International

Spun Out of Office

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

"We have won without lies," chanted the crowd outside the Madrid headquarters of Spain's socialist party, PSOE, which swept to victory in the country's March 14 elections. "Spin was indeed at the centre of PSOE's extraordinary, unexpected triumph," notes reporter David Mathieson. "There is no word in Spanish for 'spin,' but there has been no absence of the practice in Madrid over the last year - and especially in the past few days. The spectacular gains made by PSOE ...

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Main Source: 
Guardian (UK), March 15, 2004
Topics: 
Terrorism
International
Politics
Propaganda

Gagging Sir David

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Ivan Rogers, the principal private secretary to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, "tried to muzzle the Government's top scientific adviser after he warned that global warming was a more serious threat than international terrorism," report Steve Connor and Andrew Grice. In a leaked memo, Rogers ordered Sir David King - a scientist at Cambridge University - to decline any interview requests from British and American newspapers and BBC Radio.

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Main Source: 
Independent (UK), March 8, 2004
Topics: 
Climate Change
International
Secrecy

Saudi Clerics Bash U.S. Funded Channel

Submitted by Laura Miller on

Two Saudi clerics have said that Muslims should not watch, work for, or advertise on the new U.S. funded Al-Hurra satellite channel. In a written fatwa, Sheik Ibrahim al-Khudairi said the channel was "founded by America to fight Islam, and to propagate massive decay to Americanise the world." Al-Hurra, which means the free one, is the latest Arabic-language media project run by the Broadcasting Board of Governors. According to U.S. officials, the channel, which will cost U.S.

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Main Source: 
Singapore Straits Times, March 7, 2004
Topics: 
International
Media
Religion
U.S. Government

Blair's 45-minute Gap

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Britons continue to debate the Blair government's now-discredited claim that Iraq was 45 minutes away from launching chemical or biological weapons. Glenn Frankel and Rajiv Chandrasekaran British review in detail the history of the 45-minute claim and Blair's failure to "disclose that the claim had come secondhand from a single, uncorroborated source, and that some of the government's own experts believed it was questionable."

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Main Source: 
Washington Post, February 29, 2004
Topics: 
Iraq
International
Propaganda

Editing With the Enemy

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

The U.S. government is threating legal action against anyone who edits manuscripts from Iran and other disfavored nations, on the ground that it amounts to trading with the enemy. "Anyone who publishes material from a country under a trade embargo is forbidden to reorder paragraphs or sentences, correct syntax or grammar, or replace 'inappropriate words,'" reports Adam Liptak. "Adding illustrations is prohibited, too.

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Main Source: 
New York Times, February 28, 2004
Topics: 
Human Rights
International
U.S. Government

US-Funded Channel Woos Arabs With Slick Image

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"Like this image of Arabian stallions at full gallop, the new Alhurra Arabic-language television network is off and running this week with news coverage beamed at the Middle East, despite significant competition and mounting controversy," Television Week writes. Top branding and advertising specialists hope their work for the US-funded Alhurra ("The Free One" in Arabic) will grab the attention of Arabic viewers, already skeptical of the network's content.

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Main Source: 
TV Week, February 16, 2004
Topics: 
International
Media
U.S. Government

"Osama, Osama" Jeer Greets US Soccer in Mexico

Submitted by John Stauber on

Survey after survey documents how the Bush administration has squandered the international outpouring of sympathy after 9/11, turning it into an outpouring of fear and hatred toward the US and its foreign policies. But actions of Mexican soccer fans spoke louder than poll numbers in Guadalajara today. "The boos nearly drowned out The Star-Spangled Banner , and a few dozen fans chanted "Osama! Osama!" as the United States was eliminated by Mexico in Olympic men's soccer qualifying.

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Main Source: 
Associated Press, February 11, 2004
Topics: 
International
Public Relations
U.S. Government

In Search of the Magic Phrase

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

The "apparatus of public diplomacy" (the official government euphemism for overseas public relations) "has proven inadequate, especially in the Arab and Muslim World," says Harold Pachios, a commissioner on the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. In testimony before the U.S.

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Main Source: 
http://www.state.gov/r/adcompd/rls/29213.htm
Topics: 
International
Public Relations
U.S. Government

Just What They Need

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

As political unrest grows in Haiti, the United Nations warns of an impending humanitarian crisis and dozens of people are killed, there is some good news for Jean Bertrand Aristide: "Global Market Solutions, which is based in Washington, DC, is rallying to the side of [the] beleaguered Haitian president." The PR firm "has promoted Aristide's willingness to talk with the rebels and commitment to democracy." Robert Magu

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Main Source: 
O Dwyer's PR Daily, February 10, 2004
Topics: 
International

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