THE WEEKLY SPIN, June 21, 2006
Sponsored by the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy:
http://www.prwatch.org
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The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
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is emailed free each Wednesday to subscribers.
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. Video News Releases: The Fantasy vs. Reality
2. At Least the Lies Have Improved
3. Did Sister Ruth Neglect to Reflect on McDonald¹s?
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. Ethics All Clear for Election Front Group
2. Business Hires Lobbyists for Indian Nuclear Deal
3. Race and Media: Only the Ads Are Diverse
4. The Toughest Job in the World: Iraqi PR Staff at the U.S. Embassy
5. The Golden Revolving Door
6. Hill & Knowlton Spins Repression
7. Obesity Task Force Grows Fat With Drug Company Cash
8. Rove's Buddy Strikes A Gusher with Dirty Drilling Deal
9. On TV News, the Ads Never End (Part Four)
10. Yo Quiero Más PR!
11. Mixing Private Security With Oil
12. Ashcroft To Help General Dynamics Soar
--------------------------------------------------------------------
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. VIDEO NEWS RELEASES: THE FANTASY VS. REALITY
by Sheldon Rampton
Television stations have maintained a studied silence about our
report on the use of video news releases, but the print media has
fewer qualms about discussing it. Saturday's Indianapolis Star
carried an op-ed piece by Jeffrey McCall, a professor of
communication at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. McCall
described the use of VNRs as a "sneaky strategy" by "some wayward
television news operations" that blurs the line "between reality and
fantasy."
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4893
2. AT LEAST THE LIES HAVE IMPROVED
by Sheldon Rampton
Pundit Andrew Sullivan, who supported the war in Iraq but has lately
begun to notice that he may have been mistaken, is nevertheless
clinging to hope that the debacle can be salvaged. Yesterday he
posted the following observations, from "a source of mine whom I've
learned to trust as an honest observer," about the recent killing of
terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi:
I am impressed with Casey, Khalilzad and the new Iraqi PM. ...
As for Zarqawi, they all recognize the essential silliness of
portraying him as the embodiment of the opposition, but given the
resources the US has poured into this massive psyops, their feeling
is: why not get a little boost out of it themselves? Hence the claim
that it's the end of al Qaeda in Iraq, and the out-of-perspective
presentation of al Qaeda's role in the insurgency. ... So:
misleading, but very sound politics.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4891
3. DID SISTER RUTH NEGLECT TO REFLECT ON MCDONALD¹S?
by Jonathan Rosenblum
I first met Sister Ruth Rosenbaum at the University of Wisconsin¹s
Living Wage Symposium in 1999. Her Hartford-based Center for
Reflection, Education and Action (CREA), established in 1995, had
produced impressive reports on miserable wages and working
conditions in Haiti and Mexico, and I soon assigned them to students
in my course on global sweatshops.
The studies were technical but, like the organization's title,
reflective. By CREA's own telling, that credo of "reflection" --
contemplation before collaboration -- helped produce an answer to
corporate claims that a "living wage" could be defined as enough
earnings to enable a worker to stay alive. This PhD Roman Catholic
nun's answer: go forth, meet the workers, know how they live and how
much they need to earn to lead sustainable lives. Since its
founding, CREA has led or cosponsored shareholder initiatives
demanding justice for workers in national and international
campaigns, from Taco Bell to Wal-Mart.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4830
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. ETHICS ALL CLEAR FOR ELECTION FRONT GROUP
http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,19525794%5E3462,00.html
The Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) has dismissed an
ethics complaint that a front group authorized by the Chief
Executive of Corporate Communications Tasmania, Tony Harrison,
breached the PR industry's self-regulatory code of ethics. In the
March 2006 Tasmanian state election, Harrison authorised a major
advertising campaign for Tasmanians for a Better Future but refused
to disclose who was funding it. Australian Greens Senator, Christine
Milne, argued that in her opinion Harrison breached the code of
ethics provision which states that "members shall be prepared to
identify the source of funding of any public communication they
initiate or for which they act as a conduit". In a speech to the
Australian Senate late last week Milne said that all got from the
PRIA "was a two-line reply" dismissing her complaint. Corporate
Communications Tasmania is the largest PR company in Tasmania and an
affiliate of Porter Novelli.
SOURCE: The Mercury, June 20, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4900
2. BUSINESS HIRES LOBBYISTS FOR INDIAN NUCLEAR DEAL
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0619india_nuclear.htm
The U.S. India Business Counci (UIBC) has hired the lobbying company
Patton Boggs to build Congressional support for President George W.
