---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Center for Media and Democracy
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:02:26 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: THE WEEKLY SPIN, March 31, 2010
To: elyssa.durant@columbia.edu
THE WEEKLY SPIN, MARCH 31, 2010 == CMD REPORTS ==
1. Chef Alice Waters and Chez Panisse the Targets of a Toxic Sludge Protest
2. Prosecuting Financial Crimes: Will Anyone Bunk with Bernie?
3. Toxic Sludge Taints the White House
4. Could Bloomberg Lawsuit Mean Death to Zombie Banks?
5. State Insurance Commissioners Take Baton from Congress == SPINS OF THE WEEK ==
1. Scandal-Plagued PR Firm Ketchum Wins $25.8 Million DHHS Contract
2. John Boehner "Hell No You Can't" Video Mashup Making Waves
3. Insurance Industry Already Finding Loopholes
4. Big Banks to Try Putting on Lipstick
5. In Full Page Ad, Maddow Calls Out Senator Scott Brown's Lie
6. DNC Co-Opting Conservatives' "Hands off My Health Care" Slogan
7. Getting Off the Bottle -------------------------------------------------------------------- == CMD REPORTS ==
1. CHEF ALICE WATERS AND CHEZ PANISSE THE TARGETS OF A TOXIC SLUDGE PROTEST
by John Stauber
It is happening on April Fool's Day, but it is no joke. The
Organic Consumers Association, upon whose Advisory Board I serve, is
picketing chef Alice Waters' world famous Chez Panisse Restaurant,
Cafe and Foundation offices in Berkeley, California, over the noon
hour on April 1, 2010. The protest is a direct result of the
growing controversy in the Bay Area where the City of San Francisco,
through its Public Utilities Commission, has been giving away and
selling thousands of tons a year of toxic sewage sludge to be put on
farms and gardens. The nasty entropic stuff, filled with a
potential stew of thousands of chemicals and microbes, has even been
bagged by the PUC as "organic compost" and used by unsuspecting
victims who would never have intentionally put sewage sludge on
their home or school gardens.
What has this got to do with Alice Waters and Chez Panisse?
Francesca Vietor, the Executive Director of the Chez Panisse
Foundation, whose mission is to promote Edible Schoolyard organic
gardens, is also the Vice President of the Public Utilities
Commission.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8986 2. PROSECUTING FINANCIAL CRIMES: WILL ANYONE BUNK WITH BERNIE?
by Mary Bottari
Bernie Madoff is lonely.
Eighteen months after the collapse of the financial system,
not one Wall Street Titan has joined the Ponzi King in the federal
pen.
For a moment there, he thought maybe Countrywide's Angelo
Mozilo might join him, but alas the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) decided to give him the slap. Then those Bear
Stearns guys were taken to court over those crazy emails that
indicated they knew that the funds they were peddling were chock
full of toxic swill, but the Feds screwed that one up too. Then Bank
of America's Ken Lewis came under fire from the New York Attorney
General (AG) for not telling his shareholders the truth about that
merger with Merrill Lynch. Since the AG has launched a civil and not
a criminal case, Lewis too may face the slap. Now a bankruptcy
examiner has revealed that Dick Fuld and team were busily cooking
the books over at Lehman Brothers before its collapse, but the FBI
apparently didn't read these news stories. It can't be stirred
enough to even issue subpoenas.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8985 3. TOXIC SLUDGE TAINTS THE WHITE HOUSE
by Jill Richardson
When First Lady Michelle Obama decided to plant a vegetable
garden at the White House, she faced a problem that many new
homeowners in America run into. Previous residents of her house had
applied sewage sludge to her lawn, but left no warnings to alert the
her about the potential toxicity of her soil as a result of the
sludge application. When the Obamas tested the soil in preparation
for planting their garden, they found some lead in the soil. At 93
parts per million (ppm), the lead showed that the soil was probably
contaminated by something, even though at 93 ppm the lead itself was
not necessarily a danger. Still, the Obamas took precautions to
further lower the lead level to 14ppm, and make the lead unavailable
to plants by adding soil amendments that diluted the lead and
changed the pH of the soil.
