-Caveat Lector- Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 15:00:02 -0800 Subject: re Lois's clip From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Lois: On Michael Reagan's show in 1997, he said that he produced a program for NBC called "Global Business" for 7-8 years. This means, as I read it, that he produced a weekly show that appeared on NBC for years. Tell me: Did he say anything else with that statement? Was he hiding anything behind rhetorical technicalities? So the show began in 1989-90, and it was on the tube every week ... this is the impression that he gave viewers of Reagan's program (one that I would never, ever appear on, BTW, though we makes our choices and live with them) And I still don't see anything on "Inside Wall Street." On what network did it air? - AC From: "Linda Minor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Alex Constantine" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Kris Millegan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Fw: From Nexis - no transcripts but postings do exist -- notice these are from 1996 Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2004 12:19:19 -0600 ----- Original Message ----- From: Lois Ann Battuello To: Linda Minor Sent: Friday, December 03, 2004 11:51 AM Subject: From Nexis - no transcripts but postings do exist -- notice these are from 1996 Copyright 1996 Haymarket Publishing Services Ltd PR Week January 26, 1996 LENGTH: 131 words HEADLINE: Media: Medialink wins NBC exclusive BODY: Medialink has been appointed as the exclusive provider of video news releases to Global Business 2000, the business television show which launches this month on NBC's satellite services covering Asia and Europe. The deal, struck with the show's US-based production company Economic Television, will see Medialink provide the programme with any appropriate VNRs' suitable for the show's business audience, said Medialink's vice chairman David Davis. The show's launch is part of NBC's revamp of its international programme service and the formal launch of NBC Asia on 15 January. NBC, which is already available in Europe through NBC Super Channel, has launched both an entertainment station and a 24-hour news and business station under the NBC Asia banner. -------------------------------------- Copyright 1996 M2 Communications Ltd. M2 PRESSWIRE April 10, 1996 LENGTH: 209 words HEADLINE: ECONOMIC TELEVISION Millions view "WebCruise" on TV news as "JumpCity!" launches DATELINE: LOS ANGELES, CA HIGHLIGHT: New primetime TV show about the Internet to debut BODY: Millions of consumers this weekend watched a first-ever three minute feature news segment called "WebCruise!" which showcased three popular sites on the World Wide Web, bringing pictures of the wired revolution to watchers of network news. "WebCruise was our way of testing the waters with TV news directors, who really have a finger on the pulse of what people want. They jumped on this story, and it really reinforces our belief that this is THE time to launch our Primetime reality-based entertainment series about the Internet," stated "JumpCity!" producer Daniel Hopsicker. "We think the Internet's the biggest consumer phenomenon since the hula hoop, and it clearly deserves a show conveying the gleeful fun and sheer joy of 'cyberpilots' worldwide." "WebCruise" will be a weekly feature, both going to satellite as news, and playing as a segment on "Global Business 2000," which airs on NBC internationally, as well as inflight on flagship carriers like United and USAir. Its designer to help consumers learn of great sites to access, and allow marketers to generate more traffic to their World Wide Web sites. CONTACT: Daniel Hopsicker, Economic Television Tel: +1-800-264-0920 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------- ***************************************************************** Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 22:33:08 -0800 Subject: Re: My Message About Hopsicker's Smear Of Ruppert From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "Medialink has been appointed as the exclusive provider of video news releases to [Daniel Hopsicker's] Global Business 2000..." Kris: Now that we have one show verified, at least, I can look into it, and that's what I wanted to do originally, so let's get to it... Who provided Hopsicker with his material? A fucking PR firm with heavy propaganda ties. ------------------- Medialink wins NBC exclusive, Medialink has been appointed as the exclusive provider of video news releases to [Daniel Hopsicker's] Global Business 2000... -------------------- "Public diplomacy." Public relations. FORMER BBC BROADCASTER LUCY HADFIELD TAKES HELM OF MEDIALINK LONDON OFFICE PR Agency Veteran Jones Joins Medialink Management Team As Vice Chairman For more information: Mary C. Buhay Matt Burgess Senior Vice President Group Marketing Manager Corporate Communications Medialink Worldwide Medialink Worldwide Incorporated Tel: +44 (0)20 7554 2787 Tel: (212) 682-8300 Mob: 07971 790 297 [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] LONDON, December 1, 2003 - Former BBC broadcaster Lucy Hadfield has been appointed Managing Director of the international operations of Medialink Worldwide Incorporated (Nasdaq: MDLK), a global leader in providing news and media services for professional communicators, it was announced today. Joining Ms. Hadfield on the management team of Medialink in London is Bill Jones who was named Vice Chairman, a non-executive role. The formation of a new management team represents a key step in the implementation of Medialink's strategy to position itself for the growth of its international business. Ms. Hadfield, 42, brings a wide range of broadcast media and corporate communications experience to her new role. After starting her professional career with advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi in London, she moved into the broadcasting industry by joining RTHK in Hong Kong. A BBC-trained producer and presenter, she ascended to the position of Senior Program Officer for BBC World Service and Radio Television Hong Kong, where she supervised the quality of production, editorial content and commissioning of primetime English language talk features. She held responsibilities in front of and behind the cameras, producing