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| [Nettime-nl] SpinWatch Weekly Newsletter, 12 Jan 2005 |
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From: "eveline lubbers" <evel@xs4all.nl>
<<even wat reclame maken voor eigen werk>>
Dit is de nieuwe Nieuwsbrief die wij met SpinWatch
maken. Heeft nog wat weinig input van mijzelf,
maar dat komt.
Doorsturen en abonneren mag!
dit doet SpinWatch:
SpinWatch
Monitoring PR and spin in the public interest
SpinWatch exists to provide public interest research and reporting on corporate and government public relations and
propaganda.
Spin techniques are much more extensive than is generally realised, encompassing media management, lobbying,
corporate social responsibility, investor relations and corporate dirty tricks and spying.
We aim to foster greater public and political awareness of spin and to campaign against the manipulations of the PR
industry in the public interest.
SpinWatch
gr
eveline
SpinWatch Weekly Newsletter
Monitoring PR and spin in the public interest
12 January 2005
Dear subscribers,
The SpinWatch Weekly Newsletter features the latest news on spin and propaganda culled by Spinwatch and our users
from the global media.
We would also like to point you at two recent articles by Spinwatch authors.
1. Front group to honour Borlaug at UN world conferenceby Jonathan Matthews, 7 January 2005
A year ago GM Watch highlighted an upcoming conference that its organisers said would make "eco-imperialism" a
household word. That conference in New York claimed to expose, "The global green movement's war on the developing
world's poor". Opposition to GM crops, it claimed, was part of that "war". Now a group involved in that conference is to host
a UN conference on GM.
2. Did you have a Coke free Christmas?Andy Rowell, 3 January 2005.
For millions of people around the world this week sees the end of the traditional Christmas break as people return to work
and children return to school. Life returns to normal as the fantasy of Christmas fades for another year. For millions of
children the over-riding image of Christmas is "Father Christmas", a large white bearded jovial character dressed in a red
suit, who delivers presents to them on a sleigh pulled by reindeer.
Please understand that both the SpinWatch site and the Newsletter are starting projects.
Your input, comments and news items are welcome! Do contact us, email SpinWatch
And please do forward this Newsletter to anyone you think is interested in being kept updated about SpinWatch.
for SpinWatch,
eveline lubbers
Ethical issues : The first minister, the wheelbarrow, and the
potato peeler
Posted on Wednesday, January 12 @ 18:55:03 EST (2 reads)
Tom Gordon 11 January 2005
The Herald
JACK McConnell was last night facing fresh questions about not
registering a holiday with Kirsty Wark, the BBC broadcaster, after it
emerged he has declared dozens of other personal gifts since
becoming first minister.
( Read More...| 4447 bytes more | comments?| Ethical issues|
Score: 0)
Ethical issues : Monsanto boss urged to quit Scots quango over
GM bribery case
Posted on Wednesday, January 12 @ 18:46:13 EST (0 reads)
Sunday Herald
Rob Edwards, Environment Editor
9 Jaunary 2005
The Scottish boss of the genetically modified (GM) crops multinational
Monsanto is under pressure to quit as a business adviser to Scottish
Enterprise after his company admitted to paying $750,000 (£401,000)
in bribes to government officials in Indonesia.
( Read More...| 5949 bytes more | comments?| Ethical issues|
Score: 0)
FreedomofInformation : Falconer to curb secrecy of ministers
Posted on Wednesday, January 12 @ 18:40:47 EST (0 reads)
Antony Barnett and Martin Bright
Sunday January 9, 2005
The Observer
The cabinet minister responsible for the new Freedom of Information
Act has said that ministers' diaries and details of who they meet should
be opened up to public scrutiny.
( Read More...| 3583 bytes more | comments?|
FreedomofInformation | Score: 0)
Lobbying : Files show extent of Murdoch lobbying
Posted on Wednesday, January 12 @ 08:08:31 EST (3 reads)
Tycoon won ministers' assurance that he could bid for Channel Five
David Leigh and Rob Evans
The Guardian
Monday January 3, 2005
Freedom of information files released to the Guardian reveal how the
media tycoon Rupert Murdoch wields extensive lobbying clout over the
Blair government.
( Read More...| 5585 bytes more | comments?| Lobbying| Score: 4)
Lobbying : Bush team best bet for Indo-US relations: Blackwill
Posted on Wednesday, January 12 @ 07:43:26 EST (4 reads)
Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi,January 10, 2005|02:30 IST
Hindustan Times
Going by what former US ambassador to India Robert Blackwill says,
US President George W Bush and his core team of top policy advisers
are the best bet for the growing US-India relations.
