Friday, December 22, 2006
OK here is an Xmas bonus assignment for you. Write a news story about your favorite music. Put it directly on your blog by Xmas morning and get bonus points. All your writting, even stories I have not corrected yet should go on your blog as you will be given a blog mark over the Xmas holiday and one more check the weekend after the last class. Have a wonderful holiday and I wish you a Happy New Year. Clark
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
---------------------------------------------+
| Reuters and Yahoo! Enlist Camera Phones |
| from the photoshoppers-holiday dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 04, @18:06 (The Media) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/04/2147259 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]eldavojohn writes "In a huge advancement of citizen journalism,
Reuters and Yahoo! are [1]asking average people to be journalists with
their cell phones. I hope participants don't run the risks others have
for [2]photographing the police. You can expect to see these new photos
being used at Yahoo! and Reuters.com starting tomorrow." From the
article: "'People don't say, "I want to see user-generated content,"'
said Lloyd Braun, who runs Yahoo's media group. 'They want to see
[3]Michael Richards in the club. If that happens to be from a cellphone,
they are happy with a cellphone. If it's from a professional
photographer, they are happy for that, too.' Users will not be paid for
images displayed on the Yahoo and Reuters sites. But people whose photos
or videos are selected for distribution to Reuters clients will receive a
payment."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/12/04/2147259
Links:
0. http://www.foundmagazine.com/
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/technology/04yahoo.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/30/0557216&tid=158
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Richards#Laugh_Factory_Incident
| Reuters and Yahoo! Enlist Camera Phones |
| from the photoshoppers-holiday dept. |
| posted by kdawson on Monday December 04, @18:06 (The Media) |
| http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/04/2147259 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]eldavojohn writes "In a huge advancement of citizen journalism,
Reuters and Yahoo! are [1]asking average people to be journalists with
their cell phones. I hope participants don't run the risks others have
for [2]photographing the police. You can expect to see these new photos
being used at Yahoo! and Reuters.com starting tomorrow." From the
article: "'People don't say, "I want to see user-generated content,"'
said Lloyd Braun, who runs Yahoo's media group. 'They want to see
[3]Michael Richards in the club. If that happens to be from a cellphone,
they are happy with a cellphone. If it's from a professional
photographer, they are happy for that, too.' Users will not be paid for
images displayed on the Yahoo and Reuters sites. But people whose photos
or videos are selected for distribution to Reuters clients will receive a
payment."
Discuss this story at:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/12/04/2147259
Links:
0. http://www.foundmagazine.com/
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/technology/04yahoo.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin
2. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/30/0557216&tid=158
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Richards#Laugh_Factory_Incident
Thursday, November 30, 2006
THIS IS THE FINAL NOTICE THAT WE HAVE A TOUR OF ASHAI NEWSPAPER PLANT ON MONDAY DECEMBER 4TH! WE WILL MEET IN FRONT OF THE ASAHI SHIMBUN BUILDING IN TSKIJI AT 12:50 AS WE HAVE TO BE EARLY FOR THE TOUR WHICH STARTS AT ONE O'CLOCK. YOU WILL PASS THE COURSE IF YOU ATTEND THIS TOUR AND PROBABLY FAIL IT IF YOU DON'T. HOPE TO SEE YOU ON MONDAY.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Now here is a very interesting story from Japan published in the U.S.:
| The Dark Side of the PlayStation 3 Launch |
| from the nothing-nice-to-say dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday November 12, @00:24 (PlayStation (Games)|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/12/0338204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "Kotaku is running an article prompted by an
email from a foreign student in Japan. The reader unveils the sad reality
of the modern gaming industry. Japanese businessmen made ample use of
[0]homeless people and Chinese nationals to obtain PS3s for re-sale.
There was also a large amount of pushing and shoving, some fights, and
almost no police presence at the most crowded stores." From the article:
"Based on my observations of the first twenty PS3s sold at Bic Camera,
they were all purchased by Chinese nationals, none of whom bought any
software. After making their purchase, television crews asked for
interviews but all were declined. These temporary owners of PS3s would
then make their way down the street where their bosses waited. After
several minutes, a dozen PS3s were rounded up, as their Japanese business
manager paid out cash to those who waited in line for them. I witnessed a
homeless-looking Chinese man, in his sixties or seventies get paid 20,000
yen for his services and was then sent away." Update: 11/12 05:40 GMT by
[1]Z : You're right. Sony only shares a portion of the blame here.
Offsides on my part.
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/11/12/0338204
Links:
0. http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/top/foreigners-and-fights-ps3-jpn-launchs-dark-side-214130.php
1. http://slashdot.org/~Zonk/
| The Dark Side of the PlayStation 3 Launch |
| from the nothing-nice-to-say dept. |
| posted by Zonk on Sunday November 12, @00:24 (PlayStation (Games)|
| http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/12/0338204 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
An anonymous reader writes "Kotaku is running an article prompted by an
email from a foreign student in Japan. The reader unveils the sad reality
of the modern gaming industry. Japanese businessmen made ample use of
[0]homeless people and Chinese nationals to obtain PS3s for re-sale.
There was also a large amount of pushing and shoving, some fights, and
almost no police presence at the most crowded stores." From the article:
"Based on my observations of the first twenty PS3s sold at Bic Camera,
they were all purchased by Chinese nationals, none of whom bought any
software. After making their purchase, television crews asked for
interviews but all were declined. These temporary owners of PS3s would
then make their way down the street where their bosses waited. After
several minutes, a dozen PS3s were rounded up, as their Japanese business
manager paid out cash to those who waited in line for them. I witnessed a
homeless-looking Chinese man, in his sixties or seventies get paid 20,000
yen for his services and was then sent away." Update: 11/12 05:40 GMT by
[1]Z : You're right. Sony only shares a portion of the blame here.
Offsides on my part.
Discuss this story at:
http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/11/12/0338204
Links:
0. http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/top/foreigners-and-fights-ps3-jpn-launchs-dark-side-214130.php
1. http://slashdot.org/~Zonk/
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
I would like to talk some more about censorship and it's effects on freedom of the press and ultimatly our freedom, so look at this from the BBC:
'Enemies of the internet' named
A list of 13 "enemies of the internet" has been released by human rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
For the first time, Egypt has been added to the list while Nepal, Libya and the Maldives have all been removed.
The list consists of countries that RSF believes are suppressing freedom of expression on the internet.
The civil liberties pressure group has organised a 24-hour protest, inviting web users to vote for the worst offending countries.
Visitors to the RSF website are also invited to leave a voice message for Yahoo's co-founder Jerry Yang, expressing their views on the firm's involvement in China.
RSF has been outspoken in its condemnation of Yahoo. The search engine has been criticised along with other companies for helping the Chinese authorities block access to some online material.
Improvements
THE 13 COUNTRIES BLACKLISTED
Belarus
Burma
China
Cuba
Egypt
Iran
North Korea
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
The blacklist is published annually but it is the first time RSF has organised an online protest to accompany the list.
"We wanted to mobilise net users so that when we lobby certain countries we can say that the concerns are not just ours but those of thousands of internet users around the world," said a spokesman for RSF.
Many of those on the internet blacklist are countries that are regularly criticised by human rights groups, such as China and Burma.
Egypt is a new entrant and has been shortlisted for its attitude to bloggers rather than specific web censorship, said RSF.
