The fact-checkers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania have taken the trouble to check out radio ads by Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, in which he falsely claims that only 44 percent of men with prostate cancer survive under England's "socialized medicine" system. In reality, they report, this statistic is merely "the result of bad math by a Giuliani campaign adviser, who admits to us that his figure isn't 'technically' a survival rate at all. Furthermore, the co-author of the study on which Giuliani's man based his calculations tells us his work is being misused, and that the 44 percent figure is both wrong and 'misleading.' ... Actually, men with prostate cancer are more likely to die sooner if they don't have health insurance, according to a recent study published in one of the American Medical Association's journals. Giuliani doesn't mention that."

Karen Hughes in IndonesiaU.S. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes is leaving the Bush administration. Hughes, a long-time confidant of President Bush's, served as a counselor during Bush's first term, then officially left the White House in 2002, only to return as the nation's PR czar in 2005. Her last day will be in December. In announcing her resignation, Hughes stressed that improving the U.S.'s image around the world is a "long-term challenge." At the State Department, Hughes increased the number of "interviews with Arabic media," and "set up three rapid public relations response centers overseas to monitor and respond to the news. She nearly doubled the public diplomacy budget, to nearly $900m annually, and sent U.S. sports stars Michelle Kwan and Cal Ripken abroad as unofficial diplomats. But polls show no improvement in the world's view of the U.S. since she took over. A Pew Research survey earlier said the unpopular Iraq war is a persistent drag on the U.S. image and has helped push favorable opinion of America in Muslim Indonesia, for instance, from 75% in 2000 to 30% last year." Hughes' key deputy, Dina Habib Powell, left the State Department earlier this year, "to become director of global corporate engagement for Goldman Sachs Group," notes PR Week.

As investigations into its shootings of Iraqi civilians continue, the private military contractor Blackwater USA is softening its public image. "The company's roughneck logo — a bear's paw print in a red crosshairs, under lettering that looks to have been ripped from a fifth of Jim Beam — has undergone a publicity-conscious, corporate scrubbing," reports Paul Von Zielbauer. Blackwater says the redesign was planned before September 16, when its employees killed 17 Iraqis, but "the new logo did not appear" on the company's website until afterwards. Gone are "the rifle-scope crosshairs," and the paw print and logo lettering also look less menacing. One graphic designer commented, "The old logo suggests that they're targeting people. The new logo is a more ambiguous, safe corporate logo." The company is also changing its name to Blackwater Worldwide. But it's not forming a "Department of Corporate Integrity," as a spoof press release from the peace group Code Pink claimed. CBS, Politico and other news outlets were fooled by the satirical release, which also claimed that Blackwater was working to "put the mercy back in mercenary," reports Editor & Publisher.

From the Allstate wildfire VNRThe U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) fake news conference — where FEMA staffers played reporter, asking FEMA's deputy administrator softball questions — has cost one person his job. Former FEMA Director of External Affairs John Philbin was slated to start a new job under the Director of National Intelligence, Mike McConnell. However, following the FEMA debacle, McConnell issued a statement that "Mr. Philbin is not, nor is he scheduled to be, the director of public affairs." (FEMA has also removed Philbin's bio from its website.) Other questionable responses to the California wildfires include promoting former FEMA director Michael Brown to media outlets, "as an expert on disaster and recovery efforts." Brown is now the "corporate strategy director for Cotton Cos., a disaster recovery outfit that saw duty in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina." Cotton's PR firm, 5W Public Relations, is pitching "Brownie," reports O'Dwyer's. On Fox News, Brown did a "heckuva job," blaming the fires on environmentalists opposed to "controlled burns." Lastly, Allstate put out a wildfire-related video news release. The fake news piece features an Allstate employee (standing in front of an Allstate logo) telling viewers the insurance company is "doing everything we can ... to help our customers start the recovery process."

