== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. Health Hype About Statins
== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. Motrin Ad Makes Moms Mad
2. McCaffrey's Military-Industrial-Media Complex
3. Pure Science vs. Biopure
4. The War Comes Home
5. Obama's Idea Factory
6. Obama 2.0
7. It's a Victory if We Say It Is
8. Yes, We Have No Ideas
9. Weekly Radio Spin: Doesn't Motherhood Suck?
10. Bribing Consumer Loyalty
11. Heart of Stone
12. Hold the Advertising?
13. Journalists for Sale
--------------------------------------------------------------------
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. HEALTH HYPE ABOUT STATINS
by Sheldon Rampton
Voices of caution are responding to recent breathless
headlines about the supposed heart-health benefits of statin drugs.
Publications including Fox News, the Wall Street Journal and the New
York Times claimed "that millions more people could benefit from
taking the cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins." As health
reporter Andre Picard points out, the net health benefits from
statins are actually "modest."
The headlines were based on a study published in the New
England Journal of Medicine. However, the study failed to impress
Merrill Goozner of the Integrity in Science Project at the Center
for Science in the Public Interest. Goozner reviewed the study
closely and found it interesting mostly for "what it reveals about
profit-driven medical research and how it contributes to making the
U.S. health care system the most bloated and wasteful in the world."
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8001
== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. MOTRIN AD MAKES MOMS MAD
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8014
It's never good to get your target demographic really mad at you.
Johnson & Johnson managed to do exactly that with a recent on-line
commercial for its Motrin pain reliever. In the ad, a "mom" talks
about how much carrying her baby around is hurting her neck,
shoulders and back. It starts with "Wearing your baby seems to be in
fashion. I mean in theory, it's a great idea ... " But then the
voice over says she cries more than moms that don't carry their baby
around "hands free." It's worth it though, because when people see
her with her little bundle of pain, she says,"it totally makes me
look like an official mom." The reaction from parenting groups was
quick, and the ad was pulled just days after launch. Because of long
lead times for print publications, however, it will be around to
haunt Motrin for a while.
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, November 26, 2008
2. MCCAFFREY'S MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL-MEDIA COMPLEX
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8009
After outing the Pentagon's pundit program -- which recruited some
75 retired military officers who are frequent media commentators, to
serve as the Bush Administration's "message force multipliers" --
New York Times reporter David Barstow profiles one particularly
conflicted pundit, Barry McCaffrey. The retired general is an NBC
News analyst; heads his own consulting firm, BR McCaffrey
Associates; and holds lucrative positions with numerous military and
security contractors, including Veritas Capital, DynCorp, Defense
Solutions and HNTB Federal Services. McCaffrey was an early
participant in the Pentagon pundit program, but then-Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "abruptly cut [him] off" after McCaffrey's
belated admission of concerns about U.S. military operations in
Iraq. A chastened McCaffrey responded by publicly praising Rumsfeld
and the Administration. McCaffrey's influence was so great that,
even in semi-exile, the Pentagon continued to pay for him to visit
Iraq and Afghanistan. "Other military analysts were invited on
trips, but only in groups," Barstow writes. "McCaffrey went by
himself." While McCaffrey's overseas visits, Pentagon contacts,
media appearances and Congressional testimony benefited his
corporate clients, neither he nor NBC disclosed those clients. NBC
News president Steve Capus called McCaffrey an "independent voice"
whose business obligations wouldn't color his commentary. McCaffrey
simply claimed that his consulting "never has been a problem" for
his punditry.
SOURCE: New York Times, November 29, 2008
3. PURE SCIENCE VS. BIOPURE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8007
Biopure, a company that makes blood substitutes, is suing
scientist Charles Natanson for defamation after he published a
critical review in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Nature magazine has condemned the lawsuit. It "could have an
enormous chilling effect on scientific inquiry," says Cleveland
Clinic cardiologist Steve Nissen, whose controversial analyses of
safety risks from the diabetes drug Avandia and the painkiller Vioxx
resulted in billions of dollars in lost industry sales. Some people
are saying "a plague on both houses," noting that Natanson has come
under criticism for "failing to disclose a conflict of interest in a
medical-journal article he wrote" that was critical of blood
substitutes.