"Three bloggers have been arrested and detained this year for speaking out in favour of democratic reform. This is an appeal to the Egyptian government to change its position," said the RSF spokesman.
"The fact that this year we have removed three countries from the list is encouraging. It shows that the situation can change for the better," he added.
On a visit to Libya, Reporters Without Borders found that the Libyan internet was no longer censored although it still considers President Maummar Gaddafi to be a "predator of press freedom".
'Enemies of the internet' named
A list of 13 "enemies of the internet" has been released by human rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
For the first time, Egypt has been added to the list while Nepal, Libya and the Maldives have all been removed.
The list consists of countries that RSF believes are suppressing freedom of expression on the internet.
The civil liberties pressure group has organised a 24-hour protest, inviting web users to vote for the worst offending countries.
Visitors to the RSF website are also invited to leave a voice message for Yahoo's co-founder Jerry Yang, expressing their views on the firm's involvement in China.
RSF has been outspoken in its condemnation of Yahoo. The search engine has been criticised along with other companies for helping the Chinese authorities block access to some online material.
Improvements
THE 13 COUNTRIES BLACKLISTED
Belarus
Burma
China
Cuba
Egypt
Iran
North Korea
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
The blacklist is published annually but it is the first time RSF has organised an online protest to accompany the list.
"We wanted to mobilise net users so that when we lobby certain countries we can say that the concerns are not just ours but those of thousands of internet users around the world," said a spokesman for RSF.
Many of those on the internet blacklist are countries that are regularly criticised by human rights groups, such as China and Burma.
Egypt is a new entrant and has been shortlisted for its attitude to bloggers rather than specific web censorship, said RSF.
"Three bloggers have been arrested and detained this year for speaking out in favour of democratic reform. This is an appeal to the Egyptian government to change its position," said the RSF spokesman.
"The fact that this year we have removed three countries from the list is encouraging. It shows that the situation can change for the better," he added.
On a visit to Libya, Reporters Without Borders found that the Libyan internet was no longer censored although it still considers President Maummar Gaddafi to be a "predator of press freedom".
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Your next assignment is due on the last class of Nov. as we have two off Thursdays. You have to give me a video newscast on a news item that you select. We have looked at how this is done in the last two classes and we will review that in next weeks class. I also want you to look at this article from the New York Times on the bad and the good future on Newspapers:
November 4, 2006
What’s Online
Reading Between the Lines
By DAN MITCHELL
THIS week brought another spate of bad news for newspapers. Daily circulation is down an average of 2.8 percent over the last six months, continuing a slide that started at least a decade ago. Layoffs and labor strife continued across the country, from Philadelphia to Oakland, Calif.
There’s no question the newspaper industry is “under siege,” as a MediaNews Group publisher told his employees in a memo warning of layoffs at his San Francisco Bay Area newspapers
(eastbayexpress.com). But how bad are things, really?
For starters, those circulation figures may not be as dire as they sound. A “significant portion” of the drop “results directly from the industry’s long-term, and arguably long-overdue, initiative to eliminate inefficient vanity and promotional circulation,” writes Allen Mutter on his blog, Confessions of a Newsosaur (newsosaur.blogspot.com).
That means newspaper companies are cutting out discounted subscriptions, free papers at hotels and delivery to far-flung locales, none of them particularly appealing to advertisers and increasingly seen as not worth the cost.
Just as the lackluster circulation numbers were being dissected, the Newspaper Association of America released the results of a study it commissioned showing that when Internet readership is counted, the newspaper audience is actually way up — nearly 8 percent over all from February 2005 to March 2006 (naa.org).
But the study does not mention that newspapers still haven’t figured out how to make a healthy profit from Internet readership. Cluttered, hard-to-navigate newspaper sites proliferate. And many sites force readers to register, which Internet types say is counterproductive, when those readers can so easily go elsewhere for their news. In terms of the content itself, Louis Hau of Forbes.com thinks he has the answer: Look to New York City’s dueling tabloids, The Post and The Daily News. Even as most other papers had circulation declines, both tabloids picked up readers. The gains, Mr. Hau said, can be attributed to the fact that both papers “emphasize local coverage,” “offer stories you can’t get anywhere else,” “keep it short,” and present the news with “attitude” and “a point of view.”
November 4, 2006
What’s Online
Reading Between the Lines
By DAN MITCHELL
THIS week brought another spate of bad news for newspapers. Daily circulation is down an average of 2.8 percent over the last six months, continuing a slide that started at least a decade ago. Layoffs and labor strife continued across the country, from Philadelphia to Oakland, Calif.
There’s no question the newspaper industry is “under siege,” as a MediaNews Group publisher told his employees in a memo warning of layoffs at his San Francisco Bay Area newspapers
(eastbayexpress.com). But how bad are things, really?
For starters, those circulation figures may not be as dire as they sound. A “significant portion” of the drop “results directly from the industry’s long-term, and arguably long-overdue, initiative to eliminate inefficient vanity and promotional circulation,” writes Allen Mutter on his blog, Confessions of a Newsosaur (newsosaur.blogspot.com).
That means newspaper companies are cutting out discounted subscriptions, free papers at hotels and delivery to far-flung locales, none of them particularly appealing to advertisers and increasingly seen as not worth the cost.
Just as the lackluster circulation numbers were being dissected, the Newspaper Association of America released the results of a study it commissioned showing that when Internet readership is counted, the newspaper audience is actually way up — nearly 8 percent over all from February 2005 to March 2006 (naa.org).
But the study does not mention that newspapers still haven’t figured out how to make a healthy profit from Internet readership. Cluttered, hard-to-navigate newspaper sites proliferate. And many sites force readers to register, which Internet types say is counterproductive, when those readers can so easily go elsewhere for their news. In terms of the content itself, Louis Hau of Forbes.com thinks he has the answer: Look to New York City’s dueling tabloids, The Post and The Daily News. Even as most other papers had circulation declines, both tabloids picked up readers. The gains, Mr. Hau said, can be attributed to the fact that both papers “emphasize local coverage,” “offer stories you can’t get anywhere else,” “keep it short,” and present the news with “attitude” and “a point of view.”
Thursday, October 26, 2006
OK the assignment for next week is you send me a podcast (an audio file) as an attachment in an e-mail. I should be 30 second radio report on a news item that you find and report on. We looked at how this was done and how it is different then the reverse pyramid used in newspaper writing in class today on the video. This should be sent to me by Monday noon to a different e-mail address: carsurf@dragon.email.ne.jp. Hope to hear from you on Monday. See you in SecondLife or on Thur.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
US Slips Again In Freedom of the Press Ranking |
| from the gosh-at-least-citizen's-rights-aren't-being-eroded dept.|
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday October 24, @07:39 (The Media)|
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/24/047209 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]npwa writes to tell us Reporters Without Borders has released their
annual [1]worldwide press freedom index. While developing nations like
Haiti and Mauritania continue to gain ground developed nations like
France, Japan, and the US continue their downward spiral. From the
article: "The United States (53rd) has fallen nine places since last
year, after being in 17th position in the first year of the Index, in
2002. Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply
deteriorated after the president used the pretext of 'national security'
to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his 'war on
terrorism.' The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 US
states, refuse to recognise the media's right not to reveal its sources,
even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all
with terrorism."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/10/24/047209
Links:
0. mailto:nalmassy@yahoo.com
1. http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=639
| from the gosh-at-least-citizen's-rights-aren't-being-eroded dept.|
| posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday October 24, @07:39 (The Media)|
| http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/24/047209 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
[0]npwa writes to tell us Reporters Without Borders has released their
annual [1]worldwide press freedom index. While developing nations like
Haiti and Mauritania continue to gain ground developed nations like
France, Japan, and the US continue their downward spiral. From the
article: "The United States (53rd) has fallen nine places since last
year, after being in 17th position in the first year of the Index, in
2002. Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply
deteriorated after the president used the pretext of 'national security'
to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his 'war on
terrorism.' The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 US
states, refuse to recognise the media's right not to reveal its sources,
even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all
with terrorism."