"At the end of a two-day informal meeting of defence ministers in the Netherlands, NATO's secretary general reiterated ... that the alliance needs to do a better job in public relations both in home countries and Afghanistan." To that end, Denmark pledged one million Euros for "video equipment that will ultimately be used to deliver documented Taliban outrages to a television near you — or to the popular video website YouTube." NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer previously suggested declassifying "video surveillance shot by NATO forces throughout the Afghan conflict," in part to shore up public opinion in member countries for the Afghan mission. Hoop Scheffer rejected characterizations of the videos as propaganda, saying any declassified footage will be "unmanipulated." He described one still-classified video of "an insurgent who pulled a burka from a backpack and draped himself in the head-to-foot robe to take on the appearance of a woman," before opening "fire with an AK-47 on western troops."

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SCHIP - The State Children's Health Insurance Program, which covers more than 6 million U.S. kids from families whose income is too high to qualify for Medicaid but who are considered too poor to afford health insurance, has been all over the news this summer and fall as Congress debated the renewal and expansion of the program. President Bush has already vetoed the first bill approved by Democrats and many Republicans, and the House has held two votes on new versions of the bill but has yet to muster the votes needed to override the veto.

The stakes - billions of dollars and insurance for millions of children - have rarely been higher, and citizens need to know how their representatives voted, regardless of whether they think the bill was a march toward socialized health care or a lifeline for poor children. You can help by taking five minutes to record the votes of your representative in their Congresspedia "permanent record." The Congresspedia staff has written concise summaries of the votes and simple instructions for recording the votes on your member's profile. The instructions are here and if this is your first time editing on SourceWatch, you can register here, and learn more about the site here. Have fun, and thanks for your help!

Update on the 2008 Election Project: Also for our U.S.-based readers, the featured participatory project two weeks ago to find photos for every member of Congress was a rousing success, with more than 300 photos uploaded by citizens for members of Congress. See the candidates for your state here (click on your state in the map) or take part in the current 2008 election participatory project: finding and logging the endorsements for congressional candidates. Thanks to Congresspedia's high readership and search engine ratings, these profiles are likely to be read by hundreds of thousands of citizens by the election.

Iraqi refugees in SyriaAs fires rage in southern California, the U.S. media devoted extensive coverage to the refugees displaced by the disaster and even to the fate of horses and other farm animals. LinkTV uses the occasion to compare and contrast this coverage with a far more serious refugee problem that the U.S. news media have been ignoring in Iraq, where the United Nations High Commission on Refugees estimates that the war has driven some 4.4 million people from their homes.

"In the early months of the 2008 presidential campaign, the media had already winnowed the race to mostly five candidates and offered Americans relatively little information about their records or what they would do if elected," concludes a new study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. The study also found that the media gave Barack Obama and Fred Thompson more favorable coverage than other candidates. Most of the coverage focused on "political and tactical aspects of the campaign" such as fundraising and polling, while "just 1% of stories examined the candidates' records or past public performance. ... All of these findings seem to be at sharp variance with what the public says it wants from campaign reporting."

Sacramento television station KCRA recently aired a "Problem Solvers" news segment where "Lynsey Paulo, a multiple regional-Emmy winner, looked at 'search engine fatigue' among online users. The report quoted three consumers, an expert from UCLA and an executive from Myride.com, which provides targeted-search results. What viewers didn't see from watching the 1 minute, 40 second report was that it was nearly identical to a video news release sent to media organizations from Autobytel Inc., which owns Myride.com," reports Sam McManis. "All the reporting in Paulo's piece -- sound bites, B-roll footage and even a chart -- came directly from the release." KCRA's news director said "his staff independently corroborated the facts in the story," and that "a graphic at the end of the newscast" listed the VNR material as a source. He admitted "there are some things we could've done better out of full disclosure," but said KCRA will continue to use VNRs, "if we feel like it's a good story idea and we can put it in context."

