It is always interesting to see how other countries view your own. Here is an article, written by an English Report, about the atmosphere of fear in the American media:
1. DEMOCRATIC MEDIA: A DO-IT-YOURSELF STARTER KIT
by Sheldon Rampton
"I visit the States three or four times a year, and watching the
television news in hotel rooms in the last three years has been like
witnessing a time-lapse study of emasculation," writes Henry Porter,
the London editor of Vanity Fair magazine, in his ruminations about
the unmasking of FBI official Mark Felt as "Deep Throat," the
Watergate whistleblower.
"It's not just the unbearable lightness of purpose in most news
shows; it's the sense that everyone is rather too mindful of the
backstairs influence of the White House in companies such as Viacom
and News Corporation that own the TV news," Porter writes, adding,
"The result of this climate of fear and caution is that few
Americans have any idea of the circumstances in which 1,600 of their
countrymen have lost their lives in Iraq, the hideous injuries
suffered by both Iraqi and American victims of suicide bombers, or
even the profound responsibility that lies with Rumsfeld for
mishandling practically every facet of the occupation. The mission
to explain has been replaced by the mission to avoid. If today there
was a whistleblower as well-placed, heroically brave and strategic
as Mark Felt, one wonders whether he would now find the outlet that
Felt did at the Washington Post between 1972 and 1974."
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3782
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Friday, June 24, 2005
The assignment for this week is for you to find a phot opportunity and take the picture. Blog the picture with a coupe of sentences discribing it. Good Luck. You can download BlogBot for windows or Flicker for Macs for free at the Blogger web site. The item I would like to discuss with you next week is the "Culture Defense" which is always very weak. Because it is part of thier culture is it OK for people in the South Pacific to eat other people? As it was part of the culture of the American South to have slaves it that OK? So what do you think about the following story?
Two research whale burgers to go, please
The Associated Press
A Hokkaido fast food joint began offering whale burgers Thursday as antiwhaling nations urged Japan to cut back on its catch at an international whaling conference.
Restaurant chain Lucky Pierrot serves a deep-fried minke whale meat burger, served with lettuce and mayonnaise, for 380 yen at its 10 joints in Hakodate.
Japan is facing mounting criticism over its research whaling program, which sees whales killed for study purposes before their meat is then sold. Critics say this is commercial hunting in disguise.
Miku Oh, a Lucky Pierrot official, said the chain is only utilizing stock already obtained from research whaling and it wants to preserve the culture of eating whale meat.
"People in other countries may think (eating whale) is strange, but it is our culture," she said, adding the whale for the burgers is cooked in such a way that "it tastes like beef and tuna, and since it is deep fried, it has no odor."
Annually, Japan kills about 400 minke whales in the Antarctic and another 210 whales -- 100 minke whales, 50 Bryde's whales, 50 sei whales and 10 sperm whales -- in the Northwestern Pacific.
At an annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission currently being held in Ulsan, South Korea, antiwhaling countries passed a resolution Wednesday urging Japan to drop plans to more than double the number of whales it hunts each year for research.
The commission has also rejected a proposal earlier to end its almost two-decade ban on commercial whaling. Another proposal by Japan to allow its northern coastal communities to resume limited hunts of minke whales was turned down Thursday.
Japan says it must kill whales to properly study them, including their stomach contents to glean details of their diets.
Environmental groups and antiwhaling countries, including the U.S. and Britain, say Japan's research whaling is a thinly disguised commercial whaling venture, stressing that meat is sold to Japanese supermarkets and restaurants to help fund the program.
The Japan Times: June 24, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
Two research whale burgers to go, please
The Associated Press
A Hokkaido fast food joint began offering whale burgers Thursday as antiwhaling nations urged Japan to cut back on its catch at an international whaling conference.
Restaurant chain Lucky Pierrot serves a deep-fried minke whale meat burger, served with lettuce and mayonnaise, for 380 yen at its 10 joints in Hakodate.
Japan is facing mounting criticism over its research whaling program, which sees whales killed for study purposes before their meat is then sold. Critics say this is commercial hunting in disguise.
Miku Oh, a Lucky Pierrot official, said the chain is only utilizing stock already obtained from research whaling and it wants to preserve the culture of eating whale meat.
"People in other countries may think (eating whale) is strange, but it is our culture," she said, adding the whale for the burgers is cooked in such a way that "it tastes like beef and tuna, and since it is deep fried, it has no odor."
Annually, Japan kills about 400 minke whales in the Antarctic and another 210 whales -- 100 minke whales, 50 Bryde's whales, 50 sei whales and 10 sperm whales -- in the Northwestern Pacific.
At an annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission currently being held in Ulsan, South Korea, antiwhaling countries passed a resolution Wednesday urging Japan to drop plans to more than double the number of whales it hunts each year for research.
The commission has also rejected a proposal earlier to end its almost two-decade ban on commercial whaling. Another proposal by Japan to allow its northern coastal communities to resume limited hunts of minke whales was turned down Thursday.
Japan says it must kill whales to properly study them, including their stomach contents to glean details of their diets.
Environmental groups and antiwhaling countries, including the U.S. and Britain, say Japan's research whaling is a thinly disguised commercial whaling venture, stressing that meat is sold to Japanese supermarkets and restaurants to help fund the program.
The Japan Times: June 24, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Next weeks assignment is for you to try and find a hot news item on your own. You should mark at the top what sort of value as a news item it has. Next what do you think about the following?
COUNTERPOINT
Media conspiracy of concealment costs social progress dear
By ROGER PULVERS
Special to The Japan Times
What do these Japanese people have in common: A neighbor of people whose house has burned down; an uncle or aunt of someone who has been the victim of a crime; a person who has had food poisoning?
The answer is that they are all likely to appear headless on Japanese television, perhaps with their voices altered to such a high pitch that they sound as if they were coming from the squeeze box inside a stuffed koala.
All Japanese channels, government-run and commercial, claim to have stringent rules about the protection of people's privacy. I know of no other developed country where witnesses to events appear so often in such a state of decapitated incognito. It used to be that their faces were blurred out. Then, during the 1980s -- no doubt thanks to improved technology -- the people interviewed on TV whose identity was deemed "compromised" bore a countenance made up of little mosaic squares, somewhat in the style of the early Braque.
In July 1996, what became a very severe and widespread case of E. coli O157 food poisoning broke out in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture. More than 6,500 people (some have put the figure at nearly double that), primarily elementary school pupils, were affected due to their consumption of tainted pre-cooked lunches.
Naturally, TV inundated the airwaves with news of this public health disaster, and many people, directly and indirectly affected by it, were interviewed. Food poisoning is a common occurrence in Japan, where much food is prepared in advance and is sometimes left to sit unrefrigerated for hours. Yet, although there was no criminal intent on the part of those who prepared the lunches, both the children who fell ill, their parents and even unaffected people who lived near them appeared on TV in an altered, depersonalized state.
Fear of association
The assumption was that they did not wish their identity to be known, for fear of being associated in some way with misfortune, and that anonymity was perhaps the best protection against calumny.
Similarly, I recall a TV report of a waiting-room scene in one of the hospitals that was treating the patients. While the reporter spoke of the suffering that the children were going through, the entire scene behind her was distorted into a milky blur. Ironically, however, a scene of the very same waiting room appeared clear as crystal in a CNN report carried on the NHK satellite news channel. There was no effective way, I suppose, to impose Japanese standards of decorum on a foreign broadcaster.
What is at work here? Is it really that Japanese people regard it as an invasion of an individual's privacy to show them in a news broadcast, even when they are in no way compromised by the appearance? Do people who consent to interviews truly object to being visually identified? Or does the media actually encourage this form of censorship in order to lend an aura of conspiracy to a news item?
Of course, there are many cases where a person's identity should be legitimately protected. Victims of crime or whistle-blowers are often interviewed on the BBC, for instance, sitting with their backs to the camera or in deep shadow. But in Japan, there seems to be something that might be called "vicarious protection" -- that is, hiding the identity of people who are really not in any danger of public exposure.
Surely this blatant policy of non-identification goes well beyond the demands of either privacy or propriety. In addition, what is essentially a coverup of reality turns the news into a conspiracy of feelings. News reports come to resemble the pseudo-hush-hush entertainment of the variety shows, where reporters sneak around famous people's homes whispering into microphones and making provocative accusations into the intercoms at their front gates.
Unless there are real issues of privacy or potential harm to people, all interviews should be conducted openly and in full view of the public, with any person not wishing to appear on TV obviously retaining the right not to be seen. If that person accedes to an interview, however, then let them appear with their head on their shoulders and speaking in their normal voice.
Aura of excitement
I mentioned the conspiracy of feelings. This is a conspiracy between the media and the public, and both are to blame for its pernicious effect on Japanese social progress. A senior news producer at a Tohoku TV station once told me that his channel deliberately blurred out people's faces even when they were quite happy to appear as themselves. "We do this," he confessed, "in order to lend an aura of excitement to the program, as if something titillating or taboo were being presented." This hidebound hack producer has no place working in a news organization.
If Japan is to succeed in reshaping its mores to fit the needs of this century, then the Japanese people must opt for openness; and that entails freeing up the flow of information between people, knowledge-sharing across disciplines and institutions, and social dialogue that crosses the lines of gender, class and ethnic origin. The stalwart model of a smoothly operated, well-oiled, don't-show-your-operating-manual-to-a-soul Japan -- the old one-face-to-the-world lean machine -- is running out of steam.
Frankly, I am not too optimistic about change in the media, particularly TV, which is still managed with a tight fist on the gear shift. The media moguls there are not going to give an inch, let alone a storehouse of information, to anyone they deem unworthy of the gift.
But knowledge and information are not a gift! They are a society's right. I do feel that the younger generation of Japanese are not as fearful of letting out secrets or airing their views publicly as the elder manipulators are. Once you open up to others, you gain their trust; and they, in turn, open up to you.
The winner is the entire society. News is truth; truth, news.
The Japan Times: June 19, 2005
COUNTERPOINT
Media conspiracy of concealment costs social progress dear
By ROGER PULVERS
Special to The Japan Times
What do these Japanese people have in common: A neighbor of people whose house has burned down; an uncle or aunt of someone who has been the victim of a crime; a person who has had food poisoning?
The answer is that they are all likely to appear headless on Japanese television, perhaps with their voices altered to such a high pitch that they sound as if they were coming from the squeeze box inside a stuffed koala.
All Japanese channels, government-run and commercial, claim to have stringent rules about the protection of people's privacy. I know of no other developed country where witnesses to events appear so often in such a state of decapitated incognito. It used to be that their faces were blurred out. Then, during the 1980s -- no doubt thanks to improved technology -- the people interviewed on TV whose identity was deemed "compromised" bore a countenance made up of little mosaic squares, somewhat in the style of the early Braque.
In July 1996, what became a very severe and widespread case of E. coli O157 food poisoning broke out in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture. More than 6,500 people (some have put the figure at nearly double that), primarily elementary school pupils, were affected due to their consumption of tainted pre-cooked lunches.
Naturally, TV inundated the airwaves with news of this public health disaster, and many people, directly and indirectly affected by it, were interviewed. Food poisoning is a common occurrence in Japan, where much food is prepared in advance and is sometimes left to sit unrefrigerated for hours. Yet, although there was no criminal intent on the part of those who prepared the lunches, both the children who fell ill, their parents and even unaffected people who lived near them appeared on TV in an altered, depersonalized state.
Fear of association
The assumption was that they did not wish their identity to be known, for fear of being associated in some way with misfortune, and that anonymity was perhaps the best protection against calumny.
Similarly, I recall a TV report of a waiting-room scene in one of the hospitals that was treating the patients. While the reporter spoke of the suffering that the children were going through, the entire scene behind her was distorted into a milky blur. Ironically, however, a scene of the very same waiting room appeared clear as crystal in a CNN report carried on the NHK satellite news channel. There was no effective way, I suppose, to impose Japanese standards of decorum on a foreign broadcaster.
What is at work here? Is it really that Japanese people regard it as an invasion of an individual's privacy to show them in a news broadcast, even when they are in no way compromised by the appearance? Do people who consent to interviews truly object to being visually identified? Or does the media actually encourage this form of censorship in order to lend an aura of conspiracy to a news item?
Of course, there are many cases where a person's identity should be legitimately protected. Victims of crime or whistle-blowers are often interviewed on the BBC, for instance, sitting with their backs to the camera or in deep shadow. But in Japan, there seems to be something that might be called "vicarious protection" -- that is, hiding the identity of people who are really not in any danger of public exposure.
Surely this blatant policy of non-identification goes well beyond the demands of either privacy or propriety. In addition, what is essentially a coverup of reality turns the news into a conspiracy of feelings. News reports come to resemble the pseudo-hush-hush entertainment of the variety shows, where reporters sneak around famous people's homes whispering into microphones and making provocative accusations into the intercoms at their front gates.
Unless there are real issues of privacy or potential harm to people, all interviews should be conducted openly and in full view of the public, with any person not wishing to appear on TV obviously retaining the right not to be seen. If that person accedes to an interview, however, then let them appear with their head on their shoulders and speaking in their normal voice.
Aura of excitement
I mentioned the conspiracy of feelings. This is a conspiracy between the media and the public, and both are to blame for its pernicious effect on Japanese social progress. A senior news producer at a Tohoku TV station once told me that his channel deliberately blurred out people's faces even when they were quite happy to appear as themselves. "We do this," he confessed, "in order to lend an aura of excitement to the program, as if something titillating or taboo were being presented." This hidebound hack producer has no place working in a news organization.
If Japan is to succeed in reshaping its mores to fit the needs of this century, then the Japanese people must opt for openness; and that entails freeing up the flow of information between people, knowledge-sharing across disciplines and institutions, and social dialogue that crosses the lines of gender, class and ethnic origin. The stalwart model of a smoothly operated, well-oiled, don't-show-your-operating-manual-to-a-soul Japan -- the old one-face-to-the-world lean machine -- is running out of steam.
Frankly, I am not too optimistic about change in the media, particularly TV, which is still managed with a tight fist on the gear shift. The media moguls there are not going to give an inch, let alone a storehouse of information, to anyone they deem unworthy of the gift.
But knowledge and information are not a gift! They are a society's right. I do feel that the younger generation of Japanese are not as fearful of letting out secrets or airing their views publicly as the elder manipulators are. Once you open up to others, you gain their trust; and they, in turn, open up to you.
The winner is the entire society. News is truth; truth, news.
The Japan Times: June 19, 2005
Thursday, June 09, 2005
READ THIS. WE WILL TALK ABOUT IT NEXT WEEK IN CLASS AND I WANT YOUR THOUGHTFUL OPINIONS ON IT. Clark
CONVICTED FOR SPILLING BEANS ON SECRET OKINAWA TREATY
Reporter who blew whistle on state shenanigans sues for redress
By KEIJI HIRANO
Kyodo News
The Watergate scandal forced a U.S. president to resign and turned two journalists into national heroes, but a diplomatic scandal in Japan involving a secret pact with the United States over the 1972 reversion of Okinawa resulted in the convictions of the journalist who reported it and his "Deep Throat" source.
Takichi Nishiyama, a former political reporter at the Mainichi Shimbun, has broken a 30-year silence to clear his name, backed by U.S. government documents released in 2000 and 2002 that back his report on how Japan secretly shouldered $4 million in social costs for Okinawa's reversion to Japanese sovereignty from the U.S.
"The existence of the secret deal has been proved three times -- first by my report and again by the two U.S. documents. However, the Japanese government has continuously denied it," Nishiyama, 73, said.
Nishiyama was indicted in April 1972 along with a Foreign Ministry secretary for persuading her to show him classified internal documents about the negotiations over Okinawa's reversion, including the secret pact. Both were accused of violating the National Public Services Law.
He left the daily in 1974 and his conviction was finalized by the Supreme Court in 1978. The secretary never appealed the initial guilty sentence.
