The Bush administration will escalate "its information war against Islamic extremism" by beaming "Arab-language satellite-television broadcasts to Europe." Later this year, the Virginia-based, "U.S.-backed TV channel Alhurra expects to transmit 24-hour programming to European Muslim communities." The $3.5 million in start-up funding will come from the $81 billion supplemental military budget request. The chair of the Broadcasting Board of Governors said, "The 9/11 hijackers came largely from Europe. It's a significant gap that we were not broadcasting in Arabic to Europe." U.S.-funded media is seen as a "so-called soft-power tool for building good will" internationally.

Due to health concerns, European countries are adopting more stringent salt regulations and U.S. consumer groups are calling for the same. But last spring, the Salt Institute industry group "joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in suing the Department of Health and Human Services in federal court," alleging that "government scientists were advising Americans to eat less salt without enough evidence." When the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee considered cutting the recommended daily intake of salt from 2,400 to 1,500 milligrams, the Grocery Manufacturers of America warned there was no acceptable substitute. The committee decided on a slight decrease to 2,300 milligrams. "You could almost hear the industry exhale," said a former Cargill executive.

Communications professor Nancy Snow deconstructs GOP pollster Frank Luntz's memo titled "The 14 Words Never to Use." Luntz writes, "Effectively communicating the New American Lexicon requires you to STOP saying words and phrases that undermine your ability to educate the American people." Included on the blacklist are "privatization" ("it evokes images of fat cats on Wall Street picking our pockets," explains Snow), "global economy / globalization / capitalism" (these words remind us "of a world of winners and losers," writes Snow), and "outsourcing." Instead of discussing "outsourcing," suggests Luntz, "we should talk about the 'root cause' ... 'over-taxation, over-regulation, too much litigation, and not enough innovation or quality education.' Because it rhymes, it will be remembered."

More than 4,000 pages of "documents relating to the communications strategy of the Social Security Administration," reveal that the SSA "has markedly changed its communications to the public over the last four years," reports the Democratic staff of the U.S. House Committee on Government Reform. "While estimates of Social Security's long-term solvency have improved over the last four years, the [SSA's] rhetoric has moved in the opposite direction." Previously described as a program that keeps seniors "out of poverty" and is in "no immediate crisis," Social Security is now portrayed as an "unsustainable," "underfinanced" program that "must change." The differences "reflect a growing politicization of the [SSA]" and raise "questions about [its] political independence," states the report.

Along with doubling spending on external PR contracts, the Bush administration has increased PR positions inside government agencies, called public affairs. Public affairs staffs grew by 9 percent since 2000, "even faster than the federal work force," for a cost increase of more than $50 million. The Pentagon "added the greatest number of PR officials." Other increases occurred at the State, Agriculture and Interior Departments and the Social Security Administration. The Forest Service's Communications Director said "a growing number of advisory panels required by Congress and a controversial program that opens some forests to logging" necessitated the PR boost. He said media tracking had intensified, adding that "after talking to Newsday for this story, he would have to call his boss to report the interview."

Noting that the U.S. Social Security Administration "has been promoting the idea that Social Security is facing a crisis," and SSA has paid Fleishman-Hillard "nearly $1.8 million since September 2003," the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is wondering "what role, if any" the PR firm "has played in manufacturing that crisis." CREW filed a Freedom of Information Act request with SSA asking for information on their PR contracts. When SSA failed to respond within 20 days, as required by law, CREW filed a lawsuit. "This Administration has a demonstrated pattern of misrepresenting important information to the public," said CREW's executive director.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is seeking "reporters to participate in TOPOFF 3, a biennial exercise directed by Congress that simulates a terrorist attack on the United States." Ogilvy PR is helping DHS recruit real journalists not currently employed by a news outlet, "to help department officials better understand how the media would respond to a weapon-of-mass-destruction attack." The director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism called the arrangement tricky, "because it raises potential future conflicts even if the reporter doesn't now cover the governmental entity writing the check." He added, "There is a whole industry called public relations staffed with people who used to be journalists" who could participate instead.