The U.S. Department of State has started its own blog, "Dipnote," which it describes as an "opportunity for participants to discuss important foreign policy issues with senior Department officials." Although blogger Wonkette thinks the name is "sort of begging to be mocked," Craig Hayden at the University of Southern California's Center for Public Diplomacy thinks the blog "has the potential to be a positive development as far as advocates of dialogue-based public diplomacy are concerned," because comment postings from outside the U.S. might give State Department officials a "healthy exposure to life outside the United States, the bubble of U.S. news coverage, and the rhetorically truncated world-view of the Bush administration's talking point." Hayden has studied which topics on the blog actually draw the most comments from readers. "While short postings from Karen Hughes or updates on official diplomatic activities yield scant interest," he writes, "provocative topics like 'Should the United States play a role in the creation of a Palestinian State?' or a discussion of how to convince nations to stop the violence in Burma draw in the most respondents. These kinds of posts are not only a way to invite more participation in the foreign policy conversation; they are a means for the State Department to gauge global public opinion in a way that moves beyond polling."

Passers-by might think that the people camped out at dawn to ensure a seat in a Congressional committee hearing are a shining example of democracy in action. In fact, chances are that they are a perfect example of what's wrong with our democracy. They may be professional "line standers" -- people who get paid by lobbyists to arrive early and hold a place in line for industry reps that arrive just before the hearing starts. Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri finds the practice offensive, and wants to crack down. "'Once I realized this was happening, I was really offended,' she told reporters outside the hearing room. 'This is the people's government and these should be the people's hearings. I have no problem with lobbyists getting into hearings, but they shouldn't be able to buy a seat.'" Her solution is to introduce legislation that would levy the same fines for hiring line standers that a lobby firm risks by, say, buying a Congressperson an expensive dinner. "I think America believes that money runs this place, and unfortunately, I think sometime it does," McCaskill said. "I think this is a great way for us to put our foot down."

"As the California wildfires raged," the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA's) deputy administrator, Harvey Johnson, gave a news briefing, which was carried on Fox News, MSNBC and other outlets. But "reporters were only given 15 minutes' notice," and the phone number to call in "was a 'listen only' line," so "no questions." During the briefing, Johnson "responded eloquently" to such softball questions as "Are you happy with FEMA's response so far?" Turns out, "the questions were asked by FEMA staffers playing reporters." According to FEMA's Mike Widomski, "the staff did not make up the questions ... and Johnson did not know what was going to be asked. 'We pulled questions from those we had been getting from reporters earlier in the day.' Despite the very short notice, 'we were expecting the press to come,' he said, but they didn't. So the staff played reporters for what on TV looked just like the real thing."

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 cover jailed bloggers, auto industry front groups, the pharmaceutical industry's new television show, and the U.S./Disney axis of welcome. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we tell you how many steps it takes to get from Disney's greeters to Blackwater's mercenaries. 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@prwatch.org to let us know. Thanks!

Worst EU Lobbyist Awards 2007Voting has begun for the Worst Lobbying Awards for 2007 in Europe. Sponsored by Friends of the Earth, Corporate Europe Observatory, LobbyControl and Spinwatch, the contest invites people to select from candidates including BMW, Daimler and Porsche for their lobbying to water down automobile emissions standards; the Cabinet Stewart PR firm for running the International Council of Capital Formation, a front group for opponents of the Kyoto Protocol; ExxonMobil for giving misleading information about its greenhouse gas emissions; and the German Atomic Forum for using concern about global warming as an excuse to promote nuclear energy.

Big brands often rely on "coolhunters" to "scour the globe's streets, stores, clubs and hidden haunts picking up clues as to what's hot, what's next. ... At Nike, the drive to recruit under-the-radar influencers like [Los Angeles tattoo artist] Mr. Cartoon is on the rise and a key part of the company's strategy." Nike CEO Mark Parker "has moved to aggressively link Nike with those who can help maintain the company's standing among what he calls the 'influencers of influencers'. ... In addition to Mr. Cartoon, Mr, Parker has fostered Nike collaborations with a New York graffiti artist named Lenny Futura, the industrial designer Marc Newson and a pair of Brazilian muralists known as Os Gemeos." Not everyone welcomes Nike's coolhunting. "Designer Steve 'Birdo' Guisinger, owner of a small but influential Santa Cruz, Calif., retailer called Consolidated Skateboards, painted three wheel-less skateboard 'decks' with images that lampooned Nike's attempts to craft a more street-smart image. The board depicting Mr. Parker shows him in a T-shirt with flame tattoos running up one arm and a chauffeured white limousine waiting behind him."

