PR Watch, First Quarter 2004, Volume 11, No. 1

10 Years of PR Watch

This year, the Center for Media & Democracy
celebrates ten years of exposing manipulative and deceptive corporate
and government public relations. Founded as the first public interest
organization to address the problem of organized propaganda campaigns
and their impact on democracy (especially progressive social change),
the Center has exposed flacks in this newsletter, on our website, in
countless interviews and articles, and in the five books written by CMD
founder John Stauber and PR Watch editor Sheldon Rampton.

How Now, Mad Cow?

mad cow disease

by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber

Common Courage Press has just released the paperback
version of our 1997 book, Mad Cow USA--the book that predicted
the emergence of the deadly human and animal dementia disease in the
United States. When Mad Cow USA was first published in November
1997, it bore the subtitle "Could the Nightmare Happen Here?" We used
a question mark because we thought mad cow disease was possible but still
preventable in the United States, if the meat industry and government
regulators adopted adequate safety measures.

align="BOTTOM">Our book received favorable reviews at the time from some interesting
publications, such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, New
Scientist, and Chemical & Engineering News.

Where's the (BSE-free) Beef?

mad cow disease

by Diane Farsetta

International and domestic consumers want it.
Meat packers want it. Producers are willing to offer it, but the U.S.
Department of Agriculture says no one can get it unless and until they
decide otherwise.

align="BOTTOM">The controversial product? U.S. beef from 100 percent screened
cattle determined to be free of mad

In February, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef, a slaughterhouse and meatpacker
in Kansas, said it was going to build its own testing laboratory for mad cow
disease, or BSE (for bovine spongiform encephalopathy).

Pumping Irony

book excerpt from Banana
Republicans: How the Right Wing Is Turning America into a One-Party
State

For Jay Leno, it was a big night, scoring the
highest Nielsen rating that The Tonight Show had seen for a
Wednesday in more than four years. The big guest was movie muscleman
Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was coming on the show to announce whether
he would run in California's recall election against Governor Gray Davis.
The buzz had been in the air for weeks.