It now seems that we have Nethendrthal genes. Well not all of us.The encounters probably took place as humans were leaving Africa in the Middle East or Eastern North Africa (Egypt). Maybe that makes us a different kind of human or not. The per cent vary among the peoples of the world. Most Africans don't have them...is this important? Well, only in that it shows that with all our differences we seem to share so much that is the same that it doesn't matter. Sorry to disappoint the natzis among you.

What is Plagiarism?

What is Plagiarism?

Definition
1. Plagiarism is defined as "Passing off someone else's work as your own".

2. It happens if you copy somebody else's work instead of doing your own.

3. It also happens in those cases where people actually buy essays instead of doing the work themselves.

4. Schools, colleges, and universities regard this as a serious offence - and they often have stiff penalties for anyone found guilty.

5. Most people at school level call this 'cheating' or 'copying' - and they know it is wrong.

6. The problem is that at college or university, you are expected to use and write about other people's work - so the issue of plagiarism becomes more complex.

7. There are also different types and different degrees of plagiarism - and it is often difficult to know whether you are breaking the rules or not.

8. Let's start off by making it clear that all the following can be counted as plagiarism.


Plagiarism

• Copying directly from a text, word-for-word

• Using an attractive phrase or sentence you have found somewhere

• Using text downloaded from the Internet

• Paraphrasing the words of a text very closely

• Borrowing statistics from another source or person

• Copying from the essays or the notes of another student

• Downloading or copying pictures, photographs, or diagrams without acknowledging your sources


Why is this so complex?
9. The answer is - because in your work at college or university level you are supposed to discuss other people's ideas. These will be expressed in the articles and books they have written. But you have to follow certain conventions.

10. Plus - at the same time - you will be asked to express your own arguments and opinions. You therefore have two tasks - and it is sometimes hard to combine them in a way which does not break the rules. Many people are not sure how much of somebody else's work they can use.

11. Sometimes plagiarism can happen by accident, because you use an extract from someone else's work - but you forget to show that you are quoting.

12. This is the first thing you should learn about plagiarism - and how to avoid it. Always show that you are quoting somebody else's work by enclosing the extract in [single] quote marks.

In 1848 there was an outbreak of revolutionary risings throughout Europe, which Marx described as 'the first stirrings of proletarian defiance' in a letter to his collaborator, Frederick Engels.

13. This also sometimes happens if you are stuck for ideas, and you quote a passage from a textbook. You might think the author expresses the idea so well, that you can't improve on it.

14. This is plagiarism - unless you say and show that you are quoting someone else's work. Here's how to do it:

This painting is generally considered one of his finest achievements. As John Richardson suggests: 'In Guernica, Picasso lifts the concept of art as political propaganda to its highest level in the twentieth century'.

Academic conventions
15. Why do colleges and universities make such a big fuss about this issue? The answer to this is that they are trying to keep up important conventions in academic writing.

16. The conventions involve two things at the same time. They are the same as your two tasks:

• You are developing your own ideas and arguments and learning to express them.

• You are showing that you have learned about and can use other people's work.

17. These conventions allow you to use other people's work to illustrate and support your own arguments - but you must be honest about it. You must show which parts are your own work, and which parts belong to somebody else.

18. You also need to show where the information comes from. This is done by using a system of footnotes or endnotes where you list details of the source of your information.

19. The conventions of referencing and citation can become very complex. If you need guidance on this issue, have a look at our detailed guidance notes on the subject. What follows is the bare bones.

20. In an essay on a novel by D.H. Lawrence for example, you might argue that his work was influenced by Thomas Hardy. You could support this claim by quoting a literary critic:

Lawrence's characters have a close relationship with their physical environment - showing possibly the influence of Hardy, who Walter Allen points out was 'his fundamental precursor in the English tradition' (1)

21. Notice that you place a number in brackets immediately after the quotation. The source of this quotation is given as a footnote at the bottom of the page, or as an endnote on a separate sheet at the end of your essay.