From the movie "Welcome: Portraits of America"Travelers flying into the United States via airports in Washington DC and Houston are being shown "a sappy seven-minute film made by the folks at Walt Disney showcasing all that is wonderful, scenic and nice about the land of the free." Eventually, the film will be shown "in the international arrivals halls of all major U.S. airports as well as in visa-processing offices around the world. Major airlines will also be encouraged to show it on aircraft shortly before landing in the U.S." The movie was made by Disney's Frederico Tio, himself a Cuban immigrant, and donated to the U.S. government. U.S. public diplomacy czar Karen Hughes praised the film for "creating a warm first impression, and first impressions are important." A joint U.S. government / Disney press release says the film is part of "a joint vision" by the State and Homeland Security Departments "to enhance border security while streamlining security processes and facilitating travel for legitimate visitors."

Congressional testimony that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Julie Gerberding gave "about the impact of climate change and health was significantly edited by the White House," reports AP. "A CDC official familiar with both versions said Gerberding's draft 'was eviscerated,' cut from 14 pages to four," by the White House Office of Management and Budget. "The version presented to the Senate committee consisted of six pages." The CDC official called the edits "heavy-handed." The White House edits deleted "details on how many people might be adversely affected because of increased warming and the scientific basis for some of the CDC's analysis on what kinds of diseases might be spread in a warmer climate and rising sea levels." During questioning by members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Gerberding did describe "specific diseases likely to be affected," but "without elaboration."

McDonald's director of U.S. marketing admits, "Going by what we're hearing from consumers, awareness is a little bit low about quality." So the fast food giant will launch a "McDonald's Brand Advocate program" in early 2008, with help from the PR firm GolinHarris. It's "an interactive online program intended to educate and arm McDonald's employees and owner/operators with facts and figures about key topics, including food quality, nutrition, and safety." In June 2007, McDonald's launched its "Moms' Quality Correspondents campaign," which involves six moms who "blog and post videos" about their tours of McDonald's facilities and interactions with company representatives. McDonald's manager of U.S. communications explains, "We felt if moms were out there speaking to their communities and online communities unedited, it would get us far more credibility than just posting an article or doing Web site copy." McDonald's "quality message" is "not just a PR, marketing, and advertising effort anymore." It involves "the operations team, training team, and owners and operators," said McDonald's director of U.S. communications.

Nancy Pelosi and Democratic leaders in the U.S. Congress are preparing to "embark on a publicity blitz starting in November to combat a dismal 25 percent approval rating," reports Jonathan Kaplan. "Democrats are keenly aware of the public's frustration. Many believe that they were elected to bring an end to the war in Iraq, and they have been unable to do that because of an unwieldy Senate and President Bush's opposition to any change in strategy in Iraq." Party leaders are encouraging Democrats to highlight the "lobbying and ethics reforms, an increase in the minimum wage, a massive increase in student aid, legislation to implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations," and other measures passed with bipartisan support. As part of the PR effort, Pelosi "began holding weekly press conferences" in early October, "and has been appearing on more news and talk programs."

Andrea Gawrylewski reports that an email from an "ACS insider," who insisted on anonymity, alleges that bonuses paid to executives of the American Chemical Society are tied to the profits of the publishing division and that this is why the society is opposing open-access publishing. In January, Nature revealed that the Association of American Publishers had hired PR crisis management guru Eric Dezenhall to devise a campaign against proposals for free public access to publicly funded scientific research, and that ACS had attended a briefing on the campaign. Rudy Baum, the editor-in-chief of Chemical & Engineering News -- an ACS publication -- "declined to say whether his bonuses were linked to publishing profits." However, former ACS staff told Gawrylewski that it was well known that senior managers' bonuses were linked to profitability. The chair of the ACS board of directors, Judith Benham, rejected the suggestion that the society's opposition to open access publishing was linked to executive compensation.