and presenting investigative radio and television programs for international syndication. Following her broadcast career, Ms. Hadfield established TVCI, an international brand experience company based in London, which designed and produced many of Europe's most successful millennium exhibitions for high profile clients including EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS, HSBC and the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION. She was most recently head of business development with CROWN Business Communications, a leading London-based integrated communications company providing live events, video and internet-based solutions for FTSE 250 companies. "Communication professionals and broadcasters the world over recognize that the Medialink brand stands for superiority in the field of international broadcast communications," said Ms. Hadfield. "Medialink's unique brand strength will enable us to take advantage of the global economic recovery that will soon arrive. I look forward to the challenge of developing and leading the international business to further success in 2004." Newly-appointed Vice Chairman Jones, 52, began his public relations career at Rowland Public Relations, which was subsequently acquired by Saatchi & Saatchi. In 1992, he founded and became Managing Director of Lexis Public Relations, one of the United Kingdom's most highly regarded independent public relations consultancies. During his 10-year leadership of the agency, Jones expanded the business dramatically and later sold the company in a management buy-out. Jones continues to support Lexis in a non-executive role. Medialink is a preferred supplier to Lexis PR. Jones is a member of the steering group formed this year by the Institute of Public Relations and The Department of Trade and Industry to determine the value of PR to U.K. businesses. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Management of the Public Relations Consultants' Association and is a former chair of its Best Practice committee. -------------- MediaLink CEO Laurence Moskowitz http://www.medialink.com/ Laurence Moskowitz Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer at Medialink Worldwide Incorporat SERVICES / COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES Officer since 1986 Director since 1986 Track This Person 52 years old Laurence Moskowitz, 52, the founder of Medialink, has served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company since its inception in 1986. He began his professional career as a reporter for United Press International in Pittsburgh before being promoted to an editor for UPI in Philadelphia. In 1976 Mr. Moskowitz founded Mediawire, a Philadelphia-based regional public relations newswire, which was merged into a British media company in 1985, where he was Vice President until leaving to form Medialink. A former ERNST & YOUNG "CEO of the Year", Mr. Moskowitz was voted one of the most influential public relations executives of the century by PR Week magazine. ***************************************************************** Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 23:51:16 -0800 Subject: Hopsicker & "Covert Propaganda" From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "Medialink has been appointed as the exclusive provider of video news releases to [Daniel Hopsicker's] Global Business 2000 ..." ---------------- In other words, he didn't produce the show for NBC, or at all, as I read this. MediaLink did, exclusively. http://www.medialink.com/pressreleases2003/070103.htm About Medialink: Medialink (www.medialink.com) is a global leader in providing comprehensive and compelling multimedia communication solutions and services for more than 3,000 corporations and other organizations seeking to communicate news to their audiences through television, radio, print and the Internet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.prweek.com/news/news_sto...D 5608&site˙ The General Accounting Office is investigating whether the Department of Health and Human Services' video news releases touting the new Medicare law constitute illegal "covert propaganda." Some PR pros think it's much ado about nothing: "VNRs have been around since the dawn of TV," said the CEO of Medialink. But the director of the National Association of Government Communicators warned that the VNR "Hollywood approach" could undermine public trust. Karen Ryan, the "reporter" in the Medicare spots, told the Columbia Journalism Review's Campaign Desk she feels like "political roadkill." Ryan, a former journalist, heads her own PR firm. Karen Ryan Group Communications was hired by Home Front Communications, which was hired by Ketchum Advertising, which was hired by HHS to do the VNRs. According to Campaign Desk reporter Zachary Roth, "The real question, however, is: How did so many television stations end up running the segment? While taking ultimate responsibility for their error, many news directors pointed the finger at two other targets: the Bush administration and CNN," whose "CNN Newsource" service is a "sort of wire service for TV," but gets paid for mixing VNRs with genuine news stories. "It mixes in the client's material with legitimate, CNN-produced news stories to be used by local stations - acting as a paid 'news launderer' on behalf of the VNR producers," Roth writes. SOURCE: PR Week, March 22, 2004 ***************************************************************** Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 00:42:33 -0800 Subject: A MediaLink & PR Industru Reader From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> We all trust former NBC people 'round these parts. But it can't hurt to bone up on what they did there. You can bone up on Dan Hopsicker's PR and propaganda supplier to "Global Business 2000," and related information, by using the list below. My perennials have thrived since his e-mails began, so I love him. Already found deeper connections than Hopsicker has ever made re Ruppert. At least Ruppert, whatever his faults, never beamed corporate PR propaganda into Third World countries, like Daniel did. Shame. om ----------------- http://www.prwatch.org/links/pr.html Public Relations Industry Burson-Marsteller Burson-Marsteller is the world's largest public relations firm, and one of the