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Radio trial awaits propaganda ruling |
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War on Terror
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15/12/2004 ? Kurdish media News, Bianet.org - By Erol Onderoglu
A court, handling the trial opened against "Radyo Dunya" for citing an announcement by the imprisoned PKK leader Ocalan, decided the wait for the outcome of the other trial opened against radio officials for the propaganda of an illegal organisation. |
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Mugabe to post propaganda chief to UN |
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Africa
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Zim Online (SA)
Date posted:Wed 15-Dec-2004
Date published:Wed 15-Dec-2004
"He will keep Moyo here until after March because he knows he needs him for the election"
Harare - President Robert Mugabe will reassign his abrasive information minister and propaganda chief, Jonathan Moyo, to a top diplomatic post, possibly as Zimbabwe's new ambassador to the United Nations (UN), sources told Zim Online yesterday. The sources said other senior ruling Zanu PF party leaders, long angry with Moyo over what they perceive as his arrogance and disrespectful manner, had taken advantage of his fallout with Mugabe to push for his dismissal from the government altogether. |
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India sacks US lobbyist over Pakistan arms deal |
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Arms Industry
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The Dawn
By Jawed Naqvi
NEW DELHI, Dec 17: The proposed sale of F-16 warplanes by the United States to Pakistan has prompted India to sack its high-profile US lobbying firm, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Field, for failing to lobby effectively
against the deal, the Times of India said on Friday.
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US Politics
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Sunday, December 19, 2004
By PATRICIA ALEX
STAFF WRITER
NorthJersy.com
Democratic power brokers have filled a raft of seats on the governing boards of New Jersey's public colleges and universities with cronies, government employees and political partisans who threaten to give Trenton, and their own political patrons, unprecedented influence over the schools. |
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Civil servants are ordered to delete millions of emails |
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British Government
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The Independent on Sunday
By Francis Elliott, Deputy Political Editor
19 December 2004
Tony Blair was savaged over his commitment to new freedom of information laws yesterday as it emerged that civil servants are being ordered to destroy millions of emails less than a fortnight before they will become publicly accessible.
The Cabinet Office has told officials to delete any email more than three months old tomorrow, just 11 days before the new freedom of information legislation comes into force. Although civil servants working in what is effectively Mr Blair's own department have been told to keep "important" electronic mail, there will be no monitoring of what is deleted.
Michael Howard yesterday rounded on the Prime Minister, accusing him of being "hypocritical". In a letter to Mr Blair, the Tory leader wrote: "There are reports that your Government is engaged on a massive email destruction binge in order to get round the law which you yourself passed," he wrote. "How hypocritical can you get? What is your Government trying to hide? The public are entitled to a clear and simple explanation as to what is going on." |
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Army report says Government delay put the Black Watch at risk in Iraq |
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Iraq
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The Telegraph
By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 19/12/2004)
A top level Army report has revealed that Black Watch soldiers were sent on their highly controversial mission into Iraq's "Triangle of Death" unable to protect themselves properly from suicide bombers because of ministerial delays.
The document, which is marked "Secret UK Eyes Only", states that a "delay" by the Government on whether or not to send the troops meant that "there was insufficient time [for the regiment] to assess and then practise appropriate tactics, techniques and procedures".
The report was leaked to The Telegraph after General Sir Michael Walker, the chief of the defence staff, and Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, appeared to blame the media for the deaths of the Black Watch soldiers. |
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Celebrity chef calls Jamie Oliver whore for promoting salmon farm |
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Food Industry
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The Independent on Sunday
Clarissa Dickson Wright accuses Jamie Oliver of 'selling his soul' over his endorsement of controversial salmon farm
By Steve Bloomfield And Severin Carrell
19 December 2004
Described as fake, a bit slimy and not very good for you, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver was yesterday forced to defend the reputation of the smoked salmon he is promoting this Christmas.