The Hygiene Council, a "think tank" created and funded by the cleaning products company Reckitt Benckiser, touts the need for "good hygiene practice" in the "home and community." Ruth Pollard reports that the council "is pushing products that contain the expensive -- and potentially damaging -- antibacterial additive, triclosan." Aside from promoting commonsense measures to prevent infections such as the washing of hands and appropriate preparation and refrigeration of foods, the council is enthusiastic about the chemical treatment of household surfaces. "Commonly touched surfaces should be regularly disinfected with products such as LYSOL Disinfectant Spray," the council states on its website. Peter Collignon, the director of infectious diseases at Canberra Hospital, believes that promoting the use of products containing triclosan was "a marketing exercise with no real benefit" that would "do nothing to stop multi-resistant bacteria in hospitals. If anything it may actually contribute to it." Triclosan products are used in hospitals as a disinfectant, particularly against staphlycoccus.

Rupert MurdochIn a speech on the changing role of journalism, John Hartigan, the chairman and chief executive of News Limited, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, argued that "we live in times when press freedom -- the freedom of speech -- is more restricted than in living memory. And I don't say this lightly." Early in his speech, Hartigan said, "Let me deal with the elephant in the room -- Rupert Murdoch. ... Does he tell us what he thinks? He sure does. If he's not happy are we left guessing? No way!" As to how to cover politics or major business stories, Hartigan insisted Murdoch doesn't "issue blanket instructions" to his editors. Hartigan also singled out for criticism the announcement by Australian Attorney-General Philip Ruddock of a review of Freedom of Information laws. "His decision to ask the Law Reform Commission to conduct a review on limited terms of reference is a disgrace," he said.

Buffeted by bad press from recalls of dangerous drugs and public bitterness over high drug prices, the drug industry has decided to cure its ailing image by sponsoring its own TV talk show, hosted by Billy Tauzin, the former GOP congressman who now heads the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). Its "Healthcare Campfire with Billy Tauzin" is "the latest -- and possibly boldest -- part of a multi-pronged effort to burnish the drug industry's battered public image," writes Jeffrey Young. "The episodes, broadcast as paid advertisements but billed as public affairs programs, borrow the format of talk shows such as NBC's 'Today.'" In addition to interviews, the show features reports by PhRMA staff on new medicines, which "look like a news story you would see at a local news station," according to PhRMA Senior Vice President Ken Johnson.

What was Brown & Williamson's "Project Big Boy"? CMD launched the TobaccoWiki project to answer questions just like that (the answers are usually not very pretty) by enlisting citizens like you to mine the millions of pages of previously-secret, internal tobacco industry documents now posted on the Internet. Spending even a few minutes to find an interesting nugget of information about what this project involved would be helpful, so why not give it a spin? To track down information on Project Big Boy, click this link to search the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library for internal documents on the project, look for anything you find interesting and add descriptions or quotes to the TobaccoWiki article about Project Big Boy. If this is your first time editing on SourceWatch, you can register here, and learn more about adding information to the site here, here and here. Have fun, and thanks for your help!

Previous project update: The project to post photos of the hundreds of 2008 U.S. congressional candidates is almost complete! Check your state's portal at the Congresspedia 2008 election homepage to help us find the last ones. Complete instructions are here. The full list of things you can do on SourceWatch here.

Allison BarberThe U.S. Defense Department Inspector General's review of the "America Supports You" (ASY) program has widened to include the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes. "Both America Supports You and American Forces Information Service -- the parent organization for Stripes -- are headed by Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary for public affairs," reports Stars and Stripes. In July 2006, the paper awarded a $499,000 purchase agreement to Susan Davis International, the PR firm for ASY. According to the agreement (PDF), the PR firm engaged in "scripting, taping and programming with celebrities, regional and national sports organizations, and specific business sponsors," public service announcements and other outreach activities. A description of ASY's dog tag program mentions the firm's "considerable corporate outreach." Stars and Stripes' top editors said the agreement raised "extreme concern among editorial staff," and promised to conduct a review of the paper's reporting on ASY. "We were aware of some interaction between S&S marketing department and ASY, but were appalled to learn the degree of involvement and the use of Stripes finances to fund the Pentagon's public relations campaign," they added. Previous to the 2006 agreement, a Stars and Stripes contracting officer awarded $100,000 for ASY dog tags and arm bands. ASY has also been criticized for its involvement with evangelical programs.

