Lobbying

Amgen Website Invites Testimonials, Posts Off-Label Claims By Patients

This screenshot from the "Protect Cancer Patients" website shows what it looked like before "The Cancer Letter" exposed its solicitation and publication of patient testimonials without proper scientific evidence to support them. The company has subsequently removed the testimonials.To mobilize elderly Americans in an effort to overturn the new Medicare coverage policy for erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs, which boost red blood cell production), Amgen Inc. appears to have borrowed a strategy from the purveyors of alternative medicine.

The company launched a "Protect Cancer Patients" website, where visitors were invited to submit testimonials about the healing powers of ESAs. Also, they could contact members of Congress, or review the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services coverage decision and the House and Senate resolutions to vacate it.

Though the Internet designation ".org" suggests that the site is operated by an advocacy group, the "privacy policy" section notes that "this site is owned and operated by Amgen Inc." and can be used for communications with the company.

On the home page, the site is described as "online headquarters of a national campaign to protect cancer patients on Medicare from a decision denying them ... coverage for needed medicines."

"Amgen's mission is to serve patients, which is why we openly support the Protect Cancer Patients website," Kelley Davenport, an Amgen spokesman, said in an email. "The site educates cancer patients on Medicare and their caregivers about a Medicare policy that impacts cancer patients, so that their voices and concerns are heard by government policymakers.

Ethanol Industry Fuels New Ad Campaign

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

"Renewable Fuels Now," a new ethanol industry group, "plans a splashy ad campaign next week that will appear in popular Capitol Hill publications, including The Hill and Roll Call," reports Lauren Etter. The group, which counts the National Corn Growers Association and the Renewable Fuels Association among its members, has hired the PR firm Manning Selvage & Lee.

No
Main Source: 
Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), November 3, 2007
Topics: 
Climate Change
U.S. Congress
International
Lobbying
Marketing

Broadcasters' Coalition of the Shilling Objects to Fake News Fines

Do you remember when the Surgeon General's warning appeared on cigarette packs, and everyone stopped smoking? Or when nutritional information was added to food packaging, and everyone stopped eating sugary snacks? Neither do I.

Yet lawyers and lobbyists for the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) insist that mounting pressure to disclose fake news "already has begun to drastically chill speech in newsrooms across the country, inhibiting broadcasters and cablecasters from fully serving their viewers."

That claim is made in RTNDA's new filing (PDF) with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The broadcasters' group is urging the FCC to stop considering fines for undisclosed video news releases (VNRs). The FCC has proposed fines totaling $20,000 against Comcast, for its cable channel CN8 having aired five VNRs — public relations videos designed to look like news reports — without disclosure.

The FCC fines are an important first step in ensuring news viewers' right to know. But rather than roll up its metaphoric sleeves and address the impact of VNRs on television news, RTNDA is lobbying against any FCC action.

Coalition of the Killing

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Its reputation in tatters, the Blackwater private military firm has hired "a bipartisan stable of big-name Washington lawyers, lobbyists and press advisers," report John Broder and James Risen. In addition to the Burson-Marsteller PR firm, the hired guns who have worked for Blackwater include Kenneth D.

No
Main Source: 
New York Times, November 1, 2007
Topics: 
Crisis Management
Iraq
Corporations
Lobbying

AT&T's Wisconsin Network Finds Broad Support for Video "Choice"

phoneIt's no secret that polls are used to shape public opinion at least as much as they're used to measure it. The website of one major U.S. polling firm, the Mellman Group, boasts its "extensive experience developing effective communications strategies that lead people to choose our client's product or service, join their organization, hold their opinion, or vote as we would like."

Polling was used as a perception management tactic in the national debate over the children's health insurance program known as SCHIP. As President Bush prepared to veto an SCHIP reauthorization bill, Republican strategists worried about the impact on their party. Republican pollster David Winston came up with a solution: present the party's opposition as an attempt to "'put poor kids first' rather than expand coverage to adults, illegal immigrants and those already with insurance," reported the Wall Street Journal. "Independents favored that message 47%-38%." The veto went ahead, with the "poor kids first" theme figuring prominently in Republican talking points and briefing materials, such as the White House's "Five Key Myths About President Bush's Support for SCHIP Reauthorization."

Polls are also frequently employed as part of a "bandwagon" strategy: most people support (or oppose) this, so you should support (or oppose) this, too. Last year, a poll purported to show strong opposition to "net neutrality," the principle that networks should provide access to any data, without discrimination. But the poll questions were highly leading, asking participants whether they preferred "new TV and video choice" and "lower prices for cable TV," or "barring high speed internet providers from offering specialized services." The poll was funded by Verizon Communications, which opposes net neutrality.

Another telecom-related poll was unveiled last month at a press conference in Madison, Wisconsin. According to a press release (PDF) put out by the newly-formed Wisconsin Video Choice Coalition, "Wisconsin residents across demographic, geographic and party lines overwhelmingly support a state bill that would encourage competition to cable TV."

By all accounts, the legislation in question is controversial. Why, then, did the poll find such strong support for it?

Queueing for Concert Tickets? No, Congress

Submitted by Judith Siers-Poisson on

Passers-by might think that the people camped out at dawn to ensure a seat in a Congressional committee hearing are a shining example of democracy in action. In fact, chances are that they are a perfect example of what's wrong with our democracy. They may be professional "line standers" -- people who get paid by lobbyists to arrive early and hold a place in line for industry reps that arrive just before the hearing starts. Democratic Sen.

No
Main Source: 
McClatchy Newspapers, October 17, 2007
Topics: 
U.S. Congress
Democracy
Lobbying
Politics
U.S. Government

Anti-Tax Lobby Not Just in Kansas Anymore

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

"According to the Americans for Prosperity Web site, some 28 Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature signed a 'no tax increase' pledge with the organization," along with two Democrats, writes Dave Zweifel. He blames pressure from no-tax groups on delays with Wisconsin's state budget, now more than three months overdue.

No
Main Source: 
The Capital Times (Madison, Wis.), October 22, 2007
Topics: 
Astroturf
Right Wing
Lobbying

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