The Weekly Spin, May 17, 2006

THE WEEKLY SPIN, May 17, 2006

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=2344-01118-0

--------------------------------------------------------------------

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. New additions to Congresspedia
2. Food Flack Nation Attacks Journalist Eric Schlosser

== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. All the World News that Didn't Get Printed
2. HHS Moves Closer To Drowning in a Bathtub
3. After Congress, K Street Beats Main Street
4. Big Tobacco Lobbyists Seek To Axe Texas Taxes
5. AANRs: Australian Audio News Releases
6. Alaska Spends Cool $3 Million on Arctic Oil Campaign
7. Wal-Mart Seeks Boosters Among Biz Partners
8. Spinning (and Unspinning) Nuclear Power Worldwide
9. The War on Terror Meets the War on Drugs
10. Fake TV News Show Covers Fake TV News Report
11. Chemical Association's PR To Make You Safer

--------------------------------------------------------------------

== BLOG POSTINGS ==

1. NEW ADDITIONS TO CONGRESSPEDIA
by Conor Kenny

It's been a busy week on Congresspedia. New additions to the site
include:
* lots of contributions by members of the
Congresspedia/SourceWatch community on bribery scandals, new
legislation, heavyweight corporate campaign contributors, censuring
the president and federal investigations into an "improper
relationship" with a lobbyist (see full list)
* a new page on the Colbert Report with links to the videos of
each of his "Better Know a District" member of Congress interviews
* and a fancy new tool for looking up your particular member of
Congress by your home address.
Also well worth checking out is the muckraking action over at
the Sunlight Foundation blogs. The new Congresspedia article
contributions include:
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4802

2. FOOD FLACK NATION ATTACKS JOURNALIST ERIC SCHLOSSER
by John Stauber

"Fast Food Nation" mega-selling author Eric Schlosser must be doing
something right. He's under vicious attack from food industry
lobbyists and front groups mimicking his book title in their website
smearing him. Fleishman-Hillard's Becky Johnson and her fellow
flustered food flacks risk publicizing Schlosser's writings in their
over-the-top efforts to condemn him.
The industrial food lobby is freaking-out over "Chew On This",
his new book with Charles Wilson aimed at youngsters, and the fact
that his "Fast Food Nation" is being made into a major Hollywood
movie with the same title. Best Food Nation is the food industry's
sound-alike website funded by the American Farm Bureau Federation,
American Meat Institute, National Cattlemen's Beef Association,
National Council of Chain Restaurants, and 14 other food lobbies.
The website highlights anti-Schlosser rants by industry-funded front
groups including Heartland Institute and the American Council on
Science and Health.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4800

== SPIN OF THE DAY ==

1. ALL THE WORLD NEWS THAT DIDN'T GET PRINTED
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33238
"Every year, the U.N.'s Department of Public Information (DPI)
unveils its list of the world's 10 most under-reported stories,"
reports IPS. This year's list, released May 15, includes Liberia's
post-war reconstruction, upcoming elections in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, children affected by conflict in Nepal, drought
and war in Somalia, problems with tsunami relief efforts, successful
efforts to resolve conflicts over water resources, renewed violence
in Cote d'Ivoire, and the many challenges facing refugees and asylum
seekers. UN DPI head Shashi Tharoor blamed the "if it bleeds it
leads" media phenomenon. "Development issues can make good stories
too," he said, calling on "readers, viewers and listeners" to "let
editors know that they'd like to see more of such stories." This
year, Malaysia, which chairs the 114-member Non-Aligned Movement,
launched the Non-Aligned News Network. Tharoor said the new network
had the potential to broaden world news coverage.
SOURCE: Inter Press Service news, May 15, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4810

2. HHS MOVES CLOSER TO DROWNING IN A BATHTUB
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0516dhhs.htm
One of twelve units of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services is contemplating outsourcing its communications office,
reports O'Dwyer's. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is
collecting "proposals from PR firms that can handle its public
affairs, publishing, research and web operations." The firm would
replace the agency's Office of Communications and Knowledge
Transfer, which employs 32 full-time staff. (Current staff would be
offered the "'right of first refusal' to outsourced jobs for which
they are qualified.") The agency's move follows Office of Management
and Budget guidelines, which say "'commercial activities' performed
by government workers should be subject to competition when
possible." The agency carries out an annual report on healthcare
quality in each U.S. state, and recently reported that alcohol
abuse-related problems cost $2 billion a year in hospital costs.
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), May 16, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4809