But in late April, nearly 30 years later, Nishiyama filed a damages suit at the Tokyo District Court, seeking 33 million yen from the state, claiming he was illegally charged and forced to end his career as a journalist.
"It is a state crime to submit a false treaty text to the Diet (covering up the existence of the secret agreement) for discussion and approval, and it is an abuse of power to indict a reporter who tried to inform the public of the state crime," the complaint said.
The legal battle has raised expectations that the secret bilateral agreement will come to light when the trial starts on July 5.
When authorities started investigating the case, they were criticized for suppressing freedom of the press.
But the public started viewing the issue as a scandal instead of diplomatic intrigue when the indictment stated that Nishiyama "had an affair with her secretly and urged her to bring him the documents."
"It is quite regrettable that the initial argument over the existence of the secret deal was easily shifted to how Mr. Nishiyama had obtained the classified documents," said Yasuhiko Tajima, professor of journalism at Sophia University.
"The focus of this issue was on the secret pact, but the government successfully took the spotlight off the diplomatic issue," he said.
"In this damage suit, we need to question the responsibility of the government, which still denies the secret agreement."
The two U.S. documents that prompted Nishiyama to file the damages suit indicated Japan assumed $4 million in costs the United States was supposed to pay to restore Okinawa's land to its original state, and that Japan asked the U.S. to flatly deny the existence of the pact to the press.
Even after the release of these documents, successive foreign ministers and chief Cabinet secretaries denied the secret pact existed.
"The denial by current government officials means the state crime is continuing," Nishiyama said.
"I might be tarnished again in the coming court battle, but I want to (demonstrate) that it is not an issue of more than 30 years ago, but a current problem," he said. "The government will not be able to easily lie to the court this time."
The lawsuit comes at a time when Japan and the United States are discussing ways to accommodate the global realignment of the U.S. military.
After retiring from the Mainichi Shimbun, Nishiyama returned to his hometown, Kitakyushu, where he got involved in a family business.
Michio Sato, the Tokyo prosecutor who drew up Nishiyama's indictment, said the investigative team only focused on how the internal Foreign Ministry documents were acquired and did not address whether the secret pact existed.
"It is unforgivable to seduce the secretary to bring out classified documents," said Sato, now a member of the House of Councilors.
"Even if he tried to reveal a national secret, his criminal act will never be cleared."
Sato also said he wrote the description of Nishiyama's relationship with the ex-secretary into the indictment to inform the public of the nature of the incident.
"It was just like a reporter committing theft. Can a journalist do anything for a story?"
Lawyer Katsumi Fujimori, who is representing Nishiyama, said the appropriateness of the ex-reporter's news-gathering activities will be argued in court. "Mr. Nishiyama could not deliberately ignore the government's treachery after he knew it," he said.
Fujimori also said he aims to have the court practically rescind the guilty verdict against Nishiyama.
Sophia's Tajima also defended Nishiyama's actions.
"I do not think it is an ethical matter if his news-gathering was appropriate. It is not a legal issue either."
Looking back at the investigation into him and his source, Nishiyama said that while he had "an equal relationship" with the woman, the prosecutors used it as an excuse to indict them.
"I believe the indictment was politically motivated," he reckoned.
Masaaki Gabe, a professor at the University of the Ryukyus who found one of the U.S. documents in 2000, said he expects the court to present its views on the secret pact when it concludes the lawsuit. "That is what Mr. Nishiyama is seeking beyond compensation, I believe," he added.
"While I happened to encounter the document as a researcher, it would be my honor if the document can enable a man to retain his credit or pride," he said.
The Japan Times: June 10, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
CONVICTED FOR SPILLING BEANS ON SECRET OKINAWA TREATY
Reporter who blew whistle on state shenanigans sues for redress
By KEIJI HIRANO
Kyodo News
The Watergate scandal forced a U.S. president to resign and turned two journalists into national heroes, but a diplomatic scandal in Japan involving a secret pact with the United States over the 1972 reversion of Okinawa resulted in the convictions of the journalist who reported it and his "Deep Throat" source.
Takichi Nishiyama, a former political reporter at the Mainichi Shimbun, has broken a 30-year silence to clear his name, backed by U.S. government documents released in 2000 and 2002 that back his report on how Japan secretly shouldered $4 million in social costs for Okinawa's reversion to Japanese sovereignty from the U.S.
"The existence of the secret deal has been proved three times -- first by my report and again by the two U.S. documents. However, the Japanese government has continuously denied it," Nishiyama, 73, said.
Nishiyama was indicted in April 1972 along with a Foreign Ministry secretary for persuading her to show him classified internal documents about the negotiations over Okinawa's reversion, including the secret pact. Both were accused of violating the National Public Services Law.
He left the daily in 1974 and his conviction was finalized by the Supreme Court in 1978. The secretary never appealed the initial guilty sentence.
But in late April, nearly 30 years later, Nishiyama filed a damages suit at the Tokyo District Court, seeking 33 million yen from the state, claiming he was illegally charged and forced to end his career as a journalist.
"It is a state crime to submit a false treaty text to the Diet (covering up the existence of the secret agreement) for discussion and approval, and it is an abuse of power to indict a reporter who tried to inform the public of the state crime," the complaint said.
The legal battle has raised expectations that the secret bilateral agreement will come to light when the trial starts on July 5.
When authorities started investigating the case, they were criticized for suppressing freedom of the press.
But the public started viewing the issue as a scandal instead of diplomatic intrigue when the indictment stated that Nishiyama "had an affair with her secretly and urged her to bring him the documents."
"It is quite regrettable that the initial argument over the existence of the secret deal was easily shifted to how Mr. Nishiyama had obtained the classified documents," said Yasuhiko Tajima, professor of journalism at Sophia University.
"The focus of this issue was on the secret pact, but the government successfully took the spotlight off the diplomatic issue," he said.
"In this damage suit, we need to question the responsibility of the government, which still denies the secret agreement."
The two U.S. documents that prompted Nishiyama to file the damages suit indicated Japan assumed $4 million in costs the United States was supposed to pay to restore Okinawa's land to its original state, and that Japan asked the U.S. to flatly deny the existence of the pact to the press.
Even after the release of these documents, successive foreign ministers and chief Cabinet secretaries denied the secret pact existed.
"The denial by current government officials means the state crime is continuing," Nishiyama said.
"I might be tarnished again in the coming court battle, but I want to (demonstrate) that it is not an issue of more than 30 years ago, but a current problem," he said. "The government will not be able to easily lie to the court this time."
The lawsuit comes at a time when Japan and the United States are discussing ways to accommodate the global realignment of the U.S. military.
After retiring from the Mainichi Shimbun, Nishiyama returned to his hometown, Kitakyushu, where he got involved in a family business.
Michio Sato, the Tokyo prosecutor who drew up Nishiyama's indictment, said the investigative team only focused on how the internal Foreign Ministry documents were acquired and did not address whether the secret pact existed.
"It is unforgivable to seduce the secretary to bring out classified documents," said Sato, now a member of the House of Councilors.
"Even if he tried to reveal a national secret, his criminal act will never be cleared."
Sato also said he wrote the description of Nishiyama's relationship with the ex-secretary into the indictment to inform the public of the nature of the incident.
"It was just like a reporter committing theft. Can a journalist do anything for a story?"
Lawyer Katsumi Fujimori, who is representing Nishiyama, said the appropriateness of the ex-reporter's news-gathering activities will be argued in court. "Mr. Nishiyama could not deliberately ignore the government's treachery after he knew it," he said.
Fujimori also said he aims to have the court practically rescind the guilty verdict against Nishiyama.
Sophia's Tajima also defended Nishiyama's actions.
"I do not think it is an ethical matter if his news-gathering was appropriate. It is not a legal issue either."
Looking back at the investigation into him and his source, Nishiyama said that while he had "an equal relationship" with the woman, the prosecutors used it as an excuse to indict them.
"I believe the indictment was politically motivated," he reckoned.
Masaaki Gabe, a professor at the University of the Ryukyus who found one of the U.S. documents in 2000, said he expects the court to present its views on the secret pact when it concludes the lawsuit. "That is what Mr. Nishiyama is seeking beyond compensation, I believe," he added.
"While I happened to encounter the document as a researcher, it would be my honor if the document can enable a man to retain his credit or pride," he said.
The Japan Times: June 10, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
For those of you who missed yesterdays class the assignment for next week is to write an obituary of some famous person. You should look at the obituaries in the newspaper to get a model. You have to use your imagination on how the person dies. Deadline (no pun intended) is noon Tue. and should be sent to carsure@cc.aoyama.ac.jp. Good luck and see you next week. Clark
Here is an interesting but strange news story, what is strange about it?
Monju's fast-breeder technology remains far from practical
A Supreme Court ruling late last month in favor of the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor may have been welcome news to its builder, the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, but putting the technology into practical use is still a long way away.
The top court upheld the government's 1983 approval to build Monju, once dubbed a "dream atomic reactor," paving the way to get it back online. The facility in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, has been shut for more than nine years due to an accident and coverup.
Fast-breeder reactors like Monju are supposed to be able to produce more plutonium than they consume, and the government initially expected to get the technology into practical use in the 1970s.
The government has spent more than 800 billion yen on the reactor, Japan's largest scientific and technological project.
Monju reached criticality for the first time in 1994, but a massive sodium coolant leak in December 1995 triggered a claim that the accident resulted from shortcomings in the facility's safety assessment before it was built.
The Nagoya High Court's Kanazawa branch supported that claim by 32 plaintiffs, mostly residents living near the facility, who sought to nullify the approval to build the reactor. The Supreme Court's May 30 ruling overturned that decision.
Since the accident, mishaps at other nuclear plants and coverups have followed. In addition, the electricity market has been liberalized, sending power companies unable to adapt quickly into a tight financial corner.
Fast-breeder reactors use costly plutonium-uranium mixed oxide, or MOX, fuel, and the target year for putting the reactor technology to commercial use was put off to 2010, and then to 2030.
"The largest reason for the delayed target is economic efficiency," an official at the Atomic Energy Commission said. "The initial forecast proved wrong, and uranium prices have long been stable. Instead of reusing less economical plutonium, it's profitable to use the present light-water reactors as long as possible."
The Atomic Energy Commission, which works out long-term nuclear power plans, decided this year to begin a full-scale study in 2015 on the commercial use of fast-breeder reactors, with Monju's performance as a model.
However, precise blueprints are nowhere in sight, and introduction of a reactor for practical use has been further delayed, "until about 2050."
A power industry source said that even the next experimental fast-breeder reactor will probably be radically different from Monju.
"Various types of structures should be considered for the final reactor for practical use, including a water-cooled type," a nuclear power researcher said.
Despite all the questions about its future, maintaining Monju -- even while it is still shut down -- runs somewhere between 6.4 billion yen and 17.3 billion yen a year. The total since the 1995 accident is expected to reach 127 billion yen by next March.
Meanwhile, Monju still plays a major political and economic role in Fukui Prefecture and the city of Tsuruga. About 2 percent of the city's 70,000 residents are employees at the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute and related companies.
"The economic effects are large. We want to coexist and jointly prosper" with Monju, said Tsuruga Mayor Kazuharu Kawase.
For Fukui Prefecture, which has 15 nuclear plants within its borders, the radically different Monju is also a tool to attract as much money as possible from the central government.
The Japan Times: June 9, 2005
Monju's fast-breeder technology remains far from practical
A Supreme Court ruling late last month in favor of the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor may have been welcome news to its builder, the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute, but putting the technology into practical use is still a long way away.
The top court upheld the government's 1983 approval to build Monju, once dubbed a "dream atomic reactor," paving the way to get it back online. The facility in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, has been shut for more than nine years due to an accident and coverup.
Fast-breeder reactors like Monju are supposed to be able to produce more plutonium than they consume, and the government initially expected to get the technology into practical use in the 1970s.
The government has spent more than 800 billion yen on the reactor, Japan's largest scientific and technological project.
Monju reached criticality for the first time in 1994, but a massive sodium coolant leak in December 1995 triggered a claim that the accident resulted from shortcomings in the facility's safety assessment before it was built.
The Nagoya High Court's Kanazawa branch supported that claim by 32 plaintiffs, mostly residents living near the facility, who sought to nullify the approval to build the reactor. The Supreme Court's May 30 ruling overturned that decision.
Since the accident, mishaps at other nuclear plants and coverups have followed. In addition, the electricity market has been liberalized, sending power companies unable to adapt quickly into a tight financial corner.
Fast-breeder reactors use costly plutonium-uranium mixed oxide, or MOX, fuel, and the target year for putting the reactor technology to commercial use was put off to 2010, and then to 2030.
"The largest reason for the delayed target is economic efficiency," an official at the Atomic Energy Commission said. "The initial forecast proved wrong, and uranium prices have long been stable. Instead of reusing less economical plutonium, it's profitable to use the present light-water reactors as long as possible."
The Atomic Energy Commission, which works out long-term nuclear power plans, decided this year to begin a full-scale study in 2015 on the commercial use of fast-breeder reactors, with Monju's performance as a model.
However, precise blueprints are nowhere in sight, and introduction of a reactor for practical use has been further delayed, "until about 2050."
A power industry source said that even the next experimental fast-breeder reactor will probably be radically different from Monju.
"Various types of structures should be considered for the final reactor for practical use, including a water-cooled type," a nuclear power researcher said.
Despite all the questions about its future, maintaining Monju -- even while it is still shut down -- runs somewhere between 6.4 billion yen and 17.3 billion yen a year. The total since the 1995 accident is expected to reach 127 billion yen by next March.
Meanwhile, Monju still plays a major political and economic role in Fukui Prefecture and the city of Tsuruga. About 2 percent of the city's 70,000 residents are employees at the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute and related companies.
"The economic effects are large. We want to coexist and jointly prosper" with Monju, said Tsuruga Mayor Kazuharu Kawase.
For Fukui Prefecture, which has 15 nuclear plants within its borders, the radically different Monju is also a tool to attract as much money as possible from the central government.
The Japan Times: June 9, 2005
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Hi Please read the following story from the Japan Times. We will be discussing it in class tomorrow. Clark
Rise in defamation suits threaten media: journalists
By MASAMI ITO
Staff writer
The increasing number of lawsuits being filed in response to allegedly defamatory news articles is posing a threat to media organizations and freedom of expression by discouraging aggressive reporting, several journalists said at a recent symposium in Saitama.
The symposium, "Pride -- Fighting Journalists," was held last Friday by the Kanto regional branch of Shimbun Roren, a federation of newspaper employee unions.
Featured as panelists were three journalists -- one freelance and two working for major newspapers -- who have been targeted in massive lawsuits filed by major loan companies.
Katsuhisa Miyake, a freelance writer, is being sued by consumer loan giant Takefuji Corp. over a series of articles he wrote in 2003 for the Shukan Kinyobi weekly newsmagazine regarding what he described as the firm's "cruel" tactics for collecting money from debtors.
Both the Tokyo District Court and the Tokyo High Court dismissed the lawsuit filed by Takefuji, which called on Miyake to pay 110 million yen in damages. Takefuji has appealed to the Supreme Court and the case is still ongoing.
"It is not a matter of winning or losing" for those who file such lawsuits, Miyake claimed.
"The significance lies in filing the lawsuit itself," he said. "For (writers) who are being sued, I think the most frightening thing is the fear that they may have to give up (writing) stories that could result in a major damages suit."
Freelance writer Kenichi Kita, coordinator of the symposium, said many publishers are telling their freelance writers to avoid risky articles.
Journalists are often discouraged from writing about suspected cases of wrongdoing unless it is certain investigators will take action, he noted.
In addition, those suing seem to be treating their targets differently, going after the weaker ones, including freelancers, with unmitigated aggression.
