THE WEEKLY SPIN, DECEMBER 19, 2007

== BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST ==
1. New Participatory Project: Getting Behind GE's Green Gloss

== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. Killing Them Softly (With Silencers)
2. Anonymously Defending Guantanamo from Criticism
3. 'Tis the Season of Exploitation
4. Heckuva Huckabee Non-Recollection
5. Drug Ties Lead to "Wishful Conclusions"
6. Liquid Gas Terminals Crowding the Coastline
7. Marketing, Marketing Everywhere
8. The Weekly Radio Spin: Who's America's Next PR Czar?
9. Playing Public Relations Games
10. Unions to Lehane: You Down with AMPTP?
11. Energy Companies' Gallons of Greenwash
12. I Am America (And So Can Hughes?)

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

== BE A CITIZEN JOURNALIST ==
1. NEW PARTICIPATORY PROJECT: GETTING BEHIND GE'S GREEN GLOSS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6819
In May 2005 General Electric, which is now ranked as the world's
tenth largest company, launched its "Ecomagination" PR campaign. The
project, the company stated, was to "address challenges such as
the need for cleaner, more efficient sources of energy." But two
years later it turns out that nuclear power plants get the company's
count as being imaginative. The global PR blitz has been documented
a little but somewhat haphazardly. However, it would be great if
together we could create the best, most authoritative article on
what is perhaps the boldest global greenwashing campaign around. If
you'd like to help, got to www.prwatch.org/node/6819. For more information,
go to www.SourceWatch.org.

Have fun, and thanks for your help!

== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. KILLING THEM SOFTLY (WITH SILENCERS)
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6817
Tourists love Colorado Rocky Mountain National Park's spectacular
elk herds. Visitors to the park often get out of their cars and
pose for photos with groups of elk grazing placidly on the green
grass behind them, snow-capped Rocky Mountains filling the backdrop.
The elk, which have been protected inside the park, in turn have
become accustomed to the humans milling about in their midst,
showing no fear and helping out Colorado's tourist economy by
reliably posing pretty for photos. So the National Park Service has
announced that it will try to preserve this unique and trusting
inter-species relationship as it hires sharpshooters to start
killing up to 200 elk a year in an attempts to thin the prolific
herd. Park officials say that they will take "special precautions"
to prevent the elk from associating humans with danger and death.
The precautions will likely include the use of high-powered rifles
fitted with silencers, and "subsonic ammunition," which can be
"quietly used at close range." The Park Service refers to this as
"preserving the viewability of the elk." Translation: keeping them
from reacting normally and bolting up to the high country for good
to escape the snipers, resulting in hordes of disappointed tourists.
SOURCE: Greeley, Colorado Tribune, December 16, 2007

2. ANONYMOUSLY DEFENDING GUANTANAMO FROM CRITICISM
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6815
"US military personnel at Guantanamo Bay called Fidel Castro a
transsexual and defended the prison for terrorism suspects in
anonymous web postings," according to a new report. The report
"tracked web activity by service members with Guantanamo email
addresses and also found they deleted prisoner identification
numbers from three detainee profiles on Wikipedia, the popular
online encyclopedia that allows anyone to change articles."
Guantanamo personnel also commented on news stories online, "using
apparently fictitious names. ... A comment on a Wired magazine story
about a leaked Guantanamo operations manual ... urged readers to
learn about Guantanamo by going to the [base's] public affairs
website, adding that the base is 'a very professional place full of
true American patriots.'" Army Lt. Col. Ed Bush "said there is no
official attempt to alter information," but "the military seeks to
correct what it believes is incorrect or outdated information about
the prison." The anonymous edits were mapped to Guantanamo personnel
by Wikileaks, a project that publishes government documents.
SOURCE: Associated Press, December 13, 2007

3. 'TIS THE SEASON OF EXPLOITATION
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6814
The National Labor Committee (NLC) has released a report on
sweatshop conditions in China which pinpoints holiday items being
made at Guangzhou Huanya Gift Ltd. Company for Wal-Mart, as well as
for other U.S. companies, including Christmas House and Gerson Co.
European clients of the factory include Christmas Elements
(England), Santini Christmas (Italy), Miro (Spain), and Kugelkette
(Germany). NLC director Charles Kernaghan released "A Wal-Mart
Christmas Brought to You from a Sweatshop in China" in the shadow of
the Christmas tree towering over Rockefeller Center in New York
City. "Far from kindling the holiday spirit, the conditions under
which the mostly young women workers in China produce goods for
Wal-Mart are dehumanizing," the report said. Democratic Senator
Byron Dorgan of North Dakota is now calling for trade regulation of
items produced under improper work conditions. "There is nothing in
the law that prohibits against imports of products made from
sweatshop labor, and I think that needs to change," Dorgan said at a
press conference. Dorgan added, "Chinese sweatshops now produce not
only the toys under our Christmas trees, but even the ornaments that
hang on those trees. It is completely against the spirit of
Christmas to produce ornaments in sweatshop factories where the
workers are physically abused and financially cheated. We need to
get serious about keeping the products of foreign sweatshops off
American shelves." Wal-Mart's spokesperson, Richard Coyle, stated
that "As soon as Wal-Mart learned about the Christmas tree ornament
report, we contacted the National Labor Committee and they have not
returned our call. Now that we have a copy of their report, we have
launched an immediate investigation." Wal-Mart is the world's
largest retailer and the world's second-largest corporation in
revenue, behind ExxonMobil.
SOURCE: Bloomberg News, December 12, 2007