Two former Ogilvy & Mather marketing executives were found guilty of conspiracy and false claims, for inflating labor costs on a government account with the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy. The decision is "certain to prompt more questions among marketers about just how their ad agencies come up with prices and fees," wrote the Wall Street Journal. In a statement, the agency said, "The events described during the trial are completely inconsistent with Ogilvy's core values." Ogilvy had "voluntarily reported discrepancies on the account in 2000, and paid $1.8 million to settle civil charges related to the matter."

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"The U.S. government has launched a series of advertisements - broadcast for the first time on Pakistani state television and radio stations - promising multimillion dollar awards for information leading to Mr. bin Laden's capture." The ads show "images of bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahri, and the one-eyed reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar," while a voice says, "Who can stop the terrorists? Only you." The $5 to $25 million awards are also publicized on "posters, matchbox covers, newspaper ads, and the Internet." One Peshawar shopkeeper called the ads "useless," adding, "Everyone knows what Osama looks like. ... People even name their babies after him."

To boost "the feeling of national pride among its citizens," the Russian Defense Ministry is launching Zvezda ("Star"), a new television channel. Zvezda's manager said the channel "will dedicate 10 percent of its programs to military topics - movies, documentaries, talk shows and a planned reality show detailing the lives of conscripts in barracks." It's seen as an attempt "to boost military prestige and counter negative reports of hazing, desertions and corruption in the armed forces." All of Russia's TV channels are "either owned or tightly controlled by the government."

Bill Berkowitz writes that the Center for Media and Democracy's "sleuths of spin John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton have exposed how corporate shills and government spokespersons manipulate the media and undermine democracy for more than a decade," and are now "setting about an ambitious - yet necessary - undertaking: reinventing journalism." Berkowitz interviews Center founder Stauber about recent media scandals involving PR, payola, and fake journalists. They also discuss SourceWatch, "an information source that is truly 'of, by and for the people,'" and other ways the Center works to further media democracy.

The industry-funded lobbying group USANext "says it plans to spend as much as $10 million on commercials and other tactics assailing AARP, the powerhouse lobby opposing [Social Security] private investment accounts." To oversee the campaign, USANext hired Chris LaCivita, recently of the 527 group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. USANext is also looking to other Swift Vets advisers, having hired Creative Response Concepts and hoping to hire Rick Reed of the Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm firm. An unnamed USANext official said their pro-privatization campaign "would be so aggressive that the White House might not want to associate with it," especially because the group "is attacking the AARP."

Comptroller general and Government Accountability Office chief David Walker warned federal agencies that, while they "have the right to disseminate information about their policies and activities, agencies may not use appropriated [public] funds to produce or distribute prepackaged news stories intended to be viewed by television audiences that conceal or do not clearly identify ... that the agency was the source of those materials." Video news releases "can be utilized ... so long as there is clear disclosure." In the past two years, the GAO found VNRs from the Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of National Drug Control Policy to violate the ban on covert government propaganda.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is "wondering just what the nation's nuclear power companies are up to these days." While "taking steps toward building new reactors," the companies are "each emphasizing they have 'made no commitment' at all to actually building new nuclear plants." According to the paper, "The industrywide use of the 'no commitment' mantra is no accident. It's included in nuclear-energy talking points that showed up last year on the Web site for the industry's federal lobbying organization, the Nuclear Energy Institute." An NEI spokesperson said "the noncommitment mantra is a kind of 'hedging' - not unusual ... for publicly traded companies beginning to talk about potentially huge future capital investments."

Journalist Doug McGill has a new weblog called "Glocal Man," reflecting the "idea of glocal or worldplace news ... that every place on earth is connected by strands of mutual influence, interdependence, and direct causality." McGill writes in a manifesto style essay. "Because the geographical distances are so great, say between Rochester, MN and Brooklyn, NY and Warsaw, Poland, it's often easy not to see those connections. But those connections are there." Glocalized journalism, he says, "is a way of writing the news that describes and explains a community in the widest possible useful context, which is very often--I am tempted to say most often--a global context."

