Friday, May 30, 2008

Mohammed Atta a "Kingpin?": Daniel Hopsicker's Past at NBC - 9/11 and Fake News

Attention, Daniel Hopsicker fans:

Please take a good look at the first part of "The Path to 9/11." It concerns one General Electric.

GE is a major force in 9/11-Condor.

GE owns NBC.

Where did Mr. Hopsicker come from? NBC ... and the revolution will not be televised.

What did Hopsicker do at NBC?

FAKE news* (see attached PR releases & my comments).

I discovered this years ago. Daniel has a valid response?

Not at all.

He claimed that I'm a "criminal" for asking about it.

Daniel produced a show called Global Business 2000 for NBC. ("Daniel Hopsicker is the producer of a business news television show airing internationally on NBC called Global Business 2000.")

You've never seen it. It aired in Asia and was only for corporate clients of NBC.

But NBC Corporate has no file on Daniel. I checked with executives who called Daniel a "liar" for suggesting that he has worked for NBC.

The employment office came up with nothing on him after four hours of searching their records.

Anyone can verify this by calling NBC in Los Angeles.

Daniel was an NBC contractor, and signed with MediaLink, notoriously known for the Great Iraq Incubator Hoax.

Daniel's program was composed of corporate, pre-fab "fake news" stories, sent to Daniel, who stitched them together and called himself a "producer."

He writes, speaks, tells Dave (Untamed-Genius) Emory on Pacifica that M. Atta was a "kingpin." True?

Bin Laden and Saudis and Atta behind the homicidal mess in NY ... while CIA smuggling drugs is somehow related. Okay ...

What do drugs have to do with 9/11?

Do you clever fans into "deep politics" really believe that Atta was the "kingpin?"

If so, you've been hopsuckered.

- AC
•••••••
Copyright 1996 Haymarket Publishing Services Ltd
PR Week

January 26, 1996

LENGTH: 131 words

HEADLINE: Media: Medialink wins NBC exclusive

BODY: Medialink has been appointed as the exclusive provider of video news releases to Global Business 2000, the business television show which
launches this month on NBC's satellite services covering Asia and Europe.

The deal, struck with the show's US-based production company Economic
Television, will see Medialink provide the programme with any appropriate
VNRs' suitable for the show's business audience, said Medialink's vice
chairman David Davis.

The show's launch is part of NBC's revamp of its international programme
service and the formal launch of NBC Asia on 15 January.

NBC, which is already available in Europe through NBC Super Channel, has
launched both an entertainment station and a 24-hour news and business
station under the NBC Asia banner.


Copyright 1996 M2 Communications Ltd.
M2 PRESSWIRE

April 10, 1996

LENGTH: 209 words

HEADLINE: ECONOMIC TELEVISION

Millions view "WebCruise" on TV news as "JumpCity!" launches

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES, CA

HIGHLIGHT: New primetime TV show about the Internet to debut

BODY: Millions of consumers this weekend watched a first-ever three minute feature news segment called "WebCruise!" which showcased three popular sites on the World Wide Web, bringing pictures of the wired revolution to watchers of network news.

"WebCruise was our way of testing the waters with TV news directors, who
really have a finger on the pulse of what people want. They jumped on this
story, and it really reinforces our belief that this is THE time to launch
our Primetime reality-based entertainment series about the Internet," stated
"JumpCity!" producer Daniel Hopsicker.

"We think the Internet's the biggest consumer phenomenon since the hula
hoop, and it clearly deserves a show conveying the gleeful fun and sheer joy
of 'cyberpilots' worldwide."

"WebCruise" will be a weekly feature, both going to satellite as news, and
playing as a segment on Global Business 2000, which airs on NBC internationally, as well as inflight on flagship carriers like United and USAir. Its designer to help consumers learn of great sites to access, and allow marketers to generate more traffic to their World Wide Web sites.

CONTACT: Daniel Hopsicker, Economic Television
Tel: +1-800-264-0920
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
*****************************************************************
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 22:33:08 -0800
From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

"Medialink has been appointed as the exclusive provider of video news
releases to [Daniel Hopsicker's] Global Business 2000..."