The Asahi Shimbun, a major daily, was also sued by Takefuji in 1996 after staff reporter Hideo Takaya wrote a series of articles on consumer loan companies, including Takefuji, for its weekly magazine Aera. In November that year, Takefuji demanded 100 million yen from the paper and an apology.
The Tokyo District Court dismissed the case in June 1997. Takefuji did not appeal.
This stands in stark contrast to the action the company took against freelance writer Miyake, Takaya said.
"The tactics used by companies like Takefuji (when fighting a legal battle against) major newspapers . . . are very different from those against freelancers like Miyake," Takaya said. "Their first step is crushing freelance writers and (small) magazines like Shukan Kinyobi. But before we know it, major newspapers may be targeted in the future."
Miyake also alleged that close ties between media organizations and their major advertisers can alter the depth and type of coverage a company receives in the press.
For example, he noted the way the administrative punishment imposed last December on the Kinshicho branch of Takefuji for violating the Moneylending Control Law was covered.
"(The major media) carried only small stories (on the case) even though it was a rare case in which a moneylender was being punished for a second time for the same offense," Miyake said, pointing out that the media organizations in question continued to run large Takefuji ads on a daily basis.
Masashi Ito, a Mainichi Shimbun reporter, is being sued by SFCG, a Tokyo-based provider of corporate loans.
Last November, Ito wrote a series of articles alleging SFCG had duped customers into signing documents that gave SFCG authorization to seize their property, which later resulted in the debtors' salaries being "seized."
Within a month, SFCG filed a lawsuit against Ito as well as the Mainichi Shimbun, demanding a combined 350 million yen in damages.
Ito said he was not pressured by his superiors to avoid writing about the moneylender, but the story might have turned out differently had SFCG been a major advertiser in the Mainichi.
SFCG's clients are mainly small and medium-size firms.
"In my case, the lawsuit was filed soon after my article was published," Ito said. "It was very clear that (SFCG's) aim was to prevent me from writing the stories.
"The company even said that my continuing to write the articles while being implicated in a legal battle was inexcusable."
Members of the audience also complained about the rise in defamation suits and said lawyers and whistle-blowers are also being targeted.
One participant, lawyer Masaki Kito, said he is being sued for defamation of character by a self-enlightenment group called Home of Heart, which has demanded over 100 million yen in compensation.
According to Kito, the reason he has been sued is because of comments he made to TV broadcasters, newspapers, magazines and Internet sites regarding allegations of child abuse made by former members of the group. Home of Heart is also suing former members who spoke out against it.
"The right to know is based on the continued flow (of information) from the source to the media and to the general public," Kito said. "If at any point (this flow) should be cut off, freedom of expression will cease to exist."
The Japan Times: June 1, 2005
Rise in defamation suits threaten media: journalists
By MASAMI ITO
Staff writer
The increasing number of lawsuits being filed in response to allegedly defamatory news articles is posing a threat to media organizations and freedom of expression by discouraging aggressive reporting, several journalists said at a recent symposium in Saitama.
The symposium, "Pride -- Fighting Journalists," was held last Friday by the Kanto regional branch of Shimbun Roren, a federation of newspaper employee unions.
Featured as panelists were three journalists -- one freelance and two working for major newspapers -- who have been targeted in massive lawsuits filed by major loan companies.
Katsuhisa Miyake, a freelance writer, is being sued by consumer loan giant Takefuji Corp. over a series of articles he wrote in 2003 for the Shukan Kinyobi weekly newsmagazine regarding what he described as the firm's "cruel" tactics for collecting money from debtors.
Both the Tokyo District Court and the Tokyo High Court dismissed the lawsuit filed by Takefuji, which called on Miyake to pay 110 million yen in damages. Takefuji has appealed to the Supreme Court and the case is still ongoing.
"It is not a matter of winning or losing" for those who file such lawsuits, Miyake claimed.
"The significance lies in filing the lawsuit itself," he said. "For (writers) who are being sued, I think the most frightening thing is the fear that they may have to give up (writing) stories that could result in a major damages suit."
Freelance writer Kenichi Kita, coordinator of the symposium, said many publishers are telling their freelance writers to avoid risky articles.
Journalists are often discouraged from writing about suspected cases of wrongdoing unless it is certain investigators will take action, he noted.
In addition, those suing seem to be treating their targets differently, going after the weaker ones, including freelancers, with unmitigated aggression.
The Asahi Shimbun, a major daily, was also sued by Takefuji in 1996 after staff reporter Hideo Takaya wrote a series of articles on consumer loan companies, including Takefuji, for its weekly magazine Aera. In November that year, Takefuji demanded 100 million yen from the paper and an apology.
The Tokyo District Court dismissed the case in June 1997. Takefuji did not appeal.
This stands in stark contrast to the action the company took against freelance writer Miyake, Takaya said.
"The tactics used by companies like Takefuji (when fighting a legal battle against) major newspapers . . . are very different from those against freelancers like Miyake," Takaya said. "Their first step is crushing freelance writers and (small) magazines like Shukan Kinyobi. But before we know it, major newspapers may be targeted in the future."
Miyake also alleged that close ties between media organizations and their major advertisers can alter the depth and type of coverage a company receives in the press.
For example, he noted the way the administrative punishment imposed last December on the Kinshicho branch of Takefuji for violating the Moneylending Control Law was covered.
"(The major media) carried only small stories (on the case) even though it was a rare case in which a moneylender was being punished for a second time for the same offense," Miyake said, pointing out that the media organizations in question continued to run large Takefuji ads on a daily basis.
Masashi Ito, a Mainichi Shimbun reporter, is being sued by SFCG, a Tokyo-based provider of corporate loans.
Last November, Ito wrote a series of articles alleging SFCG had duped customers into signing documents that gave SFCG authorization to seize their property, which later resulted in the debtors' salaries being "seized."
Within a month, SFCG filed a lawsuit against Ito as well as the Mainichi Shimbun, demanding a combined 350 million yen in damages.
Ito said he was not pressured by his superiors to avoid writing about the moneylender, but the story might have turned out differently had SFCG been a major advertiser in the Mainichi.
SFCG's clients are mainly small and medium-size firms.
"In my case, the lawsuit was filed soon after my article was published," Ito said. "It was very clear that (SFCG's) aim was to prevent me from writing the stories.
"The company even said that my continuing to write the articles while being implicated in a legal battle was inexcusable."
Members of the audience also complained about the rise in defamation suits and said lawyers and whistle-blowers are also being targeted.
One participant, lawyer Masaki Kito, said he is being sued for defamation of character by a self-enlightenment group called Home of Heart, which has demanded over 100 million yen in compensation.
According to Kito, the reason he has been sued is because of comments he made to TV broadcasters, newspapers, magazines and Internet sites regarding allegations of child abuse made by former members of the group. Home of Heart is also suing former members who spoke out against it.
"The right to know is based on the continued flow (of information) from the source to the media and to the general public," Kito said. "If at any point (this flow) should be cut off, freedom of expression will cease to exist."
The Japan Times: June 1, 2005
Monday, May 23, 2005
Check out this website on what's cutting edge in Journalism:
What You Missed: Is 'CraigsNews' Coming Soon?
The movement known as collaborative citizen journalism is gaining sharper focus. What kinds of partnerships will make it thrive -- and how will the mainstream media react? By Eric Hellweg
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/05/wo/wo_052005hellweg.asp?trk=nl
What You Missed: Is 'CraigsNews' Coming Soon?
The movement known as collaborative citizen journalism is gaining sharper focus. What kinds of partnerships will make it thrive -- and how will the mainstream media react? By Eric Hellweg
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/05/wo/wo_052005hellweg.asp?trk=nl
Friday, May 20, 2005
Monday, May 16, 2005
Accuracy in reporting is very important. Sources and facts should be carefully checked - if they are not the results can be devastating:
Magazine 'regrets' Qur'an story after 17 die
Last Updated Mon, 16 May 2005 07:07:55 EDT
CBC News
NEW YORK - A news report which led to anti-American riots in which at least 17 people died may have been incorrect, Newsweek magazine says.
• INDEPTH: Guantanamo
The magazine ran a report on May 9 about alleged acts of desecration of Islam's holy book at Guantanamo Bay. On Sunday, however, it said the report was based on a source in the U.S. government whose story is now in doubt.
"We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst," editor Mark Whitaker wrote in the U.S. magazine's May 23 issue.
The report sparked the biggest outpouring of anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
At least 17 people have been killed in protests over the past week that turned into violent clashes with police.
The May 9 article said American interrogators at the detention camp in Cuba were placing copies of the Qur'an on toilets to rattle suspects, and in one case "flushed a holy book down the toilet."
• FROM MAY 11, 2005: Troops kill 4 at Qur'an desecration protest
According to the magazine, it checked the story before publication with a Pentagon source.
That person identified an error, which the magazine changed, but said nothing about the flushing incident.
"The official had not meant to mislead, but lacked detailed knowledge" about the statements made by the government source, the magazine said.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said no evidence has been found to back allegations that the incident took place.
Similar stories have been published before, Newsweek said.
But it attributed the violence that followed its report to agitators seeking to take advantage of public discontent in Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan on Sunday, a group of Islamic scholars and tribal elders said the United States must punish anyone who was found to have abused the Qur'an, or they would call for a holy war.
And in Lebanon, a senior Shia cleric said the reported desecration was a "brutal" form of torture.
"This act is not an individual act carried out by an American soldier," Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah said in a written statement.
"But rather it is part of the American behaviour of intellectual and psychological education in disrespecting Islam and smearing its image in the souls of Americans."
Magazine 'regrets' Qur'an story after 17 die
Last Updated Mon, 16 May 2005 07:07:55 EDT
CBC News
NEW YORK - A news report which led to anti-American riots in which at least 17 people died may have been incorrect, Newsweek magazine says.
• INDEPTH: Guantanamo
The magazine ran a report on May 9 about alleged acts of desecration of Islam's holy book at Guantanamo Bay. On Sunday, however, it said the report was based on a source in the U.S. government whose story is now in doubt.
"We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence and to the U.S. soldiers caught in its midst," editor Mark Whitaker wrote in the U.S. magazine's May 23 issue.
The report sparked the biggest outpouring of anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
At least 17 people have been killed in protests over the past week that turned into violent clashes with police.
The May 9 article said American interrogators at the detention camp in Cuba were placing copies of the Qur'an on toilets to rattle suspects, and in one case "flushed a holy book down the toilet."
• FROM MAY 11, 2005: Troops kill 4 at Qur'an desecration protest
According to the magazine, it checked the story before publication with a Pentagon source.
That person identified an error, which the magazine changed, but said nothing about the flushing incident.
"The official had not meant to mislead, but lacked detailed knowledge" about the statements made by the government source, the magazine said.
Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said no evidence has been found to back allegations that the incident took place.
Similar stories have been published before, Newsweek said.
But it attributed the violence that followed its report to agitators seeking to take advantage of public discontent in Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan on Sunday, a group of Islamic scholars and tribal elders said the United States must punish anyone who was found to have abused the Qur'an, or they would call for a holy war.
And in Lebanon, a senior Shia cleric said the reported desecration was a "brutal" form of torture.
"This act is not an individual act carried out by an American soldier," Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah said in a written statement.
"But rather it is part of the American behaviour of intellectual and psychological education in disrespecting Islam and smearing its image in the souls of Americans."
Sunday, May 15, 2005
What's new in the news?
THE FREE PRESS AND THE FAKE PRESS
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=28527
On World Press Freedom Day, Amnesty International celebrates "the
mighty blog" as having "profound implications for press freedom and
human rights." The organization states, "People in Iran and China
have used blogs to expose violations by their governments and
provide the outside world with information." Yet, in both countries,
"the authorities have increasingly targeted bloggers to stifle
dissent." According to Freedom House's annual survey, "the United
States has suffered 'notable setbacks' in press freedom," slipping
to 24th of 194 countries. One reason is "a number of legal cases in
which prosecutors sought to compel journalists to reveal sources or
turn over notes or other material." Another is the paid pundit and
video news release controversies. Such fake news "may be even worse
that poisoning public debate on specific issues," said
communications professor Martin Kaplan. "It corrodes the ability of
real journalism to do its job."
SOURCE: Inter Press Service News Agency, May 2, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3638
THE FREE PRESS AND THE FAKE PRESS
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=28527
On World Press Freedom Day, Amnesty International celebrates "the
mighty blog" as having "profound implications for press freedom and
human rights." The organization states, "People in Iran and China
have used blogs to expose violations by their governments and
provide the outside world with information." Yet, in both countries,
"the authorities have increasingly targeted bloggers to stifle
dissent." According to Freedom House's annual survey, "the United
States has suffered 'notable setbacks' in press freedom," slipping
to 24th of 194 countries. One reason is "a number of legal cases in
which prosecutors sought to compel journalists to reveal sources or
turn over notes or other material." Another is the paid pundit and
video news release controversies. Such fake news "may be even worse
that poisoning public debate on specific issues," said
communications professor Martin Kaplan. "It corrodes the ability of
real journalism to do its job."
SOURCE: Inter Press Service News Agency, May 2, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3638
Friday, April 22, 2005
Well as I told you last class we won't have a class next week but will have one after Golden Week so look forward to seeing you then. In the mean time would like you to look at the following article and do some research on your own and write a news story about it and send it to my e-mail address carsure@dragon.email.ne.jp.
Factories contain 1.7 million toxic time bombs
About 1.7 million electric devices containing toxic polychlorinated biphenyl are being kept at factories nationwide, according to officials of the environment and industry ministries.
Production of the substance has been banned since 1972.
The devices, including high-voltage electric transformers, are stored at such facilities as steel, rolling stock and automobile plants, according to officials of the Environment Ministry and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
The devices are not harmful to the environment because they are sealed, they said.
The ministries estimated the number of PCB-containing devices from manufacturers' records, the officials said.
Despite the 1972 production ban, the devices were still being manufactured until around 1990, they said.
The ministries' findings might prompt the government to revise its plan to complete detoxifying and disposing of PCB-containing materials by March 2016.
PCB was used in insulation oil for such devices as transformers and capacitors.
In 2000, it was discovered that transformers being produced by some manufacturers still contained PCB, prompting the then Ministry of International Trade and Industry to ask the Japan Electrical Manufacturers' Association to investigate.
The association found that the transformers had been contaminated in the production process; manufacturers had used insulation oil made from old oil that contained PCB. It said production of the PCB-contaminated insulation oil has been halted since 1990.
The ministries will report the results of the investigations to a joint meeting on PCB-containing products.
The Japan Times: April 22, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
Factories contain 1.7 million toxic time bombs
About 1.7 million electric devices containing toxic polychlorinated biphenyl are being kept at factories nationwide, according to officials of the environment and industry ministries.
Production of the substance has been banned since 1972.
The devices, including high-voltage electric transformers, are stored at such facilities as steel, rolling stock and automobile plants, according to officials of the Environment Ministry and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
The devices are not harmful to the environment because they are sealed, they said.
The ministries estimated the number of PCB-containing devices from manufacturers' records, the officials said.
Despite the 1972 production ban, the devices were still being manufactured until around 1990, they said.
The ministries' findings might prompt the government to revise its plan to complete detoxifying and disposing of PCB-containing materials by March 2016.
PCB was used in insulation oil for such devices as transformers and capacitors.
In 2000, it was discovered that transformers being produced by some manufacturers still contained PCB, prompting the then Ministry of International Trade and Industry to ask the Japan Electrical Manufacturers' Association to investigate.
The association found that the transformers had been contaminated in the production process; manufacturers had used insulation oil made from old oil that contained PCB. It said production of the PCB-contaminated insulation oil has been halted since 1990.
The ministries will report the results of the investigations to a joint meeting on PCB-containing products.
The Japan Times: April 22, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
The following e-newsletter is a great place to find out what the issues are in modern journalism. We will use the issue below as talk points and to get you familiar with the vocabulary of journalism.