3. AFTER CONGRESS, K STREET BEATS MAIN STREET
http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/051606_brief.html
Part of the Washington DC government-industry revolving door has
been quantified: 318 former members of Congress currently lobby
their former colleagues, according to a new report by
PoliticalMoneyLine. They include former Rep. Billy Tauzin, now head
of the Pharamaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America; former
Sen. John Breaux, now at Patton Boggs; former Sen. Don Nickles, who
started his own lobbying firm; and former Rep. Jack Quinn, now a
vice-president at Cassidy & Associates. Quinn told The Hill, "I was
never someone who thought 'lobbyist' was a dirty word."
PoliticalMoneyLine's website lists the clients of former
official-turned-lobbyist William Lowery. His friend, current Rep.
Jerry Lewis, has been accused of steering government contracts to
Lowery's clients.
SOURCE: The Hill, May 16, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4808

4. BIG TOBACCO LOBBYISTS SEEK TO AXE TEXAS TAXES
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/051206dntextobaccolobby.223e4e1e.html
"Big Tobacco's toughest fight in years is being waged by a band of
highly paid, talented and experienced former legislators, political
appointees and close friends of the most powerful people in Texas.
They're fighting an uphill battle with such finesse that they're
actually, occasionally, winning," reports Karen Brooks. At issue is
a state measure to increase cigarette taxes by one dollar per pack.
Lobbyists retained by Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds include Governor
Rick Perry's former chief of staff, Texas' former secretary of state
and former state legislators. Their arguments against the tax
increase include that it will hurt retailers and that for
"working-class people who can't afford to get away ... having a
smoke is their version of a vacation." Tobacco companies are also
running radio ads that are "offensive," "demeaning" and
"condescending," according to one state senator, who pledged to
oppose the industry-backed countermeasures after hearing the ads.
SOURCE: The Dallas Morning News, May 12, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4806

5. AANRS: AUSTRALIAN AUDIO NEWS RELEASES
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1639005.htm
The Australian TV show Mediawatch notes our study on video news
releases and goes on to report, "We haven't found any examples as
bad as that on Australian TV, but the radio equivalent -- the audio
news release -- has definitely arrived." Mediawatch tracked one ANR,
paid for by Telstra and produced and distributed by Professional
Public Relations, that was aired by radio stations in Dubbo and
Canberra. Another ANR, promoting a security company's fire alarms,
was distributed by Media Game and aired by radio stations in Wagga
and Young. "Under resourced news services that don't have time to do
their own stories are the most vulnerable to PR strategies," notes
Mediawatch. "Which means real local news is pushed aside for phoney
corporate spin."
SOURCE: Mediawatch, ABC Television (Australia), May 15, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4805

6. ALASKA SPENDS COOL $3 MILLION ON ARCTIC OIL CAMPAIGN
http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/article/558738/Pac-West+prepares+oil+exploration+push+AK/
The government of Alaska has signed a $3 million contract with the
Oregon-based PR firm Pac/ West Communications, for a campaign
promoting oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
(ANWR). Pac/West president and CEO Paul Phillips told PR Week that
market research is currently being conducted on where "the issue
sits with the American people, with all the other discussion about
energy floating around these days." The Alaskan government also
allocated $750,000 for lobbying, in addition to the efforts of the
business lobby group, Arctic Power. Pac/West staff are busy on other
campaigns, too. Former timber industry lobbyist and current Pac/West
director Tim Wigley is the campaign director of the Save Our Species
Alliance, which aims to weaken the provisions of the U.S. Endangered
Species Act.
SOURCE: PR Week (sub req'd), May 11, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4804

7. WAL-MART SEEKS BOOSTERS AMONG BIZ PARTNERS
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/business/12walmart.html
The Wal-Mart-launched and -funded advocacy group, Working Families
for Wal-Mart, is recruiting "Wal-Mart suppliers to join the public
relations offensive -- a move that some vendors say puts improper
pressure on them," reports Michael Barbaro. While Working Families
for Wal-Mart "describes itself as autonomous ... at least half of
the steering committee's members have business ties to Wal-Mart" or
the group itself. Examples are Andrew Young, whose consulting firm
works for the group, and Terry Nelson, a former Bush campaign
director whose firm consults for both the group and Wal-Mart. The
recruiting effort "challenges Wal-Mart's longstanding policy of
keeping suppliers at arm's length and shows how eager the company is
to fend off a well-organized union-backed campaign critical of its
wages and benefits," notes Barbaro. A Wal-Mart spokesperson said,
"There is no tie between joining Working Families for Wal-Mart and a
supplier's ability to do business" with the retail giant.
SOURCE: New York Times, May 12, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4801

