ethics

On October 1, 2008, the city of San Francisco put a law into effect that prohibits the sale of cigarettes in pharmacies. Walgreens drug store chain and Altria/Philip Morris have filed lawsuits against the city over the measure. In a September 30, 2008 statement about the new law, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom related the city's simple rationale: "Pharmacies should be places where people go to get better, not where people go to get cancer."

Familiar corner drug store chains like Rite Aid and Walgreens have long cultivated an image of being all about health. Their web sites feature photos of friendly-looking pharmacists in white coats ready to help us with our health care needs. The Rite Aid company Web site tells us they are "committed to the healthcare needs of our customers." CVS says its vision is to "strive to improve the quality of human life" by making "high-quality health and pharmacy services safe" and easy to access. Walgreens says it stands ready to help people by supplying "health and wellness products" and health information. If all this makes you feel that these drugstore chains have your best interests at heart, it's certainly by design. But don't be don't be taken in too easily.

After the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was "pummeled by Congress for poor inspections of tainted vegetables, drugs and other products," the agency wanted public relations help. First, it hired Mildred Cooper as "a temporary FDA consultant ... on a two-year contract to advise FDA Commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach and other officials." Cooper, who previously did public affairs work for the Defense Department and Federal Emergency Management Agency, then contacted a friend at the PR firm Qorvis Communications. The friend directed her to Qorvis crisis communications director Don Goldberg. Goldberg worked with Cooper to steer an additional FDA contract to Qorvis. But, as Goldberg explained, "It was not appropriate [for the FDA] to hire Qorvis directly." Instead, the PR proposal came from Alaska Newspapers Inc. (ANI), "a firm owned by an Alaska Native corporation that does not have to compete for federal work." Emails between the FDA's Cooper and Qorvis' Goldberg show that ANI agreed beforehand to give the $300,000 no-bid contract to Qorvis. Qorvis also works for the drug industry group PhRMA. The FDA contract, which was supposed to "create and foster a lasting positive image of the agency for the American public," has since been suspended. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce may investigate the contract, according to chair John Dingell.

A leaked draft PR plan by the Clean Coal Council, a Queensland state government partnership with the coal industry, stated that a "key outcome" would be to "turn around attitudes that clean coal is an unproven and unsafe technology." While the PR plan noted that "stakeholders" wanted investment directed to "emissions-free renewable energy technologies, not clean coal," the Council has other ideas. It ridiculed renewable energy technologies by claiming that they would only cater for "certain niche markets" and are still in the "development stages." Environmentalists dismissed the plan as government propaganda. "The Queensland Government is spending taxpayer money to fund a campaign to deceive the next generation of voters," said Simon Roz from Greenpeace Australia. Mines and Energy Minister Geoff Wilson conceded the draft plan was misleading. "I don't agree with the description of renewable energy," he said. Queensland and the neighboring state of New South Wales produce 97 percent of Australian coal production.

The Republican Jewish Coalition says it hired the political polling firm Central Research to "understand why Barack Obama continues to have a problem among Jewish voters." But the poll questions upset many of the hundreds of Jewish voters in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey who received the calls. Some say it was a push poll, designed to spread negative information and disinformation. Others say the calls, with more than 80 questions, were too long to be push polls; instead, they may be testing messages for future attack ads. One question the pollsters asked is whether it would affect the respondent's vote if she or he knew that Hamas' leader had "expressed support for Obama." The Republican Jewish Coalition, which has endorsed John McCain for President, also helped launch the pro-war lobby group Freedom's Watch. In the 2000 primary campaign, the Bush team targeted McCain with a push poll in South Carolina that claimed McCain had fathered an illegitimate black baby.

"The Ear and Hearing Journal has rebuked a Washington University researcher for failing to disclose that he was working as a paid expert for a siren manufacturer when he published a study saying firefighters weren't at risk for job-related hearing loss," reports David Armstrong. The study's author, William W. Clark of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, claimed that "no external funding was received for this study." In fact, Federal Signal Corp., which manufactures emergency equipment, helped conceptualize the study and acquired the original data for Clark, according to documents uncovered in a lawsuit filed by Chicago firefighters. The Center for Science in the Public Interest pointed out in 2006 that "Federal Signal lawyers paid Clark $9,300 in consulting fees while the study was underway and a $25,000 retainer for future testimony shortly after its publication."

