Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said he expected the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to move forward on "a large raft" of complaints against television stations, for undisclosed video news releases (VNRs). He said, "Whether dealing with payola or VNRs or product placement, the commission's fundamental concern is the same. The American public deserves to know when someone is trying to persuade them ... and so I am glad we are really bringing that to the forefront of our enforcement efforts." Based on the Center for Media and Democracy's three reports on the fake news spots, CMD and Free Press filed complaints with the FCC against 112 television stations. In September 2007, the FCC proposed its first-ever fines for fake news. Comcast received (and appealed) liability notices for its cable channel CN8 having aired five VNRs without disclosure. The complaints against the other 111 stations are still pending.

The coal industry front group calling itself Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC) "is waging a $35 million campaign in primary and caucus states to rally public support for coal-fired electricity and to fuel opposition to legislation that Congress is crafting to slow climate change." ABEC has already spent $1.3 million on ads in Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina. Its ads talk about "clean coal" and "70 percent cleaner" coal plants, though those reductions have been mostly in non-greenhouse gases. "About 50 people, many of them paid, walked around as human billboards and handed out leaflets outside Tuesday's Democratic debate in Nevada with questions for voters to ask the candidates," reports Steven Mufson. Facing increased public opposition, coal companies gave more money to ABEC and the industry lobbying group the National Mining Association. As reported in a previous Spin, ABEC's PR plan singles out Nevada for "issues management," presidential candidate outreach and connecting with "cities and communities critical to helping shape policy at the grassroots level."

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is criticizing the Providence Journal for publishing an op-ed article by Robert Goldberg while failing to disclose that Goldberg and his organization, the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, receive financial support from the pharmaceutical industry. Goldberg's article attacked the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for limiting reimbursement for erythropoetins, a class of anti-anemia drugs. (The government's decision to limit use of these drugs is prompted by concern that they may increase risk of earlier death when given to cancer patients.) The co-founder of CMPI is Peter Pitts of Manning, Selvage & Lee, a public relations firm with numerous pharmaceutical industry clients. Physician Roy M. Poses of the Foundation for Integrity and Responsibility in Medicine has examined Goldberg's op-ed piece and found numerous deceptive statements, most notably his claim that "America’s Medicare program is willing to let seniors suffer and die sooner from cancer." To make this argument, Poses writes, Goldberg "ignored the most relevant evidence while criticizing less relevant studies." He points out that Goldberg ignored six studies which "raise the concern that erythropoetins, rather than preventing early death, may hasten early death."

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 Tony Blair's new gig, how to make people love fossil fuel and one news director's stand against fake news. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," we tell you how many steps it takes to get from the U.S. Marines to Third World dictators. 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!

"A shadowy group calling itself Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain has been busy," reports Kevin Connolly, "handing out flyers implying that in Mr. McCain's long spell as a prisoner of war in Hanoi, during which he was tortured, he gave information to America's enemy. The evidence? Well, there isn't any. It's a straightforward attempt to take one of Mr. McCain's best cards -- his status as a war hero -- and use it against him." VVAJM's members include Ted Sampley, who previously attacked other U.S. veterans in Congress including 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry and Pennsylvania Representative John Murtha. In addition to VVAJM, attacks on McCain and several other Republican presidential candidates have been launched by "Common Sense Issues," a group working on behalf of candidate Mike Huckabee. In response to the current attacks, McCain has "mobilised a group of volunteers called 'the Truth Squad' to lead his rebuttal of the rumours," Connolly reports. "We shall see how they fare."