22. The note gives full details of the source - as follows:

Notes

1. Walter Allen, The English Novel, London: Chatto and Windus, 1964, p.243



Do's and Don'ts
23. You should avoid composing an essay by stringing together accounts of other people's work. This occurs when an essay is written in this form:

Critic X says that this idea is ' ... long quotation ...', whereas Commentator Y's opinion is that this idea is ' ... long quotation ...', and Critic Z disagrees completely, saying that the idea is ' ... long quotation ...'.

24. This is very close to plagiarism, because even though you are naming the critics and showing that you are quoting them - there is nothing of your own argument being offered here.

25. If you are stuck for ideas, don't be tempted to copy long passages from other people's work. The reason is - it's really easy to spot. Your tutor will notice the difference in style straight away.

Copyright and plagiarism
26. Copyright can be quite a complex issue - but basically it means the 'right to copy' a piece of work. This right belongs to the author of the work - the person who writes it - or a publisher.

27. When a piece of writing is published in a book or on the Web, you can read it as much as you wish - but the right to copy it belongs to the author or the author's publisher.

28. Nobody will worry if you quote a few words, or a few lines. This is regarded as what is called 'fair use'. People in the world of education realise that because quotation is so much a part of academic writing, it would be ridiculous to insist that you should seek permission to quote every few words.

29. In fact there is an unwritten convention that you can quote up to 5% of a work without seeking permission. If this was from a very long work however, you would still be wise to seek permission.

30. This permission is only for your own personal study purposes - as part of your course work or an assignment. If you wished to use the materials for any other purpose, you would need to seek permission.

31. Copyright also extends beyond writing to include diagrams, maps, drawings, photographs, and other forms of graphic presentation. In some cases it can even include the layout of a document.

Plagiarism and the Web
32. The World Wide Web has made millions and millions of pages of information available to anybody with access to the Internet. But even though this appears to be 'free' - copyright restrictions still apply. If someone writes and publishes a Web page, the copyright belongs to that person.

33. If you wish to use material you have located on the Web, you should acknowledge your sources in the same way that you would material quoted from a printed book.

34. Keep in mind too that information on a Web page might have been put there by someone who does not hold copyright to it.


What follows is the rather strictly-worded code
on plagiarism from a typical university handbook.
Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the theft or appropriation of someone else's work without proper acknowledgement, presenting the materials as if they were one's own. Plagiarism is a serious academic offence and the consequences are severe.

a) Course work, dissertations, and essays submitted for assessment must be the student's own work, unless in the case of group projects a joint effort is expected and indicated as such.

b) Unacknowledged direct copying from the work of another person, or the unacknowledged close paraphrasing of somebody else's work, is called plagiarism and is a serious offence, equated with cheating in examinations. This applies to copying both from other student's work and from published sources such as books, reports or journal articles.

c) Use of quotations or data from the work of others is entirely acceptable, and is often very valuable provided that the source of the quotation or data is given. Failure to provide a source or put quotation marks around material that is taken from elsewhere gives the appearance that the comments are ostensibly one's own. When quoting word-for-word from the work of another person quotation marks or indenting (setting the quotation in from the margin) must be used and the source of the quoted material must be acknowledged.

d) Paraphrasing when the original statement is still identifiable and has no acknowledgement, is plagiarism. A close paraphrase of another person's work must have an acknowledgement to the source. It is not acceptable to put together unacknowledged passages from the same or from different sources link these together with a few words or sentences of your own and changing a few words from the original text: this is regarded as over-dependence on other sources, which is a form of plagiarism.

e) Direct quotation from an earlier piece of the student's own work, if unattributed, suggests that the work is original, when in fact it is not. The direct copying of one's own writings qualifies as plagiarism if the fact that the work has been or is to be presented elsewhere is not acknowledged.

f) Sources of quotations used should be listed in full in a bibliography at the end of the piece of work and in a style required by the student's department.

g) Plagiarism is a serious offence and will always result in imposition of a penalty. In deciding upon the penalty the University will take into account factors such as the year of study, the extent and proportion of the work that has been plagiarised and the apparent intent of the student. the penalties that can be imposed range from a minimum of zero mark for the work (without allowing resubmission) through to downgrading of degree class, the award of a lesser qualification (eg a Pass degree rather than Honours, a certificate rather than a diploma) to disciplinary measures such as suspension or expulsion.