"These are heady days on Capitol Hill for business lobbyists," writes Stephen Labaton. "After suffering numerous setbacks in President Bush's first term, business lobbyists now say they have the wind at their backs." In addition to pushing for "tort reform" (which limits what people can collect in damages if they sue a corporation), lobbyists are also getting Congress to ram through new legislation that "would make it significantly more difficult and expensive for poor and moderate-income families to use bankruptcy protection to shield themselves from creditors. The bill's supporters say it is necessary to curb abusive filings, although its critics say it is largely a gift to the credit card and banking industries."

"James Guckert's mysterious career as a White House correspondent for Talon News just took another strange twist," writes Eric Boehlert. "And once again, the newest revelation raises the central question: Who broke the rules on Guckert's behalf to give him access to the White House? Despite administration claims that Guckert [aka "Jeff Gannon"] simply followed established protocol in order to routinely slip inside the White House briefing room, it now appears clear that Guckert, who just months before his 2003 debut as a cub reporter was offering himself up online as a $200 an hour male escort, benefited from extraordinarily preferential treatment, likely granted by someone inside the White House press office." Some conservative apologists are trying to distract attention from the "Gannongate" scandal by equating Guckert with leftist journalist Russell Mokhiber - a position also expressed in Editor and Publisher magazine. (There are, however, some differences. Mokhiber writes under his own name, and he hasn't plagiarized White House news releases and tried to pass them off as his own reporting. And as far as we can tell, Mokhiber doesn't use photos of his erect penis to advertise on the internet.)

"One of the most striking developments to come out of the three payola flaps involving conservative pundits that have surfaced recently," writes Brian Montopoli, "has been just how surprised the participants seem to be at the uproar that has greeted the exposure of their actions. ... Certainly, there does seem to be a feeling developing among some politicians and commentators on the take that the old, honor-based standards of journalism have grown quaint." He adds, "even though op-ed editors themselves know that many writers have an incentive not to disclose their connections, there isn't a lot they can do to fight back. ... Many editors lack the knowledge, expertise, and time necessary to weed out those trying to deceive them, and most of the op-ed editors contacted for this piece admitted -- off the record -- that they have been fooled more than once. And that's only the ones they're aware of."

"The Syrian government, increasingly under fire for its suspected role in sponsoring terrorist activity, has launched a PR offensive to improve its image in the West," reports PR Week. The Syrian Society for Public Relations, in collaboration with the British International Society for Public Relations, "will educate officials about how to maintain good relations with foreign governments, non-governmental organizations, the media, and opinion leaders." Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustapha is also making "a conscious media push in the U.S." In related news, the Saudi government has a two-page ad in the February 17 New York Times, highlighting their recent counter-terrorism conference.

"Only weeks before Halliburton made headlines by announcing it was pulling out of Iran ... the Texas-based oil services firm quietly signed a major new business deal to help develop Tehran’s natural gas fields," Newsweek's Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball write. "But overlooked in most of the press coverage of the announcement was that [Halliburton CEO David] Lesar’s statement contained enough wiggle room to permit Halliburton to continue participating in the new South Pars project. ... Lesar’s announcement was little more than 'PR damage control,' said one congressional investigator who has closely followed Halliburton’s dealings. 'They’re still acting like the sanctions law are a big joke,' the investigator added."

The British government will review its libel laws after two environmental campaigners who were sued by McDonald's won a legal judgment. The European court of human rights ruled "that their rights to a fair trial and freedom of expression were violated when they were denied legal aid," reports Clare Dyer. "McLibel" defendants Helen Steel and David Morris were sued by the fast-food chain for passing out leaflets that accused McDonalds of selling unhealthy food and damaging the environment. "The world's biggest fast-food chain spent an estimated £10 million on the case, which involved 28 pre-trial applications," Dyer reports. "The pair had to represent themselves with sporadic free help from friendly lawyers and £40,000 raised from supporters to help cover expenses such as transcripts and photocopying. ... The human rights court in Strasbourg ruled that the 'inequality of arms' between the two meant they were denied a fair trial and there was a 'chilling effect' on their freedom of expression."

