At home in japan without the kinks
Japanese abroad have no trouble finding bearings, but Kaori Shoji feels a little lost

By KAORI SHOJI

So is this what they mean by globalization?

From Tokyo, Japan to Boston, USA, there are no direct flights. It takes roughly 24 hours before you find yourself blinking in the lobby of Logan Airport, where likely as not you will be among a lot of tall, blonde people saying things like: "dude, that is AWESOME!"

The scenery should feel sufficiently foreign but it doesn't, not really, though you can't place a finger on exactly why.

The familiarity of it all is amplified once you hit downtown: there are Japanese restaurants with Japanese language menus pasted onto the double glass doors, Japanese hair salons with posters featuring Japanese models, Japanese travel agencies touting roundtrip, discount business class tickets to Tokyo -- in kanji.

Most of all, you see the F.C.P. (Fellow Countrypersons) everywhere, walking in pairs or threes: students at Berklee Music College (each year, a good third of the graduating class are Japanese), Boston University, University of Massachusetts, or any of the other numerous academic institutions which make up Boston's primary industry.

These students shop at the same Japanese grocery store, whose shelves boast all the Pocky and Pretz flavors, not to mention bowls of gyuudon and videos of the latest Japanese trendy dramas, flown into Logan at the pace of twice a week.

At this point I feel compelled to turn cranky and start reminiscing about the hard old days.

When I was growing up in New York about 2.5 decades ago, America felt downright . . . different.

This difference manifested itself in the most basic ways, reminding us constantly that we were here and not there.

My parents had to drive an hour to Freeport where they could buy fish fresh enough for sashimi, if they were lucky. Soy sauce was available but it tasted weirdly sweet. As for miso, it was difficult to find anything that wasn't additive-saturated and way past the legitimate sell-by date.

My friends in the neighborhood were Irish and Italian. I had pop-tarts for breakfast and carried peanut butter sandwiches to school. I wore Yankees T-shirts and went to summer camp. I had learned to say "up yours" before I learned the multiplication table.

As for Pocky, one knew such wonders existed but they were far, far beyond our reach. They were, in fact, in another country.

Upon my family's return to Tokyo, the feeling of difference kicked up all over again. Suddenly home life shrunk into the confines of the Japanese 3LDK, violently lit by overhead fluorescent lights.

School seemed to be a similar version of what Tommy Kealey's 21-year old brother had once described about boot camp.

No one spoke English and, if they did, it was an English I had never heard.

Life had turned into a whole new game with a different set of rules and the relearning process was accompanied by big doses of pain and frustration.

Now, of course, the hang-ups of U.S.-Japan relocation are far less burdensome or severe.

Pointing out the parallels between life in the States and life in Japan has become far easier than listing up the differences -- increasingly, here threatens to merge with there .

Even language, that great divider of cultures and borders, has gotten vague about enforcing discipline.

In Tokyo, as in Boston, it's possible for Americans/Japanese to go for weeks without uttering a whole sentence in the native tongue.

The staff who work at the Japanese grocery shop "Cherry Mart," for example, say their English has actually deteriorated over the years, what with serving Japanese customers, talking to Japanese sales reps and associating mainly with Japanese friends.

Americans are referred to as "Ame-jin" and viewed from a polite distance.

Masako Kakutani, a 28-year old student at Berklee, describes the American experience as "Japan, with the kinks out."

Born, raised and educated in Tokyo, Masako had worked at an HMV (Hunter Music Video) store in Shibuya for 4 years before deciding on the move to Boston: "I was working 14 hours a day and getting nowhere.

"Life in Tokyo was so tiring and I had just broken up with my boyfriend. It felt like the right time to do it." The Boston life she says, is "relaxing and easy, more like a vacation than anything else."

She works in a Japanese restaurant to pay for rent and the tuition fees are on loan from her parents.

Now in her third year in the New England city, Masako has not returned to Tokyo even once. In her own words she "has never felt freer." She knows that if she goes back, the problems of work and family will encroach on her private life. Her parents will pressure her about marriage and her friends will urge her to come over and look at their babies.

"Don't misunderstand me, I love Japan," she says. "It's just that I don't feel the need to go back."

True enough, since she can duplicate the Japanesey facets of life right here in Boston (J-anime books available at Borders, authentic, hand-baked An-Pan sold at the "Japonaise Bakery" to name a few examples), genuine homesickness seems beside the point.

Masako and her friends' lifestyle have a lot in common with the American expat in Tokyo, who lives in the expat luxury apartment and sends their children to ASIJ.

There's no urgent need to get local or to speak Japanese and supermarkets like Kinokuniya or National Azabu stock all the familiar foods. The one glaring difference is the cost -- the American lifestyle in Japan costs twice as much as the Japanese lifestyle in America.

But if the financial hurdle is not a problem (and it's often not for the expat executive), then what is?

Nothing, as far as I can tell. Freed from the irksome pressures of difference and exoticism, both Japanese and Americans have come to celebrate our knack for co-existence while at the same time leaving each other well alone.

Still, I can't help feeling nostalgia for the foreign-ness that (for me, anyway) once defined both America and Japan, the foreign-ness that forces the outsider to open up or shut down, to reveal inner vulnerabilities and strengths, and that ultimately taught you what the hell you're all about.

America is another country, yes, but this time around, I seem to have a hard time getting there.

The Japan Times: Dec. 23, 2003

Hi I think that I might have showen one of these bulletins before but it is so well done that thought another look would not hurt. This is one of the better efforts in the world to fight against false or misleading information being presented as facts. To put a spin on a story is to slant it in a preprejudiced way that is often favorable to you or your employer. Clark
THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, January 28, 2004
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS

1. USDA Hides Behind the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis
2. Bush Administration Protects Chemical Industy
3. Mad Cow is Good for Industry Front Groups
4. B-M's Biotech Front Group Exposed in the UK
5. Hiding Wal-Mart's Warts
6. Drug Researcher Continues To Challenge Industry Claims
7. Bush Promises US Propaganda To Replace Hateful Propaganda
8. US Obesity Expands PR Budgets
9. 'Corporate Social Resposibility' Masks Corporate Damage
10. Auto Industry Front Group Gets New Head
----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. USDA HIDES BEHIND THE HARVARD CENTER FOR RISK ANALYSIS
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/front_page/1075208119170910.xml
"When Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman met a House panel last week
to defend her response to mad cow disease, she cited a Harvard
University study concluding the risk to public health is minimal.
... The Harvard study, released two years ago, has become a
universal defense for Bush administration officials as they have
responded to the first cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in
Canada and then in the United States. But in their rush to embrace
'sound science,' Veneman and others at times mischaracterized the
study's purpose, recommendations or conclusions, according to a
review by The Oregonian." The USDA paid the Harvard Center for Risk
Analysis $800,000 to produce a computer modeling study designed to
deny and downplay mad cow risks in the US. Far from being an
academic institution, the Harvard Center is an industry-funded
front group specializing in producing risk assessments that favor
its Fortune 500 supporters. Director George Gray is on the board of
the industry-funded right-wing Foundation for Research and the
Environment (FREE), and he and the Center's David Reopik recently
penned a piece for FREE ridiculing concerns over mad cow disease.
SOURCE: Oregonian, January 27, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/January_2004.html#1075179600
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1075179600