What if?

- ON THIS DAY -

On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis, which had just delivered key components of the Hiroshima atomic bomb to the Pacific island of Tinian, was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. Only 316 out of 1,196 men survived the sinking and shark-infested waters.

Secrets Out

Secret data on reactor inspections leaked to Internet

Confidential information on nuclear power plant inspections was posted on the Internet recently by a virus in the computer of an employee contracted to do the inspections, Mitsubishi Electric Co. said Thursday.

The leak was on data on seven nuclear power plants and 13 thermal and hydroelectric power plants, according to Mitsubishi Electric, which named subsidiary Mitsubishi Electric Plant Engineering Corp. as the contractor in question.

The 20 facilities are run by 12 companies.

The seven nuclear power plants are located in Hokkaido, Fukui, Kagoshima and Saga prefectures and are run by the Hokkaido, Kansai and Kyushu electric power companies and Japan Atomic Power Co.

The leaked data do not contain any information that compromises the security of nuclear material, including details on reactors or how the facilities are guarded, Mitsubishi said.

The computer was apparently infected by a virus that propagates through Winny, a Japanese peer-to-peer file-sharing program, Mitsubishi said.

The leak was about 40 to 50 megabytes -- the equivalent of 30 floppy disks.

The data included several years' worth of inspection reports and manuals, as well as photos from the inspections and health data on workers at the power plants, it said.

A Mitsubishi Electric spokesman said the incident is "truly regrettable" and noted the company is investigating.

"Our company is stepping up management of confidential information and will take steps to prevent a similar incident at the company as well as affiliated concerns," he said.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda acknowledged the data leak and said the government has launched its own investigation.

It has not been determined whether "a leak of critical, important information concerning protection of nuclear materials" occurred, the government's top spokesman said. But nuclear plants are important facilities subject to antiterrorism measures, and the government will strengthen management of nuclear information and publicize how the information was leaked once the probe is concluded.

The data are believed to have leaked from the computer of a maintenance management engineer at the Mitsubishi subsidiary, according to the Mitsubishi Electric spokesman.

The engineer used his own computer when inspecting the power plants, and the data are thought to have been leaked through Winny, which was installed in his computer. A virus can apparently cause Winny to send data to other computers on the Internet.

Much of the data is categorized as "industrial secret" or "classified for business purposes," and includes e-mail to the engineer's boss detailing progress on the inspections, according to the spokesman.

A Kepco spokesman said information on regular inspections of the No. 3 reactor at Mihama and the No. 4 reactor at Oi was leaked, including a list of reactor components supplied by Mitsubishi Electric for the Mihama plant.

"Given the nature of his duties, he is not supposed to have information on nuclear materials, so there was no leak of information that would cause problems for protection of nuclear materials," he said.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said it will summon officials of the utilities to report on details on the leak and whether it could compromise safety.

The Japan Times: June 24, 2005

In Japan Slavery OK under the Rules

Escaped slave's kin lose redress award in appeal

By MASAMI ITO
Staff writer

The Tokyo High Court on Thursday overturned a lower court decision and denied compensation to the family of a deceased Chinese slave laborer who lived as a fugitive for 13 years after escaping from a Hokkaido coal mine near the end of World War II.

After fleeing the mine, Liu Lianren of Shangdong Providence hid in the mountains for about 13 years, unaware that the war had ended.

The lawsuit was originally filed by Liu himself in March 1996. After he died in 2000 at age 87, his widow and two children took the lawsuit over.

In July 2001, the Tokyo District Court ordered the state to pay 20 million yen in compensation, in line with the plaintiffs' demands, recognizing that the Japanese government had neglected its responsibility to protect the rights of Liu, who was forcibly brought to Japan during the Pacific War.

The July 2001 ruling was the first in which a court held the state responsible for abducting individuals from neighboring countries to work as slave laborers in Japan.

The government appealed the ruling.

On Thursday, presiding Judge Yoshiaki Nishida ruled that the government had indeed neglected its duty to find and protect Liu after he had fled the mine. He ruled, however, that the state bears no responsibility in terms of paying damages because there was no mutual assurance between China and Japan to pay state compensation at the time Liu was found.