SLUDGE POLITICIZED
Unfortunately for the Obamas, and for the entire nation, once
the story hit the news, it became politicized. While the issue was
initially raised as a comment on the safety of using sewage sludge
as fertilizer – an issue that has no political party – the right
soon grabbed a hold of the story as a way to make fun of the Obamas.
Some on the left fiercely defended the Obamas in return. But the
Obamas are not the villains in this story; they are the victims.
They are among many other Americans whose yards and gardens are
contaminated with sewage sludge without their knowledge and who, as
a result, are exposed to toxic contaminants in the soil. And lead is
just a fraction of the overall problem.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8982 4. COULD BLOOMBERG LAWSUIT MEAN DEATH TO ZOMBIE BANKS?
by Mary Bottari
My recollection is a bit hazy. How does one kill a zombie
exactly? Do you stake it? Cut off its head? Nationalize it? Perhaps
it's time to ask the experts at Bloomberg News.
Lost in the haze of the hoopla surrounding the insurance
reform bill was some big news on the financial reform front. On
March 19, Bloomberg won its lawsuit against the Federal Reserve for
information that could expose which "too big to fail" banks in the
United States are walking zombies and which banks were merely
rotting.
Bloomberg, which has done some of the best reporting on the
financial crisis, is also leading the charge on the fight for
transparency at the Federal Reserve and in the financial sector.
While many policymakers and reporters were focusing their attention
on the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout
bill passed by Congress, Bloomberg was one of the first to notice
that the TARP program was small change compared to the estimated
$2-3 trillion flowing out the back door of the Federal Reserve to
prop up the financial system in the early months of the crisis.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8980 5. STATE INSURANCE COMMISSIONERS TAKE BATON FROM CONGRESS
by Wendell Potter
Now that Congress has taken final action on its health care
reform legislation, the reform debate has now shifted to, of all
places, Denver.
The legislation that is now the law of the land was just the
first step. Despite its size -- more than 2,000 pages -- the bill in
many cases only lays out Congressional intent. In that sense, it is
a framework for reform. The law requires that numerous new
regulations be written to govern the way health insurers do
business, a responsibility that Congress passed on not only to the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services but also to one very
influential non-governmental organization: the National Association
of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The bill mentions the NAIC -- an
acronym most Americans probably only see once a year when they renew
their cars' license plates -- at least 10 times, and it gives the
organization some very important assignments.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8977 == SPINS OF THE WEEK ==
1. SCANDAL-PLAGUED PR FIRM KETCHUM WINS $25.8 MILLION DHHS CONTRACT
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8984
Last year, the Obama administration announced nearly $1.2 billion
in grants to help hospitals and health care providers implement and
use electronic health records, but the proposal has faced stiff
resistance from skeptics who doubt whether such a system can
adequately protect patient privacy. To overcome this obstacle, the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has hired a
public relations firm to help build consumer trust in electronic
medical records: Ketchum, Inc., the PR firm behind the Armstrong
Williams "No Child Left Behind" scandal. In 2005, it was revealed
that the George W. Bush administration funnelled $240,000 through
Ketchum to pay prominent black conservative pundit Armstrong
Williams $240,000 to promote "No Child Left Behind" on his
nationally-syndicated television show, and urge other black
journalists to do the same. Also, in 2003, the U.S. Department of
Education signed a $700,000 contract with Ketchum to produce series
of video news releases (VNRs) touting the "No Child Left Behind"
law. The VNRs were narrated by a fake "reporter," who was actually
PR pro, and were broadcast on at least 40 stations nationwide. The
videos were made to look like "news" stories, but did not reveal
that the "reporter" was fake and paid with taxpayer money. The
Government Accountability Office eventually found that the VNRs
constituted illegal "covert propaganda" by the government. Consumer
advocates have warned that awarding the PR contract to Ketchum will
heighten skepticism about the security of electronic health records.