nastyist. They helped the tobacco industry organize the "National Smoker's Alliance," defended the 1980s military dictatorship in Argentina that murdered Jews and leftists, rose to the defense of Union Carbide in the wake of the deadly toxic leak in Bhopal, and will pretty much stoop to anything. Campaigns and Elections A publication for political campaign professionals. Visit this site if you want to know in nuts-and-bolts detail how elections campaigns are run in the United States. Center for Media & Democracy This is our website! The Center for Media & Democracy is a nonprofit watchdog organization that monitors and exposes manipulative and misleading practices by the public relations industry. We publish a quarterly newsletter, PR Watch. Back issues are available online, along with other information about the center including reviews of our books. Communication Works One of the rare PR firms that actually specializes in working on progressive causes, campaigning for handgun control, and against the tobacco industry, nuclear power, and sweatshops. Edelman Public Relations One of the world's largest PR firms, Edelman has managed to cultivate a superficially "liberal" image, but this hasn't stopped them from working for the anti-environmental Wise Use movement, among others. Their website includes some case studies of their "crisis management" work for clients such as Merck pharmaceuticals and Odwalla, the natural juice company that faced a crisis when some of its juice turned out to be contaminated with deadly E. coli bacteria. Fleishman-Hillard One of the world's largest PR firms. Their website is searchable. Gallup Organization This site includes the results of some of Gallup's opinion polling. Holmes Report Paul Holmes, who previously edited Inside PR and Reputation Management (both now defunct), provides thoughtful analysis from a pro-PR perspective. We usually disagree with his conclusions, but he writes well, and if you want to know how PR insiders view the world, this site is important reading. Institute for Crisis Management Devoted to the PR speciality of managing business disasters, this site has a number of pages devoted to explaining the theory and philosophy of crisis management. "The reality," it observes, "is that most newsworthy business crises are the results of management decisions, actions or inaction." Issue Management Council This organization is devoted to the corporate practice of "issue management," a PR speciality intended to anticipate and control public debates over public policy issues before the public itself even begins to think seriously about them. "The phrase 'issue management' was coined by Howard Chase in April of 1976," the site explains. "Throughout the 1950s and 1960s in his role as a corporate PR officer, Chase was fascinated with the increasing influence that outside forces exerted on corporations." Hill & Knowlton, International Public Relations & Public Affairs These are the fine folks who flacked for the government of Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War. Hill & Knowlton was also the architect of the tobacco industry's PR strategy, beginning in the 1950s, to evade responsibility for the deadly nature of its product. Investor Relations Information Network This site has online annual reports and other factbooks provided by numerous major corporations. Karwoski & Courage Public Relations Reputation management, crisis management. This website is done in a cutesey "medieval fable" style. Here's an excerpt: "All is not right in the kingdom," King Corporate sighed as he sat upon his royal throne in the Great Hall of Commerce. "I need someone who will make the town criers stop gossiping and saying those awful things. We need to improve the Queen's image and get the townspeople to sing her praises. I need someone who will prove that the moat water is harmless and that these old people are getting sick because they are old." Ketchum Public Relations One of the world's largest PR firms. Their site includes some analytical pieces, e.g., an article recommending PR strategies for "communicating with a hostile audience." Lexicon Communications Corp. This PR firm was founded by Steven Fink, who got his introduction to crisis management while working for the governor of Pennsylvania during the near-meltdown at Three Mile Island. Media Insider A website mostly for PR pros, with links to Profnet and PR Newswire, plus a newsletter of PR strategy tips. Medialink A major distributor of video news releases. Museum of Public Relations Created by the Specter & Associates PR firm, this site offers a largely sanitized stroll through the industry's history. News USA News USA calls itself "a national news and feature syndicate located in Washington, DC that distributes news features, fillers and op-ed material to thousands of daily, weekly and community papers across the U.S." It offers "nationwide media coverage" to 10,000 newspapers, 6,000 radio stations, 1,000 TV stations. Their idea of "news" includes stories such as "You Can Set Your Table with Coca-Cola Collectibles," "Telecom Deregulation Will Bring Faster Internet Access," and "Enjoy a Caribbean Getaway." O'DwyerPR.com - Online Access to the Inside News O'Dwyer's is probably the best PR industry trade publication in the United States. Opensecrets.org Home page of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks the effect of money on the political process. Check here to find out who's giving to which candidate. On-Line Public Relations Home Page A great resource for information about the PR industry and related topics. This site includes links to online research sources for opinion polling data, plus powerful and specialized internet search engines, financial and medical information, etc. Pandora's List This email discussion list was created by European activists to "open the Box of Pandora" by exposing the role of the PR industry as "a critical partner of large corporations in for example image-building, greenwashing, creating strategies to deal with corporate critics." Polling Report.com Provided by The Polling Report, a bimonthly public opinion monitor, this site offers very frequently updated results and data from polling organizations including Gallup, Harris, Yankelovitch and the Princeton Research Associates as well as USA