Rhetoric

It's a Small Workforce, After All

by Diane Farsetta — March 10, 2004 - 11:00pm

It's "not outsourcing... it's simply moving the work" explained Reuters' global managing editor about the news service's hiring six reporters in Bangalore, India to cover small and mid-size U.S. companies. In Congress, Republicans are touting "insourcing," or foreign companies hiring U.S. citizens.

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, March 11, 2004

Business Doublespeak: "American Jobs" Coalition Supports Outsourcing

by Diane Farsetta — February 29, 2004 - 11:00pm

Big business groups -- including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, and Information Technology Association of America (the e-voting machine manufacturers' lobby group) -- have formed the Coalition for Economic Growth and American Jobs.

Main Source: 
The Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2004

Beware 'Sound Science'

by Laura Miller — February 28, 2004 - 11:00pm

"When George W. Bush and members of his administration talk about environmental policy, the phrase 'sound science' rarely goes unuttered," Chris Mooney writes in the Washington Post. "On issues ranging from climate change to the storage of nuclear waste in Nevada's Yucca Mountain, our president has assured us that he's backing up his decisions with careful attention to the best available research. ...

Main Source: 
Washington Post, February 29, 2004

Would You Like Rivets With That?

by Laura Miller — February 23, 2004 - 11:00pm

As job loss and unemployment become campaign issues, George W. Bush is struggling to whitewash his economic record.

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The Daily Mis-Lead, February 24, 2004

"Weapons of Mass Deception" A New Phrase of 2003

by John Stauber — February 22, 2004 - 11:00pm

"If you are a 'metrosexual,' you might also be into 'manscaping.' If you're a 'flexitarian,' no doubt you've tried 'tofurkey. These are among the top words of 2003, so named by the American Dialect Society at its annual conference in Boston recently. To translate: 'metrosexual,' the winner of 'the word or phrase which most colored the nation's language,' is a fashion-conscious heterosexual male, preoccupied with money, clothes and style, and 'manscaping' is male body-shaving.

Main Source: 
Detroit News via Seattle Times, February 23, 2004

The Stepford Reporters

by Sheldon Rampton — February 21, 2004 - 11:00pm

"Sometimes one wonders if campaign reporters could write a declarative English sentence if they were stripped of their cliches," complains the Columbia Journalism Review's Susan Q. Stranahan.

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Los Angeles Times, February 22, 2004

It's Greener on the Swing Side

by Diane Farsetta — January 29, 2004 - 11:00pm

GOP pollster Frank Luntz warned in a memo to party leaders: "The environment is probably the single issue on which Republicans in general - and President Bush in particular - are most vulnerable." The administration's recent funding boosts for its Healthy Forests Restoration Act, Pacific salmon recovery programs, the Klamath River Basin (previously targeted by the anti-environmental

Main Source: 
Grist Magazine, January 30, 2004

A Wall By Any Other Name

by Diane Farsetta — January 15, 2004 - 11:00pm

The Israeli government refers to the controversial barrier it's building in the West Bank as a "security fence," but that may soon change. The Associated Press reports that a new name, the "terror prevention fence," was discussed at a recent meeting between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and high-ranking officials. According to AP, the name change is part of an effort "to improve its international image" prior to a case on the barrier's legality before the International Court of Justice in The Hague next month.

Main Source: 
Associated Press, Friday, January 16, 2004

McDonald's Scores PR Week's 'PR Play of the Week'

by Laura Miller — November 16, 2003 - 11:00pm

"McDonald's chairman and CEO Jim Cantalupo sent an open letter to the press last week complaining about the inclusion of the pseudo-word 'McJobs' in the latest edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary," PR Week writes in its PR Play of the Week feature.

Main Source: 
PR Week, November 17, 2003

Bush Shifts War Justification To Democracy

by Laura Miller — November 6, 2003 - 11:00pm

Addressing the National Endowment for Democracy, George W. Bush said that "the United States must commit itself to a decades-long transformation of the Middle East and termed the U.S. occupation of Iraq a turning point in the future of worldwide democracy," the Washington Post reports. "Bush's speech was the latest effort by the administration to stop the slipping support for the U.S. occupation of Iraq at home and abroad.

Main Source: 
Washington Post, November 7, 2003
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