From: weekly-spin@prwatch.org
Subject: The Weekly Spin, April 20, 2005
Date: April 21, 2005 12:42:01 AM JST
To: weekly-spin@prwatch.org
Reply-To: weekly-spin@prwatch.org
THE WEEKLY SPIN, April 20, 2005
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. The FCC on "Fake News": Who's Trying to Persuade You?
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. Praising the Golden CAFTA
2. Getting Spin with a Little Help from Friends
3. Trust Us, We're Paid TV Experts!
4. Heritage Foundation's Asian Belle
5. Red Flags Ignored in Williams Case
6. Unhappy Campers
7. Good and Bad News on Fake News
8. Bad Brains: Mad Cow Cover-Up?
9. Travelobbying
10. Welcome to Our Lair, Murdoch Says to Bloggers
11. Israel Moves to Muzzle Nuclear Whistleblower
----------------------------------------------------------------------
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. THE FCC ON "FAKE NEWS": WHO'S TRYING TO PERSUADE YOU?
by Diane Farsetta
"Listeners and viewers are entitled to know who seeks to persuade
them," noted the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, in a Public
Notice (PDF file, Word file) released last night.
The Public Notice was precipitated, in part, by the "large
number of requests" asking the FCC to "consider whether the use of
'video news releases' or 'VNRs' ... complies with the Commission's
sponsorship identification rules." Those requests came from the more
than 40,000 people who signed onto a petition circulated by the
Center for Media and Democracy and the media reform group Free Press
(you can still sign the petition, here), as well as from two U.S.
Senators.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3592
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. PRAISING THE GOLDEN CAFTA
http://www.truthabouttrade.org/article.asp?id=3659
"A fierce battle over the Central American Free Trade Agreement is
expected," reported the Grand Forks Herald. "The agreement needs the
approval of both houses of Congress. ... Bush administration
officials launched a campaign in rural America to urge farmers to
convince Congress to approve the CAFTA." Last month, Chief
Agricultural Negotiator Allen Johnson "acknowledged that there is a
'perception' in Iowa and other farm states that trade agreements are
not achieving the benefits that were expected." Yet the Agriculture
Coalition for CAFTA-DR, comprised of "over 55 food and agricultural
organizations committed to quick passage of CAFTA-DR," released an
"economic impact study that identifies the gains 40 congressional
districts could expect upon passage," reported Meatingplace.com. The
study is posted on the National Pork Producers Council website and
promoted by the Business Coalition for U.S. - Central America Trade.
According to Roll Call, "GOP lobbyists crammed into Room HC-5 of the
Capitol last Thursday ... to show K Street that Senate and House
Whips have coordinated their efforts - and that they continue to
need lobbyists' help if they are to pass major items on the business
agenda," including CAFTA.
SOURCE: Grand Forks Herald (North Dakota), April 6, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3605
2. GETTING SPIN WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM FRIENDS
"As House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) faces increasing scrutiny
over various allegations of ethical lapses, a powerful cadre of
friends and colleagues is stepping up to help protect his image,"
reports PR Week. DeLay legal advisor and former Republican National
Committee strategist Barbara Comstock heads the group, which
includes DCI Group's Stuart Roy and Edelman's Jonathan Grella. They
are "placing supporters on cable news channels and radio talk
shows," distributing talking points to conservative groups, and
asking "prominent conservatives," including Ketchum's Susan
Molinari, "to speak out on DeLay's behalf." This "unofficial PR
offensive" is separate from DeLay's congressional office, which
"developed its own media war room to combat the accusations." On the
other side, Fenton Communications is working with MoveOn.org,
Campaign for America's Future and Common Cause "to tarnish and
ultimately unseat" DeLay.
SOURCE: PR Week (sub. req'd.), April 18, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3604
3. TRUST US, WE'RE PAID TV EXPERTS!
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111386025685009961,00.html?mod=home%5Fpage%5Fone%5Fus
"The use of TV consumer experts is the latest way marketers have
tried to disguise their promotions as real news," similar to
magazine "'advertorials' designed to look like editorial features"
and video news releases aired as TV reports. The stable of paid
"experts" includes "Today" show tech-product reviewer Corey
Greenberg, "trend and fashion expert" Katlean de Monchy, Popular
Photography & Imaging magazine editor John Owens, and Child magazine
tech editor James Oppenheim. The Wall Street Journal reports that
all four "experts" have neglected to disclose to viewers that they
received payments to promote products being discussed. Journal
reporter James Bandler writes, "TV shows present these gurus'
recommendations as unbiased and based solely on their expertise. But
that presentation is misleading if the experts have been paid to
mention products."
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub. req'd.), April 19, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3603
4. HERITAGE FOUNDATION'S ASIAN BELLE
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59539-2005Apr16.html
As happened with neighboring Indonesia, "the 9/11 attacks opened the
door to improved U.S.-Malaysia relations." The Heritage Foundation
began promoting Malaysia in mid-2001, "at the same time a Hong Kong
consulting firm co-founded by Edwin J. Feulner, Heritage's
president, began representing Malaysian business interests." The
firm, Belle Haven Consultants, lists Feulner's wife and Heritage
consultant Ken Sheffer among its staff. "To help represent Malaysian
clients," Belle Haven hired the Republican lobbying firm Alexander
Strategy Group. "Experts say that the relationship between one of
Washington's most influential conservative think tanks and a network
of lobbying firms collecting fees from Malaysian business interests
- well in excess of $1 million over two years - could pose a problem
for Heritage's status as a nonprofit group," reports the Washington
Post.
SOURCE: Washington Post, April 16, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3602
5. RED FLAGS IGNORED IN WILLIAMS CASE
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-armstrong16apr16,0,2006695.story?coll=la-home-headlines
The report by the Education Department's inspector general on
Armstrong Williams, a pundit paid $240,000 to advertise and advocate
for the No Child Left Behind Act, notes that the White House "was
told about potential problems," but that did not "prevent the
contract from being renewed." The report found no evidence that
President Bush or senior staff knew about Williams, but "a midlevel
White House aide received calls from Education officials concerned
about the contract's cost, its effectiveness and Williams' dual role
as journalist and government public relations man." This finding
contradicts Bush's January 2005 statement that "we didn't know about
this in the White House." Education Secretary Margaret Spellings,
who "declined to be interviewed" for the report, said she would
"immediately adopt the report's recommendations for improvements in
contract oversight." Whether the contract "breached federal rules
prohibiting the use of taxpayer funds to 'covertly distribute
propaganda'" is being investigated separately.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, April 16, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3601
6. UNHAPPY CAMPERS
http://www.crikey.com.au
The president of the Public Relations Institute of Australia's
(PRIA) Victoria chapter, David Hawkins, bluntly summarised the
results of a membership survey as, "Most people think the PRIA
sucks. The average score across all members was about four out of a
possible nine." In the Australian e-zine Crikey.com.au, Hugo Kelly
reports that survey results included the suggestion that the PRIA
run "a public relations campaign - ongoing - to explain, and where
necessary, defend, public relations." Over the next two weeks, PRIA
chapters in Western Australia, Victoria and Queensland are hosting
events for Ross S. Irvine, the president of his own firm, ePublic
Relations. Irvine, who describes himself as a "corporate warrior,"
promises to tell his Australian audience "how to beat activists at
their own game."
SOURCE: Crikey.com.au (sub. reqâ??d.), April 15, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3598
7. GOOD AND BAD NEWS ON FAKE NEWS
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/15/politics/15armstrong.html
Following the FCC's Public Notice on "fake news," the U.S. Senate
approved, by 98 to 0, a measure requiring "clear notification within
the text or audio of the prepackaged news story" for all fake news
produced with federal funding. The measure was offered by Senator
Robert Byrd and inserted into an emergency spending bill for Iraq
and Afghanistan operations. But not all of Washington DC has seen
the light on fake news. Representative George Miller warned that the
Department of Education's investigation into the Ketchum - Armstrong
Williams payola scandal is being obstructed. The Department's
Inspector General was "'denied access' to some current and former
White House employees," while Secretary Margaret Spellings is
"considering invoking special privileges that would force the
investigator to shield parts of his findings from the public,"
according to Miller.
SOURCE: New York Times, April 15, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3595
8. BAD BRAINS: MAD COW COVER-UP?
http://sask.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=mad-cow-concerns050413
"The United States did not properly analyze two suspected cases of
mad cow disease in 1997," reported Canada's CBC News. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture veterinarian who investigated the cases,
Dr. Masuo Doi (now retired), said he is "haunted by fears that the
right tests were not done" and wonders, "How many did we miss?" and
"Can you really trust our inspection [system]?" With both potential
mad cow (also called BSE) cases, "key areas of the brain where signs
of BSE would be most noticeable were never tested." At the time, a
USDA scientist called his examination of one case "questionable,"
because "he couldn't tell what part of the cow's brain he was
looking at." Two other current or former USDA staff, Dr. Karl
Langheindrich and Lester Friedlander, supported Dr. Doi's claims.
SOURCE: CBC News, April 13, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3596
9. TRAVELOBBYING
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111351750759807490,00.html
"A fast-growing trend in the business of influencing government is
corporate-funded trips," reports the Wall Street Journal. "Because
the trips are paid for by corporations and trade associations - and
not the hired guns who lobby for them - such trips are permitted
under House and Senate rules," unless the sponsors are registered
lobbyists or foreign agents. The number of junkets increased from
1,400 in 2000 to 1,900 in 2004; their cost increased 50% over the
same period, to $3 million in 2004. Already this year, the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce "has flown more than a dozen House and Senate
aides to the Dominican Republic to learn about trade." The American
Association of Airport Executives, Consumer Electronics Association,
National Association of Broadcasters, and Advanced Medical
Technology Association have also funded trips, as have groups within
the finance, telecommunications, agriculture, and energy industries,
with "members of both parties ... taking advantage."
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub. req'd.), April 15, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3597
10. WELCOME TO OUR LAIR, MURDOCH SAYS TO BLOGGERS
http://www.newscorp.com/news/news_247.html
In a speech at the American Society of Newspaper Editors'
conference, News Corporation chief executive Rupert Murdoch pondered
the impact that the growth in online news is having on newspapers.
"The trends are against us," he warned. Murdoch also mused on the
possibilities of harnessing bloggers to the corporate news cart. "We
need to be the destination for those bloggers. We need to encourage
readers to think of the web as the place to go to engage our
reporters and editors in more extended discussions about the way a
particular story was reported or researched or presented."
Newspapers might experiment with using bloggers to extend coverage,
he suggested. However, Murdoch cautioned that bloggers could pose a
risk to "our standards for accuracy and reliability."
SOURCE: News Corporation, April 13, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3594
11. ISRAEL MOVES TO MUZZLE NUCLEAR WHISTLEBLOWER
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/564195.html
At a preliminary court hearing, Israeli whistleblower Mordechai
Vanunu declined to enter a plea on twenty-one charges that he spoke
with U.S., British, Australian and French journalists. After
revealing the existence of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the
U.K. newspaper the Sunday Times in 1986, Vanunu was imprisoned for
eighteen years. He was released on April 21, 2004, subject to
draconian restrictions on his ability to travel or speak to
reporters about Israel's weapons of mass destruction. "As a human
being, I have the right to express my political views and my ideas.
I have no more secrets," he told reporters outside the courtroom
Tuesday. The next hearing is scheduled for May 19.
SOURCE: Haaretz, April 12, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3593
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Weekly Spin is compiled by staff and volunteers at the
Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), a nonprofit public
interest organization. To subscribe or unsubcribe, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/subscribe_sotd.html
Daily updates and news from past weeks can be found at the
"Spin of the Day" section of the Center website:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/index.html
Archives of our quarterly publication, PR Watch, are at:
http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues
CMD also sponsors SourceWatch, a collaborative research
project that invites anyone (including you) to contribute
and edit articles:
http://www.sourcewatch.org
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 misleading PR practices by exposing the activities of
secretive, little-known propaganda-for-hire firms that
work to control political debates and public opinion.
Please send any questions or suggestions about our
publications to:
editor@prwatch.org
Contributions to the Center for Media and Democracy
are tax-deductible. Send checks to:
CMD
520 University Ave. #227
Madison, WI 53703
To donate now online, visit:
https://www.egrants.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2344-0|1118-0
_______________________________________________
Weekly-Spin mailing list
Weekly-Spin@prwatch.org
http://two.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/weekly-spin
From: weekly-spin@prwatch.org
Subject: The Weekly Spin, April 20, 2005
Date: April 21, 2005 12:42:01 AM JST
To: weekly-spin@prwatch.org
Reply-To: weekly-spin@prwatch.org
THE WEEKLY SPIN, April 20, 2005
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. The FCC on "Fake News": Who's Trying to Persuade You?
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. Praising the Golden CAFTA
2. Getting Spin with a Little Help from Friends
3. Trust Us, We're Paid TV Experts!
4. Heritage Foundation's Asian Belle
5. Red Flags Ignored in Williams Case
6. Unhappy Campers
7. Good and Bad News on Fake News
8. Bad Brains: Mad Cow Cover-Up?
9. Travelobbying
10. Welcome to Our Lair, Murdoch Says to Bloggers
11. Israel Moves to Muzzle Nuclear Whistleblower
----------------------------------------------------------------------
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. THE FCC ON "FAKE NEWS": WHO'S TRYING TO PERSUADE YOU?
by Diane Farsetta
"Listeners and viewers are entitled to know who seeks to persuade
them," noted the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, in a Public
Notice (PDF file, Word file) released last night.
The Public Notice was precipitated, in part, by the "large
number of requests" asking the FCC to "consider whether the use of
'video news releases' or 'VNRs' ... complies with the Commission's
sponsorship identification rules." Those requests came from the more
than 40,000 people who signed onto a petition circulated by the
Center for Media and Democracy and the media reform group Free Press
(you can still sign the petition, here), as well as from two U.S.
Senators.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3592
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. PRAISING THE GOLDEN CAFTA
http://www.truthabouttrade.org/article.asp?id=3659
"A fierce battle over the Central American Free Trade Agreement is
expected," reported the Grand Forks Herald. "The agreement needs the
approval of both houses of Congress. ... Bush administration
officials launched a campaign in rural America to urge farmers to
convince Congress to approve the CAFTA." Last month, Chief
Agricultural Negotiator Allen Johnson "acknowledged that there is a
'perception' in Iowa and other farm states that trade agreements are
not achieving the benefits that were expected." Yet the Agriculture
Coalition for CAFTA-DR, comprised of "over 55 food and agricultural
organizations committed to quick passage of CAFTA-DR," released an
"economic impact study that identifies the gains 40 congressional
districts could expect upon passage," reported Meatingplace.com. The
study is posted on the National Pork Producers Council website and
promoted by the Business Coalition for U.S. - Central America Trade.
According to Roll Call, "GOP lobbyists crammed into Room HC-5 of the
Capitol last Thursday ... to show K Street that Senate and House
Whips have coordinated their efforts - and that they continue to
need lobbyists' help if they are to pass major items on the business
agenda," including CAFTA.
SOURCE: Grand Forks Herald (North Dakota), April 6, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3605
2. GETTING SPIN WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM FRIENDS
"As House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) faces increasing scrutiny
over various allegations of ethical lapses, a powerful cadre of
friends and colleagues is stepping up to help protect his image,"
reports PR Week. DeLay legal advisor and former Republican National
Committee strategist Barbara Comstock heads the group, which
includes DCI Group's Stuart Roy and Edelman's Jonathan Grella. They
are "placing supporters on cable news channels and radio talk
shows," distributing talking points to conservative groups, and
asking "prominent conservatives," including Ketchum's Susan
Molinari, "to speak out on DeLay's behalf." This "unofficial PR
offensive" is separate from DeLay's congressional office, which
"developed its own media war room to combat the accusations." On the
other side, Fenton Communications is working with MoveOn.org,
Campaign for America's Future and Common Cause "to tarnish and
ultimately unseat" DeLay.