Nishida also judged that Japan bears no responsibility for Liu's abduction and slave labor because the Meiji Constitution, which was in effect at that time, absolved the state from liability for damages.

The judge also ruled that under the Civil Code, the 20-year statute of limitations has expired, and that Liu and his family therefore have no right to seek damages.

Nishida added that Liu and his family have no right to demand payment due to the signing of government-level agreements, including the Japan-China Joint Communique in 1972 and the China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty in 1978.

At a press briefing after the ruling, the plaintiffs' lawyer, Tohru Takahashi, voiced disappointment at the verdict.

"All of the facts that we presented in court were recognized," Takahashi said. "And I had believed that if we (fought) in court according to the facts, there was no way we would lose."

Huanxin, Liu's 60-year old son, slammed the ruling, saying it reflected Japan's militaristic character.

"The relationship between Japan and China is under strain at the moment," Huanxin said. "And this ruling may have just poured oil on fire."

The son added that his father had died disappointed that this court battle was still ongoing in the 21st century.

"In my father's will, he asked us to fight until we see victory," Huanxin said. "And this, we will."

Lui's family will appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Japan Times: June 24, 2005
(C) All rights reserved

Fake News

THE WEEKLY SPIN, March 23, 2005
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS


== BLOG POSTINGS ==
1. CMD & Free Press File 'Fake News' Complaint with FCC on Behalf of 40,000 Petition Signers
2. Stauber Debates Fake News on WBUR's "On Point"
3. PR Execs Undeterred by Fake News "Flap"

== SPIN OF THE DAY ==
1. California Unions Sue to Terminate Video News Releases
2. Rupert Murdoch's Tax Two-Step
3. Nuclear Energy Is the New Black
4. For Ethnic Press, Access Is Separate, Unequal
5. The Age of Missing Information
6. Enron: Patron Saint of Bush's Fake News
7. Sacramento to Hollywood: Back Off
8. Mad Cow: Trade War of Words
9. On Iraq, Not All News Deemed "Fit to Print"
10. Americans Still Believe Bush's War Propaganda
11. Is that Business I Hear Booming?
12. Consumers Buy the Darndest Things
----------------------------------------------------------------------

== BLOG POSTINGS ==

1. CMD & FREE PRESS FILE 'FAKE NEWS' COMPLAINT WITH FCC ON BEHALF OF 40,000 PETITION SIGNERS
by John Stauber
The Center for Media and Democracy and Free Press have filed a
complaint with the Federal Communications Commission urging an
investigation of the extensive airing of "fake news" by TV
broadcasters who take government and corporate Video News Release
(VNR) stories and run them unlabeled as real journalism. In just one
week nearly 40,000 citizens have signed our petition calling on the
FCC, Congress and local broadcasters to stop fake news.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3414

2. STAUBER DEBATES FAKE NEWS ON WBUR'S "ON POINT"
by John Stauber
I was a guest tonight on WBUR's nationwide call-in public radio
program "On Point." You can hear the show online at the WBUR
website. The topic was the Bush administration's quarter-billion
dollar expenditure on PR and propaganda.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3375

3. PR EXECS UNDETERRED BY FAKE NEWS "FLAP"
by John Stauber
This afternoon I listened in on a conference call among some of the
top PR execs in the business of producing video news releases
(VNRs), more honestly called fake news. I can report they are proud
and confident that the recent "flap" on the front page of Sunday's
New York Times about the Bush administration's use of fake news will
amount to nothing at all. These PR executives are elated that the
New York Times piece was about government propaganda, and not about
their much more widespread and lucrative production of corporate
VNRs, the biggest and richest part of the fake news business.
For the rest of this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3374

== SPIN OF THE DAY ==

1. CALIFORNIA UNIONS SUE TO TERMINATE VIDEO NEWS RELEASES
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/03/22/BAGIIBSQL21.DTL
A lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court by three California
unions seeks a ruling banning public funds from being used for the
production of video news releases. VNRs produced by the
Schwarzenegger administration have backed moves to remove workers'
lunch break guarantees and opposed legislated nurse-to-patient
staffing ratios. A California Health and Human Services Agency
spokeswoman defended the use of VNRs. "There is no statutory
prohibition against the use of public funds to produce video news
releases. ... No court has expressly disapproved the expenditure of
public funds for VNRs," she said.
SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, March 22, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3472

