patriotic rallies”
against Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, columnist
Bill Berkowitz interviews the PAC’s coordinator, Joe Wierzbicki.
Like many of the PAC’s officers, Wierzbicki works for the
Republican-associated PR firm Russo Marsh & Rogers and with the
pro-war group Move America Forward. Wierzbicki said the PAC hopes to
“raise in excess of $1 million by Election Day,” and run ads in “ten
states.” In regards to the PAC’s ad that questions Obama’s
statements on religion, Wierzbicki asked, “Is Barack Obama’s faith
the Muslim registration listed by his family when he was a student
growing up in Indonesia? Or is it the black liberation theology
espoused by Reverend Jeremiah Wright…? Or is it the mainstream
Christianity he identified with in the forum hosted by Pastor Rick
Warren?” But Wierzbicki claimed his PAC isn’t “Swiftboating” Obama,
because, for example, “We’ve not used the photographs of Barack
Obama in what some call ‘Muslim garb’ because the photos by
themselves are inconclusive.” They also decided, “despite the
controversy that her words created,” not to “use Michelle Obama’s
comments about this being the first time in her adult life that she
was proud to be an American.” Move America Forward also launched the
MAF Freedom PAC, which opposes Obama and supports various Republican
Congressional candidates.
SOURCE: MediaTransparency.com, September 26, 2008
12. ENERGY FRONT GROUP CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF ENVIRONMENTALISTS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7804
Americans for American Energy (AAE), an energy front group
established by the public relations firm Pac/West Communications,
asked Congress to investigate “possible illegal coordination between
U.S. Interior Department officials and several national
environmental groups.” At issue are contacts between the
Department’s National Landscape Conservation System and the
Wilderness Society and National Wildlife Federation — groups AAE
accuses of “pursuing an anti-American energy political agenda.”
According to Representative Rob Bishop, a Republican from Utah, the
Interior Department’s inspector general is already looking into the
matter. Federal employees are generally prohibited “from using
appropriated funds or their official positions to lobby Congress.”
The Deseret News notes that the probe “comes after the Interior
Department … found that officials at its Minerals Management
Service engaged in sexual relationships with energy industry
representatives, and accepted gifts from them.”
SOURCE: Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah), September 25, 2008
13. COAL BURNERS INVEST IN ENVIRONMENTAL JOURNALISM
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7802
The Society for Environmental Journalists (SEJ), which promotes
“excellence in environmental journalism,” is gearing up for its
annual conference in Roanoke, Virginia in mid-October. As the
conference is in the “heart of coal country,” numerous sessions will
address “the status and future of big coal.” Richard Pauli, who
writes the NoEnergyTomorrow blog, notes that two of the conference’s
“premier sponsors” are the coal-addicted energy corporations
American Electric Power and Dominion Power. “It’s like seeing a
Heart Association 10k race sponsored by a tobacco company,” he
wrote. In response, SEJ Executive Director Beth Parke stated that
the corporate funding is for Virgina Tech, which will host the
conference, and not directly for SEJ. Pauli noted SEJ’s response,
suggesting that “an improved analogy might be that of a track meet
being held in a stadium that shows tobacco advertising. It may not
be connected to the team, but they have to run below the sign.”
SOURCE: Society for Environmental Journalists website, October 2008
14. JUSTICE, TEXAS-STYLE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7801
Justice Dale Wainwright, a sitting Republican member of the Texas
Supreme Court, is up for election later this year. Journalist Clay
Robison notes that Wainwright is busy fundraising and this “means
collecting campaign money, perfectly legally, from litigants and
potential litigants.” One of the hosts of a recent fundraising event
for Wainwright was the Texas Civil Justice League, which contributed
$6,000 to his campaign. The league, Robison writes, is “one of
several business-oriented groups that have filed briefs urging the
high court to reaffirm a controversial decision giving refineries
and other industrial plants a new shield against liability claims
from contract workers injured on the job.” The next hearing on the
case is in two weeks’ time. Other sponsors of the fundraising event
included ConocoPhillips, Koch Industries, American Electric Power,
AT&T, Pfizer and the Texas Medical Association, “all of whom also
are keenly interested in the outcome of the contract workers’ case
or any number of other issues before the high court.”
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle, September 28, 2008
——————————————————————–
The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
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