2. BUSH ADMINISTRATION PROTECTS CHEMICAL INDUSTY
http://www.bushgreenwatch.org/mt_archives/000035.php
"Last year the Bush Administration encouraged American chemical
companies to lobby against European efforts to strengthen the
regulation of thousands of chemicals contained in household,
industrial and personal products," BushGreenWash.org writes. "When
the chemical industry was slow to respond, Administration officials
took it upon themselves to launch 'an unusually aggressive
campaign' to pressure the European Union into watering down its
comprehensive reform efforts. Documents uncovered by the
Environmental Health Fund, using the Freedom of Information Act,
showed the U.S. State and Commerce departments, Environmental
Protection Agency and office of the U.S. Trade Representative,
formed an alliance with Dow Chemical Co. and others to ward off
regulations they feared would raise the cost of doing business in
Europe." Meanwhile, the environmental group Earthjustice recently
filed suit against the Bush Administration, asserting that it had
allowed a special task force from the chemical industry to lobby
secretly and illegally inside the EPA. According to internal
documents obtained through FOIA, the chemical industry is seeking
to cut U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries biologists
out of the oversight process that determines whether or not a
pesticide is safe for wildlife.
SOURCE: BushGreenWash.org, January 26, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/January_2004.html#1075093201
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1075093201

3. MAD COW IS GOOD FOR INDUSTRY FRONT GROUPS
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=102-01262004
Corporate-funded think tanks and food industry front groups are
rushing into the debate over mad cow disease. This Wednesday,
January 28th, the George C. Marshall Institute is hosting a
presentation by Harvard Center for Risk Analysis director George
Gray, hyping him as "the nation's foremost mad cow expert,"
although his expertise is in getting money from government agencies
and Fortune 500 companies to produce risk studies that favor their
positions. Along with the Harvard Center and the Marshall
Institute, other groups receiving industry funding and fronting for
them on mad cow disease include Elizabeth Whelan's American Council
on Science and Health; father and son combo Dennis and Alex Avery
of the Hudson Institute; self-named 'Junkman' Steve Milloy of the
Cato Institute; and tobacco, booze and fat-food lobbyist Richard
Berman and his latest enterprise the Center for Consumer Freedom.
Late today, in a major victory for our work here at the Center for
Media & Democracy, the Food and Drug Administration agreed with us
and banned cattle blood as feed for US cattle. UPI quotes Mad Cow
USA co-author John Stauber as saying "The steps announced today ...
still fall far short of what is needed. The United States should
follow the lead of the EU nations by banning all feeding of
slaughterhouse waste to livestock, and testing millions of U.S.
cattle for mad cow disease."
SOURCE: US Newswire Press Release, January 26, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/January_2004.html#1075093200
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1075093200

4. B-M'S BIOTECH FRONT GROUP EXPOSED IN THE UK
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1130785,00.html
"Few could question the sentiment behind the campaign: a fight
against cervical cancer. A clutch of famous women, including Liz
Hurley, Caprice and Carol Vorderman, signed up to support a crusade
to introduce a new NHS screening test that could save the lives of
thousands of women. The campaign is due to reach the House of
Commons on Wednesday, when MPs will be lobbied on the issue. But an
Observer investigation has uncovered how the celebrities have been
duped into supporting a sophisticated lobbying campaign secretly
orchestrated from Brussels by one of the world's largest public
relations firms, Burson-Marsteller. Celebrities contacted by The
Observer said they had no knowledge of the lobby group. ... The
company, whose headquarters are in New York, has conducted a
clandestine lobbying campaign on behalf of Digene, the US biotech
firm that would make hundreds of millions of pounds if the tests
were introduced in the UK and elsewhere. The idea was to set up a
'grass roots' group of celebrities and other high-profile women
that would appear to be an independent body and pressure Ministers
to introduce the new screening tests."
SOURCE: The Observer, January 25, 2004
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1075006800

5. HIDING WAL-MART'S WARTS
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43156-2004Jan23.html
"Wal-Mart's very success may be working against it," reports the
Washington Post. "[T]he public tends to mistrust institutions that
get too mighty." The world's largest retailer, with 4,300 stores
and 1.3 million employees, Wal-Mart's woes include a lawsuit for
Americans with Disabilities Act violations, federal raids netting
some 200 illegal immigrant workers, and charges that employees are
encouraged to rely on taxpayer-funded programs for health care.
Wal-Mart's response? Run feel good TV ads and increase political
donations to become the second-biggest donor in the 2004 election
cycle, overwhelmingly to Republicans. "Our critics make an awful
lot of noise, and we need to ensure that our side of the issues is
heard as well," explained Wal-Mart spokesperson Mona Williams.
SOURCE: The Washington Post, Saturday, January 24, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/January_2004.html#1074920401
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1074920401

6. DRUG RESEARCHER CONTINUES TO CHALLENGE INDUSTRY CLAIMS
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7433/187-c?etoc
A Canadian professor of pediatrics and medicine vows to continue
speaking out on the risk of a drug used to treat thalassemia, a
hereditary blood disorder. Dr. Nancy Olivieri lost her attempt to
get her research on the harmful side effects of deferiprone looked
at by the committee for proprietary and medicinal products (CPMP)
that regulates drugs in Europe. "This ruling guarantees that only a
drug company attempting to sell a drug will control the content of
the scientific data submitted or not submitted to the European
CPMP," she said. "It no longer matters whether drug companies tell
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, because it's
unchallengeable now." PR Watch First Quarter 2003 reported on
Olivieri's fight for academic freedom when the drug company that
funded her research blocked her from making her findings public.
SOURCE: BMJ.com, January 24, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/January_2004.html#1074920400
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1074920400

7. BUSH PROMISES US PROPAGANDA TO REPLACE HATEFUL PROPAGANDA
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1074683529256&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795
"To cut through the barriers of hateful propaganda, the Voice of
America and other broadcast services are expanding their programs
in Arabic and Persian -- and, soon a new television service will
begin providing reliable news and information across the region,"
George W. Bush said in his State of the Union address. In response,
the Toronto Star's editorial page editor emeritus Haroon Siddiqui
writes, "There's the Bush doctrine: The mess in the Middle East is
to be solved by duplicating regional propaganda with American
propaganda." The U.S.-funded Iraqi Media Network, which is run by a
defense contractor, has drawn much criticism from Iraqis and former
employees for being a mouth piece of the Coalition Provisional
Authority. The Boston Globe reports that Bush is asking for $80
million this year for the National Endowment for Democracy, up from
$39.6 million. The new money is slated to fund groups in the Middle
East that support free elections, open markets, a free press, and
labor and trade unions. NED, however, has critics on both the right
and the left. Terry Allen, from the Chicago-based In These Times,
wrote in commentary accompanying a listing of Project Censored's
under-reported stories of 2003 that "using the same conduit Reagan
used to fund the contras, the National Endowment for Democracy, the
George W. Bush administration had funneled money to Venezuelan
Opposition.î
SOURCE: Toronto Star, January 22 , 2004
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/January_2004.html#1074799592
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1074799592

