Terrorism

FOIA's 40th Birthday Marked By Plans to Weaken It

by Bob Burton — July 7, 2006 - 3:51am

Jeffrey Addicott, Associate Professor of Law and the Director of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas, will head a $1 million project funded by the U.S. government to produce a "model statute" to restrict information disclosed under the 40-year-old Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). "There's the public's right to know, but how much?" he told USA Today.

Main Source: 
USA Today, July 6, 2006

International News Media as Collateral Damage

by Diane Farsetta — July 3, 2006 - 4:58pm

While "the latest target is the New York Times," for reports on a U.S. program tracking international financial records, journalists and media outlets around the world have been criticized -- and prosecuted -- for publishing stories related to the so-called Global War on Terror.

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Associated Press, July 1, 2006

Karen Hughes Focuses on the Diplomacy Dozen

by Diane Farsetta — June 30, 2006 - 1:54pm

With the help of U.S. Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes, "the Bush administration has drawn up a classified list of about a dozen high-priority countries on which to focus public diplomacy." Hughes "said strategic plans were being developed for those 'pilot' countries," which include Afghanistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Egypt. Hughes "said her department would seek out clerics from Muslim nations where some Friday prayers encouraged hatred and bring those clerics to America on exchange programs." "People who have been to America or know someone who has been to America are far more likely to have a positive view of our country," she explained. Another goal is to identify "strategic influencers." Hughes gave the example of a dinner she attended at the U.S. ambassador's home in Morocco, "where the person on her right was a famous cooking show host, while on her left was a track star."

Main Source: 
Reuters, June 28, 2006

Media Wars: Advertising for the U.S. Military

by Diane Farsetta — June 30, 2006 - 1:18pm

The first spots produced by the U.S. Army's new ad agency, McCann Erickson, aim "to recruit Arabic-speaking translators," reports Advertising Age. The Arabic-language spots are running in heavy rotation during World Cup coverage on the Arab Radio & Television Network in Canada and the United States. In one ad, a soldier says, "I am a bridge between two cultures. ... I make the children smile because I can speak with them," followed by "a mention of a $10,000 reward for joining the Army and the possibility of expedited U.S.

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Advertising Age, June 27, 2006

Benador Asks: Are You With the Fabricators or the Terrorists?

by Diane Farsetta — June 21, 2006 - 4:25pm

"Who needs Hill & Knowlton when you've got Benador Associates?" asks Larry Cohler-Esses in The Nation. Cohler-Esses examines a rapidly-debunked May 2006 story in Canada's National Post, which claimed that Iran's government was requiring Jewish residents to wear a yellow insignia.

Main Source: 
The Nation, June 14, 2006

Spinning to their Graves

by Judith Siers-Poisson — June 12, 2006 - 11:28am

 

The three recent suicides by detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, referred to as “the gulag of our times” by Am

Main Source: 
Sydney Morning Herald, June 13, 2006

From Russia with Spin

by Judith Siers-Poisson — April 5, 2006 - 12:06am
  • Topics: Crisis Management, Terrorism, Public Diplomacy, Democracy, International

    • All is not champagne and caviar in Moscow. Pro-Putin political forces are concerned that the West -- particularly the US -- is growing increasingly distant from President Vladmir Putin and the current Russian administration.

    Army Biometrics Scanning PR Firms

    by Diane Farsetta — January 27, 2006 - 6:16pm

    The U.S. Army is looking for "guiding PR" for its biometrics operations in Virginia and West Virginia. "Biometrics encompasses technology like iris, face and hand scanning and voice recognition, along with traditional fingerprint identification, usually for security applications.

    Main Source: 
    O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), January 27, 2006
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