4. HECKUVA HUCKABEE NON-RECOLLECTION
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6813
Baptist preacher and Republican presidential candidate Mike
Huckabee denies knowing about a financial boost he received from the
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company back in 1994, when RJR donated $40,000
to a secretive organization called Action America. The front group,
set up by paid RJR lobbyists J.J. Vigneault and Greg Graves, worked
to foster grassroots opposition to a national health care plan then
being advanced by the Clinton Administration. RJR funded Huckabee to
fly around the country persuading other evangelicals to oppose the
health care plan proposed by Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Clintons'
plan was to be funded through an additional federal excise tax on
cigarettes, which explains cigarette company opposition. Mr.
Huckabee, now a Presidential hopeful who is running on morals and
ethics, asserts that he was unaware of the donation, but Vigneault
claims Huckabee was present at the meeting with the RJR
representative where the idea for Action America was hatched.
Vigneault even recalls that Huckabee made the rep step outside to
smoke.
SOURCE: Newsweek, December 17, 2007

5. DRUG TIES LEAD TO "WISHFUL CONCLUSIONS"
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6810
"Meta-analyses," or reviews of several studies' worth of data on a
single drug, influence patient care and healthcare policy.
Increasingly, the people carrying out these meta-analyses have
financial ties to drug companies. So researchers at Stanford and the
University of California, San Francisco set out "to determine
whether financial ties to one drug company are associated with
favourable results or conclusions in meta-analyses on
antihypertensive drugs," which are taken to lower blood pressure.
They found a connection between drug company ties and meta-analyses
with favorable conclusions, but not favorable results. That means
that -- regardless of what the data actually showed -- meta-analyses
done by people with financial ties were more likely to interpret the
data as favorable to the drug. The researchers conclude that
"meta-analyses, as with other study types, are open to the influence
of systematic bias." Their findings also suggest "a failure of peer
review," since "editors and peer reviewers must have read manuscript
versions of those meta-analyses containing discordant results and
conclusions, yet they did not prevent publication of biased
conclusions."
SOURCE: British Medical Journal, December 8, 2007

6. LIQUID GAS TERMINALS CROWDING THE COASTLINE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6809
ExxonMobil is moving forward on its plans to build a liquid gas
terminal off the northeast coast of the U.S. The proposed site for
the project, called BlueOcean Energy, is about 20 miles off the New
Jersey shore and 30 miles south of Long Island. Reporter Jad Mouawad
describes the offshore placement as "a move meant to deflect safety
and environmental concerns about proximity to populated areas." Ron
P. Billings, Exxon's vice president for global liquefied natural
gas, said, "We have tried to learn from our past experiences and
that of the industry in general." The offshore neighborhood is
getting crowded since "the Atlantic Sea Island Group, plans to build
a terminal for liquefied natural gas on an artificial island about
14 miles south of Long Island, a project called Safe Harbor Energy."
CMD reported earlier this year on Shell's successful efforts to
co-opt local non-profits through grantmaking. The Shell project,
Broadwater Energy, is a joint venture by Royal Dutch Shell and
TransCanada.
SOURCE: New York Times, December 12, 2007

7. MARKETING, MARKETING EVERYWHERE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6807
Major food companies are planning "to halt advertising junk food
to children under 12 throughout Europe," but in the U.S., McDonald's
has found "a nifty way to reach kids ... advertise on report cards."
The fast food giant "picked up the $1,600 cost of printing
report-card jackets for the 2007-2008 school year in Seminole
County, [Florida], in exchange for a Happy Meal coupon on the card's
cover." The promotion is an apparent violation of the Better
Business Bureau's Children's Food and Beverage Advertising
Initiative, which McDonald's joined last year. Initiative members
agree "to limit advertising to children under 12 and focus on
better-for-you options." In other advertising news, a New York
billboard for an A&E television show "uses technology ... that
transmits an 'audio spotlight' from a rooftop speaker so that the
sound is contained within your cranium." A&E deemed the "creepy"
voices-in-your-head effect perfect for the show, which is about
ghosts. But Gawker asked, "How soon will it be until in addition to
the Do Not Call list, we'll have a Do Not Beam Commercial Messages
Into My Head list?"
SOURCE: Advertising Age, December 5, 2007