SOURCE: Integrity in Science Watch, November 17, 2008
4. THE WAR COMES HOME
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8006
Aaron Glantz, who covered the U.S. occupation of Iraq in his 2006
book, How America Lost Iraq, has written a new book that focuses on
the government's neglect of returning soldiers. Titled The War Comes
Home: Washington's Battle against America's Veterans, it has been
praised by Publisher's Weekly as "a breathtaking rebuke to
government hypocrisy and an overdue contribution to gaining critical
public awareness of this official neglect. Glantz ... offers a
thorough account of the plight U.S. vets face back home -- from the
understaffed Veterans Administration perversely geared to saving
money at the expense of vets in dire need of help, to concomitant
medical and social ills, including undiagnosed brain injuries and
the too frequent perils of homelessness, crime and suicide. There is
also grassroots resistance and mutual aid, including the eventual
passage of the post 9/11 GI Bill of Rights in May 2008, fiercely
opposed by the Bush administration and the Republican Congress
(including John McCain). Glantz fleshes out his narrative with the
voices and powerful stories of vets, their families and advocates,
while helpfully including a host of resources and services for
veterans." Glantz also edited another recent book that focuses on
soldiers' experiences in their own words, titled Winter Soldier:
Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations.
SOURCE: AaronGlantz.com
5. OBAMA'S IDEA FACTORY
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8003
Michael Scherer takes a look at the Center for American Progress
(CAP), which has become "the most influential independent
organization in Obama's nascent Washington." Scherer notes that CAP
was founded just five years ago by John Podesta as a deliberate
attempt to imitate the previous success of conservative think tanks
such as the Heritage Foundation. "It is difficult to overstate the
influence in Obamaland of CAP, a group with roughly $25 million in
annual funding from mostly anonymous individuals, corporations and
unions," Scherer writes. "Podesta himself is leading Obama's
transition effort, holding press conferences to speak for the
President-elect, with an operation beneath him filled with CAP
alum."
SOURCE: Time, November 21, 2008
6. OBAMA 2.0
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8000
The election of Barack Obama as America's next president has
prompted a number of analyses of what has been described as "one of
the most effective presidential campaigns that's ever been run." Now
the Obama team is showing that it intends to use some of the same
new internet technologies that made it "kind of the Google of
politics" to reinvent the way the White House communicates with the
public. The presidential inauguration committee has launched "a
campaign-style social networking web site, pic2009.org." They've
created another website, change.gov, to communicate with the public
during the transition period until Obama takes office. And as Micah
Sifry noted on Wednesday, change.gov is starting to "go interactive,
intensively. ... A few hours ago, the Change.gov blog led with a
post called 'Join the Discussion' and pointed readers to a video
from two members of the health care transition team," which invites
readers to "join the discussion" with suggestions for how the
healthcare system should be changed. Already the forum has attracted
thousands of comments. "Imagine what happens if those numbers -- on
not just any 'centralized site' but the one that symbolically and
perhaps literally has the attention of the President-elect -- start
climbing into the five- and six-digits," Sifry writes. "Before our
eyes, we are witnessing the beginning of a rebooting of the American
political system."
SOURCE: TechPresident.com, November 26, 2008
7. IT'S A VICTORY IF WE SAY IT IS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8013
The White House says that the Iraqi Parliament's approval of the
Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) is cause for celebration and a
sign that we have won the war. White House Press Secretary Dana
Perino rejected the idea that the Agreement's stipulation of troop
withdrawal in three years is in fact exactly the type of timetable
that President Bush has consistently opposed. On the contrary, she
explained that "We believe that the conditions are such now that we
are able to celebrate the victory that we've had so far and
establish both a strategic framework agreement, which is a much
broader document and talks about all sorts of cooperation that we'll
have with Iraq from here on out, from trade and healthcare and
exchanges on science, and a real strong bilateral agreement that you
would hope we would have with any of our allies."
SOURCE: Democracy Now!, November 20, 2008
8. YES, WE HAVE NO IDEAS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7998
In the wake of Republican defeats in the 2008 U.S. elections,
conservatives are fighting among themselves over who's to blame and
how to revive their movement. Edwin Feulner of the Heritage
Foundation says not to worry: "If you want to see when conservatives
were in trouble, go back 35 years to 1973, the year The Heritage
Foundation set up shop. We were just a handful of people in a few
rented rooms. At that time there were no cable outlets like Fox
News. There was no conservative talk radio, because the Fairness
Doctrine was still in effect. Al Gore hadn't invented the Internet,
so there were no conservative bloggers exposing the biases of the
mainstream media and delivering conservative commentary to millions
of readers." Today, by contrast, "In addition to Fox News, hundreds
of talk radio programs and scores of national magazines,
conservatives have achieved a staggering presence on the Internet."
But conservative blogger Jon Henke worries that Feulner is "exactly
wrong." ... As The Economist pointed out recently, the Right has
been losing the intellectual battle of ideas, becoming 'a modern-day
version of the 1970s liberals it arose to do battle with: trapped in
an ideological cocoon, defined by its outer fringes, ruled by
dynasties and incapable of adjusting to a changed world.' ... What
effective ideas has the Right had recently? How far have those
ideas gone? Where are we? ... The Right has replaced strategy with
tactics. We are tinkering with an agenda that is not going
anywhere."