SOURCE: PR Week (sub. req'd.), April 18, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3604
3. TRUST US, WE'RE PAID TV EXPERTS!
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111386025685009961,00.html?mod=home%5Fpage%5Fone%5Fus
"The use of TV consumer experts is the latest way marketers have
tried to disguise their promotions as real news," similar to
magazine "'advertorials' designed to look like editorial features"
and video news releases aired as TV reports. The stable of paid
"experts" includes "Today" show tech-product reviewer Corey
Greenberg, "trend and fashion expert" Katlean de Monchy, Popular
Photography & Imaging magazine editor John Owens, and Child magazine
tech editor James Oppenheim. The Wall Street Journal reports that
all four "experts" have neglected to disclose to viewers that they
received payments to promote products being discussed. Journal
reporter James Bandler writes, "TV shows present these gurus'
recommendations as unbiased and based solely on their expertise. But
that presentation is misleading if the experts have been paid to
mention products."
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub. req'd.), April 19, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3603
4. HERITAGE FOUNDATION'S ASIAN BELLE
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59539-2005Apr16.html
As happened with neighboring Indonesia, "the 9/11 attacks opened the
door to improved U.S.-Malaysia relations." The Heritage Foundation
began promoting Malaysia in mid-2001, "at the same time a Hong Kong
consulting firm co-founded by Edwin J. Feulner, Heritage's
president, began representing Malaysian business interests." The
firm, Belle Haven Consultants, lists Feulner's wife and Heritage
consultant Ken Sheffer among its staff. "To help represent Malaysian
clients," Belle Haven hired the Republican lobbying firm Alexander
Strategy Group. "Experts say that the relationship between one of
Washington's most influential conservative think tanks and a network
of lobbying firms collecting fees from Malaysian business interests
- well in excess of $1 million over two years - could pose a problem
for Heritage's status as a nonprofit group," reports the Washington
Post.
SOURCE: Washington Post, April 16, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3602
5. RED FLAGS IGNORED IN WILLIAMS CASE
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-armstrong16apr16,0,2006695.story?coll=la-home-headlines
The report by the Education Department's inspector general on
Armstrong Williams, a pundit paid $240,000 to advertise and advocate
for the No Child Left Behind Act, notes that the White House "was
told about potential problems," but that did not "prevent the
contract from being renewed." The report found no evidence that
President Bush or senior staff knew about Williams, but "a midlevel
White House aide received calls from Education officials concerned
about the contract's cost, its effectiveness and Williams' dual role
as journalist and government public relations man." This finding
contradicts Bush's January 2005 statement that "we didn't know about
this in the White House." Education Secretary Margaret Spellings,
who "declined to be interviewed" for the report, said she would
"immediately adopt the report's recommendations for improvements in
contract oversight." Whether the contract "breached federal rules
prohibiting the use of taxpayer funds to 'covertly distribute
propaganda'" is being investigated separately.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, April 16, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3601
6. UNHAPPY CAMPERS
http://www.crikey.com.au
The president of the Public Relations Institute of Australia's
(PRIA) Victoria chapter, David Hawkins, bluntly summarised the
results of a membership survey as, "Most people think the PRIA
sucks. The average score across all members was about four out of a
possible nine." In the Australian e-zine Crikey.com.au, Hugo Kelly
reports that survey results included the suggestion that the PRIA
run "a public relations campaign - ongoing - to explain, and where
necessary, defend, public relations." Over the next two weeks, PRIA
chapters in Western Australia, Victoria and Queensland are hosting
events for Ross S. Irvine, the president of his own firm, ePublic
Relations. Irvine, who describes himself as a "corporate warrior,"
promises to tell his Australian audience "how to beat activists at
their own game."
SOURCE: Crikey.com.au (sub. reqâ??d.), April 15, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3598
7. GOOD AND BAD NEWS ON FAKE NEWS
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/15/politics/15armstrong.html
Following the FCC's Public Notice on "fake news," the U.S. Senate
approved, by 98 to 0, a measure requiring "clear notification within
the text or audio of the prepackaged news story" for all fake news
produced with federal funding. The measure was offered by Senator
Robert Byrd and inserted into an emergency spending bill for Iraq
and Afghanistan operations. But not all of Washington DC has seen
the light on fake news. Representative George Miller warned that the
Department of Education's investigation into the Ketchum - Armstrong
Williams payola scandal is being obstructed. The Department's
Inspector General was "'denied access' to some current and former
White House employees," while Secretary Margaret Spellings is
"considering invoking special privileges that would force the
investigator to shield parts of his findings from the public,"
according to Miller.
SOURCE: New York Times, April 15, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3595
8. BAD BRAINS: MAD COW COVER-UP?
http://sask.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=mad-cow-concerns050413
"The United States did not properly analyze two suspected cases of
mad cow disease in 1997," reported Canada's CBC News. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture veterinarian who investigated the cases,
Dr. Masuo Doi (now retired), said he is "haunted by fears that the
right tests were not done" and wonders, "How many did we miss?" and
"Can you really trust our inspection [system]?" With both potential
mad cow (also called BSE) cases, "key areas of the brain where signs
of BSE would be most noticeable were never tested." At the time, a
USDA scientist called his examination of one case "questionable,"
because "he couldn't tell what part of the cow's brain he was
looking at." Two other current or former USDA staff, Dr. Karl
Langheindrich and Lester Friedlander, supported Dr. Doi's claims.
SOURCE: CBC News, April 13, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3596
9. TRAVELOBBYING
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB111351750759807490,00.html
"A fast-growing trend in the business of influencing government is
corporate-funded trips," reports the Wall Street Journal. "Because
the trips are paid for by corporations and trade associations - and
not the hired guns who lobby for them - such trips are permitted
under House and Senate rules," unless the sponsors are registered
lobbyists or foreign agents. The number of junkets increased from
1,400 in 2000 to 1,900 in 2004; their cost increased 50% over the
same period, to $3 million in 2004. Already this year, the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce "has flown more than a dozen House and Senate
aides to the Dominican Republic to learn about trade." The American
Association of Airport Executives, Consumer Electronics Association,
National Association of Broadcasters, and Advanced Medical
Technology Association have also funded trips, as have groups within
the finance, telecommunications, agriculture, and energy industries,
with "members of both parties ... taking advantage."
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub. req'd.), April 15, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3597
10. WELCOME TO OUR LAIR, MURDOCH SAYS TO BLOGGERS
http://www.newscorp.com/news/news_247.html
In a speech at the American Society of Newspaper Editors'
conference, News Corporation chief executive Rupert Murdoch pondered
the impact that the growth in online news is having on newspapers.
"The trends are against us," he warned. Murdoch also mused on the
possibilities of harnessing bloggers to the corporate news cart. "We
need to be the destination for those bloggers. We need to encourage
readers to think of the web as the place to go to engage our
reporters and editors in more extended discussions about the way a
particular story was reported or researched or presented."
Newspapers might experiment with using bloggers to extend coverage,
he suggested. However, Murdoch cautioned that bloggers could pose a
risk to "our standards for accuracy and reliability."
SOURCE: News Corporation, April 13, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3594
11. ISRAEL MOVES TO MUZZLE NUCLEAR WHISTLEBLOWER
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/564195.html
At a preliminary court hearing, Israeli whistleblower Mordechai
Vanunu declined to enter a plea on twenty-one charges that he spoke
with U.S., British, Australian and French journalists. After
revealing the existence of Israel's nuclear weapons program to the
U.K. newspaper the Sunday Times in 1986, Vanunu was imprisoned for
eighteen years. He was released on April 21, 2004, subject to
draconian restrictions on his ability to travel or speak to
reporters about Israel's weapons of mass destruction. "As a human
being, I have the right to express my political views and my ideas.
I have no more secrets," he told reporters outside the courtroom
Tuesday. The next hearing is scheduled for May 19.
SOURCE: Haaretz, April 12, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3593
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Weekly Spin is compiled by staff and volunteers at the
Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), a nonprofit public
interest organization. To subscribe or unsubcribe, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/subscribe_sotd.html
Daily updates and news from past weeks can be found at the
"Spin of the Day" section of the Center website:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/index.html
Archives of our quarterly publication, PR Watch, are at:
http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues
CMD also sponsors SourceWatch, a collaborative research
project that invites anyone (including you) to contribute
and edit articles:
http://www.sourcewatch.org
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 misleading PR practices by exposing the activities of
secretive, little-known propaganda-for-hire firms that
work to control political debates and public opinion.
Please send any questions or suggestions about our
publications to:
editor@prwatch.org
Contributions to the Center for Media and Democracy
are tax-deductible. Send checks to:
CMD
520 University Ave. #227
Madison, WI 53703
To donate now online, visit:
https://www.egrants.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2344-0|1118-0
_______________________________________________
Weekly-Spin mailing list
Weekly-Spin@prwatch.org
http://two.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/weekly-spin
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
The Columbia School of Journalism is considered to be one of the best in the World and the universities Pulitzer Prize in many different catagories is thought to be the highest award in the U.S.
L.A. Times gets public service Pulitzer
New York, NY, Apr. 5 (UPI) -- New York's Columbia University has given its coveted annual Pulitzer Prize awards and the public service honor went to the Los Angeles Times.
The Times, owned by the Tribune Co., won the public service prize for an investigative series on an area hospital's atrocious healthcare -- without citing a single confidential source.
The Pulitzer committee also awarded prizes in the international-reporting category to two Tribune papers: The Los Angeles Times for coverage of Russia, and Newsday of Melville, N.Y., for coverage of Rwanda.
The Wall Street Journal, owned by Dow Jones & Co., also won two Pulitzer Prizes, one for its film reviews and another for its coverage of cancer survivors.
Pulitzers are given annually in 14 journalism categories and seven arts categories.
L.A. Times gets public service Pulitzer
New York, NY, Apr. 5 (UPI) -- New York's Columbia University has given its coveted annual Pulitzer Prize awards and the public service honor went to the Los Angeles Times.
The Times, owned by the Tribune Co., won the public service prize for an investigative series on an area hospital's atrocious healthcare -- without citing a single confidential source.
The Pulitzer committee also awarded prizes in the international-reporting category to two Tribune papers: The Los Angeles Times for coverage of Russia, and Newsday of Melville, N.Y., for coverage of Rwanda.
The Wall Street Journal, owned by Dow Jones & Co., also won two Pulitzer Prizes, one for its film reviews and another for its coverage of cancer survivors.
Pulitzers are given annually in 14 journalism categories and seven arts categories.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
JFL or Japanese as a foreign language - is it difficult to learn to speak? Well according to this article, no it's not.
COUNTERPOINT
Does language 'difficulty' speak of a sense beyond mere words?
By ROGER PULVERS
Special to The Japan Times
I have often been told by Japanese people that theirs is the most difficult language in the world. Virtually all the Japanese people who have said this to me, I might add, have spoken no other language than their own.
The most conspicuous instance of this came my way in the mid-1980s when, one rainy night, I took a cab home from the station at Seijo Gakuenmae in Tokyo. No sooner had I closed my umbrella and entered the cab than the driver peered at me in the rearview mirror and said, in Japanese: "You're not a Japanese are you."
"No, I'm not," I replied.
"Oh. Japanese is the most difficult language to speak in the world, you know. Isn't it?"
Well, for the 15-minute ride home I strove to persuade my driver that this, in fact, did not seem to be the case. I pointed out the fiendish difficulties of the languages that I had studied in my life, Russian and, particularly, Polish being much more complicated in grammar and pronunciation, at least for a native speaker of English, than Japanese. I finished my discourse as we rounded the corner by my house.
"I mean, Polish, for instance, has elaborate case endings for adjectives, and even has a special one for the nominative plural of male animate nouns!"
Having listened attentively to my passionate, if pedantic, foray into the esoterica of comparative linguistics, the driver stopped the cab by my front gate, turned his head around to me and smiled broadly.
"Well, anyway," he said, "Japanese is still the most difficult language in the world!"
Now, for a non-native speaker, acquiring the ability to read and write Japanese takes tremendous effort. But my driver and I were discussing the spoken language, the medium by which most Japanese explain themselves to their compatriots and the outside world.
Japanese, of the languages that I know, is actually the easiest spoken language to master.
For one thing, the number of words used in daily life is small compared to, say, English. Nuances in English are added by expressing an emotion with the use of any number of different words, incorporating layer upon layer of subtle meaning by dipping into what is an enormous chest of verbal riches. In Japanese, subtleties are added with the use of a variety of endings. When you get to the end of a sentence you can vary the tone, register and emphasis of what you say by using one or more of a number of word and sentence endings. These endings are not hard to master. The result is that a non-native can be very expressive and articulate in Japanese without having to learn thousands of words -- in the case of English, words that came from Anglo-Saxon, Latin and the many other languages that have enriched its vocabulary.
And, you can pause, mumble, leave out core elements of sentences, even punctuate dialogue with long silences and still speak excellent Japanese! The other languages that I am familiar with do not allow for the huge pregnant pauses and embarrassing elipses that allow valuable thinking time for non-native beginners. What is considered an acceptable pause in Japanese, often giving the impression of profundity, would be taken for pure prevarication in English.
Verbs are generally the horror element of language learning. In English they are irregular, with auxiliary verbs and the conditional to make matters worse. Slavic languages have the perfective and the imperfective, not to mention so-called verbs of motion. (You need a different verb for "to go" depending on whether you are walking or riding in something.) Japanese verbs are a cinch. Just change the ending of the verb's stem to get everything from "I eat" to "I ate," "I didn't eat," "I wouldn't have eaten," "I didn't want to eat," "even if I didn't want to eat" and "Sorry but I went and ate it," which is tabechatta. Easy as pie.
Why did my taxi driver at Seijo Gakuenmae persist in perpetrating the myth of difficulty? Is it just a benign ignorance of the workings of language, or is there something else at work here?
Is his quaint obstinacy an indication of a wished-for ethnic "exclusivity"?
I believe that this irrational belief in the difficulty of their language bestows upon Japanese people, willy nilly, a false mystique, as if through their language they were able to harbor secrets to which the outside world could never be privy. This false mystique allows them to entertain a feeling of national sharing without having to prove it explicitly. "We all think and feel the same way," it tells them, "and we can express this in a way that is only open to Japanese. The fact that non-Japanese cannot decipher this is proof of our ethnic cohesion." If they admit that the Japanese language is no harder than any other, and maybe even easier in some ways, their self-styled aura of exclusivity loses much of its shine.
Over the years, a number of Japanese politicians have dropped what are essentially racist clangers, the most famous perhaps being Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone's unseemly remark about the "low intellectual level" of certain American minorities. These politicians, speaking in Japanese of course, put their foot in their mouth and yet are taken aback when foreign journalists vividly describe the heel protruding from their lips. Do they really think that their language is a code that cannot be deciphered by non-Japanese?
In former times it may have served the Japanese national cause for this country's people to be seen as shuffling in a foggy aura of inscrutability. By striving to be "not understood" and holding their cards close to their chest, so to speak, they bolstered their position. "We Japanese have a depth that you cannot fathom, and this is the source of our power." But in our explain-yourself-or-pay-the-price era, where the very survival of a nation's culture may depend on its ability to express its people's aspirations in a clear and unequivocal manner, the myth of difficulty is no more than an artificial obstacle, a high wall that locks Japanese people in more than it deters the rest of the world from entering.
It is time that Japanese people rejoiced in the fact that people around the world can and, despite Japanese provincial biases and nostalgic predilections, will understand them.
The Japan Times: April 3, 2005
COUNTERPOINT
Does language 'difficulty' speak of a sense beyond mere words?
By ROGER PULVERS
Special to The Japan Times
I have often been told by Japanese people that theirs is the most difficult language in the world. Virtually all the Japanese people who have said this to me, I might add, have spoken no other language than their own.