Bush's plan to allow nuclear technology sales to India. In a July
2005 agreement with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Bush
pledged to "adjust U.S. laws and policies" to allow nuclear sales to
proceed, even though India is not a signatory to the Treaty on the
Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. India proposes that only 14 of
its 22 nuclear power reactors would be open to international
inspectors. Potential beneficiaries of the deal include Westinghouse
and General Electric, both of which are UIBC members. The plan faces
strong opposition from Democratic and Republican members of
Congress. O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports that one member of the Patton
Boggs team will be "Benjamin Ginsberg, who was national counsel for
the Bush-Cheney '04 presidential campaign, and a key player in the
2000 Florida recount."
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), June 19, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4899
3. RACE AND MEDIA: ONLY THE ADS ARE DIVERSE
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060703/thembanixon
"The tentacles of the transnational mediopolies reach deeper into
racial and ethnic communities than ever before," warns media analyst
and activist Makani Themba-Nixon. "For some, this is a triumph in
diversity. Big corporations reaching consumers of color is something
they say we should celebrate. However, this market penetration has
gone hand in hand with decreasing media ownership by people of
color. ... Diversity in staffing (especially at the top) is closely
tied to diversity in ownership. According to a 2002 study by the
Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, only 4.2 percent of
radio outlets are minority-owned, yet these outlets employ more than
half of all the people of color in radio." Themba-Nixon points to
television trends as particularly troubling. "According to a
forthcoming study commissioned by the Writers Guild of America west,
before the merger UPN had the single highest concentration of
writers of color. ... But UPN is merging with WB to create a new
network called CW. CW's fall scheduling plans show ... deep cuts in
UPN's black programming."
SOURCE: The Nation, June 15, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4898
4. THE TOUGHEST JOB IN THE WORLD: IRAQI PR STAFF AT THE U.S. EMBASSY
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/16/AR2006061601768.html
The Washington Post's Al Kamen reported on a cable from the U.S.
Embassy in Iraq, written just "hours before President Bush left" for
his "surprise trip ... to the Green Zone in Baghdad for an upbeat
assessment of the situation there." The cable, titled, "Snapshots
from the Office: Public Affairs Staff Show Strains of Social
Discord," opens, "Beginning in March, and picking up in mid-May,
Iraqi staff in the Public Affairs section have complained that
Islamist and/or militia groups have been negatively affecting their
daily routine." The term "public affairs" describes government PR
staff. The cable details increasing dress restrictions on Iraqi
women and men, often imposed by people "whose affiliations are
vague"; limited and unreliable electricity; and housing evictions
that may be retaliatory actions "by new Shiite government
authorities." The cable explains that many Iraqi employees must hide
their affiliation with the U.S. Embassy. "We cannot call employees
in on weekends or holidays without blowing their 'cover'. ... For at
least six months, we have not been able to use any local staff
members for translation at on-camera press events," states the
cable.
SOURCE: Washington Post, June 18, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4897
5. THE GOLDEN REVOLVING DOOR
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/washington/18lobby.html
Eric Lipton reports in a two part series, reinforced by an editorial
titled "The Golden Revolving Door," that the government-industry
revolving door is turning faster and faster. According to Lipton's
count, more than 90 former Department of Homeland Security and
domestic security officials have entered the lucrative private
market by fully capitalizing on their government influence. These
include former Secretary Tom Ridge, former Under Secretary Asa
Hutchinson, and former Deputy Secretary Admiral James M. Loy.
"People have a right to make a living," said Clark Kent Ervin,
the former inspector general of the department, who now works at the
Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan public policy research center. "But
working virtually immediately for a company that is bidding for work
in an area where you were just setting the policy - that is too
close. It is almost incestuous." While Congress passed a law in
1962 that required former officials to wait a year before lobbying
former colleagues, the ingenious officials in Homeland Security
managed to get a loophole the size of a humvee through the Office of
Government Ethics in 2004. It divided the department into seven
distinct areas, and allowed former employees to lobby all but the
one where they worked.
SOURCE: The New York Times, June 18, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4895
6. HILL & KNOWLTON SPINS REPRESSION
http://www.haamadaily.com/English%20Section/June%2006/17-06-06/PR%20Firm.htm
The Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Maldives, Ahmed Shaheed, has
confirmed that Hill & Knowlton is still helping the government
polish its image. "They are observing political advancements and
other changes. They occasionally check these things," said Shaheed.