2. RUPERT MURDOCH'S TAX TWO-STEP
http://afr.com/premium/articles/2005/03/22/1111254025160.html
Australian journalist Neil Chenoweth has revealed that Rupert
Murdoch "sidestepped stamp duty of $A53 million [U.S.$41.3m] and
capital gains tax of up to $A1.2 billion [U.S.$936m] by moving
control of his ultimate family company, Kayarem, to the Caribbean
and listing it on the Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSE) a week before
News Corporation was reincorporated in the United States last
November. Documents filed with the BSE show that listing Kayarem in
the tax haven allowed the Murdoch family to obtain a tax benefit
when it sold its controlling interest in the Queensland Press group
to News Corp." In 2001, Chenoweth's book Virtual Murdoch was
published in the UK and as Rupert Murdoch: The Untold Story of the
World's Greatest Media Wizard in the U.S. in November 2002.
SOURCE: Australian Financial Review, March 23, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3471

3. NUCLEAR ENERGY IS THE NEW BLACK
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/30032/story.htm
At a conference on the future of nuclear power, International Atomic
Energy Agency director Mohamed ElBaradei "pointed to nuclear energy
policy plans in China, Finland, the United States and possibly
Poland as proof that nuclear power may be returning to vogue." U.S.
Energy Secretary Sam Bodman said, "America hasn't ordered a new
nuclear power plant since the 1970s and it's time to start building
again." Recently released "internal Energy Department email
messages" suggest that some work done "in preparation for seeking a
license to open a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in
Nevada" was falsified. A department spokesperson said the discovery
was a positive sign of "quality-assurance procedures." Our next
issue of PR Watch focuses on the nuclear industry - if you're not
already subscribed, sign up today!
SOURCE: Reuters, March 22, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3415

4. FOR ETHNIC PRESS, ACCESS IS SEPARATE, UNEQUAL
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000846210
Government agencies "often don't return phone calls or provide
relevant information" to the ethnic press, according to a survey by
the Independent Press Association-New York. The association is a
network of 115 "immigrant, African-American, and community
newspapers." The most unhelpful federal agencies were the Department
of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration
Affairs, and the Department of Labor. Unhelpful New York City
agencies included the police, fire department, mayor's office and
Department of Education. The survey found that "timely delivery of
information from government agencies" to ethnic media reporters
occurs just half of the time.
SOURCE: Associated Press, March 18, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3413

5. THE AGE OF MISSING INFORMATION
http://www.slate.com/id/2114963/
Since President Bush entered office, there has been a 75% increase
in the amount of government information classified as secret each
year. "Yet an even more aggressive form of government information
control has gone unenumerated and often unrecognized in the Bush
era, as government agencies have restricted access to unclassified
information in libraries, archives, Web sites, and official
databases," writes Steven Aftergood, director of the project on
government secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists. "Once
freely available, a growing number of these sources are now barred
to the public as 'sensitive but unclassified' or 'for official use
only.'" Examples of unclassified but unavailable information include
the Defense Department's telephone directory, the National Archives'
historical records, satellite orbital information, aeronautical
maps, and environmental data.
SOURCE: Slate, March 17, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3412

6. ENRON: PATRON SAINT OF BUSH'S FAKE NEWS
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/20/arts/20Rich.html
Former [[sw:Enron]] CEO [[sw:Ken Lay]], "the poster boy for how big
guys can rip off suckers in the stock market," is back in the news
as his trial date nears. According to Frank Rich, "The enduring
legacy of Enron can be summed up in one word: propaganda. Here was a
corporate house of cards whose business few could explain and whose
source of profits was an utter mystery - and yet it thrived,
unquestioned, for years." How? "Enron 'was fixated on its public
relations campaigns.' It churned out slick PR videos as if it were a
Hollywood studio. It browbeat the press (until a young Fortune
reporter, Bethany McLean, asked one question too many)." Rich also
writes about Susan Molinari, who "is invariably described as 'a
former Republican Congresswoman' or a CNBC political analyst'" on
news shows. But her current jobs are "C.E.O. of the Washington
Group, Ketchum's lobbying firm, and president of Ketchum Public
Affairs" - the same Ketchum responsible for Armstrong Williams and
video news releases narrated by faux reporter Karen Ryan.
SOURCE: New York Times, March 20, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3411