The most conspicuous instance of this came my way in the mid-1980s when, one rainy night, I took a cab home from the station at Seijo Gakuenmae in Tokyo. No sooner had I closed my umbrella and entered the cab than the driver peered at me in the rearview mirror and said, in Japanese: "You're not a Japanese are you."
"No, I'm not," I replied.
"Oh. Japanese is the most difficult language to speak in the world, you know. Isn't it?"
Well, for the 15-minute ride home I strove to persuade my driver that this, in fact, did not seem to be the case. I pointed out the fiendish difficulties of the languages that I had studied in my life, Russian and, particularly, Polish being much more complicated in grammar and pronunciation, at least for a native speaker of English, than Japanese. I finished my discourse as we rounded the corner by my house.
"I mean, Polish, for instance, has elaborate case endings for adjectives, and even has a special one for the nominative plural of male animate nouns!"
Having listened attentively to my passionate, if pedantic, foray into the esoterica of comparative linguistics, the driver stopped the cab by my front gate, turned his head around to me and smiled broadly.
"Well, anyway," he said, "Japanese is still the most difficult language in the world!"
Now, for a non-native speaker, acquiring the ability to read and write Japanese takes tremendous effort. But my driver and I were discussing the spoken language, the medium by which most Japanese explain themselves to their compatriots and the outside world.
Japanese, of the languages that I know, is actually the easiest spoken language to master.
For one thing, the number of words used in daily life is small compared to, say, English. Nuances in English are added by expressing an emotion with the use of any number of different words, incorporating layer upon layer of subtle meaning by dipping into what is an enormous chest of verbal riches. In Japanese, subtleties are added with the use of a variety of endings. When you get to the end of a sentence you can vary the tone, register and emphasis of what you say by using one or more of a number of word and sentence endings. These endings are not hard to master. The result is that a non-native can be very expressive and articulate in Japanese without having to learn thousands of words -- in the case of English, words that came from Anglo-Saxon, Latin and the many other languages that have enriched its vocabulary.
And, you can pause, mumble, leave out core elements of sentences, even punctuate dialogue with long silences and still speak excellent Japanese! The other languages that I am familiar with do not allow for the huge pregnant pauses and embarrassing elipses that allow valuable thinking time for non-native beginners. What is considered an acceptable pause in Japanese, often giving the impression of profundity, would be taken for pure prevarication in English.
Verbs are generally the horror element of language learning. In English they are irregular, with auxiliary verbs and the conditional to make matters worse. Slavic languages have the perfective and the imperfective, not to mention so-called verbs of motion. (You need a different verb for "to go" depending on whether you are walking or riding in something.) Japanese verbs are a cinch. Just change the ending of the verb's stem to get everything from "I eat" to "I ate," "I didn't eat," "I wouldn't have eaten," "I didn't want to eat," "even if I didn't want to eat" and "Sorry but I went and ate it," which is tabechatta. Easy as pie.
Why did my taxi driver at Seijo Gakuenmae persist in perpetrating the myth of difficulty? Is it just a benign ignorance of the workings of language, or is there something else at work here?
Is his quaint obstinacy an indication of a wished-for ethnic "exclusivity"?
I believe that this irrational belief in the difficulty of their language bestows upon Japanese people, willy nilly, a false mystique, as if through their language they were able to harbor secrets to which the outside world could never be privy. This false mystique allows them to entertain a feeling of national sharing without having to prove it explicitly. "We all think and feel the same way," it tells them, "and we can express this in a way that is only open to Japanese. The fact that non-Japanese cannot decipher this is proof of our ethnic cohesion." If they admit that the Japanese language is no harder than any other, and maybe even easier in some ways, their self-styled aura of exclusivity loses much of its shine.
Over the years, a number of Japanese politicians have dropped what are essentially racist clangers, the most famous perhaps being Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone's unseemly remark about the "low intellectual level" of certain American minorities. These politicians, speaking in Japanese of course, put their foot in their mouth and yet are taken aback when foreign journalists vividly describe the heel protruding from their lips. Do they really think that their language is a code that cannot be deciphered by non-Japanese?
In former times it may have served the Japanese national cause for this country's people to be seen as shuffling in a foggy aura of inscrutability. By striving to be "not understood" and holding their cards close to their chest, so to speak, they bolstered their position. "We Japanese have a depth that you cannot fathom, and this is the source of our power." But in our explain-yourself-or-pay-the-price era, where the very survival of a nation's culture may depend on its ability to express its people's aspirations in a clear and unequivocal manner, the myth of difficulty is no more than an artificial obstacle, a high wall that locks Japanese people in more than it deters the rest of the world from entering.
It is time that Japanese people rejoiced in the fact that people around the world can and, despite Japanese provincial biases and nostalgic predilections, will understand them.
The Japan Times: April 3, 2005
Monday, March 28, 2005
This is from the DigitalJournalist.org and gives a good report on what is happening in the real world of contemporary journalism:
TV News in a Postmodern World
Convention versus the Internet
March 2005
by Terry Heaton
The only thing worse than a square peg in a round hole is a square peg trying to get into a round hole.
Long ago, in one of my news director jobs, a young man showed up at the small market station and asked to speak with me. In the lobby, I was greeted by a fellow -- tape in hand -- who was just about the strangest looking job candidate I'd ever encountered. He was what Ichabod Crane would've seen when looking in the mirrow -- a neck four sizes too small for his collar, hooked nose, ears perpendicular to his head, and a mangled wad of hair on top.
"I've been traveling the country for the past year," he said, "talking to small market news directors about getting that first on-air reporting job out of college."
I invited him into my office, looked over his resume and tape, and told him the facts of life about working in a business that demands cosmetic perfection. He was stunned. All the way through school and through a yearlong interview process, no one had suggested that he had a face for radio.
He was a square peg trying to get into a round hole.
So it is in the war between convention and the Internet, and there is indeed a war underway. While the conflict is everywhere, the inability to see the real battle lines has created a significant structural barrier as old media companies struggle with infiltrating the new. Convention sees the surface, but the war is underneath. Square peg, meet round hole.
The debate between the mainstream media and the blogosphere is one highly visible example.
Convention believes that what has been will always be, while the Internet shoots from the hip in a blaze of entrepreneurial gunfire. Like a patient father, convention smiles at the imagination of these children, but when the pushing and shoving begins, it steps in with its infinite wisdom and a resounding, "Enough!" In doing so online, however, convention runs the square peg/round hole risk, because the structure here cannot and will not run from the top-down, regardless of who wants to be the father. The rules of convention can backfire badly, and this is precisely what's happening in the unseen nooks and crannies of New Media.
The guardians of convention are the lawyers of the land. Their lifeblood is codified rules that can be manipulated from the top, and whenever circumstances impose barriers to this, new rules are simply created to continue convention. The problem with convention's rules is that they don't apply online, because there is no control mechanism.
When CBS released its Memogate report, they did a smart thing. Along with the story of network action in the wake of the report, CBSNews.com also provided its users access to the entire 234-page report. This was presented in Adobe PDF format, a popular software for transmitting documents for printing. Bloggers and other Internet communicators dislike PDF, because the text in the format isn't easily copied for reproduction in other forms of media, especially those online. Nevertheless, it can be done, but there were still complaints from the blogosphere about the network choice of PDF. These were overshadowed, however, by the fact that CBS had released the entire report.
Bring in the lawyers. Two days later, the PDF file was replaced by one with Digital Rights Management restrictions enabled, which completely prevented copying any of the text electronically. This was a bad move by CBS. It infuriated the blogosphere and further alienated the same people who broke the original story that caused the network so much embarrassment in the first place. The network's lawyers responded that they did it to prevent anybody from making and distributing a bogus copy (or parody) of the document. This was an act of convention trying to wiggle its way into the round hole of the Internet.
From an Internet perspective -- where the law of attraction rules -- the action of the lawyers was almost laughable, but the CBS team of attorneys viewed it as a logical and rational response, because their world is top-down, command and control. Like other Modernist institutions, CBS is addicted to being right, and feeding their addiction has blinded them to what's really taking place in the world around them.
The Achilles' Heel of convention is its insistence that what has been will always be. This is what led New York Times columnist Bill Safire to suggest that bloggers are just waiting to become a part of the mainstream, which is where the money is found.
Blogs will compete with op-ed columns for "views you can use," and the best will morph out of the pajama game to deliver serious analysis and fresh information, someday prospering with ads and subscriptions. The prospect of profit will bring bloggers in from the meanstream to the mainstream center of comment and local news coverage.
The "prospect of profit" can never be a value proposition for the blogosphere, because it would be another square peg looking to get into a round hole. The currency of the blogosphere is passionate involvement and the sense of closure that comes with participation. Citizen journalism's great power is its voluntary involvement in the things that matter to its various denizens. Nothing kills passion like money, and while there certainly may be bloggers who make lots of money, they will then have to morph into the rules of convention and, therefore, lose the street creds earned within the very community in which they used to dwell. This is inevitable, and those who propose a prospering blogging community with ads and subscriptions are fooling themselves.
Convention demands control while the blogosphere rejects it. The disruptive innovations that permit an individual to be his or her own publisher -- whether text or video -- aren't what's fueling the citizen journalism revolution. It's the distribution system, one that has no top or bottom, and wherein audience is determined by the readers/viewers, not by the publisher or network. Moreover, the relationship between blog writer and blog reader is far different than that of editorial writer and newspaper consumer. Why? Because the readers of blogs aren't just reading. They're also judging and thinking and writing and linking. A viable blog doesn't broadcast. It a part of a conversation, and conversation is, well, free.
There's an important discussion underway about whether the Internet is a medium or a place. Convention understands and welcomes the former, but the latter is the actual reality. Cyberspace is still space, and the immutable laws are a little different here. A medium moves content from one place to another, usually outward. A space is where people gather and share the experience. Conversations are two-way in a space. A medium moves messages in one direction. This ads to the square peg/round hole problem.
Despite the arguments of those within the institution of the fourth estate, the role of the so-called "professional" press is the manufacture of consent. This was the dream of its founder, Walter Lippmann, who introduced the idea of an educated and elite class to control the uneducated masses 100 years ago. However, the role of the blogosphere is the deconstruction of that consent, with the resultant hope of establishing a more universal consent at street level. Square peg, meet round hole.
Convention's most dangerous trap is to seduce that which is new. Like the Borg of Star Trek, it boldly proclaims that resistence is futile and that assimilation is the only way. Convention must assimilate or be destroyed and replaced by something else. As Picasso said, "Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction." That which is being destroyed -- the fatted calf that went before -- doesn't want to let go, but that's exactly what's happening in this brave, new world of ours. This is why people like Mr. Safire, and those who rest comfortably within convention, can see only what has been.
PR guru and blogger, Steve Rubel, wrote of the "rock star" status of some bloggers.
With interest in blogs rising, some bloggers are rapidly becoming celebrities. They're popping up in the press, attracting flocks of followers and, in some cases, even a roster of advertisers. And why not? They deserve it. After all, these "A-listers" can easily sway the opinions of thousands.
This is convention trying to seduce a threat. Steve encourages companies to invest in endorsement deals and the like with bloggers, because it's smart business. Square peg, meet round hole.
In an article called "Blogger Backlash," New York Press writer Russ Smith notes the conflict between the mainstream press and bloggers:
"The bloggers - "citizen journalists," pajama pundits, whatever you want to call them - are reaching millions of Americans, and while many will be co-opted by traditional media companies, it's a kick in the pants and skirts of the Beltway cocktail party crowd, whose precious words and broadcasts don't matter as much anymore."
Note the assumption that bloggers will (of course) be "co-opted by traditional media companies." Assimilation. Resistance is futile.
George Simpson wrote for MediaDailyNews that blogging is a hobby that won't pay the rent, so Rubel's idea of payola to grab extra income is appealing. Simpson sees what's really happening.
One of the things that make blogs appealing is that they have no rules. But no rules mean that they will never escape the shadow of doubt. (Not that having rules stopped payola in any other industry.) So let's not overreact to bloggers and understand that they are subject to the same corruption that infects every other medium. With one tiny exception: they are accountable to no one.
In addressing media companies who are experimenting with citizen journalists, Poynter's Steve Outing writes that the idea of identifying your best citizen journalists and paying them as they continue contributing isn't a bad one. "But perhaps a better idea is to pay frequent contributors with goodies like t-shirts, caps, and coffee mugs -- all emblazoned with the brand name of the website, of course." This is smart, because it doesn't force the assimilation issue. It simply recognizes the contribution of everyday citizens and differentiates them from professional journalists. Once they get paid, they've been assimilated.
When discussing the Internet and the blogosphere with media people who are uninformed, the first question that's usually asked is, "Where's the money?" It's an understandable question, because we're so indoctrinated in the laws of mass marketing that nothing else is real or valuable. The top wants to be shown how the bottom will support its position. But this is the heart of the misunderstanding about the Internet in general and the blogosphere in particular. Certainly, there's money to be made online, but if we approach it only from convention, our minds will be closed to the infinite possibilities it offers.
Broadcasting needs to return to its roots in order to have a successful future, and I'm not talking about the business basics. In its infancy, the industry was driven by an entrepreneurial spirit that brought us innovation after innovation and built a model that lasted for 50 years. But the business rules and concepts that carried the industry are exactly what's killing it today, and the only way out of that is to get back to that entrepreneurial spirit. Invite the right-brainers around you; get out the whiteboards and zero base your company.
I often think of that young man who came to see me so long ago, and I wonder what happened to him. He's no doubt found a square hole for his gifts and skills, because life has a way of making that happen. So it is with all of us.
TV News in a Postmodern World
Convention versus the Internet
March 2005
by Terry Heaton
The only thing worse than a square peg in a round hole is a square peg trying to get into a round hole.
Long ago, in one of my news director jobs, a young man showed up at the small market station and asked to speak with me. In the lobby, I was greeted by a fellow -- tape in hand -- who was just about the strangest looking job candidate I'd ever encountered. He was what Ichabod Crane would've seen when looking in the mirrow -- a neck four sizes too small for his collar, hooked nose, ears perpendicular to his head, and a mangled wad of hair on top.
"I've been traveling the country for the past year," he said, "talking to small market news directors about getting that first on-air reporting job out of college."
I invited him into my office, looked over his resume and tape, and told him the facts of life about working in a business that demands cosmetic perfection. He was stunned. All the way through school and through a yearlong interview process, no one had suggested that he had a face for radio.
He was a square peg trying to get into a round hole.
So it is in the war between convention and the Internet, and there is indeed a war underway. While the conflict is everywhere, the inability to see the real battle lines has created a significant structural barrier as old media companies struggle with infiltrating the new. Convention sees the surface, but the war is underneath. Square peg, meet round hole.
The debate between the mainstream media and the blogosphere is one highly visible example.
Convention believes that what has been will always be, while the Internet shoots from the hip in a blaze of entrepreneurial gunfire. Like a patient father, convention smiles at the imagination of these children, but when the pushing and shoving begins, it steps in with its infinite wisdom and a resounding, "Enough!" In doing so online, however, convention runs the square peg/round hole risk, because the structure here cannot and will not run from the top-down, regardless of who wants to be the father. The rules of convention can backfire badly, and this is precisely what's happening in the unseen nooks and crannies of New Media.
The guardians of convention are the lawyers of the land. Their lifeblood is codified rules that can be manipulated from the top, and whenever circumstances impose barriers to this, new rules are simply created to continue convention. The problem with convention's rules is that they don't apply online, because there is no control mechanism.
When CBS released its Memogate report, they did a smart thing. Along with the story of network action in the wake of the report, CBSNews.com also provided its users access to the entire 234-page report. This was presented in Adobe PDF format, a popular software for transmitting documents for printing. Bloggers and other Internet communicators dislike PDF, because the text in the format isn't easily copied for reproduction in other forms of media, especially those online. Nevertheless, it can be done, but there were still complaints from the blogosphere about the network choice of PDF. These were overshadowed, however, by the fact that CBS had released the entire report.