"Politicians have never been known for telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but generally when caught exaggerating the truth they usually stop. This year things seem to be different," observes Andrew Tanenbaum of Electoral-Vote.com. "For example, Sarah Palin has said over and over that she never requested any earmarks as governor. That is patently false. She requested $450 million in earmarks and got most of it. Although Congress wouldn't finance the bridge to nowhere, Palin got to keep the money anyway and spend it on other projects. When called on this, a McCain spokesman, Brian Rogers said 'We're running a campaign to win.' In other words, we don't care what the media think. Michael Cohen has a column in the NY Times about lying anno 2008. Ruth Marcus has one on what an economist called 'the symmetry of sin.' The idea is that if a reporter criticizes McCain or Palin for lying, they have an obligation to criticize Obama or Biden for lying, too. But she argues that it is not symmetric this year. Obama has been stretching the truth a little bit like quoting McCain on staying in Iraq for 100 years (which he did say) but leaving out the part where he compared it to the U.S. military presence in Germany for 60 years. In contrast, McCain and Palin have told out-and-out lies (e.g., about how Obama would raise everyone's taxes, something he never said) and repeated them even after they were pointed out numerous times." As David Corn points out, the "strategic goal" of these attacks is "to keep Obama pinned down. Should the Obama campaign waste time knocking down these purposeful errors and excessive spin? That would be letting McCain shape the debate to his advantage. But if the campaign allows this stuff to hit the wall -- and maybe stick -- the McCain mob wins."

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) has issued a news release calling on the presidential campaigns of John McCain and Barack Obama to "uphold the highest standards of ethical practice in every facet of their campaign communications." PRSA CEO Jeffrey Julin is offering himself for interviews as "a recognized expert in communications ethics." Since assuming the helm of the PRSA in January, Julin has been trying to improve the industry's ethical reputation. In June, for example, he posted a platitudinous statement on YouTube in response to a sarcastic CBS news commentary about Scott McClellan's book on his misadventures as a spokesman for the Bush administration. Julin is also president of MGA Communications, a PR firm whose clients include Americans for Balanced Energy Choices, a front group for the coal industry that is "targeting the public, politicians, interest groups, and the media" during this year's election campaign as part of what the Washington Post called a "$35 million campaign in primary and caucus states to rally public support for coal-fired electricity and to fuel opposition to legislation that Congress is crafting to slow climate change."

The morning of June 20, 2006, an email message circulated amongst U.S. Defense Department officials.

"Jed Babbin, one of our military analysts, is hosting the Michael Medved nationally syndicated radio show this afternoon. He would like to see if General [George W.] Casey would be available for a phone interview," the Pentagon staffer wrote. "This would be a softball interview and the show is 8th or 9th in the nation."

Why would the Pentagon help set up a radio interview? And how did they know that the interview would be "softball"?

From early 2002 to April 2008, the Defense Department offered talking points, organized trips to places such as Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, and gave private briefings to a legion of retired military officers working as media pundits. The Pentagon's military analyst program, a covert effort to promote a positive image of the Bush administration's wartime performance, was a multi-level campaign involving quite a few colorful characters.

Flipping through the over 8,000 pages of documents released in connection with the program, one Pentagon pundit arguably steals the spotlight: Jed Babbin.

Jack Abramoff; graphic from the Village VoiceWhile Jack Abramoff serves a six-year prison sentence stemming from his role in one of the most elaborate corruption standals in American politics, one of his most prominent former lobbyist associates, Ralph Reed, is raising funds for Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Previously, notes Alexander Lane, Reed "was credited as a key operative in George W. Bush's sharp-elbowed effort against McCain in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary in 2000. McCain, in turn, chaired the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in 2006 when it investigated and unveiled Reed's deep personal and business ties to Abramoff, a lobbyist who pleaded guilty to three felonies." Apparently all is forgiven. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently published an email by Reed, inviting recipients to a McCain fundraiser and praising his commitment to "economic growth and opportunity, the dignity of life and traditional values."

As CMD previously reported, Eau Claire, Wisconsin news director Glen Mabie quit his job in January. Instead of going along with a deal that his station had struck with a local hospital to guarantee coverage of medical issues featuring personnel from that hospital and not others, Mabie left his position. The station later cancelled the agreement. Mabie is now being recognized for his stance. He has been selected to receive the Ethics in Journalism award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Mabie said he was humbled to receive the honor and that "Many of the people in that newsroom deserve this honor just as much as I do. To see those people stand up for those ethical guidelines was really neat." Mabie was nominated by University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire professor emeritus David Gordon, who said: "I believe that Mabie's willingness to draw a line in the sand and to stand up for his ethical principles regardless of the personal cost is a perfect fit for the criteria set out for the SPJ Ethics in Journalism Award." Hopefully, the award will help Mabie find a new job -- he has been unemployed since leaving the station.