( Read More...| 1295 bytes more | comments?| Lobbying| Score: 0)
Lobbying : GE, Exxon, Altria Find Inaugural Means Lobbying
Without Limits
Posted on Wednesday, January 12 @ 07:37:53 EST (3 reads)
Jan. 10 ( Bloomberg ) -- Corporations and campaign donors are
spending millions of dollars to help President George W. Bush
celebrate his second inauguration, one of the last opportunities for
unfettered contributions in U.S. politics.
The Jan. 20 pageant, for which the inaugural committee is soliciting
$40 million from corporate and individual sponsors, features a slew of
formal balls and fireworks. In addition, sponsors are spending millions
more on private events that aren't part of the official celebration. Both
will provide a potential bonanza of contacts with policy makers.
( Read More...| 12433 bytes more | comments?| Lobbying| Score: 0)
Lobbying : Blackwill back, on business
Posted on Wednesday, January 12 @ 07:29:03 EST (3 reads)
K.P. NAYAR
The Telegraph, Calcutta
Washington, Jan. 8: Robert Blackwill, former US ambassador to
India, former White House aide to President George W. Bush and
India’s “best friend” in the Bush administration in its first four-year
term, is preparing to encash his IOUs in New Delhi.
( Read More...| 3295 bytes more | comments?| Lobbying| Score: 0)
Government spin : The Conservative Marketing Machine
Posted on Wednesday, January 12 @ 06:46:25 EST (5 reads)
Laurie Spivak, AlterNet. Posted January 11, 2005.
AlterNet
The Armstrong Williams story that surfaced last week is
unquestionably a juicy one: the conservative, African-American
commentator was paid a sweet $240,000 (in taxpayer dollars), by the
Department of Education to promote President Bush's No Child Left
Behind (NCLB) legislation. Ketchum, a public relations firm, served as
the intermediary, contracting with Williams to promote the
controversial law in op/ed pieces and on his nationally syndicated
television show "The Right Side," to urge other black journalists and
producers to "periodically address" NCLB, and to interview Education
Secretary Rod Paige for radio and television spots promoting the
legislation.
( Read More...| 9857 bytes more | comments?| Government spin|
Score: 0)
Ethical issues : Wark refutes contract claims
Posted on Wednesday, January 12 @ 06:07:02 EST (1 reads)
Daily Record
Jan 11 2005
By Paul Sinclair
JACK McConnell's office last night dismissed as 'complete and
utter b****cks' claims that he was involved in awarding an £80k
contract to a firm run by his friend Kirsty Wark.
( Read More...| 2903 bytes more | comments?| Ethical issues|
Score: 0)
Advertising : American Advertisers criticise junk food promotion guidelines
Posted on Wednesday, January 12 @ 03:46:55 EST (2 reads)
Advertising Age
America's Association of National Advertisers has hit back at a proposal to limit junk food ads
to audiences under the age of eighteen, trashing the plan as "ridiculous and shocking."
( Read More...| 1977 bytes more | comments?| Advertising| Score: 0)
Lobbying : Lawmakers Must Heed More Than Internal Rules
Posted on Wednesday, January 12 @ 03:26:29 EST (2 reads)
K Street Confidenial Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Washington PostMonday, January 10, 2005; Page E01
Republicans withdrew a couple of controverisal proposals last week that would have severely
weakened the House of Representative's ethics rules but pushed onto the books two others
that still have Democrats and good-government groups shouting.
The debate, however, is mostly beside the point. Lawmakers are fooling themselves if they
think changing a few rules will make much difference one way or the other. They are ignoring a
much larger issue.
( Read More...| 8005 bytes more | comments?| Lobbying| Score: 0)
Ethical issues : Wark: It's a McCarthyite witch-hunt
Posted on Wednesday, January 12 @ 02:33:16 EST (1 reads)
09 January 2005 Sunday Herald
By Steven Vass and Liam McDougall
Broadcaster Kirsty Wark has told friends she is the victim of a McCarthyite witch-hunt over her
controversial holiday with First Minister Jack McConnell and his family. Wark is adamant that
she has done nothing “inappropriate or wrong” but has told friends that if he she had known the
row it was going to cause, she would have had second thoughts about inviting McConnell and
his family to her villa in Majorca.
( Read More...| 8360 bytes more | comments?| Ethical issues| Score: 0)
Ethical issues : Mr. McConnell's cheap shot
Posted on Wednesday, January 12 @ 02:23:59 EST (0 reads)
Tue 11 Jan 2005
The Scotsman
IN THE past few days, both the First Minister and Kirsty Wark have angrily rejected
accusations that there was any breach of parliamentary, ministerial or BBC guidelines
regarding Mr McConnell’s undeclared stay with Ms Wark at her Spanish villa. Mr McConnell
has gone further and accused his media critics of "professional jealousy" and of using the affair
to "attack devolution and Scotland as a whole".
