== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. Vote Falsies 2008!
2. The Eisenstadt Hoax:A Real-life Example of a "Fake Fake"
3. Hollywood Goes to War

== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. The Weekly Spin E-Digest is Moving to Tuesdays
2. Science Reporting by Press Release
3. Sneaky manufacturers shrink packaging, while keeping prices the same
4. Medialink's Books Awash with Red Ink
5. Weekly Radio Spin: Help Them Help Us
6. GM Employees Asked to Drive Bailout Lobbying
7. How David Axelrod May Be Like Karl Rove
8. A Drink to Your Health (Unless We Also Sell the Sugary Stuff)
9. Murdoch's Loss-Making Strategy
10. NYT Kudos: SourceWatch Revealed Hoaxter Eisenstadt
11. War and Deceptive Spinning Are Over... Not
12. Does the "O" Logo Mean Openness?
13. U.S. Army Recruiting Gets Younger and Less Violent

== UPCOMING EVENTS ==
1. Consumer Revolution on the Web: Opportunities and Dangers for Journalism

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

== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. VOTE FALSIES 2008!
by Judith Siers-Poisson
       IT'S YOUR CHANCE TO VOTE FOR THE WORST CANDIDATES -- AND
  ENJOY IT!
       Now's the time for you to participate in the fifth annual
  "Falsies Awards" contest, held by the Center for Media and Democracy
  to shine an unflattering light on those responsible for polluting
  our information environment.
       As you look back at 2008, who stands out, for their shameless
  spinning? The ballot includes sneaky spooks, pandering pundits, big
  business bullies, and many more.
       Click here to cast your vote today!
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7966

2. THE EISENSTADT HOAX:A REAL-LIFE EXAMPLE OF A "FAKE FAKE"
by Sheldon Rampton
       There is a minor controversy bouncing around right now on the
  internet, and I'd like to do what I can to set the story straight.
  The controversy involves two incidents:
       *The day after the U.S. presidential election, Fox News
  reporter Carl Cameron gave an interview with Fox commentator Bill
  O'Reilly. During the interview, Cameron said that McCain's advisors
  had told him about their unhappiness with Sarah Palin as a
  vice-presidential running mate. Citing anonymous sources within the
  McCain campaign, Cameron recited a litany of complaints, including
  their claim that Palin was so ignorant she didn't know Africa was a
  continent.     *A blogger who calls himself "Martin Eisenstadt" stated
  a few days ago that he was the anonymous source for Cameron's story.
  Earlier today, however, the New York Times reported that "Martin
  Eisenstadt doesn't exist. His blog does, but it's a put-on. The
  think tank where he is a senior fellow -- the Harding Institute for
  Freedom and Democracy -- is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on
  YouTube are fakes. And the claim of credit for the Africa anecdote
  is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who turns out to be a very
  elaborate hoax that has been going on for months."
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7961

3. HOLLYWOOD GOES TO WAR
by Sheldon Rampton
       Viral emails have emerged as a form of stealth propaganda
  recently, most noticeably in the recent U.S. presidential campaign,
  when Barack Obama was dogged with false claims that he was a Muslim,
  that he was refused to salute the American flag, that he was not a
  U.S. citizen and so forth. The Washington Post reported earlier this
  year that Danielle Allen, a professor at the Institute for Advanced
  Study in Princeton, New Jersey, attempted to trace the chain of one
  of those emails and found what the Washington Post called "valuable
  insight into the way political information circulates, mutates and
  sometimes devastates in the digital age." She noted that the
  anonymous nature of viral emails, combined with the word-of-mouth
  way that they spread, makes them hard to counter. "This kind of
  misinformation campaign short-circuits judgment," she said. "It also
  aggressively disregards the fundamental principle of free societies
  that one be able to debate one's accusers."
       Recently a friend forwarded me a viral email that has
  apparently been circulating since at least June of this year. I
  haven't seen it previously, but a Google search turned up several
  copies on various websites. This particular viral message was
  unrelated to Obama or the presidential campaign but carries its own
  load of rhetoric aimed at shaping public opinion. On the principle
  that these subterranean propaganda campaigns ought to be openly
  discussed and exposed, I thought I'd respond to this one publicly.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7948

== SPIN OF THE DAY POSTINGS ==
1. THE WEEKLY SPIN E-DIGEST IS MOVING TO TUESDAYS
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7973
  Starting next week, you'll need to wait one less day to get the
  great information in the Weekly Spin E-Digest! The Spin used to be
  published on Wednesdays, but we are moving it to Tuesdays. This
  small schedule change will allow CMD staff to find interesting new
  material to include in the Weekly Radio Spin, which is produced each
  Friday.
  Don't know what the Weekly Radio Spin is? It is a five-minute
  segment that highlights the stories behind the news and pulls the
  covers off of media manipulators. Aired on more than 15 radio
  stations, the Weekly Radio Spin is also available as a podcast -- go
  to http://www.prwatch.org/audio/feed to subscribe!
  Don't get the Weekly Spin? Go to
  http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/subscribe_sotd.html to sign up today!
SOURCE: Center for Media and Democracy