SOURCE: The Next Right, November 27, 2008
9. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: DOESN'T MOTHERHOOD SUCK?
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7997
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 a reason to celebrate in Iraq,
brand loyalty in bleak economic times and how to piss off moms. In
"Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we look at cause-related
marketing. 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, November 28, 2008
10. BRIBING CONSUMER LOYALTY
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8012
The Edelman PR firm recently conducted a survey to find out what
keeps consumers loyal to a name brand in challenging economic times.
They found that "the trick is to forge a 'double-value' for a
product by developing a tie-in to a social cause." Cause-related
marketing can be a powerful marketing technique. The environment,
health, poverty and education were the top causes likely to inspire
consumer loyalty. Companies offering what seems to be an added
benefit to purchases are appealing to the emotions of the consumer.
According to the survey, "only a quarter of consumers gain
contentment while shopping. More than four-in-ten (42 percent) say
helping others brings a sense of contentment." Unfortunately, it is
often impossible for consumers to judge the actual impact that
cause-related marketing creates since the amount donated or where it
specifically goes is rarely disclosed.
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), November 17, 2008
11. HEART OF STONE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7995
Even Republican dirty-tricks operator Roger J. Stone, Jr. now says
he regrets helping elect George W. Bush president in 2000. Stone,
who led the "Brooks Brothers riot" that disrupted the 2000 election
recount in Florida, now says he is troubled by the Bush
administration's trampling of civil liberties and the war in Iraq.
"When I look at those double-page New York Times spreads of all the
individual pictures of people who have been killed [in Iraq], I got
to think, 'Maybe there wouldn't have been a war if I hadn't gone to
Miami-Dade,'" Stone told Benjamin Sarlin. Despite these regrets,
Sarlin notes that "Stone still offers his services as a
no-holds-barred strategist to domestic and foreign politicians
alike, and claims his client list is full."
SOURCE: The Daily Beast, November 20, 2008
12. HOLD THE ADVERTISING?
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7994
"A ban on fast-food advertising to children would cut the national
obesity rate by as much as 18%, according to a new study conducted
by the National Bureau of Economic Research and funded by the
National Institutes of Health," reports Emily Bryson York. The
Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), a front group for the restaurant
and fast-food industry, has responded by calling the study
"erroneous" because one of the study's authors acknowledges that "a
lot of people consume fast food in moderate amounts and it doesn't
harm their health" (as though this observation contradicts the
study's findings in any way whatsoever). Previous studies have
reached similar conclusions (and have likewise been attacked by
CCF).
SOURCE: Advertising Age, November 19, 2008
13. JOURNALISTS FOR SALE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7990
"Dan Abrams, the chief legal correspondent for NBC News who
recently lost his prime-time cable news show, is forming a
consulting firm that he hopes will connect a global Rolodex of media
experts with businesses that need strategic advice," reports Brian
Stelter. "The firm, Abrams Research, may resemble a narrowly focused
version of 'expert network' firms that connect investors to industry
experts. Journalists and bloggers retained and paid by the firm
could consult with corporations, conduct media training sessions, or
conduct investigative reporting for corporate clients." Abrams
Research says it has also "established strategic partnerships with
major PR and media strategy firms" including Dan Klores
Communications and the Abernathy MacGregor Group. As Alan Murray of
the Wall Street Journal points out, "This is about as clear a
violation of our conflict of interest rules as I can imagine.
Journalists shouldn't be advising companies about how to game their
own organization." Similar concerns have been expressed by
journalists at CBS News and others. However, NBC seems to think that
Abrams can continue to work as both a professional flack and as one
of their journalists. "NBC News could not have been more
accommodating throughout this process," he told TVNewser, adding
that he would be "staying on as the Chief Legal Analyst for NBC News
and hope to remain with NBC for many years to come."
SOURCE: New York Times, November 18, 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
projects of the Center for Media & Democracy, a nonprofit
organization that offers investigative reporting on the public
relations industry. We help the public recognize manipulative and
misleading PR practices by exposing the activities of secretive,
little-known propaganda-for-hire firms that work to control
political debates and public opinion. Please send any questions or
suggestions about our publications to editor AT prwatch DOT org.
To subscribe to the Weekly Spin, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/sub
CMD also sponsors SourceWatch, a collaborative research project
that invites anyone (including you) to contribute and edit articles.
For more information, visit:
http://www.sourcewatch.org
The Weekly Spin, December 2, 2008
-
The Center for Media and Democracy, Dec 2, 2008
Straight to the Source
