Journalist have a responsibility to report the truth. Based on this definition, there are very few journalists left in America. The war is only making it easier for PR specialists to pretend that they are journalists.
The second paragraph specifies that, for clarity's sake, the article will use the term "Chiquita" to refer to the company formerly known as United Fruit.
It may be better to say "United Fruit Company" rather than "Chiquita." Chiquita was not an official name for the company until the corporate permutations, mergers and acquisitions of the 1980s resulted in the evil behemoth taking on a perky new name to help obscure the troubles the company had caused and gotten itself into.
Thanks Anne - we almost have to begrudgingly admire Rick Berman for his remarkable success in running front groups, don't we?
For example, Berman is the PR brainiac behind:
* Transfats.com - “Transfats have demonstrated beneficial health effects including fighting cancer”
* sunlightscam.com - where you’ll learn that tanning beds fight heart disease, and breast cancer, and stroke and osteoporosis – funded by the folks who make indoor tanning beds
* fishscam.com - “Tiny amounts of mercury in fish aren’t harmful at all” or how about “Pregnant women should eat more fish!” see also: mercuryfacts.org
* PETAkillsanimals.com - Yep, it’s apparently true – animal rights activists at PETA are really just animal killers, according to this group that promotes misinformation about animal cruelty
* Sweetscam.com - my favourite! it’s meant to convince you that much-maligned high fructose corn syrup is good for you!
Meanwhile, over in Big Pharma, we have other examples of legitimate-sounding front groups set up by drug companies. For example, even with no payroll, no building and no offices, drug giant Merck’s wholly-owned non-profit front group, the ‘Bone Measurement Institute’, has helped Merck boost annual sales of its osteoporosis drug Fosamax as high as $3.2 billion.
And now that Merck's Bone Measurement Institute has convinced millions of women that they may be in danger of developing the non-disease called "osteopenia", sales will continue to grow - even as scientists now increasingly question the safety of longterm prescription of drugs like Fosamax and other bisphosphonates. More on this at: "We Never Imagined People Would Think Of Osteopenia As A Disease" at THE ETHICAL NAG: MARKETING ETHICS FOR THE EASILY SWAYED: http://ethicalnag.org/2010/02/06/osteopenia/
Isn't it time we declared the national debt and the F.E.D. null and void? These masterminds of financial disaster must get what they deserve, a long time behind bars. We could purge our government of the financial industries insiders and undertake the control of currency for the benefit of all instead of the few. It would be a monumental task but probably less painful than the bailout of a bunch of crooks.
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