2. SCIENCE REPORTING BY PRESS RELEASE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7974
  Science reporting "is more and more the direct product of PR
  shops," according to Charles Petit, a veteran science reporter who
  runs MIT's online Knight Science Journalism Tracker. Petit says
  information spoon-fed to reporters through news releases has "become
  a powerful subversive tool eroding the chance that reporters will
  craft their own stories." Cristine Russell reports that
  "institutional news offices from universities, government research
  agencies, and corporations are putting out large press packages that
  provide well-written press releases, graphics, and even video in a
  form that can be used directly by news outlets that are hungry for
  stories but lack the resources, time, and/or experience to do more
  thorough reporting. ... Institutional publicity operations are
  becoming more sophisticated at the same time that newsrooms are
  decimating the ranks of fulltime specialty science staff." Petit
  cited examples of clever press releases that have been recycled into
  news stories, such as a recent University of Utah press release
  titled "Living fossils have hot sex," which made its way into
  stories by Reuters, New Scientist, and ABC (Australia).
SOURCE: Columbia Journalism Review, November 14, 2008

3. SNEAKY MANUFACTURERS SHRINK PACKAGING, WHILE KEEPING PRICES THE SAME
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7971
  Prices of your favorite grocery items are skyrocketing, but you
  probably don't know it. Many companies are using a sneaky way to
  raise prices without driving customers to less expensive brands:
  they are shrinking their packaging. A jar of Skippy peanut butter,
  for example, is the same height and circumference it has always
  been, but now has a hidden, inward "dimple" on the bottom that
  decreases the amount the jar holds by two ounces. Boxes of breakfast
  cereal appear to be the same height and width they've always been,
  but manufacturers have reduced the boxes' depth from front to back,
  decreasing the amount of cereal they hold. Rolls of Scott toilet
  tissue contain the same number of sheets as always (1,000), but the
  length of each sheet has been cut from 4 to 3.7 inches. A "six
  ounce" can of Starkist Tuna now holds just five ounces. When asked
  about the shrinkage, most companies point to higher costs for
  ingredients, manufacturing and fuel. Dan Howard, a marketing
  professor at Southern Methodist University, says the only way
  consumers can fight back against this sneaky way of increasing costs
  is to refuse to buy from manufacturers who engage in this deceptive
  tactic.
SOURCE: CBS5.com (KPIX, San Francisco), November 17, 2008

4. MEDIALINK'S BOOKS AWASH WITH RED INK
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7965
  In its latest quarterly financial report to the U.S. Securities
  and Exchange Commission, Medialink Worldwide -- the largest producer
  of fake news products such as video news releases (VNRs) and audio
  news releases (ANRs) -- reports that revenue dropped by more than
  28%, compared to the same three month period in 2007. From early
  2008, the company's share price has dropped from a high of $4.50 to
  just 9 cents. In its report, Medialink notes (see page 11) that the
  company's stock has traded below "the minimum $1.00 per share
  requirement for continued listing" on the Nasdaq stock market and
  has been warned that it has until May 18, 2009, to "regain
  compliance."
SOURCE: Medialink Worldwide, November 14, 2008

5. WEEKLY RADIO SPIN: HELP THEM HELP US
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7964
  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  good eats in Iraq, selling agua and
  calling all cars for a bail-out. In "Six Degrees of Spin and
  Fakin'," we A-S-K about front groups. 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: Weekly Radio Spin, November 14, 2008

6. GM EMPLOYEES ASKED TO DRIVE BAILOUT LOBBYING
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7960
  "General Motors, teetering on the brink of insolvency, has taken
  the extraordinary step of calling on employees and dealers to
  personally urge lawmakers to approve another loan package that might
  keep the beleaguered automaker from going under," reports Wired.com.
  GM North America president Troy Clarke emailed 29,000 employees,
  "Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this
  support is critical. ... This level of economic devastation far
  exceeds the $25 billion of government support that our industry
  needs to bridge this current period. ... Directions and key messages
  are in the attached document to assist you with the calls." GM's
  U.S. sales chief, Mark LaNeve, sent a letter to all GM dealers,
  urging them to take action on "the deepest crisis our industry has
  ever faced," reports Reuters. "Separately, GM executives also held a
  broadcast for employees on Wednesday, urging them to contact their
  representatives and senators in support of any measures to provide
  immediate liquidity to the U.S. auto industry."
SOURCE: Wired.com blog "Autopia," November 12, 2008