George W. Bush has been traveling throughout the United States to promote his plan to privatize Social Security. Recent "Team Bush" events have been called "conversations," "forums" and "town hall meetings." But these gatherings are hardly public and far from spontanious. Cox News Service's Ken Herman writes, "Regardless of the name, such events are always the same: Bush as congenial host with hand-picked on-stage guests with stories to prove the president's point."

At the trespassing trial of activists protesting the School of the Americas combat training base, "new information surfaced about a comprehensive plan devised by the U.S. Army to deflect criticism of the school, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation." Defendant Aaron Shuman introduced as evidence WHINSEC's "Strategic Communications Campaign Plan," which he obtained from an Army public affairs officer. The $246,000 plan includes media monitoring, letters to the editor to counter negative coverage, and tracking Father Roy Bourgeois, the founder of the anti-WHINSEC group SOA Watch. For Bourgeois speaking events, the plan suggests "efforts to get an Army representative on the bill with the priest or in the same venue at a later date to present an opposing point of view."

Arnold Schwarzenegger's "current California media tour to promote his plans for reforming state government looks like a resounding success - if only because the California media, rather than turning up the heat, often ends up in marshmallow mode with the state's famous governor." While some ask about his "proposed merit pay for teachers, the state's budget deficit, nursing reform and pension overhaul," recent interview questions include, "Do you miss the movies?" and "You won what, five Mr. Universe titles?" Political science professor Barbara O'Connor says the "few reporters who cover state government on a regular basis" and Schwarzenegger's "celebrity status" help him "set the media agenda in a way we haven't seen in a long time."

A study analyzing 4,000 local newscasts in 11 major markets found that, "in the month leading up to last year's presidential election, local television stations in big cities devoted eight times as much air time to car crashes and other accidents than to campaigns for the House of Representatives, state senate, city hall and other local offices." Eight percent of news shows reported on local races, while more than half reported on the presidential race. Such local / national disparities are fueling "the debate over how many television stations a company may own." One type of airtime did focus on local races: "Advertising by House candidates eclipsed actual coverage of those races by a ratio of 5 to 1."

When Paul Biya, "the strongman who has ruled the West African country of Cameroon for more than 20 years swept to another election victory last fall, a number of observers quickly questioned the process." But not the U.S. Association of Former Members of Congress, who said, "This is what democracy is about." Their delegation was organized by "a lobbyist for Biya's government," who "served as the mission's chief staffer and billed Cameroon for his work. Biya's government also picked up the $80,000 tab for the Americans' visit. And a month after the group left, one of the six observers signed his own lobbying contract with Cameroon."

"The Armstrong Williams scandal is an example of the close coordination between the advertiser and the commentator ... that violates disclosure and conflicts-of-interest principles," the Center for Media and Democracy's Sheldon Rampton told the New York Times' Timothy O'Brien. O'Brien's article gives a historical overview of the PR industry, including many firms' consolidation into marketing and communications companies. "Critics say firms like Ketchum that operate inside conglomerates are pushing harder to fatten the bottom line - which may lead them to cross ethical boundaries." PR firms' work on political issues also raises questions, since "one man's propaganda is another man's truth," said the chief executive of Manning, Selvage & Lee.

"The new year saw the launch of a well-orchestrated, multi-pronged campaign calling for America to end its dependence on oil through massive federal investments in nuclear energy," warns Patrick Doherty. The campaign includes articles by American Enterprise Institute and Global Business Network staff, a book titled "A Brighter Tomorrow: Fulfilling the Promise of Nuclear Energy" by Senate Energy Committee Chair Pete Domenici, and President Bush's State of the Union address. But what the nuclear industry is pushing "will cost the taxpayer $8 billion" and won't decrease U.S. oil consumption for decades, writes Doherty. Instead, he suggests "small natural gas turbines combined with better grid design."