Now that we have one show verified, at least, I can look into it, and that's what I wanted to do originally, so let's get to it...

Who provided Hopsicker with his material? A fucking PR firm with heavy
propaganda ties.

- AC

Medialink wins NBC exclusive

Medialink has been appointed as the exclusive provider of video news
releases to [Daniel Hopsicker's] Global Business 2000...
--------------------
"Public diplomacy." Public relations.

FORMER BBC BROADCASTER LUCY HADFIELD TAKES HELM OF MEDIALINK LONDON OFFICE

PR Agency Veteran Jones Joins Medialink Management Team As Vice Chairman

For more information:
Mary C. Buhay Matt Burgess
Senior Vice President Group Marketing Manager
Corporate Communications Medialink Worldwide
Medialink Worldwide Incorporated Tel: +44 (0)20 7554 2787
Tel: (212) 682-8300 Mob: 07971 790 297
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]

LONDON, December 1, 2003 - Former BBC broadcaster Lucy Hadfield has been appointed Managing Director of the international operations of Medialink Worldwide Incorporated (Nasdaq: MDLK), a global leader in providing news and media services for professional communicators, it was announced today. Joining Ms. Hadfield on the management team of Medialink in London is Bill Jones who was named Vice Chairman, a non-executive role.

The formation of a new management team represents a key step in the
implementation of Medialink's strategy to position itself for the growth of
its international business.

Ms. Hadfield, 42, brings a wide range of broadcast media and corporate
communications experience to her new role. After starting her professional
career with advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi in London, she moved into
the broadcasting industry by joining RTHK in Hong Kong. A BBC-trained
producer and presenter, she ascended to the position of Senior Program
Officer for BBC World Service and Radio Television Hong Kong, where she
supervised the quality of production, editorial content and commissioning of
primetime English language talk features. She held responsibilities in front
of and behind the cameras, producing and presenting investigative radio and
television programs for international syndication.

Following her broadcast career, Ms. Hadfield established TVCI, an
international brand experience company based in London, which designed and produced many of Europe's most successful millennium exhibitions for high profile clients including EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS, HSBC and the WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION. She was most recently head of business development with CROWN Business Communications, a leading London-based integrated communications company providing live events, video and internet-based solutions for FTSE 250 companies. ...

A MADCOW'S FAKE NEWS


"Groups like MEDIALINK (www.medialink.com/vnr.htm) prepare television
versions of corporate press releases and produce them in broadcast news
style
http://www.vueweekly.com/articles/default.aspx?i=25

MEDIA JUNGLE
James Elford

VNR takes all

If you thought The Onion or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart were your best
sources of fake news, think again: the Bush administration is giving them
some tough competition, thanks to a "video news release" (VNR) in support of
its new medicare law that many critics say blurs the boundary between
advertising and propaganda.

The VNR, distributed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
puts what some might call a biased spin on the Bush administration's medical
plan. Sample scenes include a crowd cheering while Bush signs the law into
effect, and another where an elderly customer is told by a pharmacist that
the new law "helps you better afford your medications." "It sounds like a
good idea," says the customer, to which the pharmacist replies, "A very good
idea."

But this kind of blatant drum beating wouldn't be so bad, or unexpected, if
it weren't for the way it was packaged. Instead of being clearly marked as
an advertisement from the government, the piece was not only designed to
look like a news story, but the government even got the company that made
the video, Home Front Communications, to hire someone to portray a
journalist.

Karen Ryan, a freelance reporter/actor/public relations professional (her
title varies depending upon who you ask) read the script prepared by the
government and signs off at end of the video without indicating that the VNR is anything but a legitimate news story. Even if they don't acknowledge it, the creators of the piece likely knew that there is a substantial difference
between what people heard ("In Washington, I'm Karen Ryan reporting") and a properly identified VNR ("I'm Karen Ryan reporting from the U.S. Department of health and Human Services in Washington, D.C."). There's even a Spanish-language version aimed at Latino voters featuring correspondent "Alberto Garcia."