7. HOW DAVID AXELROD MAY BE LIKE KARL ROVE
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7959
  "If David Axelrod decides to join the Obama White House, he'll ...
  have to take an enormous pay cut and possibly reveal the extent of
  his lucrative corporate public relations work," reports Politico.
  Axelrod co-founded two high-powered Chicago firms: AKP&D Message &
  Media, which does political consulting, and ASK Public Strategies, a
  corporate PR firm. ASK has "established front groups for corporate
  giants including Madison Square Garden and ComEd to help sway public
  opinion on controversial initiatives." Axelrod has "already taken a
  leave from ASK," to work on the Obama campaign. If he were to "sign
  on as a special assistant to President Obama, as Axelrod confidants
  expect," there may be pressure for him to sell his interest in both
  firms before joining the White House. Karl Rove sold his political
  consulting firm in 1999, "just before going to work for Bush's
  nascent 2000 presidential campaign." If Axelrod doesn't follow suit,
  "The same kinds of questions that were asked about Rove need to be
  asked about Mr. Axelrod," said Republican National Committee chair
  Mike Duncan.
SOURCE: Politico.com, November 13, 2008

8. A DRINK TO YOUR HEALTH (UNLESS WE ALSO SELL THE SUGARY STUFF)
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7958
  "Bottled water sales in the past have grown mainly from consumers
  moving to water from soda and other sugary beverages," fueled by
  rising childhood and adult obesity rates. But ads for bottled water
  don't push the health angle, because many bottled water companies
  also sell soda. For example, Aquafina is made by PepsiCo and Dasani
  by Coca-Cola. Nestle -- which does not sell soda -- is now seeking
  to counter "concerns that bottled water is a bad choice for the
  environment" by raising concerns about the health impact of soda.
  Its new "antisoda" campaign is focused on "the Hispanic community
  because it drinks more bottled water than most other ethnic groups."
  Nestle's antisoda ads, which appear on U.S. Spanish-language
  channels like Univision and TeleFutura, promote the company's Pure
  Life bottled water. The ads feature talk-show host Cristina
  Saralegui, who says, "Drinking water instead of three sugary drinks
  per week for a year will spare you seven pounds of fat." The
  Hispanic marketing agency behind the ads, Castells & Asociados, says
  they have been "off-the-charts effective." Publicis' Dallas office
  is working on an English-language version.
SOURCE: Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), November 13, 2008

9. MURDOCH'S LOSS-MAKING STRATEGY
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7957
  An opinion column by David McKnight, an associate professor at the
  Journalism and Media Research Centre at the University of New South
  Wales, argues that "Rupert Murdoch's critics often make the mistake
  of caricaturing him as just another businessman, interested more in
  money than ideology. ... These claims underestimate Murdoch's
  powerful contribution to the shaping of political ideas in Britain,
  the U.S. and Australia in the past 25 years." In particular, he
  points out that Murdoch "maintains loss-making newspapers such as
  the New York Post and the London Times" and that The Australian was
  subsidized for 20 years. "Murdoch's preparedness to take losses year
  after year testifies to the fact that he often puts ideas and
  influence before profit," he writes.
SOURCE: Sydney Morning Herald, November 8, 2008

10. NYT KUDOS: SOURCEWATCH REVEALED HOAXTER EISENSTADT
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7951
  CMD's SourceWatch project has earned kudos from the New York
  Times: "It was among the juicier post-election recriminations: Fox
  News Channel quoted an unnamed McCain campaign figure as saying that
  Sarah Palin did not know that Africa was a continent. Who would say
  such a thing? On Monday the answer popped up on a blog and popped
  out of the mouth of David Shuster, an MSNBC anchor. 'Turns out it
  was Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, who has come forward
  today to identify himself as the source of the leaks,' Mr. Shuster
  said. Trouble is, Martin Eisenstadt doesn't exist. His blog does,
  but it's a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow -- the
  Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy -- is just a Web site.
  The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes.  And the claim of credit
  for the Africa anecdote is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who
  turns out to be a very elaborate hoax that has been going on for
  months. MSNBC, which quickly corrected the mistake, has plenty of
  company in being taken in by an Eisenstadt hoax, including The New
  Republic and The Los Angeles Times.  ...  But the truth was out for
  all to see long before the big-name take-downs. For months
  SourceWatch has identified Martin Eisenstadt as a hoax."  But the
  NYT piece also added to general confusion surrounding this issue.
  Read Sheldon Rampton's blog for that story.
SOURCE: New York Times, November 13, 2008