The DHHS contract with Ketchum is worth $25.8 million.
SOURCE: ProPublica, March 30, 2010 2. JOHN BOEHNER "HELL NO YOU CAN'T" VIDEO MASHUP MAKING WAVES
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8983
SOURCE: FoxNews.com, March 30, 2010 3. INSURANCE INDUSTRY ALREADY FINDING LOOPHOLES
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8981
The new health care reform bill has barely been signed into law
and already insurance companies are finding ways to avoid providing
one of its centerpiece benefits touted by President Obama: coverage
for children with pre-existing conditions. Congress meant to stop
insurance companies from discriminating against children with
chronic diseases like asthma, diabetes, birth defects and cystic
fibrosis, and the law does say that if a company sells a a health
insurance policy, it has to cover these kinds of pre-existing
conditions for children. But now companies are arguing that they
don't have to sell the policies in the first place -- at least not
until 2014 -- and if they do, they can hike the premiums to whatever
amount they need to cover the additional costs. John D. Rockefeller
IV (D-West Virginia) said, "The ink has not yet dried on the health
care reform bill, and already some deplorable health insurance
companies are trying to duck away from covering children with
pre-existing conditions. This is outrageous." UPDATE:On March 31,
Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of Americas Health Insurance Plans
announced that the industry will "fully comply" with the regulations
within weeks.
SOURCE: New York Times, March 28, 2010 4. BIG BANKS TO TRY PUTTING ON LIPSTICK
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8974
The Financial Services Roundtable, which lobbies on behalf of
around 100 of the country's top banks, credit card companies and
insurance firms, will undertake a professionally-organized public
relations campaign to try to improve the tarnished image of the
financial industry. The campaign will portray the industry as
trustworthy and positive, and is scheduled to start at the same time
the mid-term election season ramps up. Three major PR firms are
leading the campaign: APCO Worldwide (which has done work for the
tobacco industry, Luntz, Maslanski Strategic Research (formerly
headed by discredited pollster Frank Luntz), and the DDB Advertising
company. The campaign will focus on setting up a Web site and
working through other social media, like Facebook and Twitter, to
try and demonstrate the "positive benefits" the industry brings to
consumers lives and the economy. A Bloomberg National Poll found
that about 56 percent of Americans would support government action
to limit the compensation of financial employees who helped cause
the global financial meltdown, or to even ban those people from
working in the industry.
SOURCE: Bloomberg.com, March 24, 2010 5. IN FULL PAGE AD, MADDOW CALLS OUT SENATOR SCOTT BROWN'S LIE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8973
MSNBC TV talk show host and Massachusetts resident Rachel Maddow
took out a full page ad in the Boston Globe saying that Republican
Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown fabricated a rumor that she may be
running against him for Senate in 2012 in order to raise funds.
Brown sent a fundraising email around the country in which he claims
that the "political machine in Massachusetts" is recruiting "liberal
MSNBC anchor" Maddow to run against him for senator in 2012.
Immediately after that claim, Brown writes, "The political season
never ends, which is why I need your continued support." In her ad,
Maddow says she is not running against Brown, that the Massachusetts
Democratic Party never asked her to run against Brown, and the claim
they had solicited her to run is untrue. Maddow writes, "Scott Brown
never even tried to find out if it was true before using the made-up
threat of me running against him, to try and scare donors into
giving him more money." Maddow says Brown is participating in the
now "standard" conservative strategy to "invent scary fake threats
to run against," like the "made-up death panels in health reform or
the fake controversy about the president's birth certificate." She
took exception to Brown's effort "to smear one of his constituents
to raise money out-of-state."