"According to the Americans for Prosperity Web site, some 28 Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature signed a 'no tax increase' pledge with the organization," along with two Democrats, writes Dave Zweifel. He blames pressure from no-tax groups on delays with Wisconsin's state budget, now more than three months overdue. When these legislators "already had announced they had closed their minds -- even to an increase in cigarette taxes to expand health care to kids -- how really could there be compromise?" he asks. Americans for Prosperity, which held an anti-tax rally in Madison on October 17, has also been active in other states. In March, Americans for Prosperity put pressure on Kansas legislators as they debated their state budget. The group patched in calls from residents to legislators' offices, but "they weren't quite clear why they were calling in," said one office assistant, referring to the callers. "Something about state spending," but the Kansans "couldn't tell her who had made the call or any specifics on what they were told," reported the Capital-Journal in Topeka.

"On Jan. 11, 2005, DuPont publicists invited reporters to the company's Washington Works plant south of Parkersburg (W. Va.) for a major announcement," reports the Charleston Gazette. DuPont claimed that a new study proved "there are no known human health effects associated with exposure to PFOA," also known as C8, a chemical used in Teflon and other nonstick products. DuPont promoted the study "as having the seal of approval from ... independent experts from various universities, including John Hopkins and Yale." But those experts disagreed with DuPont's characterization of the study. Professor David Wegman emailed, "We were unanimous in believing that the results do show a health effect," pointing to "significantly elevated values" for cholesterol among workers with PFOA exposure. Wegman's email and other correspondence were recently made public as part of a lawsuit over PFOA pollution in Salem County, N.J. The independent scientists supposedly advising DuPont warned the company that "we question the basis of DuPont's public expression asserting that PFOA does not pose a risk to health."

As the internet becomes an increasingly important source of information for the public, government repression is shifting from traditional journalists to bloggers, according to the latest Worldwide Press Freedom Index issued by Reporters Without Borders. The report notes the arrest of bloggers in China, Egypt, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as the case of San Francisco blogger Josh Wolf, who was jailed for eight months for refusing to provide evidence in a grand jury investigation. "We are concerned about the increase in cases of online censorship," the organization states. "More and more governments have realised that the Internet can play a key role in the fight for democracy and they are establishing new methods of censoring it. The governments of repressive countries are now targeting bloggers and online journalists as forcefully as journalists in the traditional media."

Two new opinion polls show deepening public dissatisfaction with U.S. politicians. According to a Reuters/Zogby poll, "The number of Americans who believe the country is on the wrong track jumped four points to 66 percent. Bush's job approval rating fell to 24 percent from last month's record low for a Zogby poll of 29 percent. A paltry 11 percent gave Congress a positive grade, tying last month's record low." According to Zogby, voter attitudes are hardening into a "throw the bums out" mindset that could present problems for Democrats and Republicans alike in next year's elections. Meanwhile, a new Gallup poll finds that most Americans think the situation in Iraq is getting worse, and 60% now think it was a mistake to invade: "This is within 2 percentage points of being the highest on record; 62% of Americans said the war was a mistake in July 2007." Gallup's tracking finds Bush's approval rating slightly higher than the Zogby result at 32%, but still near his all-time low.

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 cover the Turkish government's attempts to lobby away the Armenian genocide, dueling conflicts of interest over lung cancer scans, and the media companies made to pay for airing payola pundit Armstrong Williams. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we tell you how many steps it takes to get from the flacks behind the first Gulf War to the flacks for the country threatening to invade northern Iraq today. 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@prwatch.org to let us know. Thanks!