Bring in the lawyers. Two days later, the PDF file was replaced by one with Digital Rights Management restrictions enabled, which completely prevented copying any of the text electronically. This was a bad move by CBS. It infuriated the blogosphere and further alienated the same people who broke the original story that caused the network so much embarrassment in the first place. The network's lawyers responded that they did it to prevent anybody from making and distributing a bogus copy (or parody) of the document. This was an act of convention trying to wiggle its way into the round hole of the Internet.
From an Internet perspective -- where the law of attraction rules -- the action of the lawyers was almost laughable, but the CBS team of attorneys viewed it as a logical and rational response, because their world is top-down, command and control. Like other Modernist institutions, CBS is addicted to being right, and feeding their addiction has blinded them to what's really taking place in the world around them.
The Achilles' Heel of convention is its insistence that what has been will always be. This is what led New York Times columnist Bill Safire to suggest that bloggers are just waiting to become a part of the mainstream, which is where the money is found.
Blogs will compete with op-ed columns for "views you can use," and the best will morph out of the pajama game to deliver serious analysis and fresh information, someday prospering with ads and subscriptions. The prospect of profit will bring bloggers in from the meanstream to the mainstream center of comment and local news coverage.
The "prospect of profit" can never be a value proposition for the blogosphere, because it would be another square peg looking to get into a round hole. The currency of the blogosphere is passionate involvement and the sense of closure that comes with participation. Citizen journalism's great power is its voluntary involvement in the things that matter to its various denizens. Nothing kills passion like money, and while there certainly may be bloggers who make lots of money, they will then have to morph into the rules of convention and, therefore, lose the street creds earned within the very community in which they used to dwell. This is inevitable, and those who propose a prospering blogging community with ads and subscriptions are fooling themselves.
Convention demands control while the blogosphere rejects it. The disruptive innovations that permit an individual to be his or her own publisher -- whether text or video -- aren't what's fueling the citizen journalism revolution. It's the distribution system, one that has no top or bottom, and wherein audience is determined by the readers/viewers, not by the publisher or network. Moreover, the relationship between blog writer and blog reader is far different than that of editorial writer and newspaper consumer. Why? Because the readers of blogs aren't just reading. They're also judging and thinking and writing and linking. A viable blog doesn't broadcast. It a part of a conversation, and conversation is, well, free.
There's an important discussion underway about whether the Internet is a medium or a place. Convention understands and welcomes the former, but the latter is the actual reality. Cyberspace is still space, and the immutable laws are a little different here. A medium moves content from one place to another, usually outward. A space is where people gather and share the experience. Conversations are two-way in a space. A medium moves messages in one direction. This ads to the square peg/round hole problem.
Despite the arguments of those within the institution of the fourth estate, the role of the so-called "professional" press is the manufacture of consent. This was the dream of its founder, Walter Lippmann, who introduced the idea of an educated and elite class to control the uneducated masses 100 years ago. However, the role of the blogosphere is the deconstruction of that consent, with the resultant hope of establishing a more universal consent at street level. Square peg, meet round hole.
Convention's most dangerous trap is to seduce that which is new. Like the Borg of Star Trek, it boldly proclaims that resistence is futile and that assimilation is the only way. Convention must assimilate or be destroyed and replaced by something else. As Picasso said, "Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction." That which is being destroyed -- the fatted calf that went before -- doesn't want to let go, but that's exactly what's happening in this brave, new world of ours. This is why people like Mr. Safire, and those who rest comfortably within convention, can see only what has been.
PR guru and blogger, Steve Rubel, wrote of the "rock star" status of some bloggers.
With interest in blogs rising, some bloggers are rapidly becoming celebrities. They're popping up in the press, attracting flocks of followers and, in some cases, even a roster of advertisers. And why not? They deserve it. After all, these "A-listers" can easily sway the opinions of thousands.
This is convention trying to seduce a threat. Steve encourages companies to invest in endorsement deals and the like with bloggers, because it's smart business. Square peg, meet round hole.
In an article called "Blogger Backlash," New York Press writer Russ Smith notes the conflict between the mainstream press and bloggers:
"The bloggers - "citizen journalists," pajama pundits, whatever you want to call them - are reaching millions of Americans, and while many will be co-opted by traditional media companies, it's a kick in the pants and skirts of the Beltway cocktail party crowd, whose precious words and broadcasts don't matter as much anymore."
Note the assumption that bloggers will (of course) be "co-opted by traditional media companies." Assimilation. Resistance is futile.
George Simpson wrote for MediaDailyNews that blogging is a hobby that won't pay the rent, so Rubel's idea of payola to grab extra income is appealing. Simpson sees what's really happening.
One of the things that make blogs appealing is that they have no rules. But no rules mean that they will never escape the shadow of doubt. (Not that having rules stopped payola in any other industry.) So let's not overreact to bloggers and understand that they are subject to the same corruption that infects every other medium. With one tiny exception: they are accountable to no one.
In addressing media companies who are experimenting with citizen journalists, Poynter's Steve Outing writes that the idea of identifying your best citizen journalists and paying them as they continue contributing isn't a bad one. "But perhaps a better idea is to pay frequent contributors with goodies like t-shirts, caps, and coffee mugs -- all emblazoned with the brand name of the website, of course." This is smart, because it doesn't force the assimilation issue. It simply recognizes the contribution of everyday citizens and differentiates them from professional journalists. Once they get paid, they've been assimilated.
When discussing the Internet and the blogosphere with media people who are uninformed, the first question that's usually asked is, "Where's the money?" It's an understandable question, because we're so indoctrinated in the laws of mass marketing that nothing else is real or valuable. The top wants to be shown how the bottom will support its position. But this is the heart of the misunderstanding about the Internet in general and the blogosphere in particular. Certainly, there's money to be made online, but if we approach it only from convention, our minds will be closed to the infinite possibilities it offers.
Broadcasting needs to return to its roots in order to have a successful future, and I'm not talking about the business basics. In its infancy, the industry was driven by an entrepreneurial spirit that brought us innovation after innovation and built a model that lasted for 50 years. But the business rules and concepts that carried the industry are exactly what's killing it today, and the only way out of that is to get back to that entrepreneurial spirit. Invite the right-brainers around you; get out the whiteboards and zero base your company.
I often think of that young man who came to see me so long ago, and I wonder what happened to him. He's no doubt found a square hole for his gifts and skills, because life has a way of making that happen. So it is with all of us.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Again here is the complete issue of 'The Weekly Spin' an excellent source of the hidden news:
THE WEEKLY SPIN, March 23, 2005
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. CMD & Free Press File 'Fake News' Complaint with FCC on Behalf of 40,000 Petition Signers
2. Stauber Debates Fake News on WBUR's "On Point"
3. PR Execs Undeterred by Fake News "Flap"
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. California Unions Sue to Terminate Video News Releases
2. Rupert Murdoch's Tax Two-Step
3. Nuclear Energy Is the New Black
4. For Ethnic Press, Access Is Separate, Unequal
5. The Age of Missing Information
6. Enron: Patron Saint of Bush's Fake News
7. Sacramento to Hollywood: Back Off
8. Mad Cow: Trade War of Words
9. On Iraq, Not All News Deemed "Fit to Print"
10. Americans Still Believe Bush's War Propaganda
11. Is that Business I Hear Booming?
12. Consumers Buy the Darndest Things
----------------------------------------------------------------------
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. CMD & FREE PRESS FILE 'FAKE NEWS' COMPLAINT WITH FCC ON BEHALF OF 40,000 PETITION SIGNERS
by John Stauber
The Center for Media and Democracy and Free Press have filed a
complaint with the Federal Communications Commission urging an
investigation of the extensive airing of "fake news" by TV
broadcasters who take government and corporate Video News Release
(VNR) stories and run them unlabeled as real journalism. In just one
week nearly 40,000 citizens have signed our petition calling on the
FCC, Congress and local broadcasters to stop fake news.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3414
2. STAUBER DEBATES FAKE NEWS ON WBUR'S "ON POINT"
by John Stauber
I was a guest tonight on WBUR's nationwide call-in public radio
program "On Point." You can hear the show online at the WBUR
website. The topic was the Bush administration's quarter-billion
dollar expenditure on PR and propaganda.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3375
3. PR EXECS UNDETERRED BY FAKE NEWS "FLAP"
by John Stauber
This afternoon I listened in on a conference call among some of the
top PR execs in the business of producing video news releases
(VNRs), more honestly called fake news. I can report they are proud
and confident that the recent "flap" on the front page of Sunday's
New York Times about the Bush administration's use of fake news will
amount to nothing at all. These PR executives are elated that the
New York Times piece was about government propaganda, and not about
their much more widespread and lucrative production of corporate
VNRs, the biggest and richest part of the fake news business.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3374
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. CALIFORNIA UNIONS SUE TO TERMINATE VIDEO NEWS RELEASES
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/03/22/BAGIIBSQL21.DTL
A lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court by three California
unions seeks a ruling banning public funds from being used for the
production of video news releases. VNRs produced by the
Schwarzenegger administration have backed moves to remove workers'
lunch break guarantees and opposed legislated nurse-to-patient
staffing ratios. A California Health and Human Services Agency
spokeswoman defended the use of VNRs. "There is no statutory
prohibition against the use of public funds to produce video news
releases. ... No court has expressly disapproved the expenditure of
public funds for VNRs," she said.
SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, March 22, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3472
2. RUPERT MURDOCH'S TAX TWO-STEP
http://afr.com/premium/articles/2005/03/22/1111254025160.html
Australian journalist Neil Chenoweth has revealed that Rupert
Murdoch "sidestepped stamp duty of $A53 million [U.S.$41.3m] and
capital gains tax of up to $A1.2 billion [U.S.$936m] by moving
control of his ultimate family company, Kayarem, to the Caribbean
and listing it on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSE) a week before
News Corporation was reincorporated in the United States last
November. Documents filed with the BSE show that listing Kayarem in
the tax haven allowed the Murdoch family to obtain a tax benefit
when it sold its controlling interest in the Queensland Press group
to News Corp." In 2001, Chenoweth's book Virtual Murdoch was
published in the UK and as Rupert Murdoch: The Untold Story of the
World's Greatest Media Wizard in the U.S. in November 2002.
SOURCE: Australian Financial Review, March 23, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3471
3. NUCLEAR ENERGY IS THE NEW BLACK
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/30032/story.htm
At a conference on the future of nuclear power, International Atomic
Energy Agency director Mohamed ElBaradei "pointed to nuclear energy
policy plans in China, Finland, the United States and possibly
Poland as proof that nuclear power may be returning to vogue." U.S.
Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said, "America hasn't ordered a new
nuclear power plant since the 1970s and it's time to start building
again." Recently released "internal Energy Department email
messages" suggest that some work done "in preparation for seeking a
license to open a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in
Nevada" was falsified. A department spokesperson said the discovery
was a positive sign of "quality-assurance procedures." Our next
issue of PR Watch focuses on the nuclear industry - if you're not
already subscribed, sign up today!
SOURCE: Reuters, March 22, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3415
4. FOR ETHNIC PRESS, ACCESS IS SEPARATE, UNEQUAL
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000846210
Government agencies "often don't return phone calls or provide
relevant information" to the ethnic press, according to a survey by
the Independent Press Association-New York. The association is a
network of 115 "immigrant, African-American, and community
newspapers." The most unhelpful federal agencies were the Department
of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration
Affairs, and the Department of Labor. Unhelpful New York City
agencies included the police, fire department, mayor's office and
Department of Education. The survey found that "timely delivery of
information from government agencies" to ethnic media reporters
occurs just half of the time.
SOURCE: Associated Press, March 18, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3413
5. THE AGE OF MISSING INFORMATION
http://www.slate.com/id/2114963/
Since President Bush entered office, there has been a 75% increase
in the amount of government information classified as secret each
year. "Yet an even more aggressive form of government information
control has gone unenumerated and often unrecognized in the Bush
era, as government agencies have restricted access to unclassified
information in libraries, archives, Web sites, and official
databases," writes Steven Aftergood, director of the project on
government secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists. "Once
freely available, a growing number of these sources are now barred
to the public as 'sensitive but unclassified' or 'for official use
only.'" Examples of unclassified but unavailable information include
the Defense Department's telephone directory, the National Archives'
historical records, satellite orbital information, aeronautical
maps, and environmental data.
SOURCE: Slate, March 17, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3412
6. ENRON: PATRON SAINT OF BUSH'S FAKE NEWS
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/20/arts/20Rich.html
Former [[sw:Enron]] CEO [[sw:Ken Lay]], "the poster boy for how big
guys can rip off suckers in the stock market," is back in the news
as his trial date nears. According to Frank Rich, "The enduring
legacy of Enron can be summed up in one word: propaganda. Here was a
corporate house of cards whose business few could explain and whose
source of profits was an utter mystery - and yet it thrived,
unquestioned, for years." How? "Enron 'was fixated on its public
relations campaigns.' It churned out slick PR videos as if it were a
Hollywood studio. It browbeat the press (until a young Fortune
reporter, Bethany McLean, asked one question too many)." Rich also
writes about Susan Molinari, who "is invariably described as 'a
former Republican Congresswoman' or a CNBC political analyst'" on
news shows. But her current jobs are "C.E.O. of the Washington
Group, Ketchum's lobbying firm, and president of Ketchum Public
Affairs" - the same Ketchum responsible for Armstrong Williams and
video news releases narrated by faux reporter Karen Ryan.
SOURCE: New York Times, March 20, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3411
7. SACRAMENTO TO HOLLYWOOD: BACK OFF
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/03/18/state/n160412S35.DTL
"We believe a court would find the 'style, tenor and timing' of the
(video news release) to be 'promotional' in nature, thus triggering
the requirement it be expressly authorized by statute," ruled the
California state legislature's counsel, on a Schwarzenegger
administration VNR. The undersecretary of the Labor and Workforce
Development Agency, which produced the VNR to support changes in
workers' break guarantees, earlier said that "the administration's
lawyers concluded the videos were permissible." The Schwarzenegger
administration made at least four VNRs without legislative
authorization. In national news, the Federal Communications
Commission has been asked by Senators John Kerry and Daniel Inouye
(both Democrats) to investigate the broadcasting of
government-funded VNRs.
SOURCE: Associated Press, March 18, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3409
8. MAD COW: TRADE WAR OF WORDS
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0317fh_canada_beef.htm
Ongoing litigation to keep the U.S. border closed to Canadian beef
and cattle, following three cases of mad cow disease there, has
prompted renewed PR efforts. The Alberta Beef Producers hired
Fleishman-Hillard, to help "reopen the U.S. market to Canadian
beef." The Montana-based group R-CALF, which filed the lawsuit,
"purchased a half-page advertisement in the Washington Post ...
thanking the U.S. Senate for passing a resolution blocking the
resumption of live cattle and full beef trade with Canada." And the
Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Ministry is helping "launch an
aggressive marketing campaign to reclaim and expand markets for
Canadian beef," part of the country's "Repositioning the Livestock
Industry Strategy," launched last year.
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (reg. req'd.), March 17, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3398
9. ON IRAQ, NOT ALL NEWS DEEMED "FIT TO PRINT"
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000846234
"Many media outlets self-censored their reporting on Iraq," often
out of fear of offending their audience, found a survey of more than
200 U.S. media personnel by American University's School of
Communications. The "editing that went into content after it was
gathered but before it was published" was significant. 15% of those
reporting from Iraq said "they did not believe the final version" of
their pieces, post-editing, "accurately represented the story." 20%
of those reporting on Iraq from the U.S. "said material was edited
for reasons other than basic style and length." One survey
respondent wrote, "The real damage of war on the civilian population
was uniformly omitted." In contrast, 92% said they had "no limits at
all" on "the type of interviews conducted."