Discuss this story at:
http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/10/24/047209
Links:
0. mailto:nalmassy@yahoo.com
1. http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=639
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Check this out for next class you will be resposible for a knowlegeable discussion on the topic:
BENEFIT DEDICATED TO SLAIN REPORTER, NOBEL WINNER
Acclaimed Canadian and international writers are in Toronto to pay
tribute to a slain journalist, honour courageous writers and celebrate
freedom of expression at PEN Canada's annual benefit.
FULL STORY:
http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts-books/national/2006/10/20/pen-benefit.html
BENEFIT DEDICATED TO SLAIN REPORTER, NOBEL WINNER
Acclaimed Canadian and international writers are in Toronto to pay
tribute to a slain journalist, honour courageous writers and celebrate
freedom of expression at PEN Canada's annual benefit.
FULL STORY:
http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts-books/national/2006/10/20/pen-benefit.html
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Two things for and before next Thur. class. The writing assignment for this week is for you to chose a beat that you think you would like to cover and write a story from that beats point of view. The journalism video covered some of the common beats but you can use your imagination and think of others. Second thing is SecondLife. Meet me there over the next week- Sunday and Monday would probably be best as I'll be on site (second life) more of the time on those days, although most nights between 9:30-10 p.m. Good Luck.;>}
Saturday, October 14, 2006
On Tuesday, November 7th at 3rd period (Room to be announced) we will be hosting a distinguished visiting lecturer, the best-selling author of children's books, Lynne Reid Banks. The most famous of her works is the classic _The Indian in the Cupboard_, which has sold over ten million copies worldwide and was made into a feature film in 1995. According to her official bio at
Thursday, October 12, 2006
The assignment for next Tue. noon deadline is a story about animal rights that you research and write. I also want you to read through "The Weekly Spin" below. It is a valuable source for storys that don't often get widly published but should. The question for this week which you can e-mail the answer to carsurf@dragon.email.ne.jp, for extra credit is: What is liguistic framing? That would be a good subject for an academic paper. Send me your answers by this Sunday for cridit. See you next week. Clark
From: weekly-spin@prwatch.org
Subject: The Weekly Spin, October 11, 2006
Date: October 12, 2006 11:04:23 PM JST
To: cmd+weekly_spin-46979@lists.democracyinaction.org
Reply-To: weekly-spin@prwatch.org
THE WEEKLY SPIN, October 11, 2006
Sponsored by the nonprofit Center for Media and Democracy:
http://www.prwatch.org
To support our work now online visit:
https://www.groundspring.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2344-0|1118-0
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to
further information about media, political spin and propaganda. It
is emailed free each Wednesday to subscribers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
SHARE US WITH A FRIEND (OR FIFTY FRIENDS)
Who do you know who might want to receive "The Weekly Spin"? Help
us grow our subscriber list! Just forward this message to people
you know, encouraging them to sign up at this link:
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
THIS WEEK'S NEWS
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. Zigging and Zagging on Cutting and Running
2. Remember Those Term-Limit Pledges?
3. Accuracy of Report on Video News Releases Affirmed: CMD Issues Full Rebuttal of RTNDA Claims
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. Hiding 600,000 Dead Iraqis
2. Spinning Bout the Nukes in the Bay
3. U.S. Army: From 'One' To 'Strong'
4. First Soda, Now School Junk Food: Clinton Deal Claims Lower-Cal Crunch
5. CMD's 2005 Annual Report Available On Line
6. PR or School Teachers? Maldives Party Asks
7. Blowing in the Wind
8. Hill & Knowlton Challenged Over Maldives Work
9. Losing Afghanistan Twice Over
10. European Drug Pushers
11. Burson Backs Licensing PR Professionals
12. Covering Up for Foley?
13. FCC Names Obesity/Food Marketing Task Force
14. The Best Book Ever?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. ZIGGING AND ZAGGING ON CUTTING AND RUNNING
by Sheldon Rampton
The Bush administration's use of the term "cut and run" to
caricature opponents of the war in Iraq is yet another example of
the attention that America's war party pays to rhetorical repetition
and linguistic framing at the expense of realistic discourse and
analysis. Bush himself has taken to using this catchprase
repeatedly. At a recent speech in Birmingham, Alabama, he declared
that "The party of FDR, the party of Harry Truman, has become the
party of cut-and-run." He repeated the charge a few days later, at a
political fundraising breakfast for California Congressman Richard
Pombo. "The Democrats are the party of cut and run," he said. "Ours
is a party that has got a clear vision and says we will give our
commanders and troops the support necessary to achieve that victory
in Iraq."
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5098
2. REMEMBER THOSE TERM-LIMIT PLEDGES?
by Elliott Fullmer
It's hard to believe that twelve years have passed since the Newt
Gingrich-led Republican Revolution of 1994.
In that year, GOP candidates launched a successful effort to
take control of both the House and Senate, something they had not
been able to accomplish in the previous forty-two years. Their
campaign focused heavily on the Contract with America, a list of
objectives that Republicans promised to pursue in Congress if
elected into the majority.
One of the key proposals of the document was the Citizen
Legislature Act, a measure which would amend the Constitution to
place limits on the number of terms members of both the House and
Senate could serve. The argument was that career politicians become
too distant from the people and need to be replaced by ?citizen
legislators.? In a show of support for the proposed amendment,
which eventually failed in the House, several GOP candidates pledged
to limit their own terms (independent of any legislation forcing
them to do so) if elected. Small numbers of candidates followed this
trend in future elections as well.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5275
3. ACCURACY OF REPORT ON VIDEO NEWS RELEASES AFFIRMED: CMD ISSUES FULL REBUTTAL OF RTNDA CLAIMS
by Diane Farsetta
October 9, 2006 ? The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD)
released today a full rebuttal of claims made against its April 2006
report, "Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed." The report
tracked television stations' use of video news releases (VNRs),
narrated pre-packaged segments produced by public relations firms
for their clients. The report documented 77 television stations
airing VNRs or related materials; not once did stations disclose the
client behind the segment. The report led the U.S. Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to launch an investigation of the 77
stations named, in August 2006.
