== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. The Anthrax Cover-up
2. Edelman Likes It Hot

== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. Big Money Special Interests Fuel Obama's Campaign
2. New Book Claims White House Ordered CIA to Forge Letter Linking Iraq to 911
3. Marketers Admit to Engaging in Media Pay for Play
4. Global Warming's Deadly Denial
5. Lilly's Art of Ignoring Drug's Diabetes Risk
6. Who Is Doing Real Journalism?
7. U.S. Navy to PR Firms: Throw Us a Life Preserver!
8. Weekly Radio Spin: I Spy with My Little Firm
9. Return of the "American Energy Alliance"
10. Private Spooks Court Journalists
11. How the Gun Lobby Beat Activists to the Draw
12. Olympics Ideals Prove as Fragile as China
13. Whose Line Is It, Anyway?
14. Puerto Rico: Not So Rico

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== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. THE ANTHRAX COVER-UP
by Sheldon Rampton
       Bruce Edwards Ivins, a top anthrax researcher at the U.S.
  Government's biological weapons research laboratories, died of an
  apparent suicide last Tuesday, just as the Justice Department was
  about to charge him with responsibility for the September 2001
  anthrax attacks that killed five people in the United States. Glenn
  Greenwald has written an important piece for Salon.com in which he
  demonstrates, with copious evidence, that a major government scandal
  lurks behind the anthrax story.
       Ivins may have acted alone in carrying out the anthrax
  attacks. (I don't want to presume his guilt or anything else about
  this case until we see further details about the government's
  evidence against him.) However, Ivins most certainly did not act
  alone in falsifying information so the attacks could be used as a
  pretext for war.
       "If the now-deceased Ivins really was the culprit behind the
  attacks," Greenwald writes, "then that means that the anthrax came
  from a U.S. Government lab, sent by a top U.S. Army scientist at Ft.
  Detrick. Without resort to any speculation or inferences at all, it
  is hard to overstate the significance of that fact. From the
  beginning, there was a clear intent on the part of the anthrax
  attacker to create a link between the anthrax attacks and both
  Islamic radicals and the 9/11 attacks."
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7623

2. EDELMAN LIKES IT HOT
by Bob Burton
       Over the next week, campaigners from around the United
  Kingdom will converge on the site of a proposed expansion of the
  coal-fired Kingsnorth Power Station and participate in civil
  disobedience protests. The company behind the proposal, E.ON UK, a
  subsidiary of the German energy company E.ON, is so worried by the
  prospect of the planned civil disobedience campaign that it has
  hired the PR firm Edelman, to see if it can help ensure that the
  company's proposal retains government support.
       Like so many companies, E.ON UK gushes about its corporate
  social responsibility program and proclaims that it is "working
  towards low carbon energy" and that "climate change is an important
  issue for society." It sounds reassuring, but the reality is much
  more disturbing.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7614

== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. BIG MONEY SPECIAL INTERESTS FUEL OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7632
  The New York Times notes that "In an effort to cast himself as
  independent of the influence of money on politics, Senator Barack
  Obama often highlights the campaign contributions of $200 or less
  that have amounted to fully half of the $340 million he has
  collected so far.  But records show that one-third of his
  record-breaking haul has come from donations of $1,000 or more: a
  total of $112 million, more than Senator John McCain, Mr. Obama's
  Republican rival, or Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, his opponent in
  the Democratic primaries, raised in contributions of that size.
  Behind those larger donations is a phalanx of more than 500 Obama
  'bundlers,'  fund-raisers who have each collected contributions
  totaling $50,000 or more. Many of the bundlers come from industries
  with critical interests in Washington.  ... Given his decision not
  to accept public financing, Mr. Obama is counting on his bundlers to
  help him raise $300 million for his general-election campaign and
  another $180 million for the Democratic National Committee. An
  analysis of campaign finance records shows that about two-thirds of
  his bundlers are concentrated in four major industries: law,
  securities and investments, real estate and entertainment."
SOURCE: New York Times, August 6, 2008

2. NEW BOOK CLAIMS WHITE HOUSE ORDERED CIA TO FORGE LETTER LINKING IRAQ TO 911
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7631
  In a new book published today, Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Ron
  Suskind charges that in the Fall of 2003, the White House ordered
  the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to forge and back-date a
  handwritten letter from the head of Iraqi Intelligence to Saddam
  Hussein to fabricate a link between the Iraqi regime and the
  September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. In the
  book, The Way of the World, Suskind explains that the letter was to
  be backdated to July 2001, and say that "9/11 ringleader Mohammed
  Atta had actually trained for his mission in Iraq -- thus showing
  finally, that there was an operational like between Saddam and al
  Qaeda, something the Vice President's Office had been pressing CIA
  to prove since 9/11 as a justification to invade Iraq." White House
  deputy press secretary Tony Fratto dismissed Suskind's information,
  saying "Ron Suskind makes a living from gutter journalism. He is
  about selling books and making wild allegations that no one can
  verify, including the numerous bipartisan commissions that have
  reported on pre-war intelligence." Suskind also gave an interview
  about his book today on National Public Radio.
SOURCE: Politico.com, August 5, 2008