The ethical breach gets even stickier when you find out that the government
also prepared scripts for news anchors to use as they introduced the video,
featuring phrases like "Reporter Karen Ryan helps sort through the details"
that seem designed to further its resemblance to real news. (While the video
itself has aired in a number of states, including Louisiana, it's unclear if
any newscasts elected to use this prepared script.)

The General Accounting Office (GAO), the nonpartisan body that functions as
Congress's investigative arm, has decided to investigate the matter because
of a concern that the VNRs might violate a prohibition on using funds for
"covert propaganda" and other government materials that are misleading about their origin. This prohibition came about after the U.S. State Department under the Reagan administration was discovered to be hiring consultants to author op-ed pieces and articles in support of their Central American policy back in 1987.

This incident is the latest in a long line of deceptions that the Bushites
seem almost addicted to. They've ranged from minor and relatively innocuous episodes like George W. presenting troops with a fake turkey for a staged Thanksgiving photo op to far more serious allegations about justifications for the invasion of Iraq. This reliance on fakery extends beyond turkeys and journalists to the use of fake firefighters
As for VNRs, they've been around since at least the 1980s and are used
widely by both government and business as sort of video press releases. The American Dental Association uses them, and even has their own, presumably fake "reporters" presenting them.Groups like Medialink
(www.medialink.com/vnr.htm) prepare television versions of corporate press
releases and produce them in broadcast news style
newscasts, and a convenient resource for producers struggling to fill air
time, especially at small stations without the resources to produce enough
of their own quality news. Sometimes clearly identified as a message from
whatever interest group is releasing it and sometimes not, VNRs tread an
ethical grey area. Airing a VNR without proper identification is like
printing a press release as your own story.

VNRs have also been used in Europe but, at least in Britain, there has been
some action taken to restrict their use following an emotional Greenpeace
video about their efforts to prevent the dumping of Shell's Brent Spar oil
platform, which led to what editors at BBC and ITN later admitted was biased
coverage of the issue. Guidelines were drawn up to label VNRs as
such
In the U.S., while a coalition of prominent journalism organizations
including the Society of Professional Journalists have released a joint
letter of protest against VNRs, the Radio-Television News Directors
Association chose to simply clarify their guidelines on the use of VNRs in
newscasts. Hardly a muscular response to such an entrenched problem, and
certainly open to criticism. In their battle for the hearts and minds of
citizens in a democracy, governments and corporations can't be entirely
trusted to show all sides of a debate with any objectivity. The onus rests
with the journalistsair their next VNR.

*****************************************************************
Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 11:30:31 -0800
Subject: HOPSICKER AND MEDIALINK'S "BLATANT PROPAGANDA"
From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

Mr. Hopsicker has claimed he did a business show for NBC.

Is this any way to describe corporate commercials and "public diplomacy"
in the name of globalism?
---------------
http://users.actweb.net/~eye/propaganda/articles/corporate_news.htm

"Perhaps the only bigger distributor of video 'news' releases than Medialink is the Pentagon. ..."

blatant propaganda home > propaganda index > here

blatant propaganda article:

CORPORATE SPONSORED NEWS?

Increasingly, what TV news stations pass off as news are actually video news
releases: expensive and professional videos prepared by advertising firms
and paid for by large corporations.

Groups like Medialink beam these video news releases, or VNRs, via satellite
to television news editors. These editors, lured by the polished product
available at no cost, run these press releases as news, much like the print
media do with the VNRs written counterparts.

The result?

Corporate-sponsored ad agencies are subtly changing and controlling the news we see on the tube.