8. US OBESITY EXPANDS PR BUDGETS
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/7765780.htm
"The United States spent $75.1 billion last year on medical
expenses, such as drugs, doctor visits and hospitalizations,
related to obesity, according to a study published this month in
the journal Obesity Research," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
The study, financed by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, found that taxpayers paid half of the bill through
Medicare and Medicaid programs. Obesity-related health problems
added up to 5.7 percent of the nation's total medical expenses,
according to the report. America's expanding waistline has meant
more fast food and soft drink dollars being spent on PR. "New
York-area McDonald's have kicked off a PR campaign designed to
increase sales by telling customers how various McDonald's offering
cans fit into their favorite diets," PR Week reports. The industry
front group Center for Consumer Freedom, which got $200,000 from
Coca-Cola in 2001, wrote in an newspaper op-ed that opposition to
soda machines in schools is "fueled by junk science and media
frenzy" and that it is a "wild claim that soda consumption causes
childhood obesity."
SOURCE: Philadelphia Inquirer, January 22, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/January_2004.html#1074747600
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1074747600

9. 'CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPOSIBILITY' MASKS CORPORATE DAMAGE
http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/news/media/pressrel/040121p.htm
As the international business elite meet behind high fences in
Davos, Switzerland, an international relief organization says
corporate claims of good deeds often hide companies' efforts to
undermine regulations and to elude responsibility for harm already
done. "The image of companies working hard to make the world a
better place is too often just that -- a carefully manufactured
image," Christian Aid says in its new report, "Behind the mask: the
real face of corporate social responsibility." The study targets
"the burgeoning industry known as corporate social responsibility
-- or CSR -- which is now seen as a vital tool in promoting and
improving the public image of some of the world's largest companies
and corporations." The report examines campaigns carried out by
Shell, British American Tobacco and Coca Cola. "Some of those
shouting the loudest about their corporate virtues are also among
those inflicting continuing damage on communities where they work
-- particularly poor communities," said Andrew Pendleton, senior
policy officer at Christian Aid and author of the report.
SOURCE: Christian Aid, January 21, 2004
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1074661201

10. AUTO INDUSTRY FRONT GROUP GETS NEW HEAD
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0121mccahill.htm
"Barry McCahill, a longtime transportation PR and public affairs
exec, has taken over as president of the Sport Utility Vehicle
Owners of America, a lobbying group which claims to represent the
24 million SUV owners in the U.S.," O'Dwyer's PR Daily Reports.
"Jason Vines, former managing director of Strat@comm and ex-head of
PR at Ford, left the post in December to return to DaimlerChrysler,
where he began his career. McCahill is a senior consultant to
Strat@comm and the group's communications director is a principal
and founder at the firm. McCahill was a longtime spokesman for the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and was on the team
that put together its talking crash-test dummies and 'Friends Don't
Let Friends Drive Drunk' campaigns."
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily, January 21, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/January_2004.html#1074661200
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1074661200


----------------------------------------------------------------------

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TREND
Backpack NewsGear

The latest collection of advanced newsgathering tools
to receive Ifra's annual NewsGear™ designations might
also be called Platypus Gear, since platypus was the
original name coined for multiskilled reporters using a
variety of equipment to cover news for multiple media.

It was Dirck Halstead, longtime Time magazine White
House photographer, who in 1997 first popularized a
"strange new breed" of photojournalist arriving at news
scenes with the equipment and expertise to record both
moving images for broadcast and still images for print.
Those first-generation convergent journalists defied
conventional wisdom categorizing the practitioners of
different media. So Halstead and others compared them
to the platypus – the duck-billed, egg-laying mammal
whose discovery overturned expert certainty about how
to categorize the animal kingdom.

Today, the increasing numbers of cross-media
newsgatherers are more often referred to as backpack
journalists. The term imagines a reporter trekking to a
remote news event, unslinging a backpack of high-tech
gear including laptop, digital cameras, voice recorder
and communications devices, and then dispatching all
manner of text, photos, video, audio, graphics and Web
updates to a variety of waiting editors and news consumers.

This is the scenario around which Ifra based this year's
cycle of its Advanced Journalist Technology Project. The
project annually evaluates hundreds of hardware and
software products for their application to the news
industry's evolving multiple-media editorial environment.
The most innovative and practical earn Ifra's NewsGear
designation and are combined into a demonstration
suite as a model for news organizations and news
technology vendors worldwide.

The 2004 NewsGear suite has been dubbed the Backpack
Edition and would be of particular interest to those original
journalistic platypuses because it features one of the first
digital cameras on the market able to produce both
newspaper-quality still photos and broadcast-quality video
– the Sony DCR-PC330. Its 3.3-megapixel digital imager
has more than twice the resolution of normal video
cameras, giving it enough detail for still image
reproduction at common print sizes and normal quality
standards in newspapers. As a result of the DCR-PC330
and its certain-to-follow competitors, convergent
photographers will increasingly start to carry one camera
instead of two and cross-media newsrooms will start
rewriting their image workflows.

Another innovation in NewsGear 2004 is the Nokia 6600
Imaging Phone. This is a second-generation mobile
camera phone suitable for real-time newsgathering via
VGA JPEGs, Web-resolution video with audio, and even
low-res streaming video. Mobiles are becoming
indispensable for connecting increasingly distributed
news staffs, plus extremely viable for transmitting
acceptable-quality first-on-scene images and audio from
a live news event.

Also receiving the NewsGear designation for 2004:

- The Toshiba Portégé M200 second-generation tablet
PC able to record reporters' handwriting and convert it to
text. With a full-size keyboard and a 12.1-inch screen,
the M200 resolves compromises in some of the first tablet
PCs on the market.

- The Apple iSight firewire-based, high-resolution
video-chat system. Reports from newsrooms worldwide
indicate a significant interest in desktop video
communications for interviewing news sources and
coordinating with remote colleagues.

- Serious Magic Visual Communicator Pro, the
upgraded broadcast-quality version of unique
software that simplifies production of video news
content so that even print-oriented newspaper staffs
can do it well.

- Archos' AV320 digital media recorder and
3.3-megapixel AVCam 300 attachment, creating an
all-in-one digital media newsgathering tool for
Web-quality video, print-quality stills &
broadcast-quality audio.

- The Emergecore IT-100 Network Appliance combining
all the connectivity and network management required for
a bureau or small newsroom into a laptop-size box with
almost no support demands.

See the NewsGear matrix for full details on the 2004
Backpack Edition.
http://www.ifra.com/website/ifra.nsf/All/69DF55DB2524935EC1256A14005FF9E9/$FILE/NewsGear_2004_matrix_R2.pdf

In June 2004, Ifra's Newsplex initiative will conduct
limited-enrollment training on the tools and skills for
backpack journalists. However, as with most aspects
of converged newshandling, technology is not as critical
as skill in planning and managing a story across traditional
media boundaries. Therefore this program will also train
multiskilled journalists to integrate their work with the
newsroom's specialists in print, photo, video, audio,
graphics and Web content. Watch the Newsplex Web
site at www.newsplex.org for details or contact Newsplex
Training Director Martha Stone at stone@ifra.com.

NewsGear™ and the NewsGear logo are registered
trademarks of Ifra and the Ifra Centre for Advanced News
Operations. All other trademarks and product names
are property of the respective companies.

