Submitted by Laura Miller on
"Conservative columnist Bob Novak has touted the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth book Unfit for Command without revealing that his son heads marketing and PR for its publisher," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. The New York Times writes that Novak has "lauded" the book in his syndicated columns and on CNN's 'Crossfire.' "Unmentioned in Mr.
Submitted by John Stauber on
The Swift Boat attack on Kerry uses a classic [third party] propaganda tactic: have PR professionals [such as Merrie Spaeth] organize and launch a well-funded
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Anglers on their way into the north woods of Wisconsin this Labor Day weekend won't be seeing one important message about the Bush administration's environmental record. This month Environment 2004 tried to place an advertisement on two billboards along a Wisconsin highway that declared, "Mercury. It's what's for dinner.
Submitted by John Stauber on
"Don't expect to see the reverends Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson or Franklin
Graham at the podium during next week's Republican National Convention,
whose planners hope to keep fire, brimstone and the Christian Right
offstage at Madison Square Garden.
About the only big name Christians making prime-time noise at Madison
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The Daily Kos recently uncovered an astroturf (fake grassroots) initiative by the George W. Bush campaign, which generated ghostwritten letters to the editor that found their way into at least 60 newspapers. This isn't the first time that the Bush administration has tried this trick, as we've reported in the past.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other civil rights leaders say the Republican Party is mounting a campaign to keep African-Americans and other minority voters away from the polls this November. "In recent years, many minority communities have tended to align with the Democratic Party," states a new report cosponsored by the NAACP and People for the American Way.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Ludlow Music, a humor-challenged company that claimed to own the rights to Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land," has dropped its lawsuit against JibJab Media, the Web animators who adapted Guthrie's song to create a wildly popular parody of the U.S. presidential campaign.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
While the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth may have a questionable grasp of the facts, it has been extraordinarily sophisticated in its manipulation of the media," observes the Columbia Journalism Review's Campaign Desk weblog. "To understand why this campaign has been hijacked by a small group of veterans bearing a thirty-year old grudge, it's worth examining the institutional susceptibilities of a campaign press corps that allowed the SBVFT's accusations to take on a life of their own.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"Continuing a twenty-year trend that has seen advertising expenses skyrocket as traditional political party organizing has fallen by the wayside, the total for political ads this election year is estimated by most industry analysts at over $1.5 billion, $400 million of which will be spent by the presidential campaigns," report Sakura Saunders and Ben Clarke. "Over the last 24 years, broadcast TV advertising alone has increased from $90 million to over a $1 billion.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"Over the past few weeks of Presidential WrestleMania MMIV, the Bush campaign has fired off more than a dozen press releases about John Kerry's policies on energy, nuclear-waste storage, forest and water protections, and other environmental issues - a hodgepodge of smears, exaggerations, and obfuscations intended to besmirch Kerry's pro-environment reputation," Grist Magazine's Amanda Griscom writes. Polls indicate that swing-state voters are concerned about things like pollution and wilderness conservation, prompting the Bush campaign to "neutralize" the environment as an election issue.
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