== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. How Far Have We Really Come from the "One-Drop Rule"?
2. The Media Buries the Message: Tobacco Prevention vs. High-Cost Drugs

== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. Lobbyists, Register with the President
2. Weekly Radio Spin: Guarding the Vote
3. Advertisers Elect Obama "Marketer of the Year" for 2008
4. FCC Votes to Open Up White Spaces
5. Military Matters and Public Diplomacy Urgent, Says GAO
6. When Pink Becomes Deadly: Virginia Slims' New, Pink "Purse Pack"
7. Change, of a Limited Sort, Comes to K Street
8. Marketing Through the Looking Glass

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== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. HOW FAR HAVE WE REALLY COME FROM THE "ONE-DROP RULE"?
by Judith Siers-Poisson
       "Black man, black woman, black baby /
       White man, white woman, white baby /
       White man, black woman, black baby /
       Black man, white woman, black baby."
       Public Enemy, Fear of a Black Planet
       There is no doubt that the election of Barack Obama as
  President of the United States is historic. But does framing him as
  America's "first black president" show that we have not come nearly
  as far as we'd like to think?
       The mainstream U.S. news -- and the majority of the American
  public, whether for or against him -- consider Barack Obama to be
  the first African American President. While he is certainly a member
  of the black community (and much more literally African-American due
  to his father being a Kenyan immigrant), he is also equally part of
  the white community. His mother was white. The grandmother who
  helped raise him (and whom he tragically lost to cancer on the eve
  of his election) was also white. But historically, and apparently to
  this day, to be black to any degree is to be exclusively black. Is
  our celebration of Barack Obama as the first black president proof
  that we haven't moved very far past the "one-drop rule"?
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7932

2. THE MEDIA BURIES THE MESSAGE: TOBACCO PREVENTION VS. HIGH-COST DRUGS
by Anne Landman
       Cholesterol-reducing drugs called statins have been in the
  news lately following the release of a major medical study that
  found that statins can prevent heart disease and stroke in people
  with no previous history of heart disease.
       Statins are among the biggest-selling family of drugs of all
  time. Many articles about the study mentioned above, including one
  on the credible web site WebMD, also mention the specific drug used
  in the study: Crestor.
       The study has generated hundreds of articles, most of which
  repeat the same basic framing of the issue: if heart disease is the
  problem, a drug is the answer.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7934

== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. LOBBYISTS, REGISTER WITH THE PRESIDENT
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7930
  "President-elect Obama is already backing off his pledge not to
  hire any lobbyists to serve in his administration," reports Shawn
  Zeller. "But one prominent hired gun -- Stuart Pape, managing
  partner at the biggest lobbying firm in Washington -- expects that
  Obama will soon after taking office set new disclosure requirements
  for lobbyists trying to influence executive branch officials." Pape
  spoke at a briefing sponsored by his firm, Patton Boggs, and Qorvis
  Communications. Pape also pointed out that the Obama campaign's
  "brilliant plan" was so "well executed" that it has raised
  expectations for real change. "You saw the enthusiasm of people, not
  just in the United States but all over the world last night," he
  said. "It was an outpouring of emotion and hope that I don't recall
  seeing since John Kennedy was elected president. But that puts an
  enormous amount of challenge in front of the president-elect to ...
  meet those expectations." According to Darryl Nirenberg of Patton
  Boggs, the incoming U.S. Congress will also feel pressure to deliver
  "early achievements" by quickly passing "items which they believe
  will be popular and somewhat easy to get through the House, such as
  health care SCHIP, energy policy attacking big oil," and "regulatory
  changes for financial institutions such as an investor and
  shareholder bill of rights."
SOURCE: Congressional Quarterly, November 6, 2008

2. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: GUARDING THE VOTE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7928
  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 opening white spaces, Bush's
  last-minute scramble and feminist cigarettes. In "Six Degrees of
  Spin and Fakin'," the history of one airline company behind the
  CIA's unfriendly skies. 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 AT prwatch DOT org to let us know. Thanks!
SOURCE: Center for Media and Democracy, November 7, 2008

3. ADVERTISERS ELECT OBAMA "MARKETER OF THE YEAR" FOR 2008
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7926
  Barack Obama has been named Advertising Age's 2008 Marketer of the
  Year for the simplicity, consistency and relevance of his campaign.
  Hundreds of marketers, agency heads and marketing-services vendors
  attending the 2008 annual Association of National Advertisers
  conference voted for Obama's campaign over ad campaigns by major
  companies like Apple, Zappos, Nike and Coors. AdAge called Obama's
  historic November 4 win the "biggest day in the history of
  marketing," saying marketers have a lot to learn from his campaign.
  At a time when 70% of the population thought the country was headed
  in the wrong direction, Obama adopted a simple slogan of "Change"
  that never varied throughout his campaign, while his competitors
  tried for months to find similarly simple yet powerful messages.
  Hillary Clinton first tried the slogan "Experience," then shifted to
  "Countdown to change," and then used "Solutions for America," while
  the McCain campaign tried on a long list of labels like "Maverick,"
  "Straight Talker," "Conservative" and "Hero." By the time the McCain
  campaign settled on "Country First," it was too late. The relentless
  focus on "change" pressured Mr. Obama's opponents to talk about how
  their changes would differ from his, rather than focus on their
  strengths, like their experience, track records and relationships
  with world leaders.
SOURCE: Advertising Age, November 5, 2008