Oliver, already reeling from complaints about his London restaurant, is now under assault from environmentalists, who claim Sainsbury's smoked salmon comes from fish farms that damage the environment. |
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Irish minister needs some good PR |
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PR Industry
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Profile: The fuss about Martin Cullen's PR adviser, Monica Leech, 'won't go away' - and his enemies are sensing their opportunity, writes Kathy Sheridan.
Irish Times |
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South Africa: lawsuits dismissed |
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Africa
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Apartheid victims vow to continue their fight after lawsuits dismissed
14 Dec 04
Lisa Roner
Ethical Corporation |
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Last week the 1,000th US soldier died in combat. Why did no one notice? |
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Iraq
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The Independent
Because the coalition wants to play down the carnage. Especially when it comes to civilians
By Andrew Buncombe, Severin Carrell and Raymond Whitaker
12 December 2004
A deadly milestone was reached in Iraq last week, and hardly anyone noticed. Captain Mark Stubenhofer of the US army's 41st Infantry Regiment, killed in a firefight on a street in Baghdad on Tuesday, was the 1,000th American to die in combat since the country was invaded nearly 21 months ago - yet none of the reports of his death mentioned the fact. |
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Irish Prime Minister considers inquiry in PR contract award |
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PR Industry
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Ahern says options for inquiry into PR contract to be looked at
Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent
Irish Times
The Government will examine "in the coming days" the options available to inquire into the appointment of a public relations consultant by the Minister for Transport, Mr Cullen.
The Waterford-based PR consultant, Ms Monica Leech, has earned ?300,000 since the Department of the Environment hired her shortly after Mr Cullen took up office in June 2002. He was moved to Transport in the September reshuffle.
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Support Ignacio Chapela - Stand up for academic freedom |
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GM industry
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"I don't want to be a martyr by any means, but I cannot avoid now realising that this is a very, very well concerted, and coordinated and paid for campaign." That's what Dr Ignacio Chapela told SpinWatch's Andy Rowell during the fall out from the scandal over the GM contamination of native
Mexican maize, which Chapela's research had exposed.
Andy Rowell and SpinWatch's contributing editor, Jonathan Matthews, went on to write the first articles published anywhere in the world to reveal how Monsanto's Internet PR company, Bivings was at the very heart of the
campaign to vilify Ignacio Chapela and his research
In his book, "Don't Worry -It's safe to eat", Andy went on to detail not only the direct role played by Monsanto in the whole affair but how the leading scientific critics of Chapela's research were all linked to a big corporate tie-up between the University of California, Berkeley and the biotech giant Novartis.
Chapela had been the chief critic at Berkeley of the Novartis deal and it's at Berkeley that the attacks on Chapela have continued to take their toll. Despite overwhelming support from his own Department and from his academic peers in much of the rest of the University of California, Ignacio Chapela
has been denied tenure at Berkeley in the most controversial of circumstances. His contract there runs out in just a few days time.
Below is a media report on Last Thursday's rally at Berkeley in support of Igncio Chapela.
Please add your voice to the protests being made to Berkeley's
Chancellor. Just click this link: http://www.gmwatch.org/proemail1.asp?id=7
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Controversial U.S. Groups Operate Behind Scenes on Iraq Vote |
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Iraq
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The NewStandard
by Lisa Ashkenaz Croke and Brian Dominick
Washington-funded organizations are hard at work providing assistance to political campaigns in the lead up to next month?s nationwide elections, but critics suggest their participation is anything but benevolent.
Dec 13 - Even as the White House decries the ominous prospect of Iranian influence on the upcoming Iraqi national elections, US-funded organizations with long records of manipulating foreign democracies in the direction of Washington?s interests are quietly but deeply involved in essentially every aspect of the process. |
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How Harris Corp. became a media player in Iraq |
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Iraq
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MSNBC
Watchdog groups contend giant Melbourne contractor has no journalism experience.