Their use is widespread. For example, 81.2 million people saw a "news"
report on dolphin-safe tuna fishing methods on t.v. last year. Reporters did
not dig up this story. It was fed to them by Starkist Seafood Co., who hired
Chicago-based Edelman Public Relations Worldwide to produce it. Ad
executives sailed on fishing boats to promote Starkist's product. News
directors, undoubtedly impressed by the artfully shot and edited scenes of
playful dolphins, fierce seas, and rugged yet environmentally sensitive
boathands, ate it up. The question: Is dolphin-safe tuna newsworthy without
easily available PR material about it? If so, why not assign reporters to
the story instead of relying on the advertising people? If not, why run it
on the news at all? The answer, of course, is money. Assigning reporters and camera crews to an all-day or even all-week fishing expedition is an expense that most news stations cannot afford, or at least wish to avoid. But
Starkist can afford it. In fact, faced with a nationwide boycott of their
tuna, StarKist can't afford not to.

Edelman also produced a VNR for the Nutrasweet Company about fat substitutes which was run as "news" and seen by 54.1 million people. No doubt this VNR featured scientists talking about health hazards, maybe even an animated segment showing fat cells clogging up arteries and killing folks. Then an interview with a Nutrasweet technician reporting objectively on alternatives to fatty foods.

Other examples: 21.8 million people watched Soviets line up at the new
Moscow McDonald's to enjoy a hamburger. McDonald's Corporation paid
Patterson-Parkington First International of Toronto to create the news. Here
we have Americans watching a Canadian-made film of Russians eating Central American Beef. First International, indeed.

And 18.6 million people learned about the "International Rotten Sneaker
Contest" from their trusty news anchors. Odor-Eaters paid Combe Inc. of
White Plains, New York to create that "news".

All of these examples are amusing in a disgusting sort of way.

But some video news releases are deadly.

For instance, 61.4 million people saw a VNR on Iraq's (1990) invasion of
Kuwait. 35.3 milllion saw a later YNR depicting human rights abuses
perpetrated by the Iraqis against the Kuwaitis. Reporters were not involved
in these two particular news accounts. Hill and Knowlton of Washington, DC
crated this news, commissioned by a group called Citizens for a Free Kuwait.
This group, rumored to be working with five million petrodollars belonging
to the Emir (of Kuwait) himself, also hired a PR firm to mass produce "Free
Kuwait" T-Shirts, flags, bumper stickers, and assorted Desert Shield/Storm
souvenirs. The group's task was to put a positive spin on the Emir's
repressive regime so that Americans could feel good about killing and dying
to restore Kuwait's legitimate dictator.

Perhaps the only bigger distributor of video "news" releases than Medialink
is the Pentagon. What name other than VNR could you call the footage of
smart bombs dropping through Iraqi chimneys? The networks salivated over
that video clip, and hundreds of others like it, supplied by the military,
designed to put a positive spin on what the United Nations now calls "near
apocalyptic" allied bombing which has taken Iraq back to a pre-industrial
age.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

The above article was taken from NEXUS Magazine. It was originally taken by
Nexus from an article entitled 'Advertising Invades the Newsroom' by Carl
Hammarskjold which appeared in a November 1991 issue of the "Anderson Valley
Advertiser", (Booneville, CA, USA).

Blatant Propaganda
PO Box 1327 Woden 2606 Australia
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

To join the Blatant Propaganda e-mail list,
please enter your details below.
At present we send news once every 3 months or so.

*****************************************************************
Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 11:39:19 -0800
Subject: HOPSICKER, MIND CONTROL AND "'GLOBAL BUSINESS 2000"
From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

More on Hopsicker's "news" feed supplier - AC

http://keyholepublishing.com/Getting%20Inside%20Your%20Head.htm

Getting Inside Your Head:
Media, Mind Control,
and Marginalization of UFOs

by Richard M. Dolan

Reclaiming Our Freedom

According to Medialink study from 2001, 90% of TV newsrooms now rely on VNRs
and B-roll provided by outside sources as a regular part of their newscasts.
Much of this is simply self-serving corporate or GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA.
------------------
http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Video_news_releases
--------------
http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/transcripts_102403_news.html
this week archive station guide Meet OTM The Nightly News Sell

October 24, 2003

BOB GARFIELD: Well, that's morning chat. At least viewers can rest assured
that stories they see on the local news are journalistically pure. Or can
they? The convergence of public relations ingenuity and broadcast stations'
budgetary exigencies has yielded another dubious hybrid: the Video News
Release -- a P.R. bonanza, and the news business's dirty little secret.
Here's an example. [TAPE PLAYS]
...
LARRY MOSCOWITZ: We determined prima facie and scientifically and
electronically that every television station in America with a newscast has
used and probably uses regularly this material from corporations and
organizations that we provide as VNRs or B-Roll or other terminology we may use.