4. FCC VOTES TO OPEN UP WHITE SPACES
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7923
  On Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted
  to open up the "white  spaces" on the television spectrum that will
  be available when the U.S. switches from analog to all-digital in
  February 2009. Sascha Meinrath, research director of the wireless
  future program at the New America Foundation, said that "All the PR
  spin and FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) failed in the face of
  physics and the ground reality of engineering." Wired.com sees
  consumers as the big winners, but there are corporations that will
  benefit as well. Intel's chips could power new devices made by
  companies like Motorola, Philips, and Dell that will be used to
  access the broadband services in the newly available whites spaces.
  On the other hand, there are industry losers as well. Verizon, AT&T,
  and Comcast "have paid billions over the years to gain exclusive
  rights to the spectrum," which will now disappear. "All those
  problems of diversity on the airwaves and access to internet
  broadband connectivity are predicated on the artificial scarcity of
  airwaves," Meinrath said. "They will be alleviated."
SOURCE: Wired.com, November 5, 2008

5. MILITARY MATTERS AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY URGENT, SAYS GAO
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7922
  The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the nonpartisan
  investigative arm of Congress, has released its list of "urgent,"
  "critical" and "time sensitive" policy concerns for President-elect
  Barack Obama and the new Congress. Several are military-related,
  such as the "U.S. efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan,"
  "undisciplined defense spending," "caring for service members," and
  "rebuilding military readiness." Another priority, "improving the
  U.S. image abroad," arguably makes the list because of U.S. military
  actions. The GAO recommends better "strategic planning,
  coordination, and performance measurement" of public diplomacy
  efforts. In particular, the State Department should "improve the
  delivery of public diplomacy messages to Muslim audiences," develop
  "a strategy to guide department efforts to engage the private
  sector," and standardize approaches "for marking and publicizing all
  U.S. foreign assistance." Among the GAO's other top priorities are
  better managing "financial institutions and markets" by "reforming
  the U.S. financial regulatory system to reflect 21st century
  realities."
SOURCE: Government Accountability Office, November 6, 2008

6. WHEN PINK BECOMES DEADLY: VIRGINIA SLIMS' NEW, PINK "PURSE PACK"
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7919
  Philip Morris (PM) hopes to make cigarettes even more appealing to
  women by introducing a new, pink "purse pack" of its Virginia Slims
  brand in the first quarter of 2009. The sleek, rectangular packs
  will have square ends and be designed to hold the smaller-diameter,
  "light" and "ultra light" cigarettes the company traditionally
  targets toward female smokers. PM announced the introduction of its
  pink Virginia Slims during October, which, ironically, is also
  National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The American Cancer Society,
  Cancer Action Network, American Heart Association, American Lung
  Association, American Medical Association and the Campaign for
  Tobacco-Free Kids are all protesting the pink pack, saying its
  rollout demonstrates that PM "is not the changed, responsible
  company it claims to be," and that it "shows contempt for women and
  their health by putting a pink gloss on a product that causes lung
  cancer and heart disease, two of the leading killers of women."
SOURCE: MarketWatch, October 30, 2008

7. CHANGE, OF A LIMITED SORT, COMES TO K STREET
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7916
  "Washington's $3 billion lobbying industry has begun shedding
  Republican staffers, snapping up Democratic operatives and entire
  firms, a shift that started even before Tuesday's ballots were
  counted," reports the Wall Street Journal. "One signal of the new
  era" is that the influential Republican firm BGR Holdings
  (previously called Barbour Griffith & Rogers) is acquiring the
  Westin Rinehart Group, which is run by former Clinton administration
  aides. The Republican-dominated Ogilvy Government Relations
  (previously called the Federalist Group) will be revamped by "two
  former Democratic staffers": Dean Aguillen, who worked for House
  Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and James Williams, who has worked for
  Senators Joe Biden, Dick Durbin and Charles Schumer. Ogilvy's
  clients include "Chevron, the American Chemistry Council, Nascar and
  shareholders of the 20% of American International Group Inc. that
  isn't held by the federal government." Lockheed Martin and Boeing
  "both recently named Democrats as top lobbyists." Comcast's "chief
  Republican lobbyist" left the company, and the Information
  Technology Industry Council "passed over its top in-house Republican
  in naming its new president." The association and three companies
  all said the changes "weren't made to curry favor with Democrats."
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), November 5, 2008

8. MARKETING THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7912
  "'Brand integration' and 'immersive' commercial environments" are
  becoming more commonplace, as the range of media formats and
  platforms widens and viewers can increasingly avoid commercials,
  reports Gloria Goodale. This "blurring of story and selling" goes
  beyond traditional product placement. For example, actors in the
  MySpace web video series "Roommates," which is sponsored by Ford and
  a contact lens company, use "their characters' online profiles to
  chat with fans and dish out information about their clothing and
  other products." Marketing professor David Howard says the trend
  creates "more potential for manipulation." In one instance,
  amateur-seeming web videos "depicting cellphone signals powerful
  enough to pop corn kernels ... ignited a flurry of news coverage
  about the topic of possible brain damage." But the videos were
  "subtle" ads for wireless headsets. Another online video, of a girl
  "leaping to her feet to make a spectacular catch at a minor-league
  baseball game" and then returning to her seat, next to a bottle of
  Gatorade, "easily passed as an actual event." Instead, it was a
  Gatorade ad, which played on television (identified as an ad) after
  the online version had generated enough "buzz." Global spending on
  all types of product placement is expected to nearly double, "from
  $3 billion in 2006 to $5.6 billion by 2010."
SOURCE: Christian Science Monitor, November 3, 2008

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