| Ilena Rose 2006-09-30, 4:29 pm |
| 3. CORPORATE SPIN CAN COME IN DISGUISE
http://www.sptimes.com/2006/09/10/n...in_can_co.shtml
"If McDonald's makes the case that fast food is nutritious or
ExxonMobil argues against higher taxes, it looks like simple
self-interest. But when an independent voice makes the case, the
ideas gain credibility. So big corporations have devised a form of
idea laundering, paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to
seemingly independent groups that act as spokesmen under disguise.
Their views wind up on the opinion pages of the nation's newspapers
- often with no disclosure that the writer has financial ties to the
companies involved. A few examples: James K. Glassman, a prominent
syndicated columnist, denounced Super Size Me, a movie critical of
McDonald's. Readers were not told that McDonald's is a major sponsor
of a Web site hosted by Glassman. ... Steven Milloy, an analyst at
the Competitive Enterprise Institute, wrote a column in the
Washington Times that sided with the oil industry against windfall
profits taxes. Readers weren't told that groups closely affiliated
with Milloy have received at least $180,000 from ExxonMobil. By
having others deliver their talking points, the companies stay above
the fray, said John Stauber, whose Center for Media and Democracy
tracks corporate front groups. 'What these companies are doing is
paying somebody else to attack their critics while keeping their
fingerprints off the attack.'"
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