McDonald's and MTV Networks have partnered, in a bid by the fast-food giant "to reach young people without running advertisements." Instead of ads, a new "30-minute monthly programme called MTV Advance Warning" will "feature new musical talent combined with McDonald's advertising imagery." The program will run in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia. The move comes as officials in the U.S. and European Union consider "restrictions on food advertising" due to rising youth obesity rates. As part of its "I'm lovin' it" campaign, McDonald's is also sponsoring a global tour by the musical group Destiny's Child, called "Destiny Fulfilled and lovin' it." McDonald's global chief of marketing said, "Music is the one universal language."

Scientists employed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say they have been told to change their research findings concerning the protection of plants and animals. A survey of USFWS biologists, ecologists, botanists and other science professionals sponsored by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility finds:

• "Nearly half of all respondents whose work is related to endangered species scientific findings (44 percent) reported that they 'have been directed, for non-scientific reasons, to refrain from making jeopardy or other findings that are protective of species.'  One in five agency scientists revealed they have been instructed to compromise their scientific integrity—reporting that they have been 'directed to inappropriately exclude or alter technical information from a USFWS scientific document,' such as a biological opinion;
• "More than half of all respondents (56 percent) knew of cases where "commercial interests have inappropriately induced the reversal or withdrawal of scientific conclusions or decisions through political intervention."

Saying they had "bargain[ed] in good faith," Wal-Mart announced it was closing a store in Quebec whose employees were negotiating the first union contract ever with the giant retailer. Wal-Mart said the move is not a union bust, but due to "the fragile condition of the Jonquiere store." A union spokesperson said, "We're going to carry on with our efforts to organize Wal-Marts." The Canadian firm National PR is helping Wal-Mart with "French-language media outreach" following the announcement. O'Dwyer's notes that the closing "comes as Hill & Knowlton is guiding a national campaign in the U.S. to help the company put out the 'unfiltered truth' and correct 'urban legends.'"

At a "conversation with experts and victims" organized by the White House to push legislation limiting class-action lawsuits, President Bush sat next to Clinton administration acting solicitor general Walter E. Dellinger III. "He represents the spirit needed to have good legal reform and that is the bipartisan spirit," Bush said. It was not disclosed that Dellinger's law firm, O'Melveny & Myers, received "$780,000 since 1999 - including $580,000 in the last two years - by two of the major lobbying groups set up by companies to try to push the legislation through Congress," including the Institute for Legal Reform, set up by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"In recent weeks, senior politicians from Germany's two biggest parties resigned following disclosures that they received tens of thousands of euros from corporate benefactors," even though "the payments were legal." Throughout Europe, companies are increasingly doing "aggressive lobbying in the absence of rules to rein them in." Public outrage has led watchdogs like the Corporate Europe Observatory to push for disclosure laws, though "many companies responded ... by further obscuring their lobbying efforts." Economic and political changes have made Berlin, in particular, a hotspot for corporate lobbying. "We're extremely well networked here," said Coca-Cola's head of public affairs in Berlin.

To counter criticism of "buzz" or guerrilla marketing, the year-old Word of Mouth Marketing Association developed a code of ethics. The Association includes the Burson-Marsteller, Edelman and Rowland Communications PR firms, along with marketing agencies and advertisers. The Association's ethics code calls for "honest disclosure of relationship, opinion and identity," which would end the practice of hiring actors to play satisfied consumers. "The whole idea of marketing is to not make it look like marketing," remarked the co-founder of Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, an agency that once hired actors to drink a brand of cognac "at trendy bars and chat with patrons about the pricey product."

"The Talon News correspondent at the center of a scandal over his White House press credentials quit last night amid a growing online investigation into his history, including allegations of involvement with several websites appearing to support gay pornography and promote male prostitution," reports Timothy Karr. "Jeff Gannon (a pseudonym) announced last night via his personal website that he had found it 'no longer possible to effectively be a reporter for Talon News. In consideration of the welfare of me and my family I have decided to return to private life.'"