The executive editor and CEO of Village Voice Media were arrested Thursday night after publishing details of what they call "breathtaking abuse of the constitution" in a grand jury subpoena against their Arizona newspaper, the New Times. The subpoena is part of an attempt to prosecute the paper for publishing articles criticizing Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio's questionable real estate deals. The subpoena demands that the paper turn over "all documents related to articles and other content published by Phoenix New Times newspaper in print and on the Phoenix New Times website, regarding Sheriff Joe Arpaio from January 1, 2004 to the present." In addition, it demands information about all the online readers of the publication, including their Internet domain names and what other Web sites they visited before reading New Times. According to retired judge Kenneth Fields, the subpoena "touches on privacy issues of a lot of people who cannot be the subject of a grand-jury investigation. This is potentially thousands of people." Village Voice reporter Tony Ortega says the arrests show that Arpaio, who has carefully cultivated a "constant parade of television journalists" to build an image as "America's toughest sheriff," is actually a "paranoid despot ... Even those reporters who may have bought Arpaio's line of bull in the past must see what an abuse of power this is, and how it threatens the journalism being done by papers that dare to question public officials."

The New York Times today published an op-ed piece blasting research that tests the comparative effectiveness of pharmaceuticals. The piece failed to mention that its author, Peter Pitts, is a senior vice president at the PR firm of Manning, Selvage and Lee. Pitts has a history of flacking as an attack dog for the pharmaceutical industry and currently heads a pharma front group called the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. Physician Roy M. Poses of the Foundation for Integrity and Responsibility in Medicine has written a critique of the "slippery slope" rhetoric in Pitts' editorial. "It is disappointing that a newspaper as influential as the New York Times would publish a health policy article without disclosing all the author's relevant financial interests, particularly one so relevant and direct," Poses adds. "Fostering more stealth health policy advocacy in ever more influential venues will just make the already confusing clamor about health care and its reform even muddier."

The Sport Utility Vehicle Owners of America (SUVOA) industry front group paid the PR firm Stratacomm $440,000 in the first half of 2007 to lobby the U.S. government. Stratacomm boasts a range of auto industry clients. Later this year, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are set to discuss proposals to mandate that the auto industry meet a fuel efficiency target of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 across their range of vehicles, including passenger cars and sport utility vehicles. Associated Press reports that recently filed lobbying disclosure forms reveal that SUVOA "lobbied against Senate legislation promoting higher fuel economy standards." In 2004, the PR commentator Paul Holmes wrote that "what is clear is that SUVOA is a front for SUV manufacturers. Its board of directors consists largely of industry reps and public affairs execs with ties to the industry."

"The biggest threat to science," writes Jennifer Washburn, is "the decline of government support ... and the growing dominance of private spending over American research." In 1965, the U.S. government funded more than 60 percent of research, while in 2006, 65 percent of research was privately funded. Even some industry leaders are concerned that basic research, which "drives innovation 10 to 15 years out," is being shortchanged in favor of applied research focused on marketable products. Multiple analyses have shown "that the effect of industry funding on the research outcome is huge" -- a particularly troubling phenomenon for medical research. "Big Pharma now finances approximately 70 percent of the nation's clinical drug research," and of that, "an estimated 75 percent flows to for-profit contract research firms. ... In 2001, the editors of 12 leading medical journals ... expressed their shock at what was happening to independent scientific inquiry." Government research is increasingly privatized to firms like Sciences International, while "most of these federal agencies lack even the most rudimentary tools that a medical journal editor would use to assess the quality and scientific integrity of industry-funded research."

"The United States has begun a $75-million program to promote democracy by supporting Iranian NGO's [non-governmental organizations]," write Haleh Esfandiari and Robert Litwak. "That program, coupled with loose talk about regime change ... has fed a sense of vulnerability and paranoia among elements of Iran's ruling regime." Iranian officials have warned scholars, students, NGO workers and others not to travel overseas, lest they be recruited for U.S. plots. Iran also suspects "the grant-giving programs of American foundations, universities, and think tanks." While the U.S. has used similar methods to destabilize other governments, in Iran the approach has backfired, "further reducing the political space for open debate in Iran," write Esfandiari and Litwak. "In this new climate of intimidation, NGO's and journalists are subject to censorship and are defensively engaging in self-censorship. Prominent Iranian activists, such as the Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, declared their opposition to the U.S. program." Instead, Esfandiari and Litwak suggest, "governments should talk to governments, while Iranian and American NGO's should be permitted to interact in a transparent fashion without the intrusion of governments."

