CLUSTER BUSTER
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-12-10-cluster-bomb-cover_x.htm
In Weapons of Mass Deception, we showed how the U.S. news media
virtually ignored the use in Iraq of cluster bombs --
anti-personnel devices like land mines that leave behind a deadly
litter of unexploded "bomblets." Now Paul Wiseman has written a
major report in which he concludes, "The Pentagon presented a
misleading picture during the war of the extent to which cluster
weapons were being used and of the civilian casualties they were
causing. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
told reporters on April 25, six days before President Bush declared
major combat operations over, that the United States had used 1,500
cluster weapons and caused one civilian casualty. ... In fact, the
United States used 10,782 cluster weapons, according to the
declassified executive summary of a report compiled by U.S. Central
Command."
SOURCE: USA Today, December 11, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/December_2003.html#1071118801
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13. RADIO FRAUDCASTING
http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1514
Radio listeners tuning into disk jockey Jeff Kovarsky on Dallas,
Texas radio station KKMR in late 2000 could hear him extolling a
magical weight-loss remedy. iIt helped me lose 36 pounds,î Kovarsky
said. iI ate so much over Thanksgiving, I still have turkey burps.
But thanks to Body Solutions, I keep the weight off and now I'm
ready for Christmas. So, bring it on, Grandma. The honey-baked ham,
the apple pie, the Christmas cookies. I'm not afraid because I've
got Body Solutions Evening Weight Loss Formula.î Kovarsky was one
of the radio personalities at 755 stations across the country who
received millions of dollars in undisclosed payments to hawk the
products of Mark Nutritionals, which was shut down finally for
fraud by the Federal Trade Commission in 2002. "Devoid of pictures
or fine print, radio was the ideal medium," observes Andrew Wheat.
"Millions of faithful listeners heard personal pitches from
familiar voices, yet they could not see if the announcer plugging
the product really had lost weight."
SOURCE: Texas Observer, December 5, 2003
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http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1070600402

14. INDUSTRY HOPES TO CENSOR ADS ON HAZARDS OF INFANT FORMULA
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/04/business/media/04adcol.html
"Federal officials have softened a national advertising campaign to
promote breastfeeding after complaints from two companies that make
infant formula, according to several doctors and nurses who are
helping the government with the effort. After the two companies
[Mead Johnson and Abbott] and the top officials of the American
Academy of Pediatrics complained to federal health officials, the
government decided to eliminate spots discussing the risk of
leukemia and diabetes in babies not breastfed, said Amy Spangler,
the chairwoman of the United States Breastfeeding Committee, a
group that promotes breastfeeding. According to the Ad Council
newsletter, those ads said that babies not breastfed had a 30
percent increased risk of developing leukemia and up to a 40
percent increased risk of developing diabetes. ... Marsha Walker,
who sits on the leadership team of the United States Breastfeeding
Committee with Ms. Spangler, said that the information on leukemia
and diabetes should be left in the ads. ... 'This is being shot
down by an industry that has no business interfering. Ultimately it
hurts the health of our babies and our moms.' "
SOURCE: New York Times, December 4, 2003
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MEDIA SILENT ON PROSECUTION OF WHISTLEBLOWER KATHARINE GUN
http://www.accuracy.org/NS121403.htm
Norman Solomon writes that "few Americans have heard of Katharine
Gun, a former British intelligence employee facing charges that she
violated the Official Secrets Act. So far, the American press has
ignored her. But the case raises profound questions about democracy
and the public's right to know on both sides of the Atlantic. Ms.
Gun's legal peril began in Britain on March 2, when the Observer
newspaper exposed a highly secret memorandum by a top U.S. National
Security Agency official. ... The NSA memo said that the agency had
started a 'surge' of spying on diplomats at the United Nations in
New York. ... In this case, Ms. Gun's conscience fully intersected
with the needs of democracy and a free press. The British and
American people had every right to know that their governments were
involved in a high-stakes dirty tricks campaign at the United
Nations. For democratic societies, a timely flow of information is
the lifeblood of the body politic."
SOURCE: Baltimore Sun, December 14, 2003
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http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1071378000

Musicians Protesting Monopoly in Media
By JENNIFER 8. LEE
A rock tour called Tell Us the Truth, which attacked media
consolidation and featured Billy Bragg and others, ended in
Washington on Monday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/18/arts/music/18MEDI.html?th