Last week, the Radio-Television News Directors Association
(RTNDA), through the law and lobby firm Wiley Rein & Fielding, urged
the FCC to drop its investigation. RTNDA alleged that the
investigation has had "a chilling effect" on TV newsrooms. RTNDA
also issued a critique of CMD?s report that misrepresented and
distorted the substance of the report. CMD's full, point-by-point
rebuttal of the RTNDA critique is available online at:
www.prwatch.org/node/5282.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5283
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. HIDING 600,000 DEAD IRAQIS
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/world/middleeast/11casualties.html
Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber have a chapter in The Best War Ever
titled "Not Counting the Dead," reporting on how the US government
has chosen to hide the horrific impact of the US invasion and
occupation. Now the authors of a major study examined in the book
have a new study out. The New York Times reports, "A team of
American and Iraqi public health researchers has estimated that
600,000 civilians have died in violence across Iraq since the 2003
American invasion, the highest estimate ever for the toll of the war
here. ... It is the second study by researchers from the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. ... The study comes at a
sensitive time for the Iraqi government, which is under pressure
from American officials to take action against militias driving the
sectarian killings. In the last week of September, the government
barred the central morgue in Baghdad and the Health Ministry ? the
two main sources of information for civilian deaths ? from
releasing figures to the news media. Now, only the government is
allowed to release figures."
SOURCE: The New York Times, October 11, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5289
2. SPINNING BOUT THE NUKES IN THE BAY
http://www.sundayherald.com/58383
"Scotland's green watchdog played down the risks of radioactive
contamination at a popular coastal resort in Fife following an
11th-hour intervention by government spin doctors," reports Rob
Edwards. "Internal emails reveal the Scottish Environment Protection
Agency (Sepa) delayed and then altered a news release after it had
been described as 'not entirely helpful' by a senior Scottish public
relations official." The Sepa release announced a "hazard
assessment," which found that radioactive waste dumped decades ago,
after the closure of a naval air base, had resulted in 100 radiation
hotspots. The area includes "Scotland's largest sailing club and a
beach." The intervention by Scottish Executive PR official Neil
Trotter resulted in major changes to the release. The original
version estimated the likelihood of radioactive exposure to be
"around 1 in 900 a year for the whole beach, and around 1 in 90 for
the area with the greatest concentration" of waste. The published
version merely stated the "likelihood of harm ... is considered to
be low." Sepa denied that they had "tone[d] down" the release,
saying, "The content of Sepa press releases is decided by Sepa."
SOURCE: Sunday Herald (Scotland), October 8, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5287
3. U.S. ARMY: FROM 'ONE' TO 'STRONG'
http://adage.com/article?article_id=112420
"The Army spends more than $200 million annually on marketing -- the
biggest ad contract in the federal government," notes Advertising
Age. Ten months after winning the U.S. Army's main advertising
contract, the McCann Worldgroup firm announced the theme of its
first campaign: strength. "There's strong, and then there's Army
strong," explained a video from the firm. "There is nothing on this
green earth that is stronger than the U.S. Army." Like other
recruiting efforts, the Army's "strong" campaign "was developed to
specifically address not just those considering an Army career, but
family members and friends of potential recruits. Since the start of
the Iraq war, the U.S. military's advertising increasingly has
focused on convincing parents and peers that the choice of the
military career is a good one." The "strong" TV ads will start
airing November 9; print ads will run in 2007.
SOURCE: Advertising Age, October 9, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5286
4. FIRST SODA, NOW SCHOOL JUNK FOOD: CLINTON DEAL CLAIMS LOWER-CAL CRUNCH
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061006/ap_on_he_me/diet_school_snacks
"Kids will buy what they want. We just stop by the bodega on the way
home." So says one thirteen year old, unimpressed by what the adults
have just signed -- a "voluntary agreement" between five snack food
makers (Kraft, M&M Mars, Campbell Soup Co., Dannon, and PepsiCo),
the American Heart Association, and the Clinton Foundation in round
two of the former president's voluntary intiatives to discourage bad
eating habits in America's schools. The "deal" is this: where
schools agree to follow "Competitive Food Guidelines," vending
machines will stock only products that contain no more than 35
percent of their calories from fat, no more than 10 percent
saturated fat, and no more than 35 percent of sugar content by
weight. Although the guidelines have been commended, implementation
raises doubts. Janey Thornton, president of the School Nutrition
Association, said, "It has to have some enforcement behind it... .
[S]ome states have none and that's where I think the problem comes
in." The Center for Science in the Public Interest noted that local
schools and vending machine companies could completely ignore the
program. Gary Ruskin, director of Commercial Alert, criticized the
initiative as "a sham and a public relations stunt" by junk food
firms.
SOURCE: Associated Press, October 6, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5285
5. CMD'S 2005 ANNUAL REPORT AVAILABLE ON LINE
http://www.prwatch.org/pdfs/CMD_2005_Annual_Rpt.pdf
The Center for Media and Democracy's 2005 Annual Report is now
available online. Read CMD staff bios, descriptions of our projects,
a summary of media coverage we received in 2005, and our financial
statements. We appreciate the individuals and foundations that have
provided support for our work throughout the years. If you would
like to contribute to CMD, please click here to give through our
secure server.
SOURCE: CMD 2005 Annual Report
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5284
6. PR OR SCHOOL TEACHERS? MALDIVES PARTY ASKS
http://www.minivannews.com/news/news.php?id=2504
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has called for the termination
of Hill & Knowlton's contract defending the repressive government of
the Maldives. The MDP calculated that the PR firm has been paid
$800,000 over almost three years. "According to World Bank figures,
$800,000 is enough money to pay for the salaries of 290 Maldivian
secondary school teachers for a whole year," acting MDP President
Ibrahim Hussain Zaki stated in a media release. In response to
recent media coverage of Hill & Knowlton's role in the Maldives, Tim
Fallon posted a note on his blog defending his work as leading to
"seismic" changes in the Islamic nation. Dozens of visitors to the
blog aren't buying his story. "Why on earth would you help a brutal
dictator who has murdered his own people? This shows what kind of a
company Hill & Knowlton really is," wrote one.
SOURCE: Minivan News (Maldives), October 7, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5281
7. BLOWING IN THE WIND
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-rocketdyne6oct06,1,5612437,full.story
A five-year long study into the 1959 meltdown of a nuclear reactor
near Simi Valley in California has concluded that it could have
caused between 260 and 1,800 cases of cancer. The report could not
be more specific because the U.S. Department of Energy and Boeing,
the parent company of Rocketdyne, refused to provide the weather
data crucial to modelling where the radioactive pollution went. The
report states that Boeing officials told the researchers that the
wind data was proprietary information. "How can you possibly declare
a trade secret which way the wind blew on a certain day?" Dan
Hirsch, the co-chairman of the advisory panel that oversaw the
study, told the Los Angeles Times. At the time of the accident, the
lab issued a media statement claiming, "No release of radioactive
materials to the plant or its environs occurred, and operating
personnel were not exposed to harmful conditions."
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, October 6, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5280
8. HILL & KNOWLTON CHALLENGED OVER MALDIVES WORK
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1799467.ece
In an overview of the changes occurring in the Maldives, a cluster
of islands to the southwest of India, reporter Meera Selva sketches
how the repressive president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, is failing to
respond to the either the democracy movement or the growing
influence of Islamic fundamentalism. "The government is aware that
the problems facing ordinary Maldivians may affect its tourism
industry, but its response has been cynical rather than hopeful,"
Selva writes. Tim Fallon from Hill and Knowlton's London office has
been working for Gayoom's government, to prevent a tourism boycott
in response to controversies over police brutality and the lack of
multi-party elections. Hill & Knowlton is reportedly on a ?13,000
(US$24,000) a month retainer. Speaking on BBC Radio, Maldives
democracy activist Jenny Latheef said, "I don't know why Hill &
Knowlton would support somebody like that. He's a dictator, a brutal
dictator."