"There's sensitivity to sponsored news right now," admits KEF Media Associates' Yvonne Goforth, adding that her firm is doing more to target satellite media tours (SMTs) -- sponsored and often scripted television "interviews" -- to local TV stations. "The smaller markets are the ones embracing SMTs," notes PR Week, especially those on "lifestyle, technology, consumer, and house care" topics. For a recent SMT promoting "Together Rx Access," a pharmaceutical industry program, KEF Media told local stations "how many people are uninsured in that area, how many people this program will affect, how many kids are uninsured in that area," explains Goforth. With "a good spokesperson, a good topic, and ... some news that relates back to [viewers'] lives, you can do an SMT for everything," Goforth enthuses. Medialink Worldwide is also regionalizing its SMTs. For a recent Aflac-sponsored SMT with a baseball theme, Medialink informed stations of local children involved in the "All-American High School Baseball Classic."

A new non-profit group called Pro Publica wants to counter the decrease in real investigative journalism. "The plan is to do long-term projects, uncovering misdeeds in government, business and organizations." Pro Publica will be led by Paul E. Steiger, who served as the top editor of The Wall Street Journal for 16 years. It is the creation of Californians Herbert M. Sandler and Marion O. Sandler, the former chief executives of the Golden West Financial Corporation. They have personally committed $10 million in support per year. "Pro Publica plans to establish a newsroom in New York City and have 24 journalists, one of the biggest investigative staffs in any medium, along with about a dozen other employees. Mr. Steiger said he envisions a mix of accomplished reporters and editors, including some hired from major publications, and talented people with only a few years' experience, so that the group will become a training ground for investigative reporters." Pro Publica plans to launch in early 2008.

With billions of dollars in subsides on offer from the U.S. government, some utilities are lining up to submit applications with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for new nuclear power plants. As a first step to helping citizens and journalists track what's happening we will be building a page listing what is known about the new nuclear power station proposals. (Further down the track we'd like to build profiles on the companies, their track records and their PR and lobbying activities). To help build the page you'll find complete instructions here.

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A viral video mocking Gore, later linked to DCI Group"The school governor who challenged the screening of Al Gore's climate change documentary in secondary schools was funded by a Scottish quarrying magnate who established a controversial lobbying group to attack environmentalists' claims about global warming," reports The Observer. Stewart Dimmock sought to ban "An Inconvenient Truth" from British schools, with help from Scotland's New Party. Nearly all of the small party's funds come from a quarry company owned by Robert Durward. Durward, along with a former advisor to Tony Blair, set up the group Scientific Alliance to "challenge many of the claims about global warming." In 2004, the group "co-authored a report with the George C Marshall Institute, a US body funded by Exxon Mobil, that attacked climate change claims." A UK High Court judge rejected Dimmock's request to ban the film, but did require schools showing the film to provide "Guidance Notes" to teachers, since the film touches on political issues. (The judge explained that his ruling "did not relate to an analysis of the scientific questions," though many news reports have confused the ruling, according to Tim Lambert.)

"Kettle Foods this week called in Hill & Knowlton to protect its bruised reputation following a widely criticised attempt to dissuade its workers from unionizing," reports PR Week. The PR firm's London office confirmed it is working for the upscale potato chip maker, "on a reactive basis." On October 1, The Guardian reported that Kettle Chips' UK owners had brought in the California-based Burke Group, "to dissuade the 340 workers at their Norwich factory from joining Unite, the country's largest union." Burke Group runs Omega Training, called "one of the leading US union-busters." News of the anti-union campaign led to calls to boycott Kettle Chips. The Norwich workers voted against joining the Unite union. A local labor organizer blamed the vote on the company's "long poisonous campaign not to join the union."