The Weekly Spin...

[GreenEarthAl]

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.

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THIS WEEK'S NEWS

== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. GE Brings PR, Lobbying Costs To Light
2. Ruder Finn Lands Heavy Metal PR Job
3. Think Tanks' Compassionate Conservatism
4. New U.S. Army PR Bypasses MSM
5. A Lobby Shop's Rise and Fall (and Rise Again?)
6. Ashcroft Group: "Let our Client's Radar Soar"
7. Shooting the Documentary Makers
8. Science Agency Staff Criticise Spin Strategy
9. Parting of Ways at Medialink
10. Alexander Strategy Group in the K Street Gutter
11. The Iraq Sell (and Activist Smear) Jobs Continue
12. Cold Comfort from a Coal Baron
13. Corporate-Assisted Repression of Expression

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== SPIN OF THE DAY ==

1. GE BRINGS PR, LOBBYING COSTS TO LIGHT
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0111ge.htm
From 1990 to 2005, General Electric spent more than $122 million on
public relations, lobbying and legal efforts, "to fight demands that
it clean up three contaminated polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
sites," reports O'Dwyer's. The three sites are "a 200-mile stretch
of the Hudson River (the nation's biggest Superfund site),
Housatonic River (Pittsfield, MA) and a transformer facility (Rome,
GA)." GE's disclosure comes after a decade of pressure from the
Tri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment, a coalition of Roman
Catholic groups that filed shareholder resolutions requesting the
information. Coalition director Patricia Daly said the money could
"have gone a long, long way in cleaning up the problem," had it not
been "wasted on PR, lobbying and courtroom delaying tactics." The
Environmental Protection Agency ordered GE to clean up the Hudson in
2002. GE now says it will reimburse the EPA $110 million for "past
cost and future oversight delays," and clean up the site.
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), January 11, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4361

2. RUDER FINN LANDS HEAVY METAL PR JOB
http://www.prweek.com/us/search/arti...una-foundation
The PR firm Ruder Finn has landed an account with the U.S. Tuna
Foundation to counter public concerns about mercury in canned tuna.
The director of media relations at Ruder Finn, Nancy Glick, told PR
Week that the foundation was working "aggressively" to defuse the
issue and is working with public officials "who feel very strongly
that we have to stop scaring the public." Following a three-part
series in the Chicago Tribune in December, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) said it would investigate the issue. Since
March 2004, the Turtle Island Restoration Network have posted an
online mercury in seafood calculator and lobbied for more stringent
FDA testing. PR Week reports, "Ruder Finn is also working with the
University of Maryland (UM) to promote realmercuryfacts.org, which
responds to consumer confusion about mercury."
SOURCE: PR Week, January 5, 2006 (sub req'd)
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4360

3. THINK TANKS' COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=58926
As the toll mounts from U.S. political scandals, think tanks have
provided new homes to some of the fallen. The Hudson Institute has
appointed I. Lewis Scooter Libby as "a senior adviser." In October
2005, Libby resigned from his position as Assistant to the President
and Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, after being
indicted on five counts including obstruction of justice. "Libby
will focus on issues relating to the War on Terror and the future of
Asia. He also will offer research guidance and will advise the
institute in strategic planning," the think tank stated. In December
2005, Doug Bandow resigned from both his role at the Cato Institute
and as syndicated columnist with Copley News Service, after
revelations that he had accepted payments from lobbyist Jack
Abramoff. On January 1, Bandow started as vice president of policy
at Citizen Outreach, a group that favours "limited-government public
policies."
SOURCE: Hudson Institute Media Release, January 6, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4359

4. NEW U.S. ARMY PR BYPASSES MSM
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0110msl_blogs.htm
"The U.S. Army has hired Manning Selvage & Lee to do outreach to
pro-military bloggers," the managing director of Hass MS&L, the
firm's Detroit office that focuses on "new media" and the automotive
industry, told O'Dwyer's. "The blogs are viewed as a way to
distribute 'good news' about Iraq." At least four bloggers have
received an email from Hass MS&L, according to the Washington Post.
"The Army believes that military blogs are a valuable medium for
reaching out to soldiers," the email explains. "To that end, the
Army plans to offer you and selected bloggers exclusive editorial
content." Blogger Donald Sensing accepted the offer, saying, "I
spent long enough in Army Public Affairs to know when I'm being fed
baloney. ... I predict the [Washington] Post and others of the
dinosaur media will ... say we are biased, as if they are not. ... I
am biased, I freely admit."
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), January 10, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4358

6. ASHCROFT GROUP: "LET OUR CLIENT'S RADAR SOAR"
http://thehill.com/thehill/export/Th...406/news2.html
Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's lobbying firm has at
least two new clients. Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) hired the
Ashcroft Group "to help secure the U.S. government's approval to
sell a weapons system to the South Korean Air Force." Since their
early-warning radar system uses U.S. military technology, IAI must
"secure approval from the Department of State's Directorate of
Defense Trade Controls" for the sale. The Hill notes, "Israel has
come under criticism from the U.S. government for selling arms to
countries hostile to the United States, such as China and South
Africa." O'Dwyer's reports that the France-based company LTU
Technologies also hired the Ashcroft Group, "to land homeland
security contracts." LTU products perform "content-based search,
retrieval and classification of images and videos" and also monitor
email.
SOURCE: The Hill, January 4, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4355


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[kaiser soze]

Concerning #4 - I heard the DOD and Pentagon are shutting down soldier blogs, but yet trying to spread further propaganda with pro-war blogs...filthy!