SOURCE: The Independent (UK), October 5, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5276
9. LOSING AFGHANISTAN TWICE OVER
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092506R.shtml
Some readers of Newsweek read a cover story in the October 2, 2006
issue titled "Losing Afghanistan: The Rise of Jihadistan," but not
readers in the United States. Editions destined for Asia, Latin
America, and Europe provided an in-depth analysis of the situation
in Afghanistan and the failures of the U.S.-led war such as, "The
harsh truth is that five years after the US invasion on Oct. 7,
2001, most of the good news is confined to Kabul, with its choking
rush-hour traffic jams, a construction boom and a handful of
air-conditioned shopping malls. Much of the rest of Afghanistan
appears to be failing again. Most worrisome, a new failed-state
sanctuary is emerging across thousands of square miles along the
Afghan-Pakistan border: 'Jihadistan,' it could be called." Readers
in the U.S. instead were given a retrospective of the career of
photographer Annie Leibovitz.
SOURCE: TruthOut.org, September 25, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5278
10. EUROPEAN DRUG PUSHERS
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15046930/
The drug industry is hopeful that it will succeed in watering down
the European Union's ban on direct to consumer advertising (DTCA) of
pharmaceuticals. Draft proposals from a working group, which
includes members of the European Commission and the drug industry,
have proposed a public-private partnership to provide patient
"information" on prescription medicines. It is a prospect that
horrifies the medical watchdog group Health Action International
(HAI). In response (pdf) to the latest EU push, HAI stated, "The
pharmaceutical industry is in no position to provide the information
people want, need and deserve; information that is unbiased,
reliable and comparative." In 2004 a push to weaken the EU's DTCA
ban was overwhelmingly rejected. HAI reports that one of the
European Union members of parliament defended the latest move on the
grounds that "70% of the current MEPs were new to their positions."
SOURCE: MSNBC, September 28, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5274
11. BURSON BACKS LICENSING PR PROFESSIONALS
http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/article/596797/Burson-calls-PR-industry-counter-bad-publicity/
Harold Burson, the founder of Burson-Marsteller, has flagged his
support for the licensing of PR professionals. "It would overcome
the derogatory manner in which we are depicted in the news media,"
he told a PR conference in India. The idea of licensing of PR
practitioners has a long history within the profession. PR industry
pioneer Edward Bernays supported it, while Burson previously opposed
it. In a speech in 1992, Bernays argued that without a system of
licensing, a set of guiding principles and "a strict ethical code,
PR will be relegated to an increasingly diluted status and waning
importance in our society."
SOURCE: PR Week (sub req'd), October 5, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5273
12. COVERING UP FOR FOLEY?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/washington/05hastert.html
Republicans in the U.S. Congress continue to grapple with the
controversy surrounding the resignation in disgrace of Rep. Mark
Foley. Former Foley chief of staff Kirk Fordham, who subsequently
became chief of staff to Rep. Tom Reynolds (chair of the National
Republican Congressional Committee), has resigned following reports
that he tried to stop ABC News from reporting on the sexually
explicit chats that Foley had with teenagers about the Grand Old
Party in his pants. But Fordham seems unwilling to play the role of
fall guy in the cover-up scandal. In a news conference he told
reporters that he had been warning people about Foley since 2003 or
earlier, holding "more than one conversation with senior staff at
the highest levels of the House of Representatives, asking them to
intervene when I was informed of Mr. Foley?s inappropriate
behavior." As the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz observes, "That's
what's driving this whole thing, the sense that key Republicans were
more concerned with the politics of the Foley mess than protecting
the teenagers he was hitting up online."
SOURCE: New York Times, October 5, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5270
13. FCC NAMES OBESITY/FOOD MARKETING TASK FORCE
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060928/ap_on_he_me/food_ads_kids;_ylt=AhJ8mx7X
Citing "a public health problem that will only get worse unless we
take action," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin
Martin announced a joint task force on child obesity. The task force
currently brings together mostly corporate and conservative members,
including Walt Disney, media watchdog Parents Television Council
(which recently lauded General Mills for "family friendly
advertising" and specializes in indecency complaints to the FCC),
and the Beverly LaHaye Institute, which opposes sex trafficking,
promotes abstinence and attacks feminists. Sesame Workshop and
Children Now reportedly have also been invited to participate.
Children Now's board chair is marketing consultant and former ad
exec Jane Gardner. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who urged Martin to
create the task force, said that he did not consult with any other
members of Congress. In the press conference announcing the task
force, Sen. Brownback appeared to propose his own conclusion to the
task force's work: further voluntary restrictions, rather than FCC
regulations on media marketing to children. "If we start down the
road of saying we're going to limit everything and we're going to do
it with a regulatory regime, I think you get everybody in a quick
adversarial relationship." The Institute of Medicine of the National
Academies has already recommended specific food marketing
restrictions.
SOURCE: Associated Press, September 27, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5239
14. THE BEST BOOK EVER?
Haven't had a chance to buy our new book, The Best War Ever?
Wondering what it's all about? Click here to read exclusive passages
from the book. Chapters excerpted include "Not Counting the Dead,"
"Rewriting History," and "Big Impact." We hope you'll take this
opportunity to whet your appetite and will go on to read the book in
its entirety. You can order it online, or ask your local bookseller
if they have it in stock. And after you read it, please consider
posting a review on Amazon to encourage others to read this
important book. And don't forget to visit The Best War Ever website
to watch the great four minute flash video about the book!
SOURCE:
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5265
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From: weekly-spin@prwatch.org
Subject: The Weekly Spin, October 11, 2006
Date: October 12, 2006 11:04:23 PM JST
To: cmd+weekly_spin-46979@lists.democracyinaction.org
Reply-To: weekly-spin@prwatch.org
THE WEEKLY SPIN, October 11, 2006
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. Zigging and Zagging on Cutting and Running
2. Remember Those Term-Limit Pledges?
3. Accuracy of Report on Video News Releases Affirmed: CMD Issues Full Rebuttal of RTNDA Claims
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. Hiding 600,000 Dead Iraqis
2. Spinning Bout the Nukes in the Bay
3. U.S. Army: From 'One' To 'Strong'
4. First Soda, Now School Junk Food: Clinton Deal Claims Lower-Cal Crunch
5. CMD's 2005 Annual Report Available On Line
6. PR or School Teachers? Maldives Party Asks
7. Blowing in the Wind
8. Hill & Knowlton Challenged Over Maldives Work
9. Losing Afghanistan Twice Over
10. European Drug Pushers
11. Burson Backs Licensing PR Professionals
12. Covering Up for Foley?
13. FCC Names Obesity/Food Marketing Task Force
14. The Best Book Ever?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. ZIGGING AND ZAGGING ON CUTTING AND RUNNING
by Sheldon Rampton
The Bush administration's use of the term "cut and run" to
caricature opponents of the war in Iraq is yet another example of
the attention that America's war party pays to rhetorical repetition
and linguistic framing at the expense of realistic discourse and
analysis. Bush himself has taken to using this catchprase
repeatedly. At a recent speech in Birmingham, Alabama, he declared
that "The party of FDR, the party of Harry Truman, has become the
party of cut-and-run." He repeated the charge a few days later, at a
political fundraising breakfast for California Congressman Richard
Pombo. "The Democrats are the party of cut and run," he said. "Ours
is a party that has got a clear vision and says we will give our
commanders and troops the support necessary to achieve that victory
in Iraq."