Today, NBC News, Fox News, Wall Street Journal and CNN/Time. Porter/Novelli Public Relations A major PR firm that specializes in health and consumer PR. Porter/Novelli specializes in what it calls "cross-pollination," a polite euphemism for what others would call "conflict of interest." For example, by offering free representation to nonprofit cancer research organizations, it has been able to recruit them in defense of its other clients such as pesticide makers. PR Newswire Online access to PR news releases. PR Week This slick, glossy magazine offers PR insider news in bite-sized McNuggets. (If you want detail and analysis from a pro-PR perspective, O'Dwyer's or The Holmes Report are both much more thorough.) Separate editions of PR Week are available for the United States, UK and Germany. Propaganda Analysis, with current and historical examples, of rhetorical tactics often used by propagandists, based on the framework developed in the 1930s by the Institute for Propaganda Analysis: name-calling, glittering generalities, etc. Public Affairs Council Based in Washington, D.C., the PAC is an elite trade association bringing together many of America's largest corporations, trade associations, and public relations firms. Public Communications Inc. A national PR firm. Their website lists a number of revealing case studies, such as their work to defeat health reform in Montana and to defuse criticism of infant formula makers' marketing practices in the Third World. Public Media Center The PMC is a nonprofit public interest advocacy group, which functions essentially as an alternative advertising and PR agency, using the techniques and skills of modern marketing to work for responsible social change: supporting human rights, environmental protection, cultural and biological diversity, sustainable development, corporate accountability and equality for women. Stackig Advertising and Public Relations This company boasts that its crisis plan was the one that was used when the deadly Ebola virus was discovered in a laboratory in northern Virginia. The crisis plan, it says, minimized "the negative impact on the company that operated the lab." ***************************************************************** Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 11:21:42 -0800 Subject: MediaLink "News" Feeds/Hopsicker From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Linda: Here's some more on Daniel Hopsicker's "news" video feed provider at NBC's foreign propaganda outlet, "Global Business 2000." ------------------ "Groups like MEDIALINK (www.medialink.com/vnr.htm) prepare television versions of corporate press releases and produce them in broadcast news style<a readymade fit for TV newscasts..." http://www.vueweekly.com/articles/default.aspx?i=25 MEDIA JUNGLE James Elford VNR takes all If you thought The Onion or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart were your best sources of fake news, think again: the Bush administration is giving them some tough competition, thanks to a "video news release" (VNR) in support of its new medicare law that many critics say blurs the boundary between advertising and propaganda. The VNR, distributed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, puts what some might call a biased spin on the Bush administration's medical plan. Sample scenes include a crowd cheering while Bush signs the law into effect, and another where an elderly customer is told by a pharmacist that the new law "helps you better afford your medications." "It sounds like a good idea," says the customer, to which the pharmacist replies, "A very good idea." But this kind of blatant drum beating wouldn't be so bad, or unexpected, if it weren't for the way it was packaged. Instead of being clearly marked as an advertisement from the government, the piece was not only designed to look like a news story, but the government even got the company that made the video, Home Front Communications, to hire someone to portray a journalist. Karen Ryan, a freelance reporter/actor/public relations professional (her title varies depending upon who you ask) read the script prepared by the government and signs off at end of the video without indicating that the VNR is anything but a legitimate news story. Even if they don't acknowledge it, the creators of the piece likely knew that there is a substantial difference between what people heard ("In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting") and a properly identified VNR ("I'm Karen Ryan reporting from the U.S. Department of health and Human Services in Washington, D.C."). There's even a Spanish-language version aimed at Latino voters featuring correspondent "Alberto Garcia." The ethical breach gets even stickier when you find out that the government also prepared scripts for news anchors to use as they introduced the video, featuring phrases like "Reporter Karen Ryan helps sort through the details" that seem designed to further its resemblance to real news. (While the video itself has aired in a number of states, including Louisiana, it's unclear if any newscasts elected to use this prepared script.) The General Accounting Office (GAO), the nonpartisan body that functions as Congress's investigative arm, has decided to investigate the matter because of a concern that the VNRs might violate a prohibition on using funds for "covert propaganda" and other government materials that are misleading about their origin. This prohibition came about after the U.S. State Department under the Reagan administration was discovered to be hiring consultants to author op-ed pieces and articles in support of their Central American policy back in 1987. This incident is the latest in a long line of deceptions that the Bushites seem almost addicted to. They've ranged from minor and relatively innocuous episodes like George W. presenting troops with a fake turkey for a staged Thanksgiving photo op to far more serious allegations about justifications for the invasion of Iraq. This reliance on fakery extends beyond turkeys and journalists to the use of fake firefighters<actors used in the slurry of images thrown together for the 9/11-themed Bush campaign ads that some have deemed exploitative. (It should be noted, by the way, that the International Association of Fire Fighters has endorsed