Top Republican political strategist Karl Rove - aka "Bush's Brain" - has been given the job deputy White House chief of staff. George W. Bush's longtime counselor labored under the titles "Assistant to the President" and "Senior Advisor" during the President's first term. Rove is credited with masterminding Bush's reelection strategy. In his new role, Rove's responsibilities will include coordinating policy between the White House Domestic Policy Council, National Economic Council, National Security Council and Homeland Security Council.

In the continuing saga of taxpayer money used to champion Bush administration policies, the Palm Beach Post reports, "A Florida State University center has used more than a half-million in education tax dollars to put a positive spin on President Bush's key school policies, including hiring a public relations firm to teach charter schools to be more media-savvy." As part of a 5-year, $1.2 million No Child Left Behind Act grant, FSU's School Choice Center is using federal money to "make parents aware of all choice programs, including traditional magnet schools, expand the number of choice schools in the state, and help them 'work the media.'" The Post reports, "links on the center's Web site are almost entirely to studies and articles from conservative groups and strong school-choice proponents such as the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Center for Education Reform and the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research." Tallahassee-based PR firm Moore Consulting Group has so far received $45,000 to create template advertisements for choice programs and to do media training with charter and private school staff. The School Choice Center is not alone in receiving Education Department money. Several other right-leaning groups are using federal grant dollars "to develop their existing public information campaign[s] about key components of No Child Left Behind."

The Federal Propaganda Prohibition Act has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Stop Government Propaganda Act in the Senate, "to increase congressional oversight of federal PR contracts." Yet, "the reaction of the industry has been less than panicked." Why? "Neither bill is likely to become law." PR Week writes, "These anti-PR bills are mostly PR tools. They have been presented by Democrats eager to jump on what they see as an Achilles heel for the Bush administration: its alleged inability to deal squarely with the American people. ... These bills are in many ways a continuation of the debate over administration hype in the build-up to the war in Iraq."

The Pentagon is investigating "the military's practice of paying journalists to write articles and commentary ... and also looking more broadly at Pentagon activities that might involve inappropriate payments to journalists," writes Associated Press. CNN reported on Pentagon involvement with two news websites, Southeast European Times (focused on the Balkans) and Magharebia (focused on North Africa). Some 50 journalists were paid by the Pentagon through a private contractor, Anteon Corporation, for contributions to the Balkans site. A not "immediately obvious" disclaimer on the sites discloses that they are "sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defence." A U.S. military spokesperson said of the North African site, "It's not disinformation. Every printed word is the truth."

"Massively financed by, first private, and now public dollars, the campaign to create the perception of an alternative, conservative Black 'leadership' is on the march in all regions of the nation," writes the Black Commentator in an article titled "Bribes + Vouchers = Black Bush Supporters." The article shows how "black leaders" who recently posted for a photo op with Bush were the recipients of millions of dollars in funding from right-wing foundations as well as from government programs launched by the Bush administration. "The Republicans need only a few Black faces to fill up a room, or a television screen, and only a modest number of Black congregations to demonstrate newfound credibility in the community," the article observes. "They can achieve this at literally no cost, since faith-based and voucher advocacy ('public education') grants are paid for with tax dollars – public money. ... For every outraged Black preacher howling that he’s giving up on the Democrats because of the gays, there is a check or the promise of a check."

"After brief pleasantries on the phone the other day," writes Jeffrey Birnbaum, "Thomas J. Donohue got down to business with a top health insurance executive. 'We're in a new year and a new time,' Donohue said smoothly. 'Can we put you on the list and get your money?' The executive said yes, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was $100,000 richer. So, in effect, was President Bush's push to rein in trial lawyers and lower taxes." Birnbaum shows how Donohue and the chamber have led a "quiet revolution in business lobbying," marked by massive increases in corporate spending and close allegiance to the Bush administration's political agenda.