- Kerry J. Northrup, Director, IfraNewsplex, northrup@ifra.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS WEEK'S NEWS

1. Al Iraqiya Fails To Be 'Independent' News Source
2. Ogilvy & Mather Charged With Bilking White House
3. Martha Stewart's PR Push
4. Meat Industry PR Scramble To Respond to Mad Cow
5. Sludge Slippage
6. Rebranding Bush
7. USDA PR Chief Flacked for the Beef Industry
8. Another Award for Bill O'Reilly
9. "Inside Baseball" from the Outside In
10. 2003 Spin of the Year: WMDs
11. Krugman's Resolutions
----------------------------------------------------------------------

1. AL IRAQIYA FAILS TO BE 'INDEPENDENT' NEWS SOURCE
https://www.corpwatch.org/issues/PID.jsp?articleid=9508
The U.S. funded Iraqi Media Network was supposed to bring
"independent" journalism to a "liberated" Iraq. The reality,
however, is that IMN's Al Iraqiya radio and television station are
failing, according to CorpWatch's Pratap Chatterjee. The stations,
run by top CIA contractor Science Applications International
Corporation (SAIC), seem almost irrelevant given the more popular
satellite news channels Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya and the common
criticism that "Al Iraqiya has no news. Just yesterday's
information." Working under Coalition Provisional Authority
guidelines, Al Iraqiya reporters are barred from reporting anything
that might incited violence. Many who worked for SAIC on the IMN
project blame the CPA for the network's failure. Veteran network
news foreign correspondent Don North called Al Iraqiya 'Project
Frustration' when he quit in July. "IMN has become an irrelevant
mouthpiece for CPA propaganda, managed news and mediocre programs.
I have trained journalists after the fall of tyrannies in Bosnia,
Romania and Afghanistan. I don't blame the Iraqi journalists for
the failure of IMN. Through a combination of incompetence and
indifference, CPA has destroyed the fragile credibility of IMN,"
North wrote recently.
SOURCE: CorpWatch, January 6, 2004
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1073365201

2. OGILVY & MATHER CHARGED WITH BILKING WHITE HOUSE
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0106om.htm
The U.S. has indicted executives from Ogilvy and Mather, a PR and
advertising agency, for participating in an "extensive scheme to
defraud the U.S. Government by falsely and fraudulently inflating
the labor costs that Ogilvy incurred" for its work on a media
campaign for the Office of National Drug Control Policy. According
to O'Dwyer's PR Daily, O&M's anti-drug media campaign work was part
of a five-year $684 million dollar project. The government claims
it was overcharged by O&M from May 1999 to April 2000. "The White
House, last month, decided not to renew O&M's anti-drug contract.
It will put the business up for review in a bid to improve
'transparency.' O&M can re-bid," O'Dwyer's writes. †
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily, January 6, 2004
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1073365200

3. MARTHA STEWART'S PR PUSH
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-stewart0104,0,1560047.story
"Weeks before a federal judge is set to open Martha Stewart's trial
on charges of obstructing justice and securities fraud, the case
already is being tried in the court of public opinion," writes
James T. Madore. According to Roberg G. Heim, a former Securities
and Exchange Commission attorney, "A very extraordinary aspect of
the Martha Stewart case is the amount of public relations efforts
that she and her team are making in an attempt to clear her name."
SOURCE: Newsday
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1073331382

4. MEAT INDUSTRY PR SCRAMBLE TO RESPOND TO MAD COW
http://www.prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=198740&site=3
"Meat-industry trade groups were scurrying during the recent
holiday season to coordinate key messages and media lists as they
responded to reports of mad cow disease rearing its head in the
Western US," PR Week's John Frank writes. PR staffers at the
American Meat Institute and the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association, working with PR giant Burson-Marsteller, handled a
flood of media calls over the Christmas holiday. AMI's top
spokeswoman Janet Riley invited NBC News into her kitchen on
Christmas day to tape "her preparing beef for dinner in an effort
to demonstrate her faith in the safety of the beef supply," PR Week
reports. The US Department of Agriculture held daily press
briefings, which were followed by "technical briefings" for the
press held by NBCA. "Key message points the industry was stressing
revolved around the safety of the US beef supply and the extent of
efforts underway to track down how the disease reached US shores,"
PR Week reports.
SOURCE: PR Week, January 5, 2004
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1073278800

5. SLUDGE SLIPPAGE
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/03/national/03SLUD.html
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has denied a petition from
73 labor, environment and farm groups calling for an immediate
moratorium on land-based uses of sewage sludge - a practice that we
exposed in our 1994 book, Toxic Sludge Is Good For You. "The
rejection of the petition followed an announcement by the agency in
October, after five years of analysis and study, that it would not
regulate dioxins in land-applied sludge," reports the Associated
Press. "Dioxins are a class of organic chemicals that EPA studies
show pose a possible cancer risk in humans, but the agency said in
its October statement that the danger was minimal. The latest
announcements by the EPA come a year and a half after a panel of
the National Research Council, in a review the agency had asked
for, criticized what the council described as outdated science in
the agency's assessment of health risks from treated sludge used as
fertilizer." Just to show it isn't completely irresponsible,
though, the EPA promises to study the problem further and someday
may regulate 15 other toxic chemicals in sludge that currently
aren't on its watch list. Meanwhile the sludge wars continue at the
local level, with communities in Texas and Louisiana fighting
unbearable odors, groundwater contamination, and toxic pathogens
from sludge, while in Ohio, sludge critics are dismissed as "a lot
of kooks."
SOURCE: Associated Press and New York Times, January 2-3, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/January_2004.html#1073118824
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1073118824

6. REBRANDING BUSH
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1115313,00.html
"The White House has retreated from its doctrine of regime change
and pre-emptive military action and is returning to traditional
diplomacy in an effort to repackage George Bush as a president for
peace," the Guardian reports. The British paper writes that recent
signs indicate a shift from military action to diplomatic
engagement as seen in recent interactions between the U.S. and
North Korea, Libya and Iran. Washington analysts see this as an
election year strategy, acknowledging the White House finds itself
in a delicate situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine, given
continuing violence and the glacial transition to democracy in Iraq
and Afghanistan. "With elections 11 months away, Mr Bush does not
want to be vulnerable to claims that he has presided over a
warmongering strategy that has left Americans little safer than
September 11 2001. His shift follows an established pattern in
Washington of politicians moving to the centre during an election
year," the Guardian writes.
SOURCE: Guardian (UK), January 3, 2004
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1073106000

7. USDA PR CHIEF FLACKED FOR THE BEEF INDUSTRY
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/02/opinion/02SCHL.html
Eric Schlosser, author of the hugely popular bestseller Fast Food
Nation, notes that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's PR point
person on mad cow disease, Alisa Harrison, flacked for the beef
industry. "Before joining the department, Ms. Harrison was director
of public relations for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association,
the beef industry's largest trade group, where she battled
government food safety efforts, criticized Oprah Winfrey for
raising health questions about American hamburgers, and sent out
press releases with titles like 'Mad Cow Disease Not a Problem in
the U.S.' ... Right now you'd have a hard time finding a federal
agency more completely dominated by the industry it was created to
regulate. Dale Moore, Ms. Veneman's chief of staff, was previously
the chief lobbyist for the cattlemen's association." Meanwhile, the
federal government is failing to take the only steps that will
solve the mad cow crisis in America: a total ban on feeding
slaughterhouse waste to livestock, and testing tens of millions of
cattle. John Stauber says 'it's the cow feed, stupid!'
SOURCE: New York Times, January 2, 2004
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/January_2004.html#1073019600
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1073019600