John Kerry for president.) As for VNRs, they've been around since at least the 1980s and are used widely by both government and business as sort of video press releases. The American Dental Association uses them, and even has their own, presumably fake "reporters" presenting them.Groups like Medialink (www.medialink.com/vnr.htm) prepare television versions of corporate press releases and produce them in broadcast news style<a readymade fit for TV newscasts, and a convenient resource for producers struggling to fill air time, especially at small stations without the resources to produce enough of their own quality news. Sometimes clearly identified as a message from whatever interest group is releasing it and sometimes not, VNRs tread an ethical grey area. Airing a VNR without proper identification is like printing a press release as your own story. VNRs have also been used in Europe but, at least in Britain, there has been some action taken to restrict their use following an emotional Greenpeace video about their efforts to prevent the dumping of Shell's Brent Spar oil platform, which led to what editors at BBC and ITN later admitted was biased coverage of the issue. Guidelines were drawn up to label VNRs as such<interestingly, the videotapes of Osama Bin Laden qualify as VNRs. In the U.S., while a coalition of prominent journalism organizations including the Society of Professional Journalists have released a joint letter of protest against VNRs, the Radio-Television News Directors Association chose to simply clarify their guidelines on the use of VNRs in newscasts. Hardly a muscular response to such an entrenched problem, and certainly open to criticism. In their battle for the hearts and minds of citizens in a democracy, governments and corporations can't be entirely trusted to show all sides of a debate with any objectivity. The onus rests with the journalists<and hopefully, they'll keep that in mind before they air their next VNR. ***************************************************************** Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 11:30:31 -0800 Subject: HOPSICKER AND MEDIALINK'S "BLATANT PROPAGANDA" From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Mr. Hopsicker has claimed he did a business show for NBC. Is this any way to describe corporate commercials and "public diplomacy" in the name of globalism? --------------- http://users.actweb.net/~eye/propaganda/articles/corporate_news.htm "Perhaps the only bigger distributor of video "news" releases than Medialink is the Pentagon. ..." blatant propaganda home > propaganda index > here blatant propaganda article: CORPORATE SPONSORED NEWS? Increasingly, what TV news stations pass off as news are actually video news releases: expensive and professional videos prepared by advertising firms and paid for by large corporations. Groups like Medialink beam these video news releases, or VNRs, via satellite to television news editors. These editors, lured by the polished product available at no cost, run these press releases as news, much like the print media do with the VNRs written counterparts. The result? Corporate-sponsored ad agencies are subtly changing and controlling the news we see on the tube. Their use is widespread. For example, 81.2 million people saw a "news" report on dolphin-safe tuna fishing methods on t.v. last year. Reporters did not dig up this story. It was fed to them by Starkist Seafood Co., who hired Chicago-based Edelman Public Relations Worldwide to produce it. Ad executives sailed on fishing boats to promote Starkist's product. News directors, undoubtedly impressed by the artfully shot and edited scenes of playful dolphins, fierce seas, and rugged yet environmentally sensitive boathands, ate it up. The question: Is dolphin-safe tuna newsworthy without easily available PR material about it? If so, why not assign reporters to the story instead of relying on the advertising people? If not, why run it on the news at all? The answer, of course, is money. Assigning reporters and camera crews to an all-day or even all-week fishing expedition is an expense that most news stations cannot afford, or at least wish to avoid. But Starkist can afford it. In fact, faced with a nationwide boycott of their tuna, StarKist can't afford not to. Edelman also produced a VNR for the Nutrasweet Company about fat substitutes which was run as "news" and seen by 54.1 million people. No doubt this VNR featured scientists talking about health hazards, maybe even an animated segment showing fat cells clogging up arteries and killing folks. Then an interview with a Nutrasweet technician reporting objectively on alternatives to fatty foods. Other examples: 21.8 million people watched Soviets line up at the new Moscow McDonald's to enjoy a hamburger. McDonald's Corporation paid Patterson-Parkington First International of Toronto to create the news. Here we have Americans watching a Canadian-made film of Russians eating Central American Beef. First International, indeed. And 18.6 million people learned about the "International Rotten Sneaker Contest" from their trusty news anchors. Odor-Eaters paid Combe Inc. of White Plains, New York to create that "news". All of these examples are amusing in a disgusting sort of way. But some video news releases are deadly. For instance, 61.4 million people saw a VNR on Iraq's (1990) invasion of Kuwait. 35.3 milllion saw a later YNR depicting human rights abuses perpetrated by the Iraqis against the Kuwaitis. Reporters were not involved in these two particular news accounts. Hill and Knowlton of Washington, DC crated this news, commissioned by a group called Citizens for a Free Kuwait. This group, rumored to be working with five million petrodollars belonging to the Emir (of Kuwait) himself, also hired a PR firm to mass produce "Free Kuwait" T-Shirts, flags, bumper stickers, and assorted Desert Shield/Storm souvenirs. The group's task was to put a positive spin on the Emir's repressive regime so that Americans could feel good about killing and dying to restore Kuwait's legitimate dictator. Perhaps the only bigger distributor of video "news" releases than Medialink is the Pentagon. What name other than VNR could you call the footage of smart bombs dropping through Iraqi chimneys? The networks salivated over that video clip, and hundreds of others like it, supplied by the military, designed to put a positive spin on what the United Nations now calls "near apocalyptic" allied bombing which has taken Iraq back to a pre-industrial age. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The above article was taken from NEXUS Magazine. It was originally taken by Nexus from an article entitled 'Advertising Invades the Newsroom' by Carl Hammarskjold which appeared in a November 1991 issue of the "Anderson Valley Advertiser", (Booneville, CA, USA). Blatant Propaganda PO Box 1327 Woden 2606 Australia E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To join the Blatant Propaganda e-mail list, please enter your details below. At present we send news once every 3 months or so. ***************************************************************** Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 11:39:19 -0800 Subject: HOPSICKER, MIND CONTROL AND "'GLOBAL BUSINESS 2000" From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> More on Hopsicker's "news" feed supplier - AC http://keyholepublishing.com/Getting%20Inside%20Your%20Head.htm Getting Inside Your Head: Media, Mind Control, and Marginalization of UFOs by Richard M. Dolan Reclaiming Our Freedom According to Medialink study from 2001, 90% of TV newsrooms now rely on VNRs and B-roll provided by outside sources as a regular part of their newscasts. Much of this is simply self-serving corporate or GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA. ------------------ http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Video_news_releases By way of example, the guide pointed to a VNR produced by MediaLink to promote Jennifer Lopez's perfume, GLOW. The VNR, concentrated on Lopez "as a Hispanic role model and one of People magazine's recently rated most beautiful people. The story aired on E!, Good Day Live, Extra, VH1, and even some Hispanic stations in Canada." The head of Medialink's VNR production unit, Michelle Williams, told PR Week "the viewer will take away something visual before they take away something audio. Instead of plugging a product by talking about it, showing it in use". -------------- http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/transcripts_102403_news.html this week archive station guide Meet OTM The Nightly News Sell October 24, 2003 BOB GARFIELD: Well, that's morning chat. At least viewers can rest assured that stories they see on the local news are journalistically pure. Or can they? The convergence of public relations ingenuity and broadcast stations' budgetary exigencies has yielded another dubious hybrid: the Video News Release -- a P.R. bonanza, and the news business's dirty little secret. Here's an example. [TAPE PLAYS] UNIDENTIFIED WO MAN: Sure, it's packed with Vitamin C, but orange juice has plenty more to offer. It can help protect your heart by raising your good cholesterol, and when it's fortified, it's a great source of calcium for non-milk drinkers. And that's not all! It's also rich in potassium, which reduces our risk for high blood pressure and for stroke. BOB GARFIELD: That was a story about the health miracle of orange juice on WWLP-TV, Springfield, Massachusetts. But it wasn't a story discovered, written and produced by WWLP. It was a VNR-- a video news release -- prepared by the Ketchum P.R. agency on behalf of its client, in this case Pepsico's Tropicana. Each year, thousands of such VNRs are distributed by corporations, government agencies, non-profit organizations and even members of Congress who have discovered it's easier to manage the news when you actually produce it yourself. Thus the ever-growing deluge of expensively-produced, news-like video reports crafted, often by ex-journalists, to look and sound like actual telejournalism. JOHN STAUBER: It is not news. It is fake news. BOB GARFIELD: John Stauber is executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy and author of Toxic Sludge Is Good for You -- a scathing, leftie broadside against the public relations industry. He believes the use of VNRs amounts to systematic deception of viewers, both by the hidden interested parties behind them, and by news organizations with impure motives themselves. JOHN STAUBER: So if I'm a TV news director, and I can fill most of the so-called 7 or 8 minute news hole on a local TV news program with provided footage that I get for free, I can save tens of thousands of dollars or more. BOB GARFIELD: News directors don't like to talk about VNRs. The few who returned our calls said they seldom use the free material. But according to Nielsen Media Research, by 1994, 100% of TV stations were using them, and 80% were doing so at least several times a month. And today's digital watermarking of the footage proves nothing has changed. Larry Moscowitz is the founder and president of MediaLink, one of the world's largest producers and distributors of VNRs. LARRY MOSCOWITZ: We determined prima facie and scientifically and electronically that every television station in America with a newscast has used and probably uses regularly this material from corporations and organizations that we provide as VNRs or B-Roll or other terminology we may use. BOB GARFIELD: Not all VNRs run whole. Most often they are mined for a clip of background footage here, an interview fragment there. But producers estimate that as many as one in three appear uncut, unedited and un-examined for balance or even basic accuracy. And why? Because they are there, tempting budget-battered news directors. And because they are free. DEBORAH POTTER: VNRs are enabling devices. BOB GARFIELD: Former CBS correspondent Deborah Potter is director of the News Lab, the Washington, D.C. nonprofit dedicated to quality local television. DEBORAH POTTER: They allow newsrooms to do less of their own work without fear of running out of material before the end of the hour. It's a concern, and it ought to be a concern, frankly, for viewers if much of the material that they're starting to get on the news isn't news. BOB GARFIELD: As long as there has been a press, there has been a symbiotic relationship between journalism and P.R. -- and not necessarily an insidious one. Publicists and politicians looking to promote their agendas can serve those interests, and the media's as well, by calling attention to news or