BOB GARFIELD: Not all VNRs run whole. Most often they are mined for a clip
of background footage here, an interview fragment there. But producers
estimate that as many as one in three appear uncut, unedited and un-examined for balance or even basic accuracy. And why? Because they are there, tempting budget-battered news directors. And because they are free.

DEBORAH POTTER: VNRs are enabling devices.

BOB GARFIELD: Former CBS correspondent Deborah Potter is director of the
News Lab, the Washington, D.C. nonprofit dedicated to quality local
television.

DEBORAH POTTER: They allow newsrooms to do less of their own work without fear of running out of material before the end of the hour. It's a concern, and it ought to be a concern, frankly, for viewers if much of the material that they're starting to get on the news isn't news.

BOB GARFIELD: As long as there has been a press, there has been a symbiotic relationship between journalism and P.R. -- and not necessarily an insidious one. Publicists and politicians looking to promote their agendas can serve those interests, and the media's as well, by calling attention to news or even fluff of interest to the public. It then becomes the media's job to establish the broader context and to separate the newsworthy wheat from the gratuitously promotional chaff -- and to be clear about the source of
PR-furnished material. For instance, the Tropicana excerpt you heard at the
top of this piece we found in a documentary based on John Stauber's book.
Deborah Potter.

DEBORAH POTTER: I feel very strongly that if stations are going to use VNR
material they need to tell where it came from. It makes a difference if the
whaling video you're using came from Greenpeace or from the Coalition to
Support Whaling.

BOB GARFIELD: Barbara Cochrane, president of the Radio and Television News Directors Association says she believes most stations and networks do
routinely identify the source of outside video, as per the ethical
guidelines of her organization. But those within the VNR industry roll their
eyes at that assertion. Doug Simon of VNR producer D.S. Simon Productions
says disclosure is the exception -not the rule.

DOUG SIMON: From what we see, there's a very small percentage - perhaps less than 5% - that actually is identified what the source of the video is.
BOB GARFIELD: That makes him uneasy, but VNR producers can't do such
disclosure themselves. Each station uses a different on-screen typeface to
identify video, so the onus is on those airing the material, and dependent
as they are on the illusion of a far-flung newsgathering operation, with
tentacles throughout the community and beyond, there's little motivation to
do so.

LARRY MOSCOWITZ: Can I say that local television stations have been lax?
Yeah.

BOB GARFIELD: MediaLink's Moscowitz acknowledges that stations are less than scrupulous about identifying the source of the footage he supplies. He does not believe, however, that the sin is particularly grave -- at least
compared to other forms of journalism.

LARRY MOSCOWITZ: There is more unexpurgated, unedited and unredacted press information that shows up in the average daily newspaper in America, and certainly in the average weekly newspaper, probably by a 5 to 1 factor over the P.R. material that shows up in television. So you might be going after the wrong goat here.

BOB GARFIELD: The two wrongs make a right argument isn't the only one in
favor of the video news release. Candace White, marketing professor at the
University of Tennessee at Knoxville and co-author of a 2001 study about
VNRs, says the same self-interest that encourages news directors to use VNRs dictates that the material is used responsibly.

CANDACE WHITE: See, I trust news producers to be able to weed out true news value; I give them credit for being able to recognize blatant sales pitches. Our study found that the corporate videos were used the least, and the ones about health and safety were used the most.