Glenn Fleishman has done a neat job of identifying some of the leading groups and individuals that are trying to stop U.S. municipalities from setting up wireless internet systems, such as the Heartland Institute and the New Millennium Research Council, "a sock puppet for the incumbent telecommunications interests" that don't want municipalities to compete with their own private, for-profit services. According to tech columnist Dan Gillmor, the anti-WiFi campaign is yet another example of the "ongoing scandal" of "lack of transparency in the world of opinion-making. ... What we have today is a system of opinion laundering, where powerful interests try to create public support for their side of issues without disclosing the hidden agendas."

Students at Vermont's Middlebury College and the Green House Network have announce a new competition for global warming deniers. The Flat Earth Award recognizes the hard work that goes into discrediting "the strong scientific consensus that the human-induced global warming is real." Finalists for the award include Michael Crichton, Rush Limbaugh, and S. Fred Singer. The public is invited to help choose the winner.

Tracing the rise of U.S. government sponsored propaganda from campaigns in the 1980s that supported U.S. actions in Central America to "the permanent conservative media machine that we know today," journalist Robert Parry writes, "By now, the huge investment of money in this conservative media machine may mean that even if conservative 'journalists' did reach an honest conclusion that their behavior was damaging the United States, they would be hard pressed to change course. ... In that way, the conservative 'journalists' are like workers in a factory that's polluting a river which flows through the neighboring countryside. If the pollution is stopped, they fear they will lose their jobs. So it's in their interest to fight environmental controls, keep the factory running and leave it to someone else to clean up the mess."

As the European Parliament has come into power, the population of lobbyists, PR firms and front groups has boomed in Brussels. In a new report, the Corporate Europe Observatory exposes the work of global PR firm Burson-Marsteller on behalf of the bromine industry as it attempts to stymie bans on bromine-based flame retardants. For example, the Bromine Science and Environmental Forum, which is housed in B-M's Brussels office and staffed by B-M employees, is not much more than a mouthpiece for the world's four major bromine producing companies. "Until recently, the corporate nature of BSEF and the key role of Burson-Marsteller in its operations was routinely kept vague or simply hidden," CEO writes. "To add to the impression of a house of mirrors, Burson-Marsteller’s Brussels office also runs several other bromine industry outfits fighting EU bans, such as the Alliance for Consumer Fire Safety in Europe (ACFSE) and the European Brominated Flame Retardant Industry Panel (EBFRIP), which consists of three of the four BSEF corporations." CEO observes the bromine industry's PR campaign "does not appear driven by the pursuit of scientific truth about the environment and health impacts" of their products, rather B-M's work for the industry is to protect profitable bromine products from EU bans.

"A city commissioner, a liberal radio producer, a deputy Democratic campaign manager and a number of university professors" were among 42 people on a "do not admit" list for President Bush's Fargo, North Dakota event promoting Social Security privatization. The White House said the list, given to two ticket distribution sites, must have come from local volunteers. And the Republican National Committee "is asking television stations to stop airing" MoveOn.org ads opposing Bush's Social Security plan. In a letter, the RNC's deputy counsel said MoveOn.org was "knowingly and willfully spread[ing] false information," and reminded the stations that Federal Communications Commission license holders must "avoid broadcasting deliberate misrepresentations."

South Korea's Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy is working with the new Corporate Love Council, "to eliminate the public's hostility toward corporations and bolster confidence in enterprises this year." Minister Lee Hee-beom explained, "Anti-corporate sentiment of Korean citizens has reached an alarming level." The Corporate Love Council "was launched by civic groups and business organizations." Its top initiatives are "economy education for youths and educators and the revision of economy textbooks," to "correct errors." Minister Lee also encouraged companies "to further strengthen ethics management and social responsibility activities to improve their public image."

Qorvis Communications, a PR firm under investigation by the FBI, "is promoting the first Counter-Terrorism International Conference on behalf of client Saudi Arabia." More than 50 countries will be represented at the invite-only event in Riyadh, which will feature workshops on "relationships between terrorism, money laundering, arms and weapons, and how to promote international cooperation in combating terror." O'Dwyer's also reports that the government of Qatar "has hired Barbour Griffith & Rogers to a $300K pact to smooth relations with the Bush Administration." The New York Times recently reported that pressure from U.S. officials over its sponsorship of the TV news station Al Jazeera has resulted in Qatar "accelerating plans to put Al Jazeera on the market."