even fluff of interest to the public. It then becomes the media's job to establish the broader context and to separate the newsworthy wheat from the gratuitously promotional chaff -- and to be clear about the source of PR-furnished material. For instance, the Tropicana excerpt you heard at the top of this piece we found in a documentary based on John Stauber's book. Deborah Potter. DEBORAH POTTER: I feel very strongly that if stations are going to use VNR material they need to tell where it came from. It makes a difference if the whaling video you're using came from Greenpeace or from the Coalition to Support Whaling. BOB GARFIELD: Barbara Cochrane, president of the Radio and Television News Directors Association says she believes most stations and networks do routinely identify the source of outside video, as per the ethical guidelines of her organization. But those within the VNR industry roll their eyes at that assertion. Doug Simon of VNR producer D.S. Simon Productions says disclosure is the exception -not the rule. DOUG SIMON: From what we see, there's a very small percentage - perhaps less than 5% - that actually is identified what the source of the video is. BOB GARFIELD: That makes him uneasy, but VNR producers can't do such disclosure themselves. Each station uses a different on-screen typeface to identify video, so the onus is on those airing the material, and dependent as they are on the illusion of a far-flung newsgathering operation, with tentacles throughout the community and beyond, there's little motivation to do so. LARRY MOSCOWITZ: Can I say that local television stations have been lax? Yeah. BOB GARFIELD: MediaLink's Moscowitz acknowledges that stations are less than scrupulous about identifying the source of the footage he supplies. He does not believe, however, that the sin is particularly grave -- at least compared to other forms of journalism. LARRY MOSCOWITZ: There is more unexpurgated, unedited and unredacted press information that shows up in the average daily newspaper in America, and certainly in the average weekly newspaper, probably by a 5 to 1 factor over the P.R. material that shows up in television. So you might be going after the wrong goat here. BOB GARFIELD: The two wrongs make a right argument isn't the only one in favor of the video news release. Candace White, marketing professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and co-author of a 2001 study about VNRs, says the same self-interest that encourages news directors to use VNRs dictates that the material is used responsibly. CANDACE WHITE: See, I trust news producers to be able to weed out true news value; I give them credit for being able to recognize blatant sales pitches. Our study found that the corporate videos were used the least, and the ones about health and safety were used the most. BOB GARFIELD: But it's not necessarily the blatant sales pitches that are so dangerous. It is the subtle sales pitches, and the implication of independent journalistic approval conferred on a company or organization and its point of view, which is why her study's co-author, journalism professor Mark Harmon, sees VNRs as (quote) "insidious devices by corporate America to control the American agenda." Nor is the problem restricted to the local news. Not only do major networks use VNR footage. At least one, CBS, has a division which produces and distributes them. This gets back to the disdain and fear voiced by author and consumer advocate John Stauber. JOHN STAUBER: All public relations is not sinister or evil or bad. But I think the important thing to understand is that indeed all public relations is propaganda. BOB GARFIELD: So whether it's images of a NASA space walk or a self-congratulatory sound bite from your Congressman or swell health news about delicious calcium-fortified Tropicana orange juice, the message for TV news consumption is as ever: Let the viewer beware. While TV runs into problems when it fails to separate advertising from programming, it certainly can't do without advertising all together, and sponsors aren't picking up the programming tab out of the goodness of their hearts. They need an audience to watch the commercials. And the steady shrinking of network audiences is creating a gathering terror. The latest shocker from the A.C. Nielsen Company, a report that since last season alone, 750,000 men, aged 18 to 34 --advertisers' most coveted demographic -- have simply stopped watching TV. Joining me now to discuss this bombshell is David Poltrack, executive vice president of research and planning at CBS. Dave, welcome to On the Media. DAVID POLTRACK: Thank you, Bob. BOB GARFIELD: All right, 750,000 human souls vanishing, just disappearing. What's going on? DAVID POLTRACK: Well I wish I had the answer to that question. This is one of these anomalies that turns up in the audience measurement system occasionally, and would just be sort of a idle curiosity if it didn't mean so much economically. BOB GARFIELD: Fine. It may be an anomaly, or it may just be some sort of blip that will be self-correcting. But what if it isn't? Is it possible that this is, as someone put it, the canary in the mineshaft? DAVID POLTRACK: Advertisers are not going to abandon network television to any significant degree unless they can find something better, and the fragmentation in the television marketplace has impacted the television network audiences significantly, but it hasn't really created any new alternative. The fact that the networks have maintained their pricing is really a function of the fact that the top 20 shows have had significantly less erosion than the balance of the shows. So the premium product of network television has relatively held up. And in this particular case, of course, it's not just the network audiences going down. It's the overall audience that's going down. So there will be no relative winner in this, if it continues, which means that there's not an alternative out there that's getting stronger as a result of this, so it'll probably have very little effect in terms of the supply and demand mechanics of the marketplace. BOB GARFIELD: I want to ask you for a moment to at least consider taking off the rose-colored glasses. Recently you were quoted responding to a projection that the use of personal video recording