8. SPINNING (AND UNSPINNING) NUCLEAR POWER WORLDWIDE
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2006/05/09/nuclear_industry_adopts_new_policies_on_radioactive_water/
"The nuclear industry took steps ... to head off a growing public
relations -- if not health -- problem, promising to closely monitor
leaks of slightly radioactive groundwater at power plants," reports
AP. "Water containing tritium has been released into groundwater at
half a dozen plants over the past decade," including in Illinois,
Arizona and New York. The industry group Nuclear Energy Institute is
launching "a voluntary program to closely monitor such leaks." A
recent AlterNet article describes the Global Nuclear Energy
Partnership, an industry / Bush administration plan to "dramatically
expand nuclear energy production at home, encourage new nuclear
generation abroad and import other countries' spent fuel for
reprocessing in the United States." And a new website by our
European colleagues at SpinWatch, called Nuclear Spin, tracks "key
pro-nuclear advocates in the UK," where the government's energy
review was criticized as window dressing for plans to expand nuclear
power.
SOURCE: Associated Press, May 10, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4797

9. THE WAR ON TERROR MEETS THE WAR ON DRUGS
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0511afghan.htm
Hill & Knowlton will head "a complex $3.8M PR effort" for the U.S.
State Department, "targeting Afghan citizens and stakeholder groups
to dissuade Afghan farmers from cultivating poppies and boosting
global drug trade." Poppy production has soared since the 2001 U.S.
invasion. Afghanistan provided 86 percent of the world's heroin in
2005, and "planting has significantly increased in 2006," according
to a State Department official. Hill & Knowlton will "deploy
communications through seven Afghan provinces" and "build
capability" within the Agriculture, Interior and Counter-narcotics
Ministries, by providing "communications professionals" and
developing each ministry's own communications office. "Foreign and
domestic media will be brought along" on poppy eradication missions,
and "alternative livelihood efforts" will be promoted in the PR
campaign. Current messages include, "Growing poppies is against
Islam and harmful for the reputation of Afghanistan." Previous
U.S.-funded PR work, by the Rendon Group and others, has been called
costly and ineffective by Afghan officials.
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), May 11, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4795

10. FAKE TV NEWS SHOW COVERS FAKE TV NEWS REPORT
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/lewis_black/index.jhtml
We're happy to say that the premier U.S. fake news show covered our
report, "Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed." On May 10, Daily
Show commentator Lewis Black held forth on video news releases
(VNRs), showing footage from the Stiefel Laboratories VNR promoting
its new prescription-strength skin cream (better for your skin than
sitting in a tub of ranch dressing, said Black) and from the Siemens
VNR touting the "ethanol boom." Considering Medialink Worldwide
publicist Kate Brookes -- who appeared on screen on at least four TV
stations that aired that VNR, as though she were a reporter -- Black
suggested that, like ethanol, she could be considered a renewable
resource. Hmmm... we never thought of it quite like that.
SOURCE: The Daily Show, May 10, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4794

11. CHEMICAL ASSOCIATION'S PR TO MAKE YOU SAFER
http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_acc/bin.asp?CID=206&DID=2033&DOC=FILE.PDF
The American Chemistry Council wants you to know that you're safer
than you may think when toxic chemicals end up in your local
groundwater and air. ACC has announced the hire of ex-Environmental
Protection Agency spokesperson Lisa Harrison as its new vice
president of communications. Says Ms. Harrison, in celebrating her
new position: "I am excited at the challenge of educating and
informing opinion leaders about the benefits of American chemistry
in our every day lives, and the value that the industry and the ACC
bring to Washington D.C." Among her Administration appearances:
defending the EPA's "Clear Skies" program that exaggerated cuts in
airborne sulfur dioxide emissions and defending toxic sludge. A few
days before Harrison joined ACC, the organization released a new
defense of the Bush Administration's proposed rollback of the Toxics
Release Inventory. The Environmental Working Group has led a
blistering critique of the proposed rollbacks.
SOURCE: American Chemistry Council, April 26, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4792

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The Weekly Spin is compiled by staff and volunteers at the Center
for Media and Democracy (CMD), a nonprofit public interest
organization. To subscribe or unsubcribe, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/subscribe_sotd.html

Daily updates and news from past weeks can be found in the "Spin of
the Day" section of CMD's website:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin

Archives of our quarterly publication, PR Watch, are at:
http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues

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

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@prwatch.org

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Contributions to the Center for Media and Democracy are
tax-deductible. Send checks to:
CMD
520 University Avenue, Suite 227
Madison, WI 53703

To donate now online, visit:
https://www.egrants.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2344-01118-0
_______________________________________________
Weekly-Spin mailing list
Weekly-Spin@prwatch.org
http://two.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/weekly-spin