"Pfizer Inc. has revealed it completed a study four years ago that links its painkiller Celebrex to a 'statistically significant' increase in heart problems," reports the Boston Globe. When a December 2004 National Cancer Institute study found an increased risk of heart problems, Pfizer called the results "unexpected." A month later, Pfizer quietly published its own 1999 study, on the website of the industry-funded group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. In other news, the SUV Owners of America are protesting a campaign to promote SUV safety. Stratacomm founder and SUVOA spokesperson Ron Defore said the campaign "perpetuates the myth that the largest of the SUV's are somehow these very dangerous vehicles."

A new global business ranking – the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations – was launched at the recent meeting in Davos, Switzerland of the corporate friendly World Economic Forum. Topping the list of "Sustainable Corporations" were Toyota, Alcoa and BP. The companies have distinguished themselves through their “ability to profit from recognising new environmental and social markets,” the list’s organizers said. Meanwhile down the slope from WEF, the Public Eye on Davos conference, which meets every year to provide a critique of the neoliberal globalization promoted by WEF, awarded its prize for "most blatant case of corporate irresponsibility" to Nestle. The Swiss food and beverages company was criticized for labor conflicts in Colombia and for its aggressive marketing methods for baby food, which jeopardize breastfeeding.

In an unprecedented move, the U.S. chemical industry is attempting to discredit two historians who have detailed the industry's efforts to hide links between their products and cancer. "Attorneys for Dow, Monsanto, Goodrich, Goodyear, Union Carbide and others have subpoenaed and deposed five academics who recommended that the University of California Press publish the book Deceit and Denial - The Deadly Politics of Industrial Pollution, by Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner. The companies have also recruited their own historian to argue that Markowitz and Rosner have engaged in unethical conduct," Jon Wiener writes in the Nation. "The reasons for the companies' actions are not hard to find: They face potentially massive liability claims on the order of the tobacco litigation if cancer is linked to vinyl chloride-based consumer products such as hairspray. The stakes are high also for publishers of controversial books, and for historians who write them, because when authors are charged with ethical violations and manuscript readers are subpoenaed, that has a chilling effect. The stakes are highest for the public, because this dispute centers on access to information about cancer-causing chemicals in consumer products."

"Automated callers are phoning seniors in at least a dozen Republican congressional districts across the country telling them their representative favors 'privatizing Social Security,'" reports the Hill. The calls are targeting "Republican members with high concentrations of senior citizens ... in potentially close districts." They warn of a two trillion dollar cost to taxpayers and decreased retiree benefits, saying Social Security "should be in a lock box, not a Wall Street slot machine." No group has claimed responsibility for the calls. The calls give a toll-free number for the U.S. Capitol switchboard used by the American Federation of Teachers, but the group denied involvement and disconnected the number.

Declaring "a new milestone for the commercialization of blogs," AdAge.com reports that Sony Consumer Electronics e-Solutions Group is paying $25,000 a month to be the exclusive sponsor of LifeHacker, a new weblog published by Gawker Media "about the software of personal gadgetry." Gawker blog readers are considered "prime influencers" or "connectors" on technology issues. "What Sony is paying for is reducing their odds that they look idiotic and increasing their odds that they hit a home run," explained Blogads.com founder Henry Copeland. But "ads can cheapen and compromise a blog," warned Carat Interactive's media director John Cate.

The Independent profiles secretive PR executive John Rendon, whose firm often works for the U.S. government and military. "In 2001 he won a contract to handle the PR aspects of U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan. ... The following year the Pentagon hired the Rendon Group to assist its own propaganda agency, the Office of Strategic Information, which was later publicly disbanded amid claims it would engage in 'black' propaganda. In June 2003 Rendon reportedly went to work for the joint chiefs of staff, providing 'strategic communications counsel, media analysis and consultation support services.'" His success with the last task was "impressive," notes the paper, since "two-thirds of Americans thought Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks."