Why didn't the New York Times cover the "Winter Soldier" hearings organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), during which soldiers testified about their experiences in Iraq? Of the newspaper's three Pentagon reporters, "one [was] on book leave, one was traveling with the secretary of defense, and one was in Iraq covering the war," explained public editor Clark Hoyt, responding to an action alert from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). Hoyt added, "The Times also did not cover an announcement the following day by Vets for Freedom, a group supporting the war and claiming more than 13 times the membership" of IVAW. FAIR notes that "anyone can sign up on the Vets for Freedom website," while IVAW membership is restricted to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Hoyt's comparison of Winter Soldier's "eyewitness testimony about atrocities in Iraq" and Vets for Freedom's "press release about media bias" is also "far-fetched," adds FAIR. But Vets for Freedom is receiving attention. Before hearing General David Petraeus's and Ambassador Ryan Crocker's update on Iraq, Senator John McCain addressed a Vets for Freedom rally, reports NPR. "Your presence here indicates that the overwhelming majority of veterans ... know that there is no substitute for victory and withdrawal is defeat," he told the Republican front group.

Chile's Aysen region, Patagonia (Source: Wikimedia Commons)One of Chile's "last true wildernesses," a forest valley along the Pascua River in Patagonia, is "threatened by a vast hydroelectric project planned by corporations from Chile, Italy, Spain and Canada," reports Colin Barraclough. "Known as HidroAysen, the $4 billion project involves the construction of five large dams, some topping 330 feet in height, designed to produce 2,750 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to three midsize nuclear power stations and enough to boost energy-hungry Chile's power supply by 20 percent." The Chilean government says the project is necessary, especially since Argentina is decreasing natural gas exports. Environmentalists argue that it will harm 14 national parks and natural reserves, and may lead to more "hydroelectric and industrial projects throughout Patagonia." To overcome the opposition, the HidroAysen consortium hired Burson-Marsteller. At the PR firm's urging, HidroAysen "funded a celebrity-studded media blitz, printing giveaway items lavishly illustrated with images" of the area, "despite the fact that most of the locations shown would likely be flooded or visually marred by 150-foot pylons and high-tension cables if the dams were built."

For Mark Penn, who recently resigned as Hillary Clinton's chief campaign strategist, the campaign "has been about as effective an economic stimulus program for himself as anything his clients have ever proposed for the nation," reports Mike Madden. Penn's polling firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, has billed the campaign $14 million for polling, direct mail, and consulting services -- nearly 9 percent of her entire campaign expenditures. "Getting rich off free-spending campaigns is, of course, a time-honored tradition in politics, and it isn't just Mark Penn who does it," Madden adds, noting that campaign consultants to Barack Obama and John Kerry have also raked in millions of dollars. "Campaign finance experts say most people who give to candidates figure it's being spent on TV ads. What few of them know is how much of the 'TV ad' budget winds up paying for a consultant's beach house."