8. ANOTHER AWARD FOR BILL O'REILLY
http://www.pandagon.net/archives/00002229.htm
Bill O'Reilly, who famously falsely claimed to be the winner of two
Peabody Awards, has finally won something for real -- top spot on
Pandagon.net's list of "the 20 most annoying conservatives of
2003." According to Pandagon webmasters Ezra Klein and Jesse
Taylor, O'Reilly "had a hard time getting on this list. I mean, if
you take away the 'wetback' commentary, and the 'joke' that a black
boys choir was out in the parking lot stealing hubcaps, and the
lawsuit against Al Franken, and the embarassing performance at the
C-SPAN Book News conference, and the threatening to beat up the son
of a 9/11 victim, and the lying about where he grew up, and the
whole Peabody Awards thing, and the false 'Fair and Balanced'
promise, and the fact that he's a grade-A asshole that most
conservatives don't like, and the insistence that anyone who
doesn't appear on his show is afraid of him, and the faux-everyman
demeanor, and the continuing jihads against Jesse Jackson, rap
music, George Clooney, Al Franken, the United Way, Europe,
Hollywood, Bill Moyers, the entire American left, Canada and
PepsiCola, AND that he lies constantly about being a
conservative...well, he still belongs on the list, actually."
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1072995815

9. "INSIDE BASEBALL" FROM THE OUTSIDE IN
http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2004/01/01/inside_baseball.html
Jay Rosen thinks coverage of the 2004 presidential election is
shaping up as an exercise in "Horse Race Now! Horse Race Tomorrow!
Horse Race Forever!" In this time-dishonored tradition of political
journalism, reporters use sports as a metaphor for reporting on
politics, relying for insights on political insiders who have
learned how to spin the "race" as a game of "inside baseball." The
result: "An army of sentries encircles the game, guarding every
situation from which a glimmer of fresh truth might be allowed to
escape."
SOURCE: PressThink, January 1, 2004
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1072933200

10. 2003 SPIN OF THE YEAR: WMDS
http://www.guerrillanews.com/war_on_terrorism/doc3672.html
The Guerrilla New Network has "picked†the
administration's†packaging and sale of the case for war based on
Iraq's alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction as our
Spin of the Year. The case has turned out to be so flimsy that the
administration has been forced to backtrack and deflect questions
about the still missing weapons. Paul Wolfowitz told Vanity Fair
this summer that it was a 'bureaucratic' decision to focus on the
WMD, and even Rumsfeld has repeatedly contradicted specific claims
he made to reporters in the run-up to the invasion."
SOURCE: Guerrilla News Network, December 31, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1072846800

11. KRUGMAN'S RESOLUTIONS
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/26/opinion/26KRUG.html
Columnist Paul Krugman is wondering if the news media will take its
job seriously when reporting on the 2004 elections and offers some
suggestions to reporters: "Don't talk about clothes." "Actually
look at the candidates' policy proposals." "Beware of personal
anecdotes." "Look at the candidates' records." "Don't fall for
political histrionics." "It's not about you." Although this is all
pretty basic advice, concludes, "I don't really expect my
journalistic colleagues to follow these rules. ... But history will
not forgive us if we allow laziness and personal pettiness to shape
this crucial election." Journalism professor Jay Rosen thinks that
Krugman "should be this year's Pulitzer Prize columnist" for "his
courage and relentlessness" but also thinks his advice is likely to
go ignored.
SOURCE: New York Times, December 26, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/December_2003.html#1072414801
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1072414801

Hope you had a good new year.BLOGGERS: THE NEW FACE OF JOURNALISM
The TV networks and major newspapers now face spirited competition from
blogs (i.e., Web logs) offered by independent political commentators. Here
are a few blogs you might want to become familiar with: Instapundit.com;
AndrewSullivan.com; TalkingPointsMemo.com; DrudgeReport.com; DailyKos.com;
RealClearPolitics.com; and Kausfiles.com. Washington lobbyist Ellen Miller
says that blogging "takes the media out of the hands of the corporate world
and puts it into the hands of guys with computers"; Glenn Reynolds, a law
professor and blogger (Instapundit.com) says the blogosphere has become an
"idea farm" for the established media; Andrew Sullivan (AndrewSullivan.com)
says blogging is "like having a giant communal brain"; and Tom Bevan
(RealClearPolitics.com) says that blogging means that "if you have something
to say that's interesting, you will eventually be heard." (USA Today 30 Dec
2003)
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2003-12-30-blogging-usat_x.htm

If you want to be an Art journalist you should read through these:Taking the Tweed Out of the Arts Journalism Wardrobe


By Poynter Institute (more by author )

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At the annual convention of the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors in St. Petersburg, Fla., this year, one of the panel discussions was titled "Taking the Tweed Out of the Arts Journalism Wardrobe." Poynter Online invited the panelists to recap their remarks about ways to defy the stereotypes about coverage of art and culture. Three of them took us up on our offer:

Diane Bacha (panel moderator)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , assistant managing editor/arts and entertainment:

W
e are here to talk about keeping arts coverage relevant ó keeping our wardrobe from getting too musty, if you will. But first, let's get one thing out of the way:

In most newsrooms, the word "art" scares people.

Let's face it, it just does not have enough Y chromosomes for the average newsroom crowd. It is seen as a nice but non-essential part of the daily news report.

The word "culture" is not far behind, but it's OK if you put the word "pop" in front of it. "Culture" is elitist. "Pop" is fizzy and fun and it means you are OK if you watch a lot of TV.
"Culture" is elitist. "Pop" is fizzy and fun and it means you are OK if you watch a lot of TV.

We can talk about why it has gotten that way, and what we've done to contribute to this perception. But let's not. Let's talk instead about how old-fashioned this point of view is, and how we can grab a lot of attention with arts and culture stories if we pay enough attention.

We are all sick by now of Richard Florida and his Bohemia Index , in which he made a connection (and I summarize here) between a vibrant arts and cultural scene and an economically healthy city. He believes that "culture has taken the initiative in promoting change." But let's take a page from him for a moment.

Let's assume that newsrooms get that, and they're as intrigued with a city's cultural life as Richard Florida is. Imagine that. If it were true, eyes would not be glazing over in the daily news meetings when our turn at the table comes up. And if it were true, we would be writing some different stories.

"Cue," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 's arts and culture section.
Instead of only following institutions founded generations ago, we'd be watching what newcomers are doing, including newcomers who may speak languages other than English.
We'd be paying attention to art schools, and writing about trends emerging from them.
We'd be paying attention to artists who DON'T go to art schools.
Our visual arts writers would be talking to our tech writers about digital art.
We might be rethinking our beat structures, perhaps getting rid of the walls between "arts," "entertainment," and "pop culture."
Weíd be watching how playwrights, poets, and painters are responding to the presidential campaign ó not just Jay and Dave.

I can see my first city editor rolling his eyes right about now. "This stuff is gonna go over real big with Betty who calls for the Lotto results," he'd say. Well, he's got a point. We have to write in accessible ways, and we still have the job of telling interesting stories.

Arts editors are often pushed to justify the relevance of what they do. That's not necessarily a bad thing. But it's better to push ourselves, and we would like to use this opportunity to do just that.

Steven Winn, Arts and Culture Critic, San Francisco Chronicle :
I

 spent the first 21 years of my career at the San Francisco Chronicle covering theater, as a critic and reporter. Devoting that time to a focused arts beat was a source of pleasure and gratification in too many ways to count. Depth is not something newspapers always foster; concentrating on theater freed me to pursue it.

The risk of depth is tunnel vision. Over the years, I felt a kind of creeping alienation. No one but a critic attends the theater 150 times a year. I was becoming, gradually and inexorably, self referential. I wrote about theater in terms of other theater, because that was what I was living.
No one but a critic attends the theater 150 times a year.

Real people, which is to say readers, experience the arts in an altogether different way. They go to movies, read books, visit art museums, go to work and the beach as well as the theater, argue about politics, listen to the radio, watch television, fall in love, love (or despise) ballet. I wanted to write about that, about the way that the arts and the world we live in every day are woven together in intricate, overlapping ways. I wanted to write critically and analytically about those things without being dutybound to review, rank, and finely calibrate my responses to a series of stage productions.

Last year, in a staff reorganization following the merger of San Francisco's two papers, I proposed a position as Arts and Culture Critic. More or less on faith, my editors acquiesced.

"Datebook," the San Francisco Chronicle 's arts and culture section.
Since then I've written about the nature of beauty, an epidemic of lying, why people cry in the presence of art, talk radio, theater lobbies, arts funding, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paul Klee, protest art, the risks and rewards of performing alone, the Bob Dylan plagiarism case, interactive museums, the comparable effects of sound design in Cirque du Soleil and "Medea," the primacy of the body in various arts, artistic revision, originality, and amusement parks.

Some of these ideas have turned out well; others fell flat. I'm a little fearful of computing my batting average. What I do know, and what has been consistent throughout my 18 arts and culture months, is a kind of reader response I rarely had as a beat critic. People truly want to engage with ideas and ways of synthesizing their arts experience and their lives.

It took me two decades to figure out how deeply curious, thoughtful, and creative the readers are. After years of conditioned responses to letters, phone calls, and e-mails that either agreed with or carped at my reviews, I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I'm finally getting to know my readers.

None of this is meant to denigrate or disparage the art of reviewing. I still write straight reviews from time to time -- of theater, music, dance, film -- and realize each time how elegant and challenging a form it is.

Vital as they are, reviews need not be the start and end point of a newspaper's critical attention to the arts. Without a set review schedule, I'm never sure where my next piece might come from and where it might lead. That's the scary part of my new job. And the very best part of it, too.

Christopher Blank, performing arts writer, The Commercial Appeal :
I

n every city outside New York and Los Angeles, the performing arts writer will NOT add one of the following stories to his newspaper's entertainment budget this year:
REVIEW - Encore Dinner Theater's "Guys and Dolls" bedazzles with Keanu Reeves as a peculiar Sky Masterson.
NEW - After a lengthy search, Meredith Monk is named artistic director of Shelby Heights Community Arts Ensemble. Says she'll "focus on quality."
PREVIEW - Newly discovered Mozart Choral Cantata gets world premiere at St. Mary's Episcopal Church. Simon Rattle to conduct.

If only the prospects were so alluring! Most of us get by on interviews with B-list celebrities. The work is plentiful, but also expendable. A paper's need for a sole authority on theater, dance, or classical music is diminishing along with readership. You can hear the newsroom budget ax grinding.

During this panel discussion, we talked about ways to keep the subject matter and the writing relevant and, in theory, help a paper's circulation. Not coincidentally, arts organizations across the country are facing the same problems with regard to attendance. How do they target a younger demographic and not alienate older, reliable fans?
As a young arts writer, I feel proudly bohemian knowing that the struggling artist and I have job insecurity in common.

As a young arts writer, I feel proudly bohemian knowing that the struggling artist and I have job insecurity in common. We both depend on a small but loyal group of arts consumers. As often as I've been told that my job is independent of the arts ó the detached "voice of the paper," so to speak ó I'm beginning to see that we're all pretty much in the entertainment business.

Arts organizations can teach us a few things about entertaining readers. After all, they have to re-market their product ó often a tired old play or an unknown ballet ó year after year.

Let's start by rethinking the tone of our "voice."

I'd like to say I'm no longer pompous or stodgy. Or that teenagers across the city are addicted to my edgy hip-hop patois. Not. Still, editors and writers can make some attitude changes that could help coverage in the long run. Here are a few:

1. Try fanaticism for a change. In the sports section of the paper, they write with bullhorns. In the arts section, they write with mops and buckets. What makes the sports section so exciting to read?

Well, for one, these guys are the ultimate cheerleaders for their subject matter. Can a dance review be as action-packed and emotionally exciting as a big game? I say yes! I propose fanatical enthusiasm for the beat, which should come across on the page. It should grab you, engage you, and make you want to know more.

Sports writers want you to feel that every game is earth-shatteringly IMPORTANT. I feel this way about the arts in my community. I'm not saying we should treat the subject matter with a velvet glove or go easy on a bad play. But there's a subtle difference in a review that calls a bad show an affront to all art and a review that chalks it up as a loss for the team.

2. Expand the repertoire. Performing arts writers ó me included ó easily get bogged down in a routine of reviewing and previewing traditional art forms. However, more people are experiencing a wide variety of arts that pass under the radar, such as through church concerts or at sporting events. Look at shows like Blast! on Broadway, which turned Drum and Bugle Corps into a theatrical experience. I was surprised to discover that the cheerleaders for our professional basketball team had to take classical ballet lessons as a job requirement.

Find stories that tell people, "Hey, you may not know it, but the thing you've been watching is art."

3. Speak the gospel, hear the gospel. Being receptive to feedback and open to change is essential. Arts reporters should adapt to the tastes of the community, not the other way around.

To some extent, that means being accessible, not sitting in the critics' box like Statler or Waldorf ó you know, the vulturine theater critics from The Muppet Show. I make it a point to sit next to actors at plays, sneak backstage after a classical music concert and ask the musicians about their performance, bum a cigarette off a ballerina I've just reviewed.

I've learned a lot about how the "voice of the paper" is perceived. For instance, several who've met me in person have said that they expected someone "much older" judging by the writing. Ouch. I'm still working on that.

From the other side, arts editors should regularly attend performances (and in cases where papers don't accept comps, those papers should pay for tickets). In this way, the whole department is involved in promoting arts coverage, not just a gung-ho reporter.

For arts groups, constant shapeshifting is a crucial means for survival. Applying it to arts coverage isn't far behind.

CLUSTER BUSTER
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-12-10-cluster-bomb-cover_x.htm
In Weapons of Mass Deception, we showed how the U.S. news media
virtually ignored the use in Iraq of cluster bombs --
anti-personnel devices like land mines that leave behind a deadly
litter of unexploded "bomblets." Now Paul Wiseman has written a
major report in which he concludes, "The Pentagon presented a
misleading picture during the war of the extent to which cluster
weapons were being used and of the civilian casualties they were
causing. Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
told reporters on April 25, six days before President Bush declared
major combat operations over, that the United States had used 1,500
cluster weapons and caused one civilian casualty. ... In fact, the
United States used 10,782 cluster weapons, according to the
declassified executive summary of a report compiled by U.S. Central
Command."
SOURCE: USA Today, December 11, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/December_2003.html#1071118801
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1071118801

13. RADIO FRAUDCASTING
http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1514
Radio listeners tuning into disk jockey Jeff Kovarsky on Dallas,
Texas radio station KKMR in late 2000 could hear him extolling a
magical weight-loss remedy. iIt helped me lose 36 pounds,î Kovarsky
said. iI ate so much over Thanksgiving, I still have turkey burps.
But thanks to Body Solutions, I keep the weight off and now I'm
ready for Christmas. So, bring it on, Grandma. The honey-baked ham,
the apple pie, the Christmas cookies. I'm not afraid because I've
got Body Solutions Evening Weight Loss Formula.î Kovarsky was one
of the radio personalities at 755 stations across the country who
received millions of dollars in undisclosed payments to hawk the
products of Mark Nutritionals, which was shut down finally for
fraud by the Federal Trade Commission in 2002. "Devoid of pictures
or fine print, radio was the ideal medium," observes Andrew Wheat.
"Millions of faithful listeners heard personal pitches from
familiar voices, yet they could not see if the announcer plugging
the product really had lost weight."
SOURCE: Texas Observer, December 5, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1070600402

14. INDUSTRY HOPES TO CENSOR ADS ON HAZARDS OF INFANT FORMULA
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/04/business/media/04adcol.html
"Federal officials have softened a national advertising campaign to
promote breastfeeding after complaints from two companies that make
infant formula, according to several doctors and nurses who are
helping the government with the effort. After the two companies
[Mead Johnson and Abbott] and the top officials of the American
Academy of Pediatrics complained to federal health officials, the
government decided to eliminate spots discussing the risk of
leukemia and diabetes in babies not breastfed, said Amy Spangler,
the chairwoman of the United States Breastfeeding Committee, a
group that promotes breastfeeding. According to the Ad Council
newsletter, those ads said that babies not breastfed had a 30
percent increased risk of developing leukemia and up to a 40
percent increased risk of developing diabetes. ... Marsha Walker,
who sits on the leadership team of the United States Breastfeeding
Committee with Ms. Spangler, said that the information on leukemia
and diabetes should be left in the ads. ... 'This is being shot
down by an industry that has no business interfering. Ultimately it
hurts the health of our babies and our moms.' "
SOURCE: New York Times, December 4, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1070514002

MEDIA SILENT ON PROSECUTION OF WHISTLEBLOWER KATHARINE GUN
http://www.accuracy.org/NS121403.htm
Norman Solomon writes that "few Americans have heard of Katharine
Gun, a former British intelligence employee facing charges that she
violated the Official Secrets Act. So far, the American press has
ignored her. But the case raises profound questions about democracy
and the public's right to know on both sides of the Atlantic. Ms.
Gun's legal peril began in Britain on March 2, when the Observer
newspaper exposed a highly secret memorandum by a top U.S. National
Security Agency official. ... The NSA memo said that the agency had
started a 'surge' of spying on diplomats at the United Nations in
New York. ... In this case, Ms. Gun's conscience fully intersected
with the needs of democracy and a free press. The British and
American people had every right to know that their governments were
involved in a high-stakes dirty tricks campaign at the United
Nations. For democratic societies, a timely flow of information is
the lifeblood of the body politic."
SOURCE: Baltimore Sun, December 14, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1071378000

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

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

Problems in Paradise? Check it out. See you on Thur. Clark
EU attack on press club rebuffed

The Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association on Wednesday rebuffed the European Union's calls for the abolition of the press club system, claiming it plays an important role in disseminating news among the public.

"Each country has different systems and rules for covering news based on each country's historical background," the association said in a statement.

The association said the EU's proposals were "based on misunderstanding, biases and misperception of facts."

It added, however, that it would strive to make the press clubs more open to all reporters.

In October 2002 and again this year, the EU lambasted the "kisha club" system for restricting access to official news conferences to reporters from mostly mainstream domestic media organizations.

This practice leaves foreign reporters and freelance journalists at a disadvantage when covering national and local government offices, as well as police headquarters, the EU said.

As part of a drive to promote regulatory reform in Japan, the EU called on Tokyo to grant foreign news media better access to information at government offices.

The Japanese association claimed, however, that on the basis of discussions held by a subcommittee set up in November 2002 in response to the EU claims, the system is an important means of pressing reluctant public officials to disclose information.

It also said the system allows the media to obtain vital public information, such as information about natural disasters, quickly and accurately.

The Japan Times: Dec. 11, 2003

Take a look here for a great shot of the rings of Saturn taken not so long ago. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3297651.stm

Check this out for a cool picture of the rings of Saturn:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3297651.stm

Take a look at the notice below. These guys are really doing a good job. They produce a weekly e- newsletter called spin which is very good:
Never before have PR and propaganda been so pervasive and
deceptive. Academics find that 40 percent or more of "the
news" is PR-driven. Here at the Center for Media and
Democracy, we debunk, analyze and expose this steady barrage
of spin.

A couple of years ago, we started this free Weekly Spin
listserve to make the information we uncover as accessible
as possible. Today, I'm writing to ask what this service
means to you.

What does it mean to you to know that Lauri Fitz-Pegado,
the PR executive in charge of the 1990 campaign that sold
the first Gulf War, is now promoting a book about the
Jessica Lynch rescue?

What does it mean to you to know that the international
pharmaceutical industry spends twice what it devotes to
research on PR and hidden marketing (including forming fake
patient advocacy groups)?

What does it mean to you to know the details of the Bush
administration's selling of the Iraq war? That the
CIA-funded Iraqi National Congress was a PR creation,
as were the tightly controlled official statements and
deceptive claims leading to the war, crafted as part
of a million "PR blitz against Saddam Hussein"
under the White House Office of Global Communications?

What does it mean to you to know that British American
Tobacco is trying to reinvent itself as a "socially
responsible company," and Coca-Cola is giving money to
pediatric dentists and parent/teacher organizations?

What does it mean to you that our books, website, PR Watch
magazine, and countless interviews, presentations and
articles constitute the frontline in exposing and debunking
corporate and government deception?

The non-profit Center for Media and Democracy remains the
only organization in the world whose unique mission is
rooting out deceptive and dangerous special interest
propaganda campaigns. And now, in our second decade,
we need to do an even bigger and better job. We are
expanding our programs and staff to take our work and
expertise directly to grassroots groups, activists,
students and investigative journalists.

I'm proud that we've created and launched the Disinfopedia,
a unique web-based project to document and track government
and industry disinformation campaigns. Now if you want to
know which industry funded groups say climate change is a
phony scare tactic, or who said there were weapons of mass
destruction, you can do it in a click. Check it out and
contribute your own information at the Disinfopedia site:
http://www.disinfopedia.org

John Stauber
Founder and Executive Director,
Center for Media and Democracy

Hi as some of you have been doing your interview assignment I thought you might like to look at this interview, which in itself is an interesting interview, were the interviewer talks about his worries and difficulties with the interview and some of his solutions to the problems he encounters. It's very well done.

