PR Watch Website Launches 'Spin of the Day'

MADISON, Wis., June 28, 2001 -- PR Watch, the nonprofit quarterly
publication that since 1993 has investigated the public relations
industry, has launched a free website feature called "Spin of the Day" to report on
PR spin as it happens. Spin of the Day offers brief news summaries with
links to further information analyzing the spin and manipulation behind news
stories and controversial issues.
Spin of the Day entries can be found at the following URL:
http://www.prwatch.org/cgi/spin.cgi
"The purpose of Spin of the Day is to provide information in a timely
fashion to both journalists and citizens interested in tracking the
often-hidden influence that public relations exerts on the news and
public opinion," notes PR Watch editor Sheldon Rampton.
This week, several Spin of the Day stories provide background on the
current controversy regarding ABC-TV correspondent John Stossel,
following complaints by California parents who revoked their permission for ABC
News to use their children's images or voices in his upcoming show, "Tampering
with Nature," set to air Friday, June 29.
"Spin of the Day provides important information about the Stossel
controversy that has not yet appeared in mainstream news stories," says
Rampton. "Contrary to what ABC is claiming, Stossel was working in close
collaboration with a front group funded by polluting industries, and with
a right-wing think tank. Stossel's mission was not simply to interview
children about the environment but to hold them and their teachers up to
ridicule for failing to share his own anti-environmental agenda."
Spin of the Day and PR Watch are published by the Center for Media
and Democracy, a nonprofit tax exempt organization based in Madison, Wis.
Executive Director John Stauber and PR Watch editor Sheldon Rampton are
also the authors of three current books examining the PR industry and the use
of spin: Toxic Sludge Is Good For You (1995); Mad Cow USA (1997); and a new
book from Penguin/Putnam titled Trust Us, We're Experts! How Industry
Manipulates Science and Gambles With Your Future.
For additional information call the PR Watch office at 608-260-9713,
send an email to editor@prwatch.org or visit the website at
http://www.prwatch.org