A National Academy of Sciences report says up to 20 parts per billion (ppb) of the rocket fuel chemical perchlorate in drinking water could be considered "safe." Perchlorate affects thyroid function, with children believed to be especially vulnerable. The Environmental Protection Agency previously set 1 ppb as the "safe" perchlorate level; the Defense Department suggested 200 ppb. The Natural Resources Defense Council says the NAS report was compromised by "a brazen campaign" by White House and Defense Department officials and defense contractors "to downplay the hazards" of perchlorate. Through the Freedom of Information Act, NRDC obtained documents suggesting politically-driven pressures on the scope of the NAS investigation, the composition of the NAS panel, and the report. Similar influence was exposed, when a member of the industry's Perchlorate Study Group edited an article on adult perchlorate exposure, without the author's knowledge. The original version of the article, which appeared in Environmental Health Perspectives, a journal of the U.S. government's National Institute of Environmental Health Services, was deemed "potentially very damaging" by the group.

Nicolle Devenish, the new White House communications director, was "once fired for being too nice to reporters," writes the New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller. Devenish's goal is "to improve the contentious relationship between a secretive White House and the press." She was previously the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign communications director, the White House regional press head, and Florida Governor Jeb Bush's press secretary. "Now her job is to free up [presidential counselor Dan] Bartlett to do more long-term planning and, of course, spin reporters." CJR Daily critiques Bumiller's profile of Devenish, writing, "Bumiller's fawning wouldn't seem so objectionable if her subject wasn't someone who she has a clear interest in cultivating as a source."

Canada confirmed its third case of mad cow disease, just two weeks after its last case and after the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced plans to normalize cattle and beef trade with Canada. Now, the USDA "is looking to withdraw a plan to allow imports of young live cattle from Canada," reports Reuters. Last week, the Senate Agriculture Committee unanimously approved USDA Secretary nominee Mike Johanns. "Committee members spent little time discussing Johanns' qualifications ... and instead spent the majority of the hearing airing renewed concerns about the impact of mad cow disease on the U.S. beef industry," writes J.R. Pegg. But Burson-Marsteller and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association are finalists for PR Week's 2005 awards, for "Protecting Consumer Confidence in U.S. Beef: An issues management success."

"There is certainly no shortage of story angles to choose from," writes Laurie Spivak, about the revelation that Armstrong Williams was paid to promote the Bush administration's education policies. "This isn't just a story about a self-serving pundit 'entrepreneur,' or the erosion of public trust in the media, or hypocrisy, or using covert propaganda to sell controversial Bush programs. ... Armstrong Williams, Karen Ryan and Ketchum PR are all bit players in what is a big budget, major studio production. ... The real story here is about the conservative movement and the ways that that movement - primarily through the marketing of conservative ideas - has molded and continues to mold public opinion in America."

Christian Science Monitor reporter Tom Regan writes, "The Internet is increasingly being used by special interest groups to try and influence media to change the way they cover a subject, or in some cases not to cover it at all." Regan focuses on the Monitor's on-line polls, which, although not scientific, "encourage deeper involvement in a story and issue." A poll accompanying a story on the U.S. Presbyterian Church's vote to boycott companies doing business with Israel resulted in a "coordinated e-mail bomb campaign." Regan summarizes, "The great concern of those who e-mailed and those who organized the e-mailing: public perception." But "e-mail bomb campaigns are easy to spot, and often easy to ignore. ... Just one thoughtful, well-written e-mail or letter can often have far more impact than the hundreds of cut-and-paste e-mails sent during these attacks."