7. SACRAMENTO TO HOLLYWOOD: BACK OFF
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/03/18/state/n160412S35.DTL
"We believe a court would find the 'style, tenor and timing' of the
(video news release) to be 'promotional' in nature, thus triggering
the requirement it be expressly authorized by statute," ruled the
California state legislature's counsel, on a Schwarzenegger
administration VNR. The undersecretary of the Labor and Workforce
Development Agency, which produced the VNR to support changes in
workers' break guarantees, earlier said that "the administration's
lawyers concluded the videos were permissible." The Schwarzenegger
administration made at least four VNRs without legislative
authorization. In national news, the Federal Communications
Commission has been asked by Senators John Kerry and Daniel Inouye
(both Democrats) to investigate the broadcasting of
government-funded VNRs.
SOURCE: Associated Press, March 18, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3409

8. MAD COW: TRADE WAR OF WORDS
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0317fh_canada_beef.htm
Ongoing litigation to keep the U.S. border closed to Canadian beef
and cattle, following three cases of mad cow disease there, has
prompted renewed PR efforts. The Alberta Beef Producers hired
Fleishman-Hillard, to help "reopen the U.S. market to Canadian
beef." The Montana-based group R-CALF, which filed the lawsuit,
"purchased a half-page advertisement in the Washington Post ...
thanking the U.S. Senate for passing a resolution blocking the
resumption of live cattle and full beef trade with Canada." And the
Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Ministry is helping "launch an
aggressive marketing campaign to reclaim and expand markets for
Canadian beef," part of the country's "Repositioning the Livestock
Industry Strategy," launched last year.
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (reg. req'd.), March 17, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3398

9. ON IRAQ, NOT ALL NEWS DEEMED "FIT TO PRINT"
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000846234
"Many media outlets self-censored their reporting on Iraq," often
out of fear of offending their audience, found a survey of more than
200 U.S. media personnel by American University's School of
Communications. The "editing that went into content after it was
gathered but before it was published" was significant. 15% of those
reporting from Iraq said "they did not believe the final version" of
their pieces, post-editing, "accurately represented the story." 20%
of those reporting on Iraq from the U.S. "said material was edited
for reasons other than basic style and length." One survey
respondent wrote, "The real damage of war on the civilian population
was uniformly omitted." In contrast, 92% said they had "no limits at
all" on "the type of interviews conducted."
SOURCE: Editor & Publisher, March 18, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3377

10. AMERICANS STILL BELIEVE BUSH'S WAR PROPAGANDA
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/PollVault/story?id=582744
This weekend is the second anniversary of the U.S. attack on Iraq.
The latest ABC News and Washington Post poll of public opinion shows
that most Americans still believe, incorrectly of course, that
Saddam's Iraq supported the 9/11 terrorists and had weapons of mass
destruction. Interestingly, the poll's own analysis tries to
downplay the significance of its findings, saying, "Most Americans
favored overthrowing Saddam years earlier, long before al Qaeda
became broadly known." Oh really? As we document in Weapons of Mass
Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq, the war
could never have been sold to the American people had ABC, the
Washington Post, and the rest of the mainstream media done their job
of exposing the false claims of the Bush administration. Instead,
they echoed those claims and censored and ignored critics of the
war.
SOURCE: ABC News, March 15, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3376

11. IS THAT BUSINESS I HEAR BOOMING?
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0316iraqex.htm
Iraqex, the U.S.-owned "investment group set up to pursue business
in Iraq," has changed its name to Lincoln Group, after its holding
company, Lincoln Alliance Corporation. Lincoln Group has a $6
million, 3-year PR contract for the U.S.-led Multi-National
Corps-Iraq, for which it "develops video, audio and print products
to support MNC-I initiatives." It also publishes Iraq Business
Journal, a "monthly publication on contract opportunities, life in
Iraq and classifieds." The publication recently interviewed Grand
Ayatolla Ali Al-Sistani, who said foreign investment is acceptable,
as long as the investor is not with the "occupation forces" or
taking "advantage of any instability." Lincoln Group is still
looking for interns.
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily (reg. req'd.), March 16, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3373

