[WikiEN-l] Fwd: The Weekly Spin, September 13, 2006

Thu Sep 14 14:57:13 UTC 2006

A sampling:

Weekly Spin <weekly-spin at prwatch.org> wrote:

Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2006 17:45:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: Weekly Spin <weekly-spin at prwatch.org>
To: cmd+weekly_spin-46979 at lists.democracyinaction.org
Subject: The Weekly Spin, September 13, 2006

THE WEEKLY SPIN, September 13, 2006

Sponsored by the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy:
http://www.prwatch.org

3. CORPORATE SPIN CAN COME IN DISGUISE
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/10/news_pf/Worldandnation/Corporate_spin_can_co.shtml
"If McDonald's makes the case that fast food is nutritious or
ExxonMobil argues against higher taxes, it looks like simple
self-interest. But when an independent voice makes the case, the
ideas gain credibility. So big corporations have devised a form of
idea laundering, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to
seemingly independent groups that act as spokesmen under disguise.
Their views wind up on the opinion pages of the nation's newspapers
- often with no disclosure that the writer has financial ties to the
companies involved. A few examples: James K. Glassman, a prominent
syndicated columnist, denounced Super Size Me, a movie critical of
McDonald's. Readers were not told that McDonald's is a major sponsor
of a Web site hosted by Glassman. ... Steven Milloy, an analyst at
the Competitive Enterprise Institute, wrote a column in the
Washington Times that sided with the oil industry against windfall
profits taxes. Readers weren't told that groups closely affiliated
with Milloy have received at least $180,000 from ExxonMobil. By
having others deliver their talking points, the companies stay above
the fray, said John Stauber, whose Center for Media and Democracy
tracks corporate front groups. 'What these companies are doing is
paying somebody else to attack their critics while keeping their
fingerprints off the attack.'"
SOURCE: St. Petersburg Times (Florida), September 10, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5163

4. MORE JOURNALISTS ON U.S. GOVERNMENT PAYROLL
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15466239.htm
Ten Miami journalists have been paid by the Office of Cuba
Broadcasting (OCB) for their involvement in programs for the
anti-Castro propaganda stations, Radio Mart? and TV Mart?. The OCB
is a unit of the the U.S. government-funded Broadcasting Board of
Governors. Three of the ten were journalists with El Nuevo Herald.
"Pablo Alfonso, who reports on Cuba and writes an opinion column,
was paid almost $175,000 since 2001 to host shows on Radio Mart?
and TV Mart?. El Nuevo Herald freelance reporter Olga Connor, who
writes about Cuban culture, received about $71,000, and staff
reporter Wilfredo Cancio Isla, who covers the Cuban exile community
and politics, was paid almost $15,000 in the last five years," Oscar
Corral wrote. Alfonso and Isla have been fired by El Nuevo Herald
and Connor's freelance relationship terminated. The director of OCB,
Pedro Roig, defended the payments.
SOURCE: Miami Herald, September 8, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5162

5. WAL-MART SENDS IN THE TANKS
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/08/business/08walmart.html
"As Wal-Mart Stores struggles to rebut criticism from unions and
Democratic leaders, the company has discovered a reliable ally,"
report Michael Barbaro and Stephanie Strom: "prominent conservative
research groups like the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage
Foundation and the Manhattan Institute," as well as lesser-known
think tanks such as the Pacific Research Institute. "Top policy
analysts at these groups have written newspaper opinion pieces
around the country supporting Wal-Mart, defended the company in
interviews with reporters and testified on its behalf before
government committees in Washington." What the think tanks haven't
done is disclose the more than $2.5 million in funding they've
received from Wal-Mart over the past six years. The National
Committee on Responsive Philanthropy has compiled a report detailing
the political objectives of Wal-Mart's charitable activities, titled
"The Waltons and Wal-Mart: Self-Interested Philanthropy."
SOURCE: New York Times, September 8, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5161

9. PHARMA PR TRIES TO SPIN GOLD FROM YAWN
http://www.prweek.com
Americans may tire quickly of some pharmaceutical PR, but they've
got nowhere to turn (certainly not in bed) when it comes to a new
campaign sponsored by the makers of a sleep-fighting medication,
Provigil. Drug-maker Cephalon hired Dorland Global Public Relations,
which has spun consumers' disinterest in "sleepiness" into a
Homeland Security-like campaign for "alertness." The trick: target
employers. "No employer is going to allow you to bring advertising
into their marketplace," notes Cephalon PR director Sheryl William.
Instead, employers opened the door when Dorland created an
"education" campaign, including two ex-NASA scientists, to warn
employers that the lack of alertness at work could be dangerous.
Among other things, Provigil has FDA approval for treatment of
"shift work sleep disorder"--a condition that can result from
employers' rotating shift requirements. Dorland also created a
website and launched a pilot in Atlanta and Chicago that included
street interviews and visits to baseball games. The "alertness"
website (which gently leads the viewer to Cephalon) has reached four
times its hoped-for audience.
SOURCE: PRWeek, August 28, 2006 (sub req'd)
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5155

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