1 October 2001
'NO MORE NO MORE SCARES?' AND OTHER PR TALES
various from PR Watch <http://www.prwatch.org/>
regarding No More Scares (first item), fiendsoftheearth and greenpiece.org
may also have gone missing. purefoods still there but looks like not updated
for over a year. the so-called Centre for Food & Agricultural Research
<http://www.CFFAR.org/> is still going strong and now incorporates vandalwatch
complete with photo gallery!
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No More No More Scares?
A year ago we reported on the "No More Scares" campaign (www.nomorescares.org),
an industry front group aimed at smearing environmental and health activists
as "fearmongers."
[http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/2000Q3/usual.html]
Now it appears that No More Scares has quietly decommissioned itself,
and links to its website no longer work. In Trust Us, We're Experts we
noted that "corporate-funded front groups ... are sometimes fly-by-night
organizations. Called into existence for a particular cause or legislative
lobby campaign, they often dry up and blow away once the campaign is over.
The tendency of groups to appear and disappear creates another form of
camouflage, making it difficult for journalists and everyday citizens to
sort out the bewildering proliferation of names and acronyms."
---
Corporate Cash and Campus Labs
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/06/19/fp11s1-csm.shtml
The credibility of university research is on the line as corporations
step up their funding. One issue is academic freedom. Corporations that
fund university research often demand the right to control what scientists
can say publicly about their work. "They're like bullies in a sandbox who
take away their toys when you don't agree with them," says David Kahn,
a researcher at the University of California-San Francisco who was sued
for $10 million by the company that sponsored his study, after he published
a report that the AIDS drug he was testing was ineffective. Source: ChristianScience
Monitor, June 19, 2001
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Uninformed Consent: What Patients at "The Hutch" Weren't Told About
the Experiments in Which They Died
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/uninformed_consent/
Fresh on the heels of the Jesse Gelsinger gene therapy scandal, this
report documents another case in which the biotechnology industry has experimented
on humans without their consent. Patients died prematurely in two failed
clinical trials at Seattle's Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center --
experiments in which the Center and its doctors had a financial interest.
The patients and their families were never told about those connections,
nor were they fully and properly informed about the risks of the experiments.
Many stood a good chance of survival or at least prolonged life with traditional
care. Instead, many actually died from the experiments -- sooner than they
would have with no treatment at all. Source: Seattle Times, March 11-15,
2001
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The Corporate Takeover of Universities
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/newsletter/issue4/nl4corporate_universities.html
In the wake of a decision by England's University of Nottingham to accept
£3.8
million from British American Tobacco to fund the study of "corporate social
responsibility," the chairman of Scientists for Global Responsibility surveyed
the overall state of corporate funding on England's academies. He noted
that Cambridge University alone has top academic posts and laboratories
sponsored by Shell, BP, ICI, GlaxoSmithKline, PriceWater-houseCoopers,
Marks and Spencers, Rolls-Royce, AT&T, Microsoft and Zeneca. Other
universities are also following this trend. The University of Surrey even
has a "Chair of In-Flight Catering"! (Word to the wise: stay away from
Surrey's faculty luncheons.)
---
Journalism for Hire?
The National Association of Science Writers (NASW) is debating the ethics
of a job advertisement sent to its members from Chicco Chandler, a PR firm
that "works exclusively with the pharmaceutical/biotech industry" and boasts
of past involvement in PR for Viagra, Celebrex and Zoloft, with clients
including Agouron, Amgen, Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Novo
Nordisk and Pfizer. Chicco Chandler's job ad sought a "freelance journalist
to attend the EASD (European Association for the Study of Diabetes) meeting
in Glasgow, September 9-13, 2001.... Responsibilities include covering
industry-sponsored symposia and scientific sessions. Journalist must be
able to guarantee 2-4 placements in medical trade publications targeting
general practitioners and/or diabetes specialists." Some NASW members,
such as Boyce Rensberger, have pointed out that there is something wrong
with having PR firms hire journalists to plant news stories favorable to
their clients. "It is just plain wrong to deceive readers or viewers,"
Rensberger stated. "It is wrong to lead them to believe that the publication
and the writer are exercising independent judgement if one or the other
has been paid by a source or an agent for a source." Others, such as NASW
board member Joel Shurkin, point out that "We have members who do these
things and feel good about themselves in the morning, and they cannot be
ignored. This practice has been going on for years." The debate appears
in the August 2001 archives of the NASW listserve, under the subject heading,
"Double-dipping and journalistic integrity."
[http://nasw.org/lists/]
---
Dead People Support Microsoft
Earlier this year, Utah State Attorney General Mark Shurtleff received
two letters from dead people requesting that the state go easy on Microsoft.
As it turns out, the letters are part of the computer giant's nation-wide
astroturf campaign, targeting the offices of 18 attorneys general who have
joined the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit. The Los Angeles Times
reports that in recent weeks, Microsoft has been refining its letter writing
strategy so that no two letters are identical. The giveaway, however, is
in the phrasing. Iowa's attorney general reports receiving four letters
that include this sentence: "Strong competition and innovation have been
the twin hallmarks of the technology industry." Three others use exactly
these words: "If the future is going to be as successful as the recent
past, the technology sector must remain free from excess regulation." Source:
Los Angeles Times, August 23, 2001
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APCO Works to Restore Trust in Russia's Robber Baron
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former Communist Youth Leader leader turned
Russian billionaire with ties to the Russian mafia, is paying APCO Worldwide
to restore investors' trust in his scandal-plagued company, Yukos. His
new motto has become "honesty, openness, responsibility" -- quite a turnaround
for someone who has trafficked in women, laundered money and defrauded
minority investors. PR Watch has reported in the past on APCO's work for
the tobacco industry and its ideas on how to create front groups. Is there
anything these guys won't do? Source: O'Dwyer's PR Daily, August 21, 2001
---
Voodoo Science and Injured Workers
http://www.hazards.org/haz75/voodooscience.htm
Ever wondered who makes up those claims that "asbestos isn't dangerous"
and "repetitive stress injuries are in your mind"? Vernon Mogensen looks
at the dangerous business of corporate spin and unearths science fiction
masquerading as science fact as industry battles against legislation to
protect workers from on-the-job injuries. Source: Hazards magazine (UK)
---
Corporations Urged to Declare War on Food Activists
http://www.purefood.org/corp/waronactivists.cfm
Agribusiness needs to use "attack technologies" against activists, according
to Nick Nichols of the PR/crisis management firm Nichols-Dezenhall. Speaking
to the annual business meeting of the National Pork Producers Council,
Nichols quoted gangster Al Capone, who said: "You can get more with kind
words and a smile and a gun than you get with kind words and a smile."
---
Memo Enlists Lobbyists to Trade White Collars for Hard Hats at GOP
Tax Cut Rally
A memo from the National Association of Manufacturers urged lobbyists
to "dress down" when attending a rally and photo opportunity supporting
George W. Bush's tax cut plan. "The Speaker's office was very clear in
saying that they do not need people in suits," the memo stated. "If people
want to participate -- AND WE DO NEED BODIES -- they must be DRESSED DOWN,
appear to be REAL WORKER types, etc. We plan to have hard hats for people
to wear. Other groups are providing waiters/waitresses, and other types
of workers."
Source: Washington Post, March 9, 2001