"They are doing several reviews for the government. ... Very
recently two members of its staff were in Maldives," said Shaheed.
The government of the Maldives is facing increasing criticism
following the arrest of over 200 pro-democracy demonstrators in May
and the trial of the chairperson of the Maldivian Democratic Party
(MDP) Chairperson Mohamed Nasheed on charges of "sedition" and
"terrorism." The Deputy Chairman of the British Conservative
Party¹s Human Rights Commission, Ben Rogers, said that "it seems
rather questionable to me that the Hill and Knowlton people should
be acting for such a government." The company is reportedly on a
retainer of $20,000 per month.
SOURCE: Haama News (Maldives), June 17, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4894
7. OBESITY TASK FORCE GROWS FAT WITH DRUG COMPANY CASH
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/332/7555/1412-a
Ray Moynihan reports in the British Medical Journal that the drug
companies Roche and Abbott Laboratories provide approximately
two-thirds of the funding of the International Obesity Task Force
(IOTF), which has over £1m in cash reserves. Roche makes the
anti-obesity drug Xenical while Abbott Laboratories makes Reductil.
Dr. William Dietz, a senior member of IOTF and "well respected
authority on obesity" from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, is also a member of a U.S.-based committee reviewing
definitions of childhood overweight and obesity. Dietz, Moynihan
writes, is "one of the driving forces" behind the redefinition of
obesity "which some researchers believe may exaggerate the problem
and unnecessarily label children as diseased." Dietz declined to
comment to the journal.
SOURCE: British Medical Journal (sub req'd), June 17, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4892
8. ROVE'S BUDDY STRIKES A GUSHER WITH DIRTY DRILLING DEAL
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rove13jun13,0,6998893.story
"A rule designed by the Environmental Protection Agency to keep
groundwater clean near oil drilling sites and other construction
zones was loosened ... after years of intense industry pressure,
including court battles and behind-the-scenes agency lobbying," in
addition to a letter from "a well-connected Texas oil executive" to
White House advisor Karl Rove, reports the Los Angeles Times. The
letter, from Republican activist and Rove hunting partner Ernest
Angelo, complained that the stricter, EPA version of the rule was
causing oil executives to "openly express doubt as to the merit of
electing Republicans when we wind up with this type of stupidity."
Rove forwarded the letter to White House environmental advisors,
calling for "a response ASAP." The rule was then rewritten by the
Office of Management and Budget. "A top EPA official" wrote Angelo
about the changes, copying Rove, then-EPA head Christine Todd
Whitman and White House environmental advisor James L. Connaughton.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, June 13, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4890
9. ON TV NEWS, THE ADS NEVER END (PART FOUR)
Expanding on earlier reports of growing product placement deals with
TV news programs, Joan Stewart writes in Tactics, the monthly
magazine from the Public Relations Society of America, that "in many
cases, viewers don't know until the end of a five- or 10-minute spot
that the segment is, in fact, advertising." For example, "in
Minnesota, KARE-TV has turned its morning news show into a giant
infomercial called 'Showcase Minnesota.'" Segments cost $2000 each
-- a bargain compared to Phoenix, Arizona's Channel 13 show "Mind,
Body and Spirit," where a six-minute interview costs $5000. Poynter
Institute professor Jill Geisler points out, "In a news program, the
person asking the questions is the advocate for the viewer. In pay
for play, the person asking the question is the paid advocate of the
interviewee." Former entertainment publicist Raleigh Pinskey
counters that such arrangements are "legal and ... good business."
SOURCE: PRSA Tactics, June 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4889
10. YO QUIERO MáS PR!
http://www.edelman.com/news/ShowOne.asp?ID=121
According to its website, the PR firm Edelman has expanded and
renamed its division aimed at marketing to ethnically diverse
audiences. Rosa Alonso is joining Edelman as Senior Vice President
to oversee Edelman Multicultural, which focuses primarily on
Hispanic and African-American marketing. She previously worked at
Time Warner, AT&T Wireless, and Univision. Assisting in these
efforts, from their new DC office, will be Fabiola
Rodriguez-Ciampoli, who previously served as Director of Hispanic
Media for the Senate Democratic Communications Center under Minority
Leader Harry Reid and as the National Director of Hispanic Media for
the Kerry-Edwards Campaign. This coincides with work for new clients
including several AstraZeneca pharmaceutical brands, Burger King,
and Unilever. In addition, the division recently launched a blog on
the Edelman website "to provide insights into the latest
developments in the fast-changing multicultural landscape."