( Read More...| 4796 bytes more | comments?| Ethical issues| Score: 0)
Government spin : White House anti-drug videos violate propaganda ban, GAO says
Posted on Sunday, January 09 @ 08:16:16 EST (5 reads)
By Shane Harris
govexec.com
6 January 2005
Videotape footage of people using drugs and interviews with federal officials discouraging their
use that was produced by the White House drug control policy office, violate a legal ban on
official propaganda because they were presented to the public without any indication they were
produced by the government, according to a decision released Thursday by the Government
Accountability Office.
( Read More...| 5620 bytes more | comments?| Government spin| Score: 0)
Media spin : Tax-Funded White House PR Effort Questioned
Posted on Sunday, January 09 @ 07:01:33 EST (5 reads)
Los Angeles Times
January 8, 2005
A news commentator was paid to promote education policy, which critics call
propaganda.
By Tom Hamburger, Nick Anderson and T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writers
WASHINGTON - A bipartisan group of lawmakers called for an investigation Friday into
whether the Bush administration misused taxpayer funds by paying a prominent media pundit
$240,000 to promote the president's controversial new education policy.
The Education Department on Friday defended its payments to conservative commentator
Armstrong Williams as part of a million-dollar contract with the Ketchum public relations firm to
promote the No Child Left Behind Act with minority groups.
Williams, who is African American, was hired by Ketchum in late 2003 to build support among
minorities for the president's education plan. He praised the program in columns and on
television without disclosing the payments.
( Read More...| 10788 bytes more | comments?| Media spin| Score: 0)
CSR : PR firms advise clients on ways to tout tsunami relief
Posted on Sunday, January 09 @ 05:56:11 EST (5 reads)
Written by Keith O'Brien
Published on January 10 2005
PR Week
NEW YORK: As companies of all stripe rushed to raise or donate funds to Southeast Asia last
week, much of the PR industry advised clients on how they should - and often, should not -
publicize such efforts.
( Read More...| 3314 bytes more | comments?| CSR| Score: 0)
Marketing : Cabinet Office to set up central marcoms function
Posted on Saturday, January 08 @ 23:03:21 EST (4 reads)
Written by Ravi Chandiramani
PR Week
Published on January 07 2005
The Cabinet Office is to establish a marcoms function at the heart of government – an attempt
to make policies more relevant to the public.
( Read More...| 1754 bytes more | comments?| Marketing| Score: 0)
Front groups : Judgement day for Big Pharma
Posted on Saturday, January 08 @ 22:48:10 EST (6 reads)
News Analysis:
PR Week
Published on January 07 2005
PR practices in the pharma sector are being probed by a House of Commons Select
Committee. Ian Hall reports from Westminster on the issues raised. An hour into the sixth
session of parliament's inquiry on 'The Influence of the Pharmaceutical Industry', there was a
moment of light relief during an exchange concerning media relations and journalistic ethics.
( Read More...| 7153 bytes more | comments?| Front groups| Score: 0)
Lobbying : U.S. Lobbying Reaches Record $1.1 Billion in 2004
Posted on Saturday, January 08 @ 07:05:13 EST (4 reads)
Bloomberg
December 31, 2004
Lobbyists spent a record $1.1 billion in the first half of 2004 to influence Congress and the
Bush administration, according to documents filed with the U.S. Senate. The U.S. Chamber of
Commerce led the way with $30 million in spending.
( Read More...| 1319 bytes more | comments?| Lobbying| Score: 0)
'Dialogue' : European Labor: The Ideological Legacy of the Social Pact
Posted on Saturday, January 08 @ 06:30:25 EST (3 reads)
Asbjørn Wahl Monthly Review
Europe’s trade union movement is on the defensive. It is also in a deep political and
ideological crisis. At present, the trade unions are unable to fulfill their role as the defenders of
the immediate economic and social interests of their members. They have lost ground in all
sectors and industries. What was, in the post–Second World War period, the strongest and
most influential trade union movement in the capitalist world is today openly confused, lacks a
clear vision, and hesitates in its new social and political orientation. Ironically, the same
theories, analyses, and policies which gave it its strength in the postwar period have now
become a heavy burden. The ideological legacy of the “social pact” is now leading the trade
union movement astray.
( Read More...| 35801 bytes more | comments?| 'Dialogue'| Score: 0)
SpinWatch
Monitoring PR and spin in the public interest
SpinWatch exists to provide public interest research and reporting on corporate and
government public relations and propaganda.
Spin techniques are much more extensive than is generally realised, encompassing media
management, lobbying, corporate social responsibility, investor relations and corporate dirty
tricks and spying.
We aim to foster greater public and political awareness of spin and to campaign against the
manipulations of the PR industry in the public interest.
SpinWatch
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