BOB GARFIELD: But it's not necessarily the blatant sales pitches that are so
dangerous. It is the subtle sales pitches, and the implication of independent journalistic approval conferred on a company or organization and its point of view, which is why her study's co-author, journalism professor Mark Harmon, sees VNRs as (quote) "insidious devices by corporate America to control the American agenda." Nor is the problem restricted to the local
news. Not only do major networks use VNR footage. At least one, CBS, has a
division which produces and distributes them. This gets back to the disdain
and fear voiced by author and consumer advocate John Stauber.

JOHN STAUBER: All public relations is not sinister or evil or bad. But I
think the important thing to understand is that indeed all public relations
is propaganda.

BOB GARFIELD: So whether it's images of a NASA space walk or a
self-congratulatory sound bite from your Congressman or swell health news
about delicious calcium-fortified Tropicana orange juice, the message for TV
news consumption is as ever: Let the viewer beware. While TV runs into
problems when it fails to separate advertising from programming, it
certainly can't do without advertising all together, and sponsors aren't
picking up the programming tab out of the goodness of their hearts. They
need an audience to watch the commercials. And the steady shrinking of
network audiences is creating a gathering terror. The latest shocker from
the A.C. Nielsen Company, a report that since last season alone, 750,000
men, aged 18 to 34 --advertisers' most coveted demographic -- have simply stopped watching TV. Joining me now to discuss this bombshell is David Poltrack, executive vice president of research and planning at CBS. Dave, welcome to On the Media.

DAVID POLTRACK: Thank you, Bob.

BOB GARFIELD: All right, 750,000 human souls vanishing, just disappearing.
What's going on?

DAVID POLTRACK: Well I wish I had the answer to that question. This is one
of these anomalies that turns up in the audience measurement system
occasionally, and would just be sort of a idle curiosity if it didn't mean
so much economically.

BOB GARFIELD: Fine. It may be an anomaly, or it may just be some sort of
blip that will be self-correcting. But what if it isn't? Is it possible that
this is, as someone put it, the canary in the mineshaft?

DAVID POLTRACK: Advertisers are not going to abandon network television to any significant degree unless they can find something better, and the
fragmentation in the television marketplace has impacted the television
network audiences significantly, but it hasn't really created any new
alternative. The fact that the networks have maintained their pricing is
really a function of the fact that the top 20 shows have had significantly
less erosion than the balance of the shows. So the premium product of
network television has relatively held up. And in this particular case, of
course, it's not just the network audiences going down. It's the overall
audience that's going down. So there will be no relative winner in this, if
it continues, which means that there's not an alternative out there that's
getting stronger as a result of this, so it'll probably have very little
effect in terms of the supply and demand mechanics of the marketplace.
BOB GARFIELD: I want to ask you for a moment to at least consider taking off the rose-colored glasses. Recently you were quoted responding to a
projection that the use of personal video recording devices like TiVo was
going to quintuple by the year 2007, which will in effect dramatically
reduce the number of people actually watching commercials broadcast on over the air television.

You were quoted as kind of shrugging, saying, well you know, we lose a certain percentage of our audience every year to cable, and yet the model continues to be going strong. Is it possible that between the growth of the internet, between the introduction of such devices as TiVo and other PVR technology, and the overall fragmentation of the audience that networks are close to losing the critical mass of gigantic audiences that enable them to sustain this model, and that there's a death watch on for the goose that lays the golden egg? Is that one of the possibilities?

DAVID POLTRACK: Well these are all changes that we have to adapt to. We
recognize that we can't count on just our distribution system to keep us on
top, and we have to look at cross-platform types of arrangements,
re-purposing, all of the different things that are going to be very much a
function of an environment where the viewer has more control. We have a
challenge ahead of us. There's no question about it. I mean that's why
we're, you know, we're pushing so hard for the FCC relaxation on the
ownership limits, because the economics of local television station
ownership support the finances and the programming investments of the
television networks. The more stations we own, the more stable the
advertiser model is for us, and there are a lot of pressures on that model.
There's no question about it. You know, we're not being complacent or blase
about the fact that it's just going to continue to go on.