SOURCE: Boston Globe, March 26, 2010 6. DNC CO-OPTING CONSERVATIVES' "HANDS OFF MY HEALTH CARE" SLOGAN
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8967
The Democratic National Committee is launching a radio ad campaign
co-opting the conservatives' slogan "Hands off My Health Care!" The
ads warn voters that the consumer protections conferred upon them in
the newly-passed health care reform bill will be stripped away if
they vote Republicans into office. The ads say, "Leading Republicans
are vowing to repeal reform and put the insurance industry back in
charge of your health care. Call [your congressional representative]
and tell [him/her] 'hands off our health care!' "
SOURCE: Huffington Post, March 24, 2010 7. GETTING OFF THE BOTTLE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8966
Corporate Accountability International (CAI) surveyed five states
(Minnesota, Maryland, Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon) and found
that taxpayers in those states are shelling out between $78,000 and
$475,000 a year for government to buy bottled water, a resource that
essentially flows free from public taps. CAI blames the marketing
and promotion of bottled water for successfully frightening people
about tap water quality and driving them towards bottled water.
Bottled water ad campaigns have convinced one in five people that
the only place to get clean drinking water is from a bottle. Fiji
brand water, for example, ran an ad campaign ridiculing the tap
water quality in Cleveland, Ohio, so Cleveland did taste and purity
tests on its public water and compared them to Fiji water. The tests
revealed that Fiji water contained 6.3 micrograms of arsenic per
liter, while the city's tap water had none. Fiji also lost in taste
tests against Cleveland's tap water. Bottled water costs 2,000 times
what tap water costs, and up to 40 percent of mass-produced bottled
water brands, like Aquafina and Dasani, originate from the same
source as tap water. What's more, tap water is subject to more
regulations than bottled water. The manufacture and disposal of
millions of plastic water bottles is a problem, too -- the process
uses enough oil to fuel three million cars for a year, and about 80%
of used water bottles go into landfills. The rest get incinerated
causing more pollution. As people become more aware of the
unneccessary expense and environmental problems caused by bottled
water, companies like Nestlé are fighting back with campaigns
portraying bottled water as "Earth-friendly", and touting the
company's "environmental stewardship."
SOURCE: Corporate Accountability International, March 23, 2010 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
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From: Center for Media and Democracy
Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2010 20:02:26 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: THE WEEKLY SPIN, March 31, 2010
To: elyssa.durant@columbia.edu
THE WEEKLY SPIN, MARCH 31, 2010 == CMD REPORTS ==
1. Chef Alice Waters and Chez Panisse the Targets of a Toxic Sludge Protest
2. Prosecuting Financial Crimes: Will Anyone Bunk with Bernie?
3. Toxic Sludge Taints the White House
4. Could Bloomberg Lawsuit Mean Death to Zombie Banks?
5. State Insurance Commissioners Take Baton from Congress == SPINS OF THE WEEK ==
1. Scandal-Plagued PR Firm Ketchum Wins $25.8 Million DHHS Contract
2. John Boehner "Hell No You Can't" Video Mashup Making Waves
3. Insurance Industry Already Finding Loopholes
4. Big Banks to Try Putting on Lipstick
5. In Full Page Ad, Maddow Calls Out Senator Scott Brown's Lie
6. DNC Co-Opting Conservatives' "Hands off My Health Care" Slogan
7. Getting Off the Bottle -------------------------------------------------------------------- == CMD REPORTS ==
1. CHEF ALICE WATERS AND CHEZ PANISSE THE TARGETS OF A TOXIC SLUDGE PROTEST
by John Stauber
It is happening on April Fool's Day, but it is no joke. The
Organic Consumers Association, upon whose Advisory Board I serve, is
picketing chef Alice Waters' world famous Chez Panisse Restaurant,
Cafe and Foundation offices in Berkeley, California, over the noon
hour on April 1, 2010. The protest is a direct result of the
growing controversy in the Bay Area where the City of San Francisco,
through its Public Utilities Commission, has been giving away and
selling thousands of tons a year of toxic sewage sludge to be put on
farms and gardens. The nasty entropic stuff, filled with a
potential stew of thousands of chemicals and microbes, has even been
bagged by the PUC as "organic compost" and used by unsuspecting
victims who would never have intentionally put sewage sludge on
their home or school gardens.