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5098
2. REMEMBER THOSE TERM-LIMIT PLEDGES?
by Elliott Fullmer
It's hard to believe that twelve years have passed since the Newt
Gingrich-led Republican Revolution of 1994.
In that year, GOP candidates launched a successful effort to
take control of both the House and Senate, something they had not
been able to accomplish in the previous forty-two years. Their
campaign focused heavily on the Contract with America, a list of
objectives that Republicans promised to pursue in Congress if
elected into the majority.
One of the key proposals of the document was the Citizen
Legislature Act, a measure which would amend the Constitution to
place limits on the number of terms members of both the House and
Senate could serve. The argument was that career politicians become
too distant from the people and need to be replaced by ?citizen
legislators.? In a show of support for the proposed amendment,
which eventually failed in the House, several GOP candidates pledged
to limit their own terms (independent of any legislation forcing
them to do so) if elected. Small numbers of candidates followed this
trend in future elections as well.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5275
3. ACCURACY OF REPORT ON VIDEO NEWS RELEASES AFFIRMED: CMD ISSUES FULL REBUTTAL OF RTNDA CLAIMS
by Diane Farsetta
October 9, 2006 ? The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD)
released today a full rebuttal of claims made against its April 2006
report, "Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed." The report
tracked television stations' use of video news releases (VNRs),
narrated pre-packaged segments produced by public relations firms
for their clients. The report documented 77 television stations
airing VNRs or related materials; not once did stations disclose the
client behind the segment. The report led the U.S. Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) to launch an investigation of the 77
stations named, in August 2006.
Last week, the Radio-Television News Directors Association
(RTNDA), through the law and lobby firm Wiley Rein & Fielding, urged
the FCC to drop its investigation. RTNDA alleged that the
investigation has had "a chilling effect" on TV newsrooms. RTNDA
also issued a critique of CMD?s report that misrepresented and
distorted the substance of the report. CMD's full, point-by-point
rebuttal of the RTNDA critique is available online at:
www.prwatch.org/node/5282.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5283
== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. HIDING 600,000 DEAD IRAQIS
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/world/middleeast/11casualties.html
Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber have a chapter in The Best War Ever
titled "Not Counting the Dead," reporting on how the US government
has chosen to hide the horrific impact of the US invasion and
occupation. Now the authors of a major study examined in the book
have a new study out. The New York Times reports, "A team of
American and Iraqi public health researchers has estimated that
600,000 civilians have died in violence across Iraq since the 2003
American invasion, the highest estimate ever for the toll of the war
here. ... It is the second study by researchers from the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. ... The study comes at a
sensitive time for the Iraqi government, which is under pressure
from American officials to take action against militias driving the
sectarian killings. In the last week of September, the government
barred the central morgue in Baghdad and the Health Ministry ? the
two main sources of information for civilian deaths ? from
releasing figures to the news media. Now, only the government is
allowed to release figures."
SOURCE: The New York Times, October 11, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5289
2. SPINNING BOUT THE NUKES IN THE BAY
http://www.sundayherald.com/58383
"Scotland's green watchdog played down the risks of radioactive
contamination at a popular coastal resort in Fife following an
11th-hour intervention by government spin doctors," reports Rob
Edwards. "Internal emails reveal the Scottish Environment Protection
Agency (Sepa) delayed and then altered a news release after it had
been described as 'not entirely helpful' by a senior Scottish public
relations official." The Sepa release announced a "hazard
assessment," which found that radioactive waste dumped decades ago,
after the closure of a naval air base, had resulted in 100 radiation
hotspots. The area includes "Scotland's largest sailing club and a
beach." The intervention by Scottish Executive PR official Neil
Trotter resulted in major changes to the release. The original
version estimated the likelihood of radioactive exposure to be
"around 1 in 900 a year for the whole beach, and around 1 in 90 for
the area with the greatest concentration" of waste. The published
version merely stated the "likelihood of harm ... is considered to
be low." Sepa denied that they had "tone[d] down" the release,
saying, "The content of Sepa press releases is decided by Sepa."
SOURCE: Sunday Herald (Scotland), October 8, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5287
3. U.S. ARMY: FROM 'ONE' TO 'STRONG'
http://adage.com/article?article_id=112420
"The Army spends more than $200 million annually on marketing -- the
biggest ad contract in the federal government," notes Advertising
Age. Ten months after winning the U.S. Army's main advertising
contract, the McCann Worldgroup firm announced the theme of its
first campaign: strength. "There's strong, and then there's Army
strong," explained a video from the firm. "There is nothing on this
green earth that is stronger than the U.S. Army." Like other
recruiting efforts, the Army's "strong" campaign "was developed to
specifically address not just those considering an Army career, but
family members and friends of potential recruits. Since the start of
the Iraq war, the U.S. military's advertising increasingly has
focused on convincing parents and peers that the choice of the
military career is a good one." The "strong" TV ads will start
airing November 9; print ads will run in 2007.
SOURCE: Advertising Age, October 9, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5286
4. FIRST SODA, NOW SCHOOL JUNK FOOD: CLINTON DEAL CLAIMS LOWER-CAL CRUNCH
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061006/ap_on_he_me/diet_school_snacks
"Kids will buy what they want. We just stop by the bodega on the way
home." So says one thirteen year old, unimpressed by what the adults
have just signed -- a "voluntary agreement" between five snack food
makers (Kraft, M&M Mars, Campbell Soup Co., Dannon, and PepsiCo),
the American Heart Association, and the Clinton Foundation in round
two of the former president's voluntary intiatives to discourage bad
eating habits in America's schools. The "deal" is this: where
schools agree to follow "Competitive Food Guidelines," vending
machines will stock only products that contain no more than 35
percent of their calories from fat, no more than 10 percent
saturated fat, and no more than 35 percent of sugar content by
weight. Although the guidelines have been commended, implementation
raises doubts. Janey Thornton, president of the School Nutrition
Association, said, "It has to have some enforcement behind it... .
[S]ome states have none and that's where I think the problem comes
in." The Center for Science in the Public Interest noted that local
schools and vending machine companies could completely ignore the
program. Gary Ruskin, director of Commercial Alert, criticized the
initiative as "a sham and a public relations stunt" by junk food
firms.
SOURCE: Associated Press, October 6, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5285
5. CMD'S 2005 ANNUAL REPORT AVAILABLE ON LINE
http://www.prwatch.org/pdfs/CMD_2005_Annual_Rpt.pdf
The Center for Media and Democracy's 2005 Annual Report is now
available online. Read CMD staff bios, descriptions of our projects,
a summary of media coverage we received in 2005, and our financial
statements. We appreciate the individuals and foundations that have
provided support for our work throughout the years. If you would
like to contribute to CMD, please click here to give through our
secure server.