SOURCE: Edelman.com, June 7, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4888
11. MIXING PRIVATE SECURITY WITH OIL
http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/article/564493/Toyne-Sewell+set+depart+CDR/
The private security contracting company, ArmorGroup International,
has hired former Citigate Dewe Rogerson spinner Patrick Toyne-Sewell
as its new communications director. Toyne-Sewell, who was a military
man before spending over a decade in the PR world, sees the growing
conflicts over oil and gas as being good for the private security
industry. "Security is a rapidly growing industry and will expand
further as oil and gas reserves require further protection," he told
PR Week. "ArmorGroup is moving into wider business areas and
doesn¹t want people to be misled as to the nature of the
industry."
SOURCE: PR Week (sub req'd), June 15, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4885
12. ASHCROFT TO HELP GENERAL DYNAMICS SOAR
http://odwyerpr.com/members/0615gd_ashcroft.htm
Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's lobbying firm, the
Ashcroft Group, has been hired by General Dynamics to represent it
on "trade and defense issues," reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily. Working
on the account are Juleanna Glover Weiss, Vice-President Dick
Cheney's former press secretary; Lori Day Sharp, who worked under
Ashcroft at the Justice Department; and Willie Gaynor, a former
Commerce Department official who was western finance director for
the 2004 Bush campaign. The Washington Times reports that General
Dynamics "received a $30.7 million U.S. Navy contract last week and
was selected -- along with Lockheed Martin in Bethesda -- to submit
a bid to design and implement part of the government's Integrated
Wireless Network. ... The steady stream of orders from the U.S. Army
-- which now total about 25 percent of the company's sales --
provides a solid base that will continue for years. ... The defense
contractor's net sales have more than doubled since 2000 to $21.24
billion last year."
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), June 15, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4884
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PR Watch, Spin of the Day, the Weekly Spin and SourceWatch are
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_______________________________________________
Sponsored by the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy:
http://www.prwatch.org
To support our work now online visit:
https://www.egrants.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2344-0|1118-0
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
SHARE US WITH A FRIEND (OR FIFTY FRIENDS)
Who do you know who might want to receive "The Weekly Spin"? Help
us grow our subscriber list! Just forward this message to people
you know, encouraging them to sign up at this link:
http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/subscribe_sotd.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS WEEK'S NEWS
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. Video News Releases: The Fantasy vs. Reality
2. At Least the Lies Have Improved
3. Did Sister Ruth Neglect to Reflect on McDonald¹s?
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. Ethics All Clear for Election Front Group
2. Business Hires Lobbyists for Indian Nuclear Deal
3. Race and Media: Only the Ads Are Diverse
4. The Toughest Job in the World: Iraqi PR Staff at the U.S. Embassy
5. The Golden Revolving Door
6. Hill & Knowlton Spins Repression
7. Obesity Task Force Grows Fat With Drug Company Cash
8. Rove's Buddy Strikes A Gusher with Dirty Drilling Deal
9. On TV News, the Ads Never End (Part Four)
10. Yo Quiero Más PR!
11. Mixing Private Security With Oil
12. Ashcroft To Help General Dynamics Soar
--------------------------------------------------------------------
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. VIDEO NEWS RELEASES: THE FANTASY VS. REALITY
by Sheldon Rampton
Television stations have maintained a studied silence about our
report on the use of video news releases, but the print media has
fewer qualms about discussing it. Saturday's Indianapolis Star
carried an op-ed piece by Jeffrey McCall, a professor of
communication at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. McCall
described the use of VNRs as a "sneaky strategy" by "some wayward
television news operations" that blurs the line "between reality and
fantasy."
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4893
2. AT LEAST THE LIES HAVE IMPROVED
by Sheldon Rampton
Pundit Andrew Sullivan, who supported the war in Iraq but has lately
begun to notice that he may have been mistaken, is nevertheless
clinging to hope that the debacle can be salvaged. Yesterday he
posted the following observations, from "a source of mine whom I've
learned to trust as an honest observer," about the recent killing of
terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi:
I am impressed with Casey, Khalilzad and the new Iraqi PM. ...