devices like TiVo was going to quintuple by the year 2007, which will in effect dramatically reduce the number of people actually watching commercials broadcast on over the air television. You were quoted as kind of shrugging, saying, well you know, we lose a certain percentage of our audience every year to cable, and yet the model continues to be going strong. Is it possible that between the growth of the internet, between the introduction of such devices as TiVo and other PVR technology, and the overall fragmentation of the audience that networks are close to losing the critical mass of gigantic audiences that enable them to sustain this model, and that there's a death watch on for the goose that lays the golden egg? Is that one of the possibilities? DAVID POLTRACK: Well these are all changes that we have to adapt to. We recognize that we can't count on just our distribution system to keep us on top, and we have to look at cross-platform types of arrangements, re-purposing, all of the different things that are going to be very much a function of an environment where the viewer has more control. We have a challenge ahead of us. There's no question about it. I mean that's why we're, you know, we're pushing so hard for the FCC relaxation on the ownership limits, because the economics of local television station ownership support the finances and the programming investments of the television networks. The more stations we own, the more stable the advertiser model is for us, and there are a lot of pressures on that model. There's no question about it. You know, we're not being complacent or blase about the fact that it's just going to continue to go on. BOB GARFIELD: Well, David, thank you very much. DAVID POLTRACK: Okay. BOB GARFIELD: David Poltrack is executive vice president of research and planning at CBS. He joined us from his office at Black Rock. [MUSIC] BOB GARFIELD: Coming up, a documentation of terror using the terrorists' own video. This is On the Media, from NPR. [FUNDING CREDITS] copyright 2003 WNYC Radio --------- ***************************************************************** Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 12:10:27 -0800 Subject: MediaLink From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?titleţdiaLink MediaLink >From Disinfopedia MediaLink (http://www.medialink.com//_aboutuscorp.htm) is a GLOBAL LEADER in corporate communications services, connecting corporate clients with news industry producers. MediaLink boasts proprietary databases used in audience research, while a PARTNERSHIP with the Associated Press puts the PROPAGANDA of MediaLink clients on the desks of most United States' television news editors. MediaLink claims credit for having pioneered video news releases ***************************************************************** Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 19:45:49 -0800 Subject: SAIC/MediaLink/Gulf War Propaganda From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.medialink.com/pressreleases2003/042203.htm ... Personal thoughts about the release of prisoners of war and the training received to prepare them for the eventuality were shared by one male and three female pilots in interviews transmitted via satellite from Doha. Two of the women refuel planes in flight and the third is a weapons systems officer, one of only a few U.S. Air Force females assigned to this role in her squadron. The two groups of satellite interviews were the second and third projects in as many weeks delivered by Medialink for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) on behalf of the U.S. Air Force. Earlier, SAIC tapped Medialink to manage a similar live broadcast originating from a studio in Washington, D.C., which garnered 22 television bookings in major markets. "We are continuing to see demand from local TV stations for live satellite interviews and taped video segments concerning war-related topics, as well as relevant consumer news," said Lidj Lewis, Vice President of Media Relations, Medialink. "Our strong relationships with broadcasters in the United States and around the world have enabled us to provide our clients with the timely strategic counsel that is critical in this swiftly-changing news environment."... ***************************************************************** Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 22:53:21 -0800 Subject: MediaLink & Iraq Incubator Hoax From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> MediaLink & Iraq Incubator Hoax http://list.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2˙d9710a&L(R)jmc&F˙˙ 281 THE VIDEO NEWS RELEASE Before reviewing my pilot studies, it is important to understand why VNRs can be so misleading. The VNR that triggered the greatest shock was created by the public relations firm Hill and Knowlton, on October 10, 1992. This was one month after U.S. troops had been sent to Kuwait to stop Iraqi aggressions, and before Congress had actually approved the Gulf War. Nayirah, a fifteen-year-old Kuwaiti girl, gave public testimony in front of the congressional human rights caucus. With tears in her eyes, and at times barely able to continue, she told of armed Iraqi soldiers storming hospitals in Kuwait, snatching premature babies out of their incubators, and leaving them on the floor to die...Nayirah's story was recorded by a camera crew hired by Hill and Knowlton, and the film was used to produce a video news release. Portions of the film were aired that night on NBC's Nightly News. The VNR was also sent to MEDIALINK, eventually reaching a total audience of about 35 million...President Bush evoked Nayirah's story six times in one month while explaining the need to go to war...No fewer than seven senators referred to the babies as justification for their support of the January 12, 1991 resolution authorizing war....What members of Congress did not know was that Nayirah was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States. She had been coached by Hill and Knowlton before giving testimony....The PR company was working for a group...being financed almost entirely by the Kuwaiti royal family.[14] ***************************************************************** www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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