3. MARKETERS ADMIT TO ENGAGING IN MEDIA PAY FOR PLAY
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7626
  According to a survey of 252 U.S. chief marketing officers, nearly
  one in five "say their organizations have bought advertising in
  return for a news story." The survey was conducted on behalf of the
  public relations firm Manning, Selvage & Lee (MSL) and the trade
  publication PR Week (which doesn't appear to have reported on the
  results). "The survey also found that 10 percent of senior marketers
  said their organizations have had an implicit / non-verbal agreement
  with a reporter or editor that anticipated favorable coverage of
  their company or products in exchange for advertising," states an
  MSL press release. MSL's Mark Hass called the widespread use of pay
  for play "troubling," as "without full disclosure and transparency,
  media lose credibility and their value as an unbiased source of
  information." More than half of survey respondents also disagreed
  with the statement that marketers are "following ethical guidelines
  in new media more than they did a year ago."
SOURCE: Manning Selvage & Lee, July 30, 2008

4. GLOBAL WARMING'S DEADLY DENIAL
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7625
  Reviewing the continued campaign by climate change skeptics,
  David McKnight, an associate professor at the University of New
  South Wales (Australia), notes that there several reasons why
  companies such as Exxon have had some success playing the global
  warming denial card. "First, the implications of the science are
  frightening. Shifting to renewable energy will be costly and
  disruptive. Second, doubt is an easy product to sell. Climate denial
  tells us what we all secretly want to hear. Third, science is
  portrayed as political orthodoxy rather than objective knowledge, a
  curiously postmodern argument," he writes. While the tobacco
  industry is often referred to as the template for the fossil fuel
  industry's campaign, McKnight argues that there is an important
  distinction. "There are no 'smoke-free areas' on the planet. Climate
  denial may turn out to be the world's most deadly PR campaign," he
  concludes.
SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia), August 2, 2008

5. LILLY'S ART OF IGNORING DRUG'S DIABETES RISK
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7624
  Internal documents from the global drug company Eli Lilly reveal
  that it trained its sales force to avoid discussing the diabetes
  risk from Zyprexa, a drug used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar
  disorder. After research revealed that some patients gained weight
  and had high blood sugar levels that presented an increased risk of
  diabetes, an internal company sales document stated that "we believe
  it is essential to weaken this link to neutralize the
  diabetes/hyperglycemia issue. ... Neutralizing any concern from our
  customers will be essential to the future growth of Zyprexa in the
  marketplace," reports Bloomberg. The document came to light during
  court proceedings in Alaska. In 2002, the drug's sales force was
  advised, "We will NOT proactively address the diabetes concern. ...
  The competition wins if we are distracted into talking about
  diabetes."
SOURCE: Bloomberg, July 31, 2008

6. WHO IS DOING REAL JOURNALISM?
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7619
  If you're looking for "real reporting" these days, Glenn Greenwald
  thinks a lot of it is coming from whistleblowers and advocacy groups
  rather than from journalists. "If one looks at most of the vital
  disclosures of the last seven years -- whereby concealed, legally
  dubious behavior of one of the most secretive administrations of the
  modern era is exposed -- one finds that such exposure comes
  overwhelmingly from two sources: (1) conscientious whistle-blowers
  inside the Government, and (2) advocacy groups such as the ACLU,
  which have tirelessly waged one litigation battle after the next in
  order to unearth the Bush administration's secret, improper
  conduct," he writes. "The record of the establishment press over the
  last seven years is one characterized far more by failure and
  complicity than by real journalism. ... The function of the ACLU and
  similar groups isn't really to uncover illegal behavior on the part
  of our Government. That is the intended function of the Congress,
  the media and the opposition party. But those institutions haven't
  done that. ... As a result, the ACLU and similar groups -- with far
  fewer resources -- have been forced first to uncover what the
  Government does, to try methodically and incrementally to erode the
  government's wall of secrecy, to perform real journalism, in order
  then to engage in their real function of opposing Government
  encroachments and defending the Constitution, basic privacy rights
  and civil liberties."
SOURCE: Salon.com, July 24, 2008