What has this got to do with Alice Waters and Chez Panisse?
Francesca Vietor, the Executive Director of the Chez Panisse
Foundation, whose mission is to promote Edible Schoolyard organic
gardens, is also the Vice President of the Public Utilities
Commission.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8986 2. PROSECUTING FINANCIAL CRIMES: WILL ANYONE BUNK WITH BERNIE?
by Mary Bottari
Bernie Madoff is lonely.
Eighteen months after the collapse of the financial system,
not one Wall Street Titan has joined the Ponzi King in the federal
pen.
For a moment there, he thought maybe Countrywide's Angelo
Mozilo might join him, but alas the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) decided to give him the slap. Then those Bear
Stearns guys were taken to court over those crazy emails that
indicated they knew that the funds they were peddling were chock
full of toxic swill, but the Feds screwed that one up too. Then Bank
of America's Ken Lewis came under fire from the New York Attorney
General (AG) for not telling his shareholders the truth about that
merger with Merrill Lynch. Since the AG has launched a civil and not
a criminal case, Lewis too may face the slap. Now a bankruptcy
examiner has revealed that Dick Fuld and team were busily cooking
the books over at Lehman Brothers before its collapse, but the FBI
apparently didn't read these news stories. It can't be stirred
enough to even issue subpoenas.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8985 3. TOXIC SLUDGE TAINTS THE WHITE HOUSE
by Jill Richardson
When First Lady Michelle Obama decided to plant a vegetable
garden at the White House, she faced a problem that many new
homeowners in America run into. Previous residents of her house had
applied sewage sludge to her lawn, but left no warnings to alert the
her about the potential toxicity of her soil as a result of the
sludge application. When the Obamas tested the soil in preparation
for planting their garden, they found some lead in the soil. At 93
parts per million (ppm), the lead showed that the soil was probably
contaminated by something, even though at 93 ppm the lead itself was
not necessarily a danger. Still, the Obamas took precautions to
further lower the lead level to 14ppm, and make the lead unavailable
to plants by adding soil amendments that diluted the lead and
changed the pH of the soil.
SLUDGE POLITICIZED
Unfortunately for the Obamas, and for the entire nation, once
the story hit the news, it became politicized. While the issue was
initially raised as a comment on the safety of using sewage sludge
as fertilizer – an issue that has no political party – the right
soon grabbed a hold of the story as a way to make fun of the Obamas.
Some on the left fiercely defended the Obamas in return. But the
Obamas are not the villains in this story; they are the victims.
They are among many other Americans whose yards and gardens are
contaminated with sewage sludge without their knowledge and who, as
a result, are exposed to toxic contaminants in the soil. And lead is
just a fraction of the overall problem.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8982 4. COULD BLOOMBERG LAWSUIT MEAN DEATH TO ZOMBIE BANKS?
by Mary Bottari
My recollection is a bit hazy. How does one kill a zombie
exactly? Do you stake it? Cut off its head? Nationalize it? Perhaps
it's time to ask the experts at Bloomberg News.
Lost in the haze of the hoopla surrounding the insurance
reform bill was some big news on the financial reform front. On
March 19, Bloomberg won its lawsuit against the Federal Reserve for
information that could expose which "too big to fail" banks in the
United States are walking zombies and which banks were merely
rotting.
Bloomberg, which has done some of the best reporting on the
financial crisis, is also leading the charge on the fight for
transparency at the Federal Reserve and in the financial sector.
While many policymakers and reporters were focusing their attention
on the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout
bill passed by Congress, Bloomberg was one of the first to notice
that the TARP program was small change compared to the estimated
$2-3 trillion flowing out the back door of the Federal Reserve to
prop up the financial system in the early months of the crisis.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8980 5. STATE INSURANCE COMMISSIONERS TAKE BATON FROM CONGRESS
by Wendell Potter
Now that Congress has taken final action on its health care
reform legislation, the reform debate has now shifted to, of all
places, Denver.