SOURCE: CMD 2005 Annual Report
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5284
6. PR OR SCHOOL TEACHERS? MALDIVES PARTY ASKS
http://www.minivannews.com/news/news.php?id=2504
The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has called for the termination
of Hill & Knowlton's contract defending the repressive government of
the Maldives. The MDP calculated that the PR firm has been paid
$800,000 over almost three years. "According to World Bank figures,
$800,000 is enough money to pay for the salaries of 290 Maldivian
secondary school teachers for a whole year," acting MDP President
Ibrahim Hussain Zaki stated in a media release. In response to
recent media coverage of Hill & Knowlton's role in the Maldives, Tim
Fallon posted a note on his blog defending his work as leading to
"seismic" changes in the Islamic nation. Dozens of visitors to the
blog aren't buying his story. "Why on earth would you help a brutal
dictator who has murdered his own people? This shows what kind of a
company Hill & Knowlton really is," wrote one.
SOURCE: Minivan News (Maldives), October 7, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5281
7. BLOWING IN THE WIND
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-rocketdyne6oct06,1,5612437,full.story
A five-year long study into the 1959 meltdown of a nuclear reactor
near Simi Valley in California has concluded that it could have
caused between 260 and 1,800 cases of cancer. The report could not
be more specific because the U.S. Department of Energy and Boeing,
the parent company of Rocketdyne, refused to provide the weather
data crucial to modelling where the radioactive pollution went. The
report states that Boeing officials told the researchers that the
wind data was proprietary information. "How can you possibly declare
a trade secret which way the wind blew on a certain day?" Dan
Hirsch, the co-chairman of the advisory panel that oversaw the
study, told the Los Angeles Times. At the time of the accident, the
lab issued a media statement claiming, "No release of radioactive
materials to the plant or its environs occurred, and operating
personnel were not exposed to harmful conditions."
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, October 6, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5280
8. HILL & KNOWLTON CHALLENGED OVER MALDIVES WORK
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1799467.ece
In an overview of the changes occurring in the Maldives, a cluster
of islands to the southwest of India, reporter Meera Selva sketches
how the repressive president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, is failing to
respond to the either the democracy movement or the growing
influence of Islamic fundamentalism. "The government is aware that
the problems facing ordinary Maldivians may affect its tourism
industry, but its response has been cynical rather than hopeful,"
Selva writes. Tim Fallon from Hill and Knowlton's London office has
been working for Gayoom's government, to prevent a tourism boycott
in response to controversies over police brutality and the lack of
multi-party elections. Hill & Knowlton is reportedly on a ?13,000
(US$24,000) a month retainer. Speaking on BBC Radio, Maldives
democracy activist Jenny Latheef said, "I don't know why Hill &
Knowlton would support somebody like that. He's a dictator, a brutal
dictator."
SOURCE: The Independent (UK), October 5, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5276
9. LOSING AFGHANISTAN TWICE OVER
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/092506R.shtml
Some readers of Newsweek read a cover story in the October 2, 2006
issue titled "Losing Afghanistan: The Rise of Jihadistan," but not
readers in the United States. Editions destined for Asia, Latin
America, and Europe provided an in-depth analysis of the situation
in Afghanistan and the failures of the U.S.-led war such as, "The
harsh truth is that five years after the US invasion on Oct. 7,
2001, most of the good news is confined to Kabul, with its choking
rush-hour traffic jams, a construction boom and a handful of
air-conditioned shopping malls. Much of the rest of Afghanistan
appears to be failing again. Most worrisome, a new failed-state
sanctuary is emerging across thousands of square miles along the
Afghan-Pakistan border: 'Jihadistan,' it could be called." Readers
in the U.S. instead were given a retrospective of the career of
photographer Annie Leibovitz.
SOURCE: TruthOut.org, September 25, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5278
10. EUROPEAN DRUG PUSHERS
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15046930/
The drug industry is hopeful that it will succeed in watering down
the European Union's ban on direct to consumer advertising (DTCA) of
pharmaceuticals. Draft proposals from a working group, which
includes members of the European Commission and the drug industry,
have proposed a public-private partnership to provide patient
"information" on prescription medicines. It is a prospect that
horrifies the medical watchdog group Health Action International
(HAI). In response (pdf) to the latest EU push, HAI stated, "The
pharmaceutical industry is in no position to provide the information
people want, need and deserve; information that is unbiased,
reliable and comparative." In 2004 a push to weaken the EU's DTCA
ban was overwhelmingly rejected. HAI reports that one of the
European Union members of parliament defended the latest move on the
grounds that "70% of the current MEPs were new to their positions."
SOURCE: MSNBC, September 28, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5274
11. BURSON BACKS LICENSING PR PROFESSIONALS
http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/article/596797/Burson-calls-PR-industry-counter-bad-publicity/
Harold Burson, the founder of Burson-Marsteller, has flagged his
support for the licensing of PR professionals. "It would overcome
the derogatory manner in which we are depicted in the news media,"
he told a PR conference in India. The idea of licensing of PR
practitioners has a long history within the profession. PR industry
pioneer Edward Bernays supported it, while Burson previously opposed
it. In a speech in 1992, Bernays argued that without a system of
licensing, a set of guiding principles and "a strict ethical code,
PR will be relegated to an increasingly diluted status and waning
importance in our society."
SOURCE: PR Week (sub req'd), October 5, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5273
12. COVERING UP FOR FOLEY?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/washington/05hastert.html
Republicans in the U.S. Congress continue to grapple with the
controversy surrounding the resignation in disgrace of Rep. Mark
Foley. Former Foley chief of staff Kirk Fordham, who subsequently
became chief of staff to Rep. Tom Reynolds (chair of the National
Republican Congressional Committee), has resigned following reports
that he tried to stop ABC News from reporting on the sexually
explicit chats that Foley had with teenagers about the Grand Old
Party in his pants. But Fordham seems unwilling to play the role of
fall guy in the cover-up scandal. In a news conference he told
reporters that he had been warning people about Foley since 2003 or
earlier, holding "more than one conversation with senior staff at
the highest levels of the House of Representatives, asking them to
intervene when I was informed of Mr. Foley?s inappropriate
behavior." As the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz observes, "That's
what's driving this whole thing, the sense that key Republicans were
more concerned with the politics of the Foley mess than protecting
the teenagers he was hitting up online."
SOURCE: New York Times, October 5, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5270
13. FCC NAMES OBESITY/FOOD MARKETING TASK FORCE
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060928/ap_on_he_me/food_ads_kids;_ylt=AhJ8mx7X
Citing "a public health problem that will only get worse unless we
take action," Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin
Martin announced a joint task force on child obesity. The task force
currently brings together mostly corporate and conservative members,
including Walt Disney, media watchdog Parents Television Council
(which recently lauded General Mills for "family friendly
advertising" and specializes in indecency complaints to the FCC),
and the Beverly LaHaye Institute, which opposes sex trafficking,
promotes abstinence and attacks feminists. Sesame Workshop and
Children Now reportedly have also been invited to participate.
Children Now's board chair is marketing consultant and former ad
exec Jane Gardner. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who urged Martin to
create the task force, said that he did not consult with any other
members of Congress. In the press conference announcing the task
force, Sen. Brownback appeared to propose his own conclusion to the
task force's work: further voluntary restrictions, rather than FCC
regulations on media marketing to children. "If we start down the
road of saying we're going to limit everything and we're going to do
it with a regulatory regime, I think you get everybody in a quick
adversarial relationship." The Institute of Medicine of the National
Academies has already recommended specific food marketing
restrictions.