8. THE WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: WHO'S AMERICA'S NEXT PR CZAR?
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6805
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 cover the reality behind oil companies'
green rhetoric, who will replace Karen Hughes at the State
Department, and the evolution of President Bush's statements on
Iran. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we tell you how many
steps it takes to get from U.S. public diplomacy to Burmese military
repression. 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, December 14, 2007

9. PLAYING PUBLIC RELATIONS GAMES
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6800
"Sixty percent of US consumers polled agree that the government
should regulate the sale of violent or mature video games," states a
press release from the PR firm Hill & Knowlton (H&K). The video game
industry's Entertainment Software Association (ESA) was not amused
-- especially because H&K had "conducted the survey as a way to show
how eager it was to get the association as a client." (ESA hired
Powell Tate instead; H&K says it planned the poll before its pitch
to ESA.) An ESA spokesperson called H&K's actions "unprofessional
and unethical," adding that H&K's "release of only part of the
findings paints an inaccurate picture of the entertainment software
industry." Another question "is whether research done" to get new
clients "tends to unfairly highlight negative aspects ... in hopes
of underscoring the need for PR or public affairs services,"
according to PR Week. In related news, the PR firm Kohnke
Communications is suing a software developer for "outstanding
payments," reports Ars Technica. Kohnke's legal filings say the firm
"convinc[ed video game] reviewers to write positive reviews," and
that -- along with other "pre-launch successes" -- should get the
firm "an incentive compensation payment of up to $280,000 after the
launch of Gods & Heroes," the video game in question.
SOURCE: Washington Post, December 11, 2007

10. UNIONS TO LEHANE: YOU DOWN WITH AMPTP?
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6799
Concerned that public opinion is firmly on the side of striking
Writers Guild of America (WGA) members, the Alliance of Motion
Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) hired a bipartisan stable
of new PR consultants. The studio owners' group "retained Mark
Fabiani and Chris Lehane, who have served as senior aides and
advisors to President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore," among
other Democrats. AMPTP also hired Steve Schmidt, "a close advisor to
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger," reports the Los Angeles Times. On
the Firedoglake blog, Jane Hamsher writes about the fallout.
Education workers with SEIU Local 99 in Los Angeles have fired
Lehane "from a consulting contract in support of the WGA." SEIU
President Andy Stern said, "By the end of the week, I believe Chris
Lehane will have no union clients because of his work for the
AMPTP."
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, December 6, 2007

11. ENERGY COMPANIES' GALLONS OF GREENWASH
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6798
"Shell, the oil company that recently trumpeted its commitment to
a low carbon future ... has quietly sold off most of its solar
business," reports Terry Macalister. "The move, taken with BP's
decision last week to invest in the world's dirtiest oil production
in Canada's tar sands, indicates that Big Oil might be giving up its
flirtation with renewables." A Shell spokesperson said the company's
solar operations were "not bringing in any profit." Shell still
invests in some wind farms and biofuels operations. Pratap
Chatterjee questions the environmental impact of "the world's
largest bio-diesel facility," which Finland's Neste Oil plans to
build in Singapore. "The scheme could exacerbate global warming," he
reports for CorpWatch. The "$800 million plant will use palm oil,"
boosting "demand for new palm oil plantations that displace
environmentally sensitive forests." Chatterjee is also skeptical of
General Electric's "clean coal" claims. "'Clean coal' technologies
are only marginally more efficient [at reducing emissions] and far
more expensive. Others ... are still on the drawing board and may
never work."
SOURCE: The Guardian (UK), December 11, 2007

12. I AM AMERICA (AND SO CAN HUGHES?)
http://www.prwatch.org/node/6797
As one of her last acts as Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and
Public Affairs, Karen Hughes unveiled a new short film that will be
shown in "the waiting areas of more than 200 American embassies and
consulates around the world." Titled "I am America," the film was
commissioned by the group Business for Diplomatic Action (BDA),
created by the Omnicom-owned ad agency GSD&M Idea City, and donated
to the U.S. State Department. The State Department explains that
"the idea for the film emerged from brainstorming sessions involving
... Karen Hughes, her staffers and BDA. U.S. officials wanted to
correct misperceptions of the United States as an unfriendly and
insular place." In addition to the video, Hughes announced "a photo
book called 'America Is' for young people overseas; and a new
America.gov website providing information for audiences around the
world." Walt Disney recently donated a similar film to the State
Department, called "Welcome: Portraits of America," which is being
shown in the international arrivals areas of major U.S. airports.
SOURCE: Business for Diplomatic Action, December 10, 2007

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

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@prwatch.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

Contributions to the Center for Media and Democracy are
tax-deductible. To donate now online, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/donate

Don't want to receive this email? Unsubscribe at
http://www.prwatch.org/unsub