SOURCE: Editor & Publisher, March 18, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3377
10. AMERICANS STILL BELIEVE BUSH'S WAR PROPAGANDA
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/PollVault/story?id=582744
This weekend is the second anniversary of the U.S. attack on Iraq.
The latest ABC News and Washington Post poll of public opinion shows
that most Americans still believe, incorrectly of course, that
Saddam's Iraq supported the 9/11 terrorists and had weapons of mass
destruction. Interestingly, the poll's own analysis tries to
downplay the significance of its findings, saying, "Most Americans
favored overthrowing Saddam years earlier, long before al Qaeda
became broadly known." Oh really? As we document in Weapons of Mass
Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq, the war
could never have been sold to the American people had ABC, the
Washington Post, and the rest of the mainstream media done their job
of exposing the false claims of the Bush administration. Instead,
they echoed those claims and censored and ignored critics of the
war.
SOURCE: ABC News, March 15, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3376
11. IS THAT BUSINESS I HEAR BOOMING?
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0316iraqex.htm
Iraqex, the U.S.-owned "investment group set up to pursue business
in Iraq," has changed its name to Lincoln Group, after its holding
company, Lincoln Alliance Corporation. Lincoln Group has a $6
million, 3-year PR contract for the U.S.-led Multi-National
Corps-Iraq, for which it "develops video, audio and print products
to support MNC-I initiatives." It also publishes Iraq Business
Journal, a "monthly publication on contract opportunities, life in
Iraq and classifieds." The publication recently interviewed Grand
Ayatolla Ali Al-Sistani, who said foreign investment is acceptable,
as long as the investor is not with the "occupation forces" or
taking "advantage of any instability." Lincoln Group is still
looking for interns.
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (reg. req'd.), March 16, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3373
12. CONSUMERS BUY THE DARNDEST THINGS
http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/031605.html
Afraid that their vote to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
to oil exploration might make Congress more likely to increase fuel
efficiency standards, the automobile industry is "trying to polish
its image." The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is claiming, in
newspaper and radio ads, and on cleaning sponges given to
Congressional staffers, that "cars are 99% cleaner than they used to
be." (The Union of Concerned Scientists calls the Auto Alliance
campaign "highly misleading.") An Auto Alliance spokesperson said
increased fuel standards would be "very difficult to achieve,"
because of the popularity of large vehicles. "It's not what we
manufacture; it's what consumers buy," she said.
SOURCE: The Hill, March 16, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3372
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Weekly Spin is compiled by staff and volunteers at the
Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), a nonprofit public
interest organization. To subscribe or unsubcribe, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/subscribe_sotd.html
Daily updates and news from past weeks can be found at the
"Spin of the Day" section of the Center website:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/index.html
Archives of our quarterly publication, PR Watch, are at:
http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues
CMD also sponsors SourceWatch, a collaborative research
project that invites anyone (including you) to contribute
and edit articles:
http://www.sourcewatch.org
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 misleading PR practices by exposing the activities of
secretive, little-known propaganda-for-hire firms that
work to control political debates and public opinion.
Please send any questions or suggestions about our
publications to:
editor@prwatch.org
Contributions to the Center for Media and Democracy
are tax-deductible. Send checks to:
CMD
520 University Ave. #227
Madison, WI 53703
To donate now online, visit:
https://www.egrants.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2344-0|1118-0
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THE WEEKLY SPIN, March 23, 2005
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. CMD & Free Press File 'Fake News' Complaint with FCC on Behalf of 40,000 Petition Signers
2. Stauber Debates Fake News on WBUR's "On Point"
3. PR Execs Undeterred by Fake News "Flap"
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. California Unions Sue to Terminate Video News Releases
2. Rupert Murdoch's Tax Two-Step
3. Nuclear Energy Is the New Black
4. For Ethnic Press, Access Is Separate, Unequal
5. The Age of Missing Information
6. Enron: Patron Saint of Bush's Fake News
7. Sacramento to Hollywood: Back Off
8. Mad Cow: Trade War of Words
9. On Iraq, Not All News Deemed "Fit to Print"
10. Americans Still Believe Bush's War Propaganda
11. Is that Business I Hear Booming?
12. Consumers Buy the Darndest Things
----------------------------------------------------------------------
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. CMD & FREE PRESS FILE 'FAKE NEWS' COMPLAINT WITH FCC ON BEHALF OF 40,000 PETITION SIGNERS
by John Stauber
The Center for Media and Democracy and Free Press have filed a
complaint with the Federal Communications Commission urging an
investigation of the extensive airing of "fake news" by TV
broadcasters who take government and corporate Video News Release
(VNR) stories and run them unlabeled as real journalism. In just one
week nearly 40,000 citizens have signed our petition calling on the
FCC, Congress and local broadcasters to stop fake news.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3414
2. STAUBER DEBATES FAKE NEWS ON WBUR'S "ON POINT"
by John Stauber
I was a guest tonight on WBUR's nationwide call-in public radio
program "On Point." You can hear the show online at the WBUR
website. The topic was the Bush administration's quarter-billion
dollar expenditure on PR and propaganda.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3375
3. PR EXECS UNDETERRED BY FAKE NEWS "FLAP"
by John Stauber
This afternoon I listened in on a conference call among some of the
top PR execs in the business of producing video news releases
(VNRs), more honestly called fake news. I can report they are proud
and confident that the recent "flap" on the front page of Sunday's
New York Times about the Bush administration's use of fake news will
amount to nothing at all. These PR executives are elated that the
New York Times piece was about government propaganda, and not about
their much more widespread and lucrative production of corporate
VNRs, the biggest and richest part of the fake news business.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3374
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. CALIFORNIA UNIONS SUE TO TERMINATE VIDEO NEWS RELEASES
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/03/22/BAGIIBSQL21.DTL
A lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court by three California
unions seeks a ruling banning public funds from being used for the
production of video news releases. VNRs produced by the
Schwarzenegger administration have backed moves to remove workers'
lunch break guarantees and opposed legislated nurse-to-patient
staffing ratios. A California Health and Human Services Agency
spokeswoman defended the use of VNRs. "There is no statutory
prohibition against the use of public funds to produce video news
releases. ... No court has expressly disapproved the expenditure of
public funds for VNRs," she said.
SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, March 22, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3472
2. RUPERT MURDOCH'S TAX TWO-STEP
http://afr.com/premium/articles/2005/03/22/1111254025160.html
Australian journalist Neil Chenoweth has revealed that Rupert
Murdoch "sidestepped stamp duty of $A53 million [U.S.$41.3m] and
capital gains tax of up to $A1.2 billion [U.S.$936m] by moving
control of his ultimate family company, Kayarem, to the Caribbean
and listing it on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSE) a week before
News Corporation was reincorporated in the United States last
November. Documents filed with the BSE show that listing Kayarem in
the tax haven allowed the Murdoch family to obtain a tax benefit
when it sold its controlling interest in the Queensland Press group
to News Corp." In 2001, Chenoweth's book Virtual Murdoch was
published in the UK and as Rupert Murdoch: The Untold Story of the
World's Greatest Media Wizard in the U.S. in November 2002.
SOURCE: Australian Financial Review, March 23, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3471
3. NUCLEAR ENERGY IS THE NEW BLACK
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/30032/story.htm
At a conference on the future of nuclear power, International Atomic
Energy Agency director Mohamed ElBaradei "pointed to nuclear energy
policy plans in China, Finland, the United States and possibly
Poland as proof that nuclear power may be returning to vogue." U.S.
Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said, "America hasn't ordered a new
nuclear power plant since the 1970s and it's time to start building
again." Recently released "internal Energy Department email
messages" suggest that some work done "in preparation for seeking a
license to open a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in
Nevada" was falsified. A department spokesperson said the discovery
was a positive sign of "quality-assurance procedures." Our next
issue of PR Watch focuses on the nuclear industry - if you're not
already subscribed, sign up today!
SOURCE: Reuters, March 22, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3415
4. FOR ETHNIC PRESS, ACCESS IS SEPARATE, UNEQUAL
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000846210
Government agencies "often don't return phone calls or provide
relevant information" to the ethnic press, according to a survey by
the Independent Press Association-New York. The association is a
network of 115 "immigrant, African-American, and community
newspapers." The most unhelpful federal agencies were the Department
of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration
Affairs, and the Department of Labor. Unhelpful New York City
agencies included the police, fire department, mayor's office and
Department of Education. The survey found that "timely delivery of
information from government agencies" to ethnic media reporters
occurs just half of the time.
SOURCE: Associated Press, March 18, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3413
5. THE AGE OF MISSING INFORMATION
http://www.slate.com/id/2114963/
Since President Bush entered office, there has been a 75% increase
in the amount of government information classified as secret each
year. "Yet an even more aggressive form of government information
control has gone unenumerated and often unrecognized in the Bush
era, as government agencies have restricted access to unclassified
information in libraries, archives, Web sites, and official
databases," writes Steven Aftergood, director of the project on
government secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists. "Once
freely available, a growing number of these sources are now barred
to the public as 'sensitive but unclassified' or 'for official use
only.'" Examples of unclassified but unavailable information include
the Defense Department's telephone directory, the National Archives'
historical records, satellite orbital information, aeronautical
maps, and environmental data.
SOURCE: Slate, March 17, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3412
6. ENRON: PATRON SAINT OF BUSH'S FAKE NEWS
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/20/arts/20Rich.html
Former [[sw:Enron]] CEO [[sw:Ken Lay]], "the poster boy for how big
guys can rip off suckers in the stock market," is back in the news
as his trial date nears. According to Frank Rich, "The enduring
legacy of Enron can be summed up in one word: propaganda. Here was a
corporate house of cards whose business few could explain and whose
source of profits was an utter mystery - and yet it thrived,
unquestioned, for years." How? "Enron 'was fixated on its public
relations campaigns.' It churned out slick PR videos as if it were a
Hollywood studio. It browbeat the press (until a young Fortune
reporter, Bethany McLean, asked one question too many)." Rich also
writes about Susan Molinari, who "is invariably described as 'a
former Republican Congresswoman' or a CNBC political analyst'" on
news shows. But her current jobs are "C.E.O. of the Washington
Group, Ketchum's lobbying firm, and president of Ketchum Public
Affairs" - the same Ketchum responsible for Armstrong Williams and
video news releases narrated by faux reporter Karen Ryan.
SOURCE: New York Times, March 20, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3411
7. SACRAMENTO TO HOLLYWOOD: BACK OFF
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/03/18/state/n160412S35.DTL
"We believe a court would find the 'style, tenor and timing' of the
(video news release) to be 'promotional' in nature, thus triggering
the requirement it be expressly authorized by statute," ruled the
California state legislature's counsel, on a Schwarzenegger
administration VNR. The undersecretary of the Labor and Workforce
Development Agency, which produced the VNR to support changes in
workers' break guarantees, earlier said that "the administration's
lawyers concluded the videos were permissible." The Schwarzenegger
administration made at least four VNRs without legislative
authorization. In national news, the Federal Communications
Commission has been asked by Senators John Kerry and Daniel Inouye
(both Democrats) to investigate the broadcasting of
government-funded VNRs.
SOURCE: Associated Press, March 18, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3409
8. MAD COW: TRADE WAR OF WORDS
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0317fh_canada_beef.htm
Ongoing litigation to keep the U.S. border closed to Canadian beef
and cattle, following three cases of mad cow disease there, has
prompted renewed PR efforts. The Alberta Beef Producers hired
Fleishman-Hillard, to help "reopen the U.S. market to Canadian
beef." The Montana-based group R-CALF, which filed the lawsuit,
"purchased a half-page advertisement in the Washington Post ...
thanking the U.S. Senate for passing a resolution blocking the
resumption of live cattle and full beef trade with Canada." And the
Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Ministry is helping "launch an
aggressive marketing campaign to reclaim and expand markets for
Canadian beef," part of the country's "Repositioning the Livestock
Industry Strategy," launched last year.
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (reg. req'd.), March 17, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3398
9. ON IRAQ, NOT ALL NEWS DEEMED "FIT TO PRINT"
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000846234
"Many media outlets self-censored their reporting on Iraq," often
out of fear of offending their audience, found a survey of more than
200 U.S. media personnel by American University's School of
Communications. The "editing that went into content after it was
gathered but before it was published" was significant. 15% of those
reporting from Iraq said "they did not believe the final version" of
their pieces, post-editing, "accurately represented the story." 20%
of those reporting on Iraq from the U.S. "said material was edited
for reasons other than basic style and length." One survey
respondent wrote, "The real damage of war on the civilian population
was uniformly omitted." In contrast, 92% said they had "no limits at
all" on "the type of interviews conducted."
SOURCE: Editor & Publisher, March 18, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3377
10. AMERICANS STILL BELIEVE BUSH'S WAR PROPAGANDA
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/PollVault/story?id=582744
This weekend is the second anniversary of the U.S. attack on Iraq.
The latest ABC News and Washington Post poll of public opinion shows
that most Americans still believe, incorrectly of course, that
Saddam's Iraq supported the 9/11 terrorists and had weapons of mass
destruction. Interestingly, the poll's own analysis tries to
downplay the significance of its findings, saying, "Most Americans
favored overthrowing Saddam years earlier, long before al Qaeda
became broadly known." Oh really? As we document in Weapons of Mass
Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq, the war
could never have been sold to the American people had ABC, the
Washington Post, and the rest of the mainstream media done their job
of exposing the false claims of the Bush administration. Instead,
they echoed those claims and censored and ignored critics of the
war.
SOURCE: ABC News, March 15, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3376
11. IS THAT BUSINESS I HEAR BOOMING?
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0316iraqex.htm
Iraqex, the U.S.-owned "investment group set up to pursue business
in Iraq," has changed its name to Lincoln Group, after its holding
company, Lincoln Alliance Corporation. Lincoln Group has a $6
million, 3-year PR contract for the U.S.-led Multi-National
Corps-Iraq, for which it "develops video, audio and print products
to support MNC-I initiatives." It also publishes Iraq Business
Journal, a "monthly publication on contract opportunities, life in
Iraq and classifieds." The publication recently interviewed Grand
Ayatolla Ali Al-Sistani, who said foreign investment is acceptable,
as long as the investor is not with the "occupation forces" or
taking "advantage of any instability." Lincoln Group is still
looking for interns.
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (reg. req'd.), March 16, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3373
12. CONSUMERS BUY THE DARNDEST THINGS
http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/031605.html
Afraid that their vote to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
to oil exploration might make Congress more likely to increase fuel
efficiency standards, the automobile industry is "trying to polish
its image." The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is claiming, in
newspaper and radio ads, and on cleaning sponges given to
Congressional staffers, that "cars are 99% cleaner than they used to
be." (The Union of Concerned Scientists calls the Auto Alliance
campaign "highly misleading.") An Auto Alliance spokesperson said
increased fuel standards would be "very difficult to achieve,"
because of the popularity of large vehicles. "It's not what we
manufacture; it's what consumers buy," she said.
SOURCE: The Hill, March 16, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3372
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Weekly Spin is compiled by staff and volunteers at the
Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), a nonprofit public
interest organization. To subscribe or unsubcribe, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/subscribe_sotd.html
Daily updates and news from past weeks can be found at the
"Spin of the Day" section of the Center website:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/index.html
Archives of our quarterly publication, PR Watch, are at:
http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues
CMD also sponsors SourceWatch, a collaborative research
project that invites anyone (including you) to contribute
and edit articles:
http://www.sourcewatch.org
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 misleading PR practices by exposing the activities of
secretive, little-known propaganda-for-hire firms that
work to control political debates and public opinion.
Please send any questions or suggestions about our
publications to:
editor@prwatch.org
Contributions to the Center for Media and Democracy
are tax-deductible. Send checks to:
CMD
520 University Ave. #227
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