As for Zarqawi, they all recognize the essential silliness of
portraying him as the embodiment of the opposition, but given the
resources the US has poured into this massive psyops, their feeling
is: why not get a little boost out of it themselves? Hence the claim
that it's the end of al Qaeda in Iraq, and the out-of-perspective
presentation of al Qaeda's role in the insurgency. ... So:
misleading, but very sound politics.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4891
3. DID SISTER RUTH NEGLECT TO REFLECT ON MCDONALD¹S?
by Jonathan Rosenblum
I first met Sister Ruth Rosenbaum at the University of Wisconsin¹s
Living Wage Symposium in 1999. Her Hartford-based Center for
Reflection, Education and Action (CREA), established in 1995, had
produced impressive reports on miserable wages and working
conditions in Haiti and Mexico, and I soon assigned them to students
in my course on global sweatshops.
The studies were technical but, like the organization's title,
reflective. By CREA's own telling, that credo of "reflection" --
contemplation before collaboration -- helped produce an answer to
corporate claims that a "living wage" could be defined as enough
earnings to enable a worker to stay alive. This PhD Roman Catholic
nun's answer: go forth, meet the workers, know how they live and how
much they need to earn to lead sustainable lives. Since its
founding, CREA has led or cosponsored shareholder initiatives
demanding justice for workers in national and international
campaigns, from Taco Bell to Wal-Mart.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4830
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. ETHICS ALL CLEAR FOR ELECTION FRONT GROUP
http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,19525794%5E3462,00.html
The Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) has dismissed an
ethics complaint that a front group authorized by the Chief
Executive of Corporate Communications Tasmania, Tony Harrison,
breached the PR industry's self-regulatory code of ethics. In the
March 2006 Tasmanian state election, Harrison authorised a major
advertising campaign for Tasmanians for a Better Future but refused
to disclose who was funding it. Australian Greens Senator, Christine
Milne, argued that in her opinion Harrison breached the code of
ethics provision which states that "members shall be prepared to
identify the source of funding of any public communication they
initiate or for which they act as a conduit". In a speech to the
Australian Senate late last week Milne said that all got from the
PRIA "was a two-line reply" dismissing her complaint. Corporate
Communications Tasmania is the largest PR company in Tasmania and an
affiliate of Porter Novelli.
SOURCE: The Mercury, June 20, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4900
2. BUSINESS HIRES LOBBYISTS FOR INDIAN NUCLEAR DEAL
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0619india_nuclear.htm
The U.S. India Business Counci (UIBC) has hired the lobbying company
Patton Boggs to build Congressional support for President George W.
Bush's plan to allow nuclear technology sales to India. In a July
2005 agreement with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Bush
pledged to "adjust U.S. laws and policies" to allow nuclear sales to
proceed, even though India is not a signatory to the Treaty on the
Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. India proposes that only 14 of
its 22 nuclear power reactors would be open to international
inspectors. Potential beneficiaries of the deal include Westinghouse
and General Electric, both of which are UIBC members. The plan faces
strong opposition from Democratic and Republican members of
Congress. O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports that one member of the Patton
Boggs team will be "Benjamin Ginsberg, who was national counsel for
the Bush-Cheney '04 presidential campaign, and a key player in the
2000 Florida recount."
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), June 19, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4899
3. RACE AND MEDIA: ONLY THE ADS ARE DIVERSE
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060703/thembanixon
"The tentacles of the transnational mediopolies reach deeper into
racial and ethnic communities than ever before," warns media analyst
and activist Makani Themba-Nixon. "For some, this is a triumph in
diversity. Big corporations reaching consumers of color is something
they say we should celebrate. However, this market penetration has
gone hand in hand with decreasing media ownership by people of
color. ... Diversity in staffing (especially at the top) is closely
tied to diversity in ownership. According to a 2002 study by the
Minority Media and Telecommunications Council, only 4.2 percent of
radio outlets are minority-owned, yet these outlets employ more than
half of all the people of color in radio." Themba-Nixon points to
television trends as particularly troubling. "According to a
forthcoming study commissioned by the Writers Guild of America west,
before the merger UPN had the single highest concentration of
writers of color. ... But UPN is merging with WB to create a new
network called CW. CW's fall scheduling plans show ... deep cuts in
UPN's black programming."
SOURCE: The Nation, June 15, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4898
4. THE TOUGHEST JOB IN THE WORLD: IRAQI PR STAFF AT THE U.S. EMBASSY
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/16/AR2006061601768.html
The Washington Post's Al Kamen reported on a cable from the U.S.