Noam Chomsky Interview
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/politicsphilosophyandsociety/story/0,6000,1096132,00.html
'He recognises little distinction between conspiracy and cock-up.'

JOURNALISTS GET LIFE FOR ROLE IN RWANDAN GENOCIDE
Two journalists were sentenced to life imprisonment Wednesday for
inciting violence in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
FULL STORY:
http://cbc.ca/stories/2003/12/03/rwanda031203

Politicians often say sounds which really don't have any real meaning, or the meaning is so debatable that what they say would be better of not said. Clark

Rum remark wins Rumsfeld an award

Rumsfeld tries to make a point...
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has won a "Foot in Mouth" award for one of his now legendary bizarre remarks.

Mr Rumsfeld won the prize for comments made at a news conference in February last year which left observers baffled.

"There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns," he said.

The British Plain English Campaign annually hands out the prize for the most nonsensical remark made by a public figure.

Stiff competition

Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know
Donald Rumsfeld's winning comment

A spokesman for the organisation, which tries to ensure public information is delivered in a clear manner, said Mr Rumsfeld's remarks were typical of the kind of comments they were trying to prevent.

"We think we know what he means," he told Reuters news agency.

"But we don't know if we really know."

Mr Rumsfeld fought off stiff competition for the award from actor turned California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger among others.

Mr Schwarzenegger weighed in on the gay marriage debate with the comment "I think that gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman."

I believe what I said yesterday. I don't know what I said, but I know what I think... and I assume it's what I said
Donald Rumsfeld

And European Commissioner Chris Patten came close with his remark that the British Conservative Party had committed political suicide and was now living to regret it.

Previous winners of the award have included US actress Alicia Silverstone and actor Richard Gere.

But despite Mr Rumsfeld's rather outlandish mode of speaking, fans of the tough-talking US defence secretary argue he is misunderstood.

There are dozens of websites dedicated to the "poetry" of Mr Rumsfeld and there is even a book, entitled Pieces of Intelligence, dedicated to interpreting his statements as a form of existential writing.

Sensational reporting puts media in spotlight: panelists

By ERIC JOHNSTON
Staff writer

OSAKA -- As profits and audiences shrink, the media are under increasing pressure to compete for readers and viewers, which has led to a growing number of human rights abuses that have fueled a public backlash.

At a symposium in Osaka on Saturday titled "Human Rights and Reporting," about 40 media insiders, lawyers, university professors and students gathered to discuss the backlash and other problems related to journalistic practices in Japan, as well as steps the media itself is taking to prevent human rights abuses.

Much of the discussion focused on the way television journalists report the news.

Shiro Matsuda, a former Yomiuri Television reporter who is now with the Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization, which was created in July to monitor television programs, said broadcast journalism faces a number of issues that are different from print media when considering human rights issues.

"A recent trend among private broadcasters has been to buy 'packaged news' reports from outside producers," Matsuda said. "This saves the broadcasters money, because they don't have to pay the expenses of their own reporters and editors.

"But they only see the final product and have no idea how the news piece was filmed and edited. Thus, they can't defend themselves as easily if somebody charges that the news program violated somebody's human rights."

Panelists were divided on the issue of whether or not the Japanese media reports fairly on crimes committed by foreigners, or incidents abroad involving Japanese.

When it was pointed out that many view Japanese media reports of a rising foreign crime rate as sensationalized, Tsutomu Nomura, a local lawyer, agreed there are problems.

The Japan Times: Nov. 30, 2003

Thought you should all talk a look at this great story from Kai:
Hong Kong Trip Kai Futami

 Last week (November 6th), I was absent from class because I had to go on a trip to Hong Kong to help out a friend pick out some accessories to sell in a flee market going to be held in Yoyogi park November 29th and 30th. So I will write about my trip.

I left Narita Airport on the 3rd of November. I went on China Airlines for the first time. It was exciting and a nervous experience because I thought the airline was famous for crashing. We had to stop in Taiwan and then transfer onto another plane to Hong Kong. Taiwans airport had nothing. There was a big enormous soy sauce bottle object spinning in the aiport. It was rare to see such a thing. A beer bottle, I can understand, but why a soy sauce bottle? Anyways, we got to Hong Kong around 12midnight. The first meal?I ate there was wantanmen. Noodles with wantan. Another dish came along. It was fried snake skin. How Yummy, NOT! After eating the noodles, I was told that the meat of the wantan was dog meat. But eventually, that was a lie.

The next day I had yumcha for breakfast and went to a town where they sale wholesale goods. There were many interesting things and very cheap too. I wanted to shop, but I was on a business trip so I could only shop for acessories. We shopped and thenm went horse racing. It was fun. I couldn`t read the horse racing paper so I just looked at the kanji and bet on good names. We won the first bet but lost the other two. It was an exciting experience for me.

The next day we again ate yumcha and we again went shopping for acessories. At night we went to the night market, and there I was able to shop?finally. I had a good time. I didn`t shop much though. Then we went to the famous mango dessert parlor. This was the most delicious meal I had in Hong Kong. Mango with fresh coconut icecream and fruit on the side. YUMMY!! Then we went to Victoria Peak, the famous night sight seeing place. Unfortunately it was cloudy so I couldn`t see much but I was amazed.

The final day came and it was time to go back to Japan. I was again a little bit nervous about the flight. Luckily you can see it turned out all right because I am still here.

It was my first trip to Hong Kong and I found it quite interesting. Before I used to think I Hong Kong is not a very amusing place. Now I think I love it. There are few things in Hong Kong I noticed that are different from Japan. 1-The chopsticks are way longer and thicker than Japan. 2- The escalators move very quickly and people stand on the left hand side of the escalator. 3-The weather was still a bit hot. I could still walk around without a jacket.  Etc... I will leave the rest for you to find out. I recommend Hong Kong a cheap and fantastic place to travel.

 A picture of me at Taiwan Airport with the big enormous soy sauce bottle.

Thought some of you might be interested in this:Fellowships

USC Arts Journalism Fellowships: The USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program offers six to nine competitive fellowships to mid-career arts & culture writers and editors from print, broadcast, and online journalism to attend a three-week enrichment program in Los Angeles, March 7 to 28, 2004. The expense-paid fellowships cover lodging, meals, travel and a $450 stipend. The intensive multi-disciplinary program is designed to bring the fellows into direct contact with known and unknown artists and arts professionals who work in LA. Highlights of this year's program include New York Times critic John Rockwell as Speaker-in-Residence. Conversations are also planned with such artists + curators + directors as Amalia Mesa-Bains, Osvaldo Golijov, Dawn Upshaw, Peter Sellars, Michael Maltzan, Eric Owen Moss, Deborah Gribbon, John Malpede, Michael Ritchie and Ramaa Bharadvaj. The USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program, based at USC's School of Journalism, is funded in part by a grant from the J. Paul Getty Trust. To apply, see http://annenberg.usc.edu/getty . 
Deadline : December 8, 2

Check it out:> http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20031119a4.htm