7. U.S. NAVY TO PR FIRMS: THROW US A LIFE PRESERVER!
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7618
  The U.S. Navy's Chief of Information (CHINFO) is taking on water.
  "Navy leaders have placed increased demands on CHINFO," which have
  "long outstripped CHINFO's capacity to respond," admits the Navy's
  solicitation for public relations help. Between "news media,
  television and movies, and social media such as web logs (blogs),
  internet video sites such as YouTube, and social interaction sites
  such as MySpace," the military branch just can't keep up. So, the
  Navy is seeking proposals from PR firms "to provide public affairs
  support on an as-needed basis for up to five years." The Navy
  contract will involve "environmental and reputation risk
  management," "measuring public opinion," "ethical public relations"
  and "U.S. military community relations / community outreach."
  Specific activities include "develop a web log (blog) and advise on
  blogging." Representatives from the Rendon Group, Burson-Marsteller,
  Lincoln Group, GolinHarris and Hill & Knowlton, among other firms,
  attended a Navy presentation on the contract. The Navy hopes to
  award the contract in September.
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), July 30, 2008

8. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: I SPY WITH MY LITTLE FIRM
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7617
  Listen to THIS WEEK'S EDITION of the "Weekly Radio Spin," the
  Center for Media and Democracy's audio report on the stories behind
  the news. This week, we look at who's recruiting journalists, how
  the UK Parliament took out the trash and the fuel behind a new front
  group. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," the sordid past of a
  corporate spy. The Weekly Radio Spin is freely available for
  personal and broadcast use. Podcasters can subscribe to the XML feed
  on www.prwatch.org/audio or via iTunes. If you air the Weekly Radio
  Spin on your radio station, please email us at editor@prwatch.org to
  let us know. Thanks!
SOURCE: Center for Media and Democracy, August 1, 2008

9. RETURN OF THE "AMERICAN ENERGY ALLIANCE"
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7615
  An industry front group best known for opposing the BTU tax (an
  energy tax based on consumption) in the 1990s has resurfaced in New
  Mexico, where it's running radio ads attacking congressman Tom Udall
  for his opposition to oil drilling. According to Time magazine, the
  American Energy Alliance was created in 1993 when the National
  Manufacturers Association "got together with the American Petroleum
  Institute, 1,600 large companies, small businesses and farmers to
  form ... a group designed solely to defeat the BTU tax. The
  coalition paid more than $1 million to Burson-Marsteller, a public
  relations firm, to deploy nearly 45 staff members in 23 states
  during the past two months. Burson's goal was to drum up as much
  grass-roots outrage about the BTU tax as possible and direct it at
  the swing Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee." Matthew
  Reichbach, who reported on the group's current attacks on Udall,
  noted that "Information on the group is hard to come by. There are
  no online Federal Energy Regulatory Commission filings, no Internal
  Revenue Service filings and no way to contact the group."
SOURCE: New Mexico Independent, July 23, 2008

10. PRIVATE SPOOKS COURT JOURNALISTS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7613
  Melissa Sweet, a freelance Australian health journalist, reports
  that she recently received an email from a staffer with the private
  intelligence company Hakluyt. In it, she was asked if she would like
  to become part of a "network of well-placed individuals around the
  world who are able to provide us, very discreetly, with intelligence
  on specific commercial or political issues that may arise." In
  particular, they were seeking her assistance for an anonymous
  "financial institution" client, on "a new project on the new
  Australian government's healthcare policy -- how realistic their
  reform ambitions really are," "the role of the private sector" and
  other matters. Sweet responded by pointing out that she was a
  journalist, not a consultant. Undeterred, the Hakluyt staffer
  responded that as a journalist, she was likely to have "dozens of
  well-placed sources in the field" and that the company already works
  with "a number of quality, usually specialist journalists." In 2001
  Hakluyt was outed for infiltrating Greenpeace in Europe.
SOURCE: Crikey (Australia, sub req'd), July 31, 2008