The legislation that is now the law of the land was just the
first step. Despite its size -- more than 2,000 pages -- the bill in
many cases only lays out Congressional intent. In that sense, it is
a framework for reform. The law requires that numerous new
regulations be written to govern the way health insurers do
business, a responsibility that Congress passed on not only to the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services but also to one very
influential non-governmental organization: the National Association
of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). The bill mentions the NAIC -- an
acronym most Americans probably only see once a year when they renew
their cars' license plates -- at least 10 times, and it gives the
organization some very important assignments.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8977 == SPINS OF THE WEEK ==
1. SCANDAL-PLAGUED PR FIRM KETCHUM WINS $25.8 MILLION DHHS CONTRACT
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8984
Last year, the Obama administration announced nearly $1.2 billion
in grants to help hospitals and health care providers implement and
use electronic health records, but the proposal has faced stiff
resistance from skeptics who doubt whether such a system can
adequately protect patient privacy. To overcome this obstacle, the
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has hired a
public relations firm to help build consumer trust in electronic
medical records: Ketchum, Inc., the PR firm behind the Armstrong
Williams "No Child Left Behind" scandal. In 2005, it was revealed
that the George W. Bush administration funnelled $240,000 through
Ketchum to pay prominent black conservative pundit Armstrong
Williams $240,000 to promote "No Child Left Behind" on his
nationally-syndicated television show, and urge other black
journalists to do the same. Also, in 2003, the U.S. Department of
Education signed a $700,000 contract with Ketchum to produce series
of video news releases (VNRs) touting the "No Child Left Behind"
law. The VNRs were narrated by a fake "reporter," who was actually
PR pro, and were broadcast on at least 40 stations nationwide. The
videos were made to look like "news" stories, but did not reveal
that the "reporter" was fake and paid with taxpayer money. The
Government Accountability Office eventually found that the VNRs
constituted illegal "covert propaganda" by the government. Consumer
advocates have warned that awarding the PR contract to Ketchum will
heighten skepticism about the security of electronic health records.
The DHHS contract with Ketchum is worth $25.8 million.
SOURCE: ProPublica, March 30, 2010 2. JOHN BOEHNER "HELL NO YOU CAN'T" VIDEO MASHUP MAKING WAVES
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8983
SOURCE: FoxNews.com, March 30, 2010 3. INSURANCE INDUSTRY ALREADY FINDING LOOPHOLES
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8981
The new health care reform bill has barely been signed into law
and already insurance companies are finding ways to avoid providing
one of its centerpiece benefits touted by President Obama: coverage
for children with pre-existing conditions. Congress meant to stop
insurance companies from discriminating against children with
chronic diseases like asthma, diabetes, birth defects and cystic
fibrosis, and the law does say that if a company sells a a health
insurance policy, it has to cover these kinds of pre-existing
conditions for children. But now companies are arguing that they
don't have to sell the policies in the first place -- at least not
until 2014 -- and if they do, they can hike the premiums to whatever
amount they need to cover the additional costs. John D. Rockefeller
IV (D-West Virginia) said, "The ink has not yet dried on the health
care reform bill, and already some deplorable health insurance
companies are trying to duck away from covering children with
pre-existing conditions. This is outrageous." UPDATE:On March 31,
Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of Americas Health Insurance Plans
announced that the industry will "fully comply" with the regulations
within weeks.
SOURCE: New York Times, March 28, 2010 4. BIG BANKS TO TRY PUTTING ON LIPSTICK
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8974
The Financial Services Roundtable, which lobbies on behalf of
around 100 of the country's top banks, credit card companies and
insurance firms, will undertake a professionally-organized public
relations campaign to try to improve the tarnished image of the
financial industry. The campaign will portray the industry as
trustworthy and positive, and is scheduled to start at the same time
the mid-term election season ramps up. Three major PR firms are
leading the campaign: APCO Worldwide (which has done work for the
tobacco industry, Luntz, Maslanski Strategic Research (formerly
headed by discredited pollster Frank Luntz), and the DDB Advertising
company. The campaign will focus on setting up a Web site and
working through other social media, like Facebook and Twitter, to
try and demonstrate the "positive benefits" the industry brings to
consumers lives and the economy. A Bloomberg National Poll found
that about 56 percent of Americans would support government action
to limit the compensation of financial employees who helped cause
the global financial meltdown, or to even ban those people from
working in the industry.