11. WAR AND DECEPTIVE SPINNING ARE OVER... NOT
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7946
  "Public relations firms across the country predict massive layoffs
  in the coming months due to recent legislation outlawing the firms'
  most lucrative practices," according to an article in a spoof
  edition of the New York Times, dated July 4, 2009. The real Times
  reports, "In an elaborate hoax, pranksters distributed thousands of
  copies ... Wednesday morning at busy subway stations around the
  city." The lead story of the spoof paper is "Iraq War Ends." Other
  stories detailed similar wonders, including "national health care, a
  rebuilt economy, progressive taxation, [and] a national oil fund to
  study climate change." The spoof "special edition" Times is also
  online, where it 'reports' that "new regulations carefully
  scrutinize government contracts with for-profit public relations
  companies. ... The new rules would have forbidden the creation of
  the National Smokers Alliance, a front group formed by Philip Morris
  with the help of P.R. giant Burson Marsteller." The spoof paper has
  been linked to the Yes Men, a political satire group that's
  previously targeted the World Trade Organization and Dow Chemical
  Company.
SOURCE: New York Times "City Room" blog, November 12, 2008

12. DOES THE "O" LOGO MEAN OPENNESS?
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7945
  A coalition of open records, good government and research groups
  submitted "a lengthy to-do list for President-elect Barack Obama and
  Congress." Their recommendations include overturning the "Ashcroft
  memo," which made it easier for federal agencies to refuse requests
  under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA); rescinding Executive
  Order #13233, which limits access to historical presidential
  records; directing the new Attorney General "to advise agencies how
  to increase the presumption of openness" under FOIA; encouraging
  Congress "to establish a criminal penalty for willful concealment or
  destruction of non-exempt agency records requested under FOIA." The
  Obama transition website, Change.gov, "once contained pages
  describing how it would use technology to provide more information
  to the public," reports ProPublica, "but the transition team took
  down the pages to 'retool' them." The since-disappeared transparency
  ideas included establishing a public "contracts and influence"
  database of federal contractors and their lobbying expenditures, and
  posting all non-emergency bills on the White House website for five
  days, before they're signed into law.
SOURCE: ProPublica, November 12, 2008

13. U.S. ARMY RECRUITING GETS YOUNGER AND LESS VIOLENT
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7944
  For years, military recruiters have focused on adult "influencers"
  -- parents, teachers and coaches who could encourage or discourage a
  young person from joining the military.  Now, the U.S. Army is
  seeking to make its recruiting "campaign more relevant to the
  desired audience of Americans ages 17 to 24." The new phase of the
  "Army strong" campaign puts "more emphasis on the Internet, event
  marketing and other methods that connect with young Americans on a
  closer, more personal level." It includes a revamped Army website,
  with "Straight from Iraq," a webcast series where visitors can "find
  out what it's really like to be deployed in the Middle East from the
  men and women stationed there." It's "the first time the Iraq war
  has been referred to so directly and prominently" on the Army's
  website. Nine Interpublic Group firms work on the "Army strong"
  campaign, including Casanova Pendrill, for ads targeting Hispanics;
  IW Group, for ads targeting Asian-Americans; Carol H. Williams
  Advertising, for ads targeting African-Americans; and Weber
  Shandwick, for public relations. The Army's also changing its
  "Virtual Army Experience" traveling exhibit, after criticism that
  its videogame contains violent imagery not suitable for the music
  festivals and county fairs where it's presented. "The new content
  will concentrate on the peaceful purposes the Army can serve ...
  like providing humanitarian aid."
SOURCE: New York Times, November 10, 2008

== UPCOMING EVENTS ==
1. CONSUMER REVOLUTION ON THE WEB: OPPORTUNITIES AND DANGERS FOR JOURNALISM
       The Web and social media have empowered the individual
  consumer and grassroots groups to hold corporations and the
  government accountable for flawed products, policies, and services.
  How can journalists harness this new energy? Learn from experts who
  understand the pitfalls and opportunities of the new consumer
  landscape.
       CMD Senior Researcher Diane Farsetta will address "Exposing
  the 'Spin,'" as part of the 11:30 am panel also featuring Steve
  Rubel of the PR firm Edelman.
To read the rest of this item, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/7968

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

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.

PR Watch, Spin of the Day, the Weekly Spin and SourceWatch are
projects of the Center for Media & Democracy, a nonprofit
organization that offers investigative reporting on the public
relations industry. We help the public recognize manipulative and
misleading PR practices by exposing the activities of secretive,
little-known propaganda-for-hire firms that work to control
political debates and public opinion. Please send any questions or
suggestions about our publications to editor AT prwatch DOT org.

To subscribe to the Weekly Spin, visit: http://www.prwatch.org/sub

CMD also sponsors SourceWatch, a collaborative research project
that invites anyone (including you) to contribute and edit articles.
For more information, visit:
http://www.sourcewatch.org