SOURCE: Associated Press, September 27, 2006
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5239
14. THE BEST BOOK EVER?
Haven't had a chance to buy our new book, The Best War Ever?
Wondering what it's all about? Click here to read exclusive passages
from the book. Chapters excerpted include "Not Counting the Dead,"
"Rewriting History," and "Big Impact." We hope you'll take this
opportunity to whet your appetite and will go on to read the book in
its entirety. You can order it online, or ask your local bookseller
if they have it in stock. And after you read it, please consider
posting a review on Amazon to encourage others to read this
important book. And don't forget to visit The Best War Ever website
to watch the great four minute flash video about the book!
SOURCE:
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5265
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Wednesday, October 11, 2006
| Ask an Expert About the Future of 'Citizen Journalism' |
| from the mainstream-media-is-quaking-in-its-boots dept. |
| posted by Roblimo on Monday September 25, @12:20 (Media) |
| http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/25/1510234 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
People ranging from [0]Doc Searls to [1]J.D. Lasica to [2]Dan Gillmor to
[3]Craig Newmark have talked about how "citizen journalism" is
supplanting and/or augmenting professional reporting. (FYI: One of the
groundbreaking moments in "citizen journalism" happened right here on
[4]Slashdot.) This week's interviewee, NYU professor [5]Jay Rosen, is not
only a long-time proponent of [6]civic journalism, but has now started
[7]NewAssignment.net with seed money from Craig Newmark, a $10,000 grant
from the [8]Sunlight Foundation and, last week, $100,000 from [9]Reuters.
Jay Rosen is obviously not just an academic or theoretician, but is
actually doing things, which means he can answer almost any question you
may have about citizen (or civic) journalism. Usual Slashdot
[10]interview rules apply.
This story continues at:
http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/25/1510234
Discuss this story at:
http://interviews.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/09/25/1510234
Links:
0. http://www.searls.com/dochome.html#Bio
1. http://jdlasica.com/aboutjd.html
2. http://citmedia.org/blog/
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Newmark
4. http://features.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/10/07/120249&tid=149
5. http://www.poynter.org/profile/profile.asp?user=102644
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_journalism
7. http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2006/07/25/nadn_qa.html
8. http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2006/09/07/slt_gift.html
9. http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2006/09/20/rts_gft.html
10. http://slashdot.org/faq/interviews.shtml
| from the mainstream-media-is-quaking-in-its-boots dept. |
| posted by Roblimo on Monday September 25, @12:20 (Media) |
| http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/25/1510234 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
People ranging from [0]Doc Searls to [1]J.D. Lasica to [2]Dan Gillmor to
[3]Craig Newmark have talked about how "citizen journalism" is
supplanting and/or augmenting professional reporting. (FYI: One of the
groundbreaking moments in "citizen journalism" happened right here on
[4]Slashdot.) This week's interviewee, NYU professor [5]Jay Rosen, is not
only a long-time proponent of [6]civic journalism, but has now started
[7]NewAssignment.net with seed money from Craig Newmark, a $10,000 grant
from the [8]Sunlight Foundation and, last week, $100,000 from [9]Reuters.
Jay Rosen is obviously not just an academic or theoretician, but is
actually doing things, which means he can answer almost any question you
may have about citizen (or civic) journalism. Usual Slashdot
[10]interview rules apply.
This story continues at:
http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/25/1510234
Discuss this story at:
http://interviews.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=06/09/25/1510234
Links:
0. http://www.searls.com/dochome.html#Bio
1. http://jdlasica.com/aboutjd.html
2. http://citmedia.org/blog/
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Newmark
4. http://features.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/10/07/120249&tid=149
5. http://www.poynter.org/profile/profile.asp?user=102644
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_journalism
7. http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2006/07/25/nadn_qa.html
8. http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2006/09/07/slt_gift.html
9. http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/2006/09/20/rts_gft.html
10. http://slashdot.org/faq/interviews.shtml
Sunday, October 08, 2006
We will be looking at one of the great photojournalists in class next week. Although you will hear Larry Towell denia that he is one, he is! Maybe a more delicate Thompson. He comments that..."Poetry is literature with the water squeezed out of it." Kind of like journalism although we usually allow and want some of the H2O. He added to the last quote that.."When you go into the world you edit much more." That's the KISS of it. You might want to look at the web site for a preview at >http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com/
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Friday, September 29, 2006
Have some sympathy for the guys running the show. It is in everyones best interest for there to be a sucessful conclusion to the war in Iraq. The trouble is that no one seems to know what is happening, let alone have solutions. Getting the information is difficult or as the opinion below from the Weekly Spin has in impossible.
IRAQ "98 PERCENT OFF-LIMITS" FOR PRESS CORPS
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003122985
"Everyone is kind of groping around in the dark," says New York
Times senior correspondent Dexter Filkins on his return from
reporting in Iraq. Despite employing 70 Iraqi staffers, the civil
war there (Filkins doesn't hedge--"Yeah, sure" it's a civil war) has
meant the Times cannot safely access stories. Its own five
correspondents primarily spend their time pasting together reports
by the Iraqi staff, protected by a small army of 45 security guards,
armored cars, and belt-fed rooftop machine guns. "Nobody trusts
anybody anymore. There's no law, and the worst people with guns are
in charge." The Iraqi reporters know that if their association with
the Times is revealed they may pay with their lives, Filkins told
the Committee to Protect Journalists at a September 14, 2006, talk
in Manhattan where he is preparing to serve a U.S. fellowship. His
advice to other reporters thinking about covering Iraq: "Don't go."
Filkins said that the U.S. military is similarly hamstrung in
getting quality information: soldiers rarely leave their bases and
don't interact much with average Iraqis. Ninety-eight percent of
Iraq, including Baghdad, is too dangerous for reporters to cover, he
said.
SOURCE: Editor and Publisher, September 16, 2006 (sub req'd)
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5227
IRAQ "98 PERCENT OFF-LIMITS" FOR PRESS CORPS
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003122985
"Everyone is kind of groping around in the dark," says New York
Times senior correspondent Dexter Filkins on his return from
reporting in Iraq. Despite employing 70 Iraqi staffers, the civil
war there (Filkins doesn't hedge--"Yeah, sure" it's a civil war) has
meant the Times cannot safely access stories. Its own five
correspondents primarily spend their time pasting together reports
by the Iraqi staff, protected by a small army of 45 security guards,
armored cars, and belt-fed rooftop machine guns. "Nobody trusts
anybody anymore. There's no law, and the worst people with guns are
in charge." The Iraqi reporters know that if their association with
the Times is revealed they may pay with their lives, Filkins told
the Committee to Protect Journalists at a September 14, 2006, talk
in Manhattan where he is preparing to serve a U.S. fellowship. His
advice to other reporters thinking about covering Iraq: "Don't go."
Filkins said that the U.S. military is similarly hamstrung in
getting quality information: soldiers rarely leave their bases and
don't interact much with average Iraqis. Ninety-eight percent of
Iraq, including Baghdad, is too dangerous for reporters to cover, he
said.
SOURCE: Editor and Publisher, September 16, 2006 (sub req'd)
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5227
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