11. HOW THE GUN LOBBY BEAT ACTIVISTS TO THE DRAW
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7612
  Readers of the book "Toxic Sludge Is Good for You" may remember
  the name Mary Lou Sapone -- a corporate spy who, while secretly in
  the employ of U.S. Surgical, infiltrated animal rights groups. More
  recently, Sapone has been active with gun control groups, while
  secretly working for the National Rifle Association. As Mary McFate
  (her maiden name), she volunteered with numerous local and regional
  gun control groups, even running (unsuccessfully) in 2005 for a
  board position with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "In
  a 2003 deposition, Tim Ward, who had been president of the
  Maryland-based security firm Beckett Brown International, said that
  the NRA had been 'a client' of Sapone's," reports Mother Jones.
  "Recent emails indicate that in 2007 and 2008 Sapone was working"
  with a former NRA staffer who was lobbying on behalf of his old
  employer. Sapone's / McFate's friends in the gun control community
  were shocked to learn of her true identity. Sapone was
  "well-positioned for many years to provide the NRA -- or any other
  gun rights groups -- the plans, secrets, and inside gossip of
  practically the entire gun violence prevention movement." For
  example, Sapone pushed U.S. groups to take part in a United Nations
  meeting on gun control earlier this year. Their participation
  allowed Sapone "to learn what the anti-gun forces were planning for
  the UN session -- including the delegates they intended to lobby,
  and the arguments they would highlight."
SOURCE: Mother Jones, July 30, 2008

12. OLYMPICS IDEALS PROVE AS FRAGILE AS CHINA
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7609
  When China submitted its bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, it
  promised that journalists would have "complete freedom to report"
  from the country. However, "sites such as Amnesty International or
  any search for a site with Tibet in the address could not be opened
  at the Main Press Center [in Beijing], which will house about 5,000
  print journalists when the games open Aug. 8," reports the
  Associated Press. Now, it turns out that International Olympic
  Committee (IOC) officials "negotiated with the Chinese that some
  sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not
  considered Games related," reports Reuters. A spokesperson for the
  Beijing Olympics organizing committee said, "We are going to do our
  best to facilitate the foreign media to do their reporting work
  through the Internet." Access to websites about groups like the
  banned Falun Gong will remain blocked, he said, because "Falun Gong
  is an evil, fake religion." The Chinese government is also requiring
  hotels to "install and run the Security Management System," reports
  the Los Angeles Times. U.S. Senator Sam Brownback says the system
  will actually be used for "invasive intelligence gathering"  during
  the Olympics, according to hotel documents.
SOURCE: Reuters, July 30, 2008

13. WHOSE LINE IS IT, ANYWAY?
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7608
  It's an "open secret of lobbying," writes Jeffrey Birnbaum.
  "Public relations firms regularly solicit authors of opinion-page
  articles, draft the pieces for them and place the articles in
  publications where they will have the most impact -- all for a fee."
  Recently, an op-ed criticizing a bill that would reduce credit card
  fees appeared in Southern newspapers, attributed to Charles Steele
  Jr., the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
  (SCLC). The column -- which neither Steele nor his office authorized
  -- complains that the bill "would boost the profits of Wal-Mart," an
  SCLC sponsor. Steele's attorney blamed "the K Street public
  relations shop LMG" for the mix-up. LMG admitted that it had
  "reached out through its contractors" to send "advocacy materials"
  to the SCLC and "urged the group to go public with opposition to the
  bill." Among LMG's clients is the Electronic Payments Coalition, a
  group of credit card and financial companies that opposes the
  legislation. The SCLC investigated and concluded that "the wrong
  draft of the op-ed" had been sent to papers. "The correct draft
  should not have referenced Wal-Mart or Home Depot," another SCLC
  sponsor.
SOURCE: Washington Post, July 29, 2008

14. PUERTO RICO: NOT SO RICO
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7607
  Ed Morales takes the 110th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of
  Puerto Rico as an opportunity to talk about its status. "The United
  States invaded the island on July 25, 1898, and claimed it as booty
  after the Spanish-American War. Long since obsolete as a strategic
  outpost in the Cold War, the Caribbean island is America's best-kept
  secret: an unfree state within the land of the free." The island has
  never seriously been considered for statehood, often for racist
  reasons. A portion of Puerto Rico's Vieques Island was routinely
  used as a bombing range by the U.S. Navy. The island of nearly four
  million inhabitants "is an 'unincorporated territory,' which means
  that the island is subject to the authority of the U.S. Congress,
  which can overturn any action by the island's legislature." Puerto
  Ricans are not able to vote in U.S. presidential elections, nor do
  they having voting representatives in Congress. While there is often
  a misperception that Puerto Ricans receive certain rights without
  paying taxes (which is mainly false), Morales has this take: "Puerto
  Rico's commonwealth status was a dry run for the free trade
  practices of the last 15 years, where profit --  and the potential
  for local investment -- is extracted from a weaker economy by
  rampaging multinational corporations. Today, Puerto Rico is
  suffering from a failing economy with high unemployment rates, a
  fall-off in tourism due to the gas crisis, overdependence on
  government entitlements like food stamps and a failing public
  education system."
SOURCE: Progressive Media Project, July 23, 2008

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