12. CONSUMERS BUY THE DARNDEST THINGS
http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Business/031605.html
Afraid that their vote to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
to oil exploration might make Congress more likely to increase fuel
efficiency standards, the automobile industry is "trying to polish
its image." The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is claiming, in
newspaper and radio ads, and on cleaning sponges given to
Congressional staffers, that "cars are 99% cleaner than they used to
be." (The Union of Concerned Scientists calls the Auto Alliance
campaign "highly misleading.") An Auto Alliance spokesperson said
increased fuel standards would be "very difficult to achieve,"
because of the popularity of large vehicles. "It's not what we
manufacture; it's what consumers buy," she said.
SOURCE: The Hill, March 16, 2005
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3372

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Bad Stays Bad

Someone has finally got it-but the damage stays done:FLACKS ATTACK "DETERMINED DETRACTORS"
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/27/business/media/27adco.htm
BuzzMetrics, a New York-based specialist in word-of-mouth marketing,
is among the companies working to tame the internet by going after
"determined detractors," which the New York Times defines as
"persistent critics of a company or product that mount their own
public relations offensive, often online." According to Paul Rand,
managing director at Ketchum Midwest in Chicago, "One determined
detractor can do as much damage as 100,000 positive mentions can do
good." Detractors, he said, can become "reputation terrorists" who
have a personal interest in publicly criticizing a company. "These
are the folks we have to track and stay on top of," he said. "To not
do so can cost money."
SOURCE: New York Times, December 27, 2004
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/3152

What is This Stuff "Atrazine"

What is the status of Atrazine in Canada?

DOLE-ING OUT FAVORS
A lobbying success story, from the maker of atrazine

The manufacturer of atrazine, an herbicide connected by studies to frog deformities and increased risk of prostate cancer in humans, spent $260,000 lobbying the U.S. EPA and other government bodies on behalf of the chemical. Not only that, but Syngenta Crop Protection enlisted the formidable lobbying talents of Viagra emissary and ex-senator Bob Dole, who met at least once with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin to discuss the issue. After reports began emerging about atrazine's ill effects -- biologist Tyrone Hayes testified to Congress that low levels of atrazine "chemically castrate and feminize" male frogs, fish, and other wildlife, and other tests indicate that men who work around the chemical are at risk of prostate cancer -- Syngenta hired PR firm Alston & Bird to lobby the White House, the Justice Department, and Congress on its behalf. Before Dole's meeting, Alston & Bird prepared a memo saying that the EPA should reregister atrazine by Oct. 31, 2003; after Dole's meeting, the agency did just that.

straight to the source: Duluth News Tribune, Associated Press, Frederic J. Frommer, 27 Oct 2004

What is This Stuff "Atrazine"

What is the status of Atrazine in Canada?

DOLE-ING OUT FAVORS
A lobbying success story, from the maker of atrazine

The manufacturer of atrazine, an herbicide connected by studies to frog deformities and increased risk of prostate cancer in humans, spent $260,000 lobbying the U.S. EPA and other government bodies on behalf of the chemical. Not only that, but Syngenta Crop Protection enlisted the formidable lobbying talents of Viagra emissary and ex-senator Bob Dole, who met at least once with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin to discuss the issue. After reports began emerging about atrazine's ill effects -- biologist Tyrone Hayes testified to Congress that low levels of atrazine "chemically castrate and feminize" male frogs, fish, and other wildlife, and other tests indicate that men who work around the chemical are at risk of prostate cancer -- Syngenta hired PR firm Alston & Bird to lobby the White House, the Justice Department, and Congress on its behalf. Before Dole's meeting, Alston & Bird prepared a memo saying that the EPA should reregister atrazine by Oct. 31, 2003; after Dole's meeting, the agency did just that.

straight to the source: Duluth News Tribune, Associated Press, Frederic J. Frommer, 27 Oct 2004