Embassy in Iraq, written just "hours before President Bush left" for
his "surprise trip ... to the Green Zone in Baghdad for an upbeat
assessment of the situation there." The cable, titled, "Snapshots
from the Office: Public Affairs Staff Show Strains of Social
Discord," opens, "Beginning in March, and picking up in mid-May,
Iraqi staff in the Public Affairs section have complained that
Islamist and/or militia groups have been negatively affecting their
daily routine." The term "public affairs" describes government PR
staff. The cable details increasing dress restrictions on Iraqi
women and men, often imposed by people "whose affiliations are
vague"; limited and unreliable electricity; and housing evictions
that may be retaliatory actions "by new Shiite government
authorities." The cable explains that many Iraqi employees must hide
their affiliation with the U.S. Embassy. "We cannot call employees
in on weekends or holidays without blowing their 'cover'. ... For at
least six months, we have not been able to use any local staff
members for translation at on-camera press events," states the
cable.
SOURCE: Washington Post, June 18, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4897
5. THE GOLDEN REVOLVING DOOR
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/washington/18lobby.html
Eric Lipton reports in a two part series, reinforced by an editorial
titled "The Golden Revolving Door," that the government-industry
revolving door is turning faster and faster. According to Lipton's
count, more than 90 former Department of Homeland Security and
domestic security officials have entered the lucrative private
market by fully capitalizing on their government influence. These
include former Secretary Tom Ridge, former Under Secretary Asa
Hutchinson, and former Deputy Secretary Admiral James M. Loy.
"People have a right to make a living," said Clark Kent Ervin,
the former inspector general of the department, who now works at the
Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan public policy research center. "But
working virtually immediately for a company that is bidding for work
in an area where you were just setting the policy - that is too
close. It is almost incestuous." While Congress passed a law in
1962 that required former officials to wait a year before lobbying
former colleagues, the ingenious officials in Homeland Security
managed to get a loophole the size of a humvee through the Office of
Government Ethics in 2004. It divided the department into seven
distinct areas, and allowed former employees to lobby all but the
one where they worked.
SOURCE: The New York Times, June 18, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4895
6. HILL & KNOWLTON SPINS REPRESSION
http://www.haamadaily.com/English%20Section/June%2006/17-06-06/PR%20Firm.htm
The Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Maldives, Ahmed Shaheed, has
confirmed that Hill & Knowlton is still helping the government
polish its image. "They are observing political advancements and
other changes. They occasionally check these things," said Shaheed.
"They are doing several reviews for the government. ... Very
recently two members of its staff were in Maldives," said Shaheed.
The government of the Maldives is facing increasing criticism
following the arrest of over 200 pro-democracy demonstrators in May
and the trial of the chairperson of the Maldivian Democratic Party
(MDP) Chairperson Mohamed Nasheed on charges of "sedition" and
"terrorism." The Deputy Chairman of the British Conservative
Party¹s Human Rights Commission, Ben Rogers, said that "it seems
rather questionable to me that the Hill and Knowlton people should
be acting for such a government." The company is reportedly on a
retainer of $20,000 per month.
SOURCE: Haama News (Maldives), June 17, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4894
7. OBESITY TASK FORCE GROWS FAT WITH DRUG COMPANY CASH
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/332/7555/1412-a
Ray Moynihan reports in the British Medical Journal that the drug
companies Roche and Abbott Laboratories provide approximately
two-thirds of the funding of the International Obesity Task Force
(IOTF), which has over £1m in cash reserves. Roche makes the
anti-obesity drug Xenical while Abbott Laboratories makes Reductil.
Dr. William Dietz, a senior member of IOTF and "well respected
authority on obesity" from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, is also a member of a U.S.-based committee reviewing
definitions of childhood overweight and obesity. Dietz, Moynihan
writes, is "one of the driving forces" behind the redefinition of
obesity "which some researchers believe may exaggerate the problem
and unnecessarily label children as diseased." Dietz declined to
comment to the journal.