SOURCE: Bloomberg.com, March 24, 2010 5. IN FULL PAGE AD, MADDOW CALLS OUT SENATOR SCOTT BROWN'S LIE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8973
MSNBC TV talk show host and Massachusetts resident Rachel Maddow
took out a full page ad in the Boston Globe saying that Republican
Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown fabricated a rumor that she may be
running against him for Senate in 2012 in order to raise funds.
Brown sent a fundraising email around the country in which he claims
that the "political machine in Massachusetts" is recruiting "liberal
MSNBC anchor" Maddow to run against him for senator in 2012.
Immediately after that claim, Brown writes, "The political season
never ends, which is why I need your continued support." In her ad,
Maddow says she is not running against Brown, that the Massachusetts
Democratic Party never asked her to run against Brown, and the claim
they had solicited her to run is untrue. Maddow writes, "Scott Brown
never even tried to find out if it was true before using the made-up
threat of me running against him, to try and scare donors into
giving him more money." Maddow says Brown is participating in the
now "standard" conservative strategy to "invent scary fake threats
to run against," like the "made-up death panels in health reform or
the fake controversy about the president's birth certificate." She
took exception to Brown's effort "to smear one of his constituents
to raise money out-of-state."
SOURCE: Boston Globe, March 26, 2010 6. DNC CO-OPTING CONSERVATIVES' "HANDS OFF MY HEALTH CARE" SLOGAN
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8967
The Democratic National Committee is launching a radio ad campaign
co-opting the conservatives' slogan "Hands off My Health Care!" The
ads warn voters that the consumer protections conferred upon them in
the newly-passed health care reform bill will be stripped away if
they vote Republicans into office. The ads say, "Leading Republicans
are vowing to repeal reform and put the insurance industry back in
charge of your health care. Call [your congressional representative]
and tell [him/her] 'hands off our health care!' "
SOURCE: Huffington Post, March 24, 2010 7. GETTING OFF THE BOTTLE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/8966
Corporate Accountability International (CAI) surveyed five states
(Minnesota, Maryland, Colorado, New Mexico and Oregon) and found
that taxpayers in those states are shelling out between $78,000 and
$475,000 a year for government to buy bottled water, a resource that
essentially flows free from public taps. CAI blames the marketing
and promotion of bottled water for successfully frightening people
about tap water quality and driving them towards bottled water.
Bottled water ad campaigns have convinced one in five people that
the only place to get clean drinking water is from a bottle. Fiji
brand water, for example, ran an ad campaign ridiculing the tap
water quality in Cleveland, Ohio, so Cleveland did taste and purity
tests on its public water and compared them to Fiji water. The tests
revealed that Fiji water contained 6.3 micrograms of arsenic per
liter, while the city's tap water had none. Fiji also lost in taste
tests against Cleveland's tap water. Bottled water costs 2,000 times
what tap water costs, and up to 40 percent of mass-produced bottled
water brands, like Aquafina and Dasani, originate from the same
source as tap water. What's more, tap water is subject to more
regulations than bottled water. The manufacture and disposal of
millions of plastic water bottles is a problem, too -- the process
uses enough oil to fuel three million cars for a year, and about 80%
of used water bottles go into landfills. The rest get incinerated
causing more pollution. As people become more aware of the
unneccessary expense and environmental problems caused by bottled
water, companies like Nestlé are fighting back with campaigns
portraying bottled water as "Earth-friendly", and touting the
company's "environmental stewardship."
SOURCE: Corporate Accountability International, March 23, 2010 -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
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