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Spinwatch gets a great launch
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Over sixty people attended the inaugural launch of SpinWatch at an international conference on Spin and Corporate Power at Strathclyde University on 18/19 November.
SpinWatch is a new collaborative venture between academics, and investigative journalists that aims to counter government lies and corporate spin. The organisers hope the web-site, SpinWatch.org, will become an invaluable tool for journalists on a whole host of deceptive PR techniques.
The conference opened with the theme of corporate power, spin and deception. Andy Rowell, a freelance journalist, and one of Spin-Watch's cofounders, argued that corporate spin could fool the media and public. He gave an example involving the issue of climate change.
On 8 November 2004, there had been the publication of a major 4-year study into the effects of climate change on the Arctic, by 300 leading climate scientists, eight governments and indigenous groups from the region. The scientists had reached some alarming conclusions that the Arctic was rapidly warming and sea ice disappearing, which threatened the future of wildlife such as polar bears and the survival of indigenous groups.
The following day, the world's media picked up the story. The Los Angeles Times led with "Climate Change accelerating, report warns", while the Daily Mail warned of the "Arctic Apocalypse". The one dissenting voice was The Guardian, whose headline ran " Climate Change Claims Flawed, Says Study". The article, written by the Guardian's science editor, Tim Radford, argued that a "team has condemned claims of climate catastrophe as 'fatally flawed' in a report released today".
What Radford did not tell Guardian readers that his article was based on a spoiler report by the International Policy Network, a right-wing think tank based in London, that received $50,000 from the world's largest oil company Exxon in 2003. Rowell argued that Radford's piece "was a perfect example of corporate PR and spin at work. A corporate front group with hidden funding from the oil industry scuppers the launch of a huge international report on climate change. It leaves the controversy about climate change open when it should be closed. It left the reader confused when they should be outraged". The oil industry was using the same tactics as the tobacco industry had done, he said, trying to delay action regarding its products.
Next up was Laura Miller, from the Center for Media and Democracy in the US, who highlighted the case of the DCI Group, a Washington based public affairs organisation, with close ties to the Bush administration. The DCI Group runs a host of corporate front organisations in Europe and the US.
One of the most influential is the website Techcentralstation, which is sponsored by Microsoft and Exxon, that is becoming a leading vehicle for right-wing ideology and for attacking progressive organisations. Miller showed that in some cases DCI-groups were totally virtual organisations. "You don't even have to have staff to set up a front group," she said.
David Miller, another co-founder of Spin-Watch, and researcher, Angela Millar spoke about the "Case of the curious cufflinks, " in another example of corporate spin undermining the truth. On 8th January 2004 one of the world's most prestigious scientific journals, Science, had reported that Scottish farmed salmon contained high levels of toxic chemicals. The researchers tracked how the Salmon industry spun the story to discredit the orginal research, using corporate front groups and a "sustainability communications" company run by an ex-founder of Greenpeace, who has become a lobbyist for several controversial industries.
David Miller also argued that the PR campaign implicated Scotland's first Minister, Jack McConnell, in a "clear conflict of interest". McConnell's Scottish Executive pumped £1.5 million into the campaign to convince the public that salmon was safe. Miller highlighted that the biggest gift McConnell had received since becoming First Minister was a pair of gold cuff-links given to him by Marine Harvest, a fish farm multinational who benefited from the PR campaign. McConnell's brother also runs a Marine Harvest fish farm.
Eveline Lubbers, gave details of a major report published by SpinWatch to coincide with the conference into BAe's secret "Spy Ring", that spied on the pressure group the Campaign Against the Arms Trade. The firm at the centre of the spying scandal had collated the identities and details of 150,000 left-wing and environmental activists.
The conference brought together many people fighting propaganda, amongst others: Bob Burton from Australia who talked about Disinfopedia, an online database on the PR industry; Andy Higginbottom on Coke's spin campaign in the face of a growing consumer boycott; Olivier Hoedemann, from Corporate Europe Observatory in Amsterdam on the Brussels "Lobbyocracy" and James Marriott from Platform on the con of Corporate Social Responsibility. Aeron Davis, from City University highlighted the incestuous world of financial journalism and PR. "Financial journalism doesn't hold people to account", he argued.
Speaking at the end, David Miller urged people to write for SpinWatch or post articles to the web-site. Others were not so enthusiastic. Interviewed on Newsnight Scotland, Peter McMahon a former new labour spin doctor dismissed the SpinWatch site and labelled David Miller, a regular contributor to Free Press, a "sub-Marxist conspiracy theorist".
LINKSSpinwatch
Last modified: Tuesday, January 4, 2005
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Papers from the Media for All Conference
MEDIA MANIFESTO
DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Miscellany
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Censored 2005: Peter Phillips and Project Censored (Seven Stories Press) £12.99
Iraqi journalists celebrate release of French colleagues
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CPBF attacks Thompson's 'Threats to the BBC'
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