SOURCE: British Medical Journal (sub req'd), June 17, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4892
8. ROVE'S BUDDY STRIKES A GUSHER WITH DIRTY DRILLING DEAL
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rove13jun13,0,6998893.story
"A rule designed by the Environmental Protection Agency to keep
groundwater clean near oil drilling sites and other construction
zones was loosened ... after years of intense industry pressure,
including court battles and behind-the-scenes agency lobbying," in
addition to a letter from "a well-connected Texas oil executive" to
White House advisor Karl Rove, reports the Los Angeles Times. The
letter, from Republican activist and Rove hunting partner Ernest
Angelo, complained that the stricter, EPA version of the rule was
causing oil executives to "openly express doubt as to the merit of
electing Republicans when we wind up with this type of stupidity."
Rove forwarded the letter to White House environmental advisors,
calling for "a response ASAP." The rule was then rewritten by the
Office of Management and Budget. "A top EPA official" wrote Angelo
about the changes, copying Rove, then-EPA head Christine Todd
Whitman and White House environmental advisor James L. Connaughton.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, June 13, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4890
9. ON TV NEWS, THE ADS NEVER END (PART FOUR)
Expanding on earlier reports of growing product placement deals with
TV news programs, Joan Stewart writes in Tactics, the monthly
magazine from the Public Relations Society of America, that "in many
cases, viewers don't know until the end of a five- or 10-minute spot
that the segment is, in fact, advertising." For example, "in
Minnesota, KARE-TV has turned its morning news show into a giant
infomercial called 'Showcase Minnesota.'" Segments cost $2000 each
-- a bargain compared to Phoenix, Arizona's Channel 13 show "Mind,
Body and Spirit," where a six-minute interview costs $5000. Poynter
Institute professor Jill Geisler points out, "In a news program, the
person asking the questions is the advocate for the viewer. In pay
for play, the person asking the question is the paid advocate of the
interviewee." Former entertainment publicist Raleigh Pinskey
counters that such arrangements are "legal and ... good business."
SOURCE: PRSA Tactics, June 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4889
10. YO QUIERO MáS PR!
http://www.edelman.com/news/ShowOne.asp?ID=121
According to its website, the PR firm Edelman has expanded and
renamed its division aimed at marketing to ethnically diverse
audiences. Rosa Alonso is joining Edelman as Senior Vice President
to oversee Edelman Multicultural, which focuses primarily on
Hispanic and African-American marketing. She previously worked at
Time Warner, AT&T Wireless, and Univision. Assisting in these
efforts, from their new DC office, will be Fabiola
Rodriguez-Ciampoli, who previously served as Director of Hispanic
Media for the Senate Democratic Communications Center under Minority
Leader Harry Reid and as the National Director of Hispanic Media for
the Kerry-Edwards Campaign. This coincides with work for new clients
including several AstraZeneca pharmaceutical brands, Burger King,
and Unilever. In addition, the division recently launched a blog on
the Edelman website "to provide insights into the latest
developments in the fast-changing multicultural landscape."
SOURCE: Edelman.com, June 7, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4888
11. MIXING PRIVATE SECURITY WITH OIL
http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/article/564493/Toyne-Sewell+set+depart+CDR/
The private security contracting company, ArmorGroup International,
has hired former Citigate Dewe Rogerson spinner Patrick Toyne-Sewell
as its new communications director. Toyne-Sewell, who was a military
man before spending over a decade in the PR world, sees the growing
conflicts over oil and gas as being good for the private security
industry. "Security is a rapidly growing industry and will expand
further as oil and gas reserves require further protection," he told
PR Week. "ArmorGroup is moving into wider business areas and
doesn¹t want people to be misled as to the nature of the
industry."
SOURCE: PR Week (sub req'd), June 15, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4885
12. ASHCROFT TO HELP GENERAL DYNAMICS SOAR
http://odwyerpr.com/members/0615gd_ashcroft.htm
Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's lobbying firm, the
Ashcroft Group, has been hired by General Dynamics to represent it
on "trade and defense issues," reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily. Working
on the account are Juleanna Glover Weiss, Vice-President Dick
Cheney's former press secretary; Lori Day Sharp, who worked under
Ashcroft at the Justice Department; and Willie Gaynor, a former
Commerce Department official who was western finance director for
the 2004 Bush campaign. The Washington Times reports that General
Dynamics "received a $30.7 million U.S. Navy contract last week and
was selected -- along with Lockheed Martin in Bethesda -- to submit
a bid to design and implement part of the government's Integrated
Wireless Network. ... The steady stream of orders from the U.S. Army
-- which now total about 25 percent of the company's sales --
provides a solid base that will continue for years. ... The defense
contractor's net sales have more than doubled since 2000 to $21.24
billion last year."
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), June 15, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4884
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