By Noelle C. Haner
Orlando Business Journal
Updated: 7:00 p.m. ET Dec. 12, 2004
MELBOURNE -- With little fanfare, Harris Corp., the giant government information technology and defense contractor, has developed a new niche -- media -- in a place many view as a bit odd.
Iraq.
In January 2004, the Melbourne-based company took charge of the Iraqi Media Network, landing a $96 million U.S. government contract to equip, rebuild, operate, program and manage the war-torn country's fledgling media network. |
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Pentagon Weighs Use of Deception in a Broad Arena |
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Iraq
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HEARTS AND MINDS
By THOM SHANKER and ERIC SCHMITT
New York Times Published: December 13, 2004
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - The Pentagon is engaged in bitter, high-level debate over how far it can and should go in managing or manipulating information to influence opinion abroad, senior Defense Department civilians and military officers say.Such missions, if approved, could take the deceptive techniques endorsed for use on the battlefield to confuse an adversary and adopt them for covert propaganda campaigns aimed at neutral and even allied nations. |
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Services charities condemn MoD |
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British Government
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The Independent on Sunday
By Severin Carrell
12 December 2004
Military welfare charities have attacked the Ministry of Defence for failing to provide details of injuries to servicemen and women in Iraq, and are accusing the Government of hampering their work.
The MoD insists patient confidentiality has to be paramount, and claims releasing the statistics can harm the health of casualties. But James Bond, an expert on military compensation claims at the Royal British Legion, the UK's largest ex-services welfare agency, said this was an excuse. Its real concern was that releasing figures on the cause and type of injury or illness that British troops were suffering might affect morale.
Commodore Toby Elliott, chief executive of Combat Stress, the main charity for mentally ill ex-servicemen, said the MoD's arguments for not releasing detailed casualty figures were "bullshit", adding: "All of us involved in the care of servicemen and women who end up as casualties need to know the statistics, so we can ensure we have the right resources."
Mr Bond said the armed forces in Iraq and at bases in the UK would have very detailed figures on the type and severity of troops' injuries and illnesses. "Those figures are essential when planning how to medically evacuate people ... What it means is that they're actually not bothered about learning lessons from the injury statistics."
Commodore Elliott challenged the MoD's claim that less than 1 per cent of troops in Iraq were suffering mental health problems as "premature and inaccurate". |
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American Republican Media Consulting firm to Assist Iraqi Elections |
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Iraq
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OnlyPunjab.com
PRESS RELEASE
Publish Date : 12/12/2004 4:51:00 PM Source : American Local News
Tony Marsh and Lance Copsey, principals of the Republican media consulting firm Marsh Copsey + Scott, recently signed a major contract with the International Republican Institute to develop an election media center.
The media center will be a critical component to help Baghdad?s candidates and political parties in Iraq?s first ever free and fair election.
Marsh Copsey + Scott will design and construct the media center, install the equipment and provide guidance and training as needed to the Iraqi nationals who will use it. |
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British Energy calls in Liddell for nuclear counsel |
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Nuclear Industry
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PR Week
Written by Ravi Chandiramani
Published on December 10 2004
British Energy has enlisted former energy minister Helen Liddell to
provide strategic advice on issues surrounding nuclear power?s role in
government energy policy.
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Fort Carson halts access for The Denver Post |
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Iraq
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The Denver Post
Article Published: Thursday, December 09, 2004
The base is refusing to give the paper information because of a Sunday
front-page article on military medical holds.
By Eileen Kelley
Fort Carson -The Army is denying The Denver Post access to Fort Carson and to information on military activities in the wake of a Sunday article in The Post on military medical holds. |
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Automakers Sue to Block Emissions Law in California |
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Climate Change
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From NY Times Business Section
December 8, 2004
By DANNY HAKIM
Toyota, General Motors and seven other automakers filed suit on Tuesday to block California's new greenhouse gas regulation, which was approved by the state in its final form in September.
[This news-item provides the proof that environmental-friendly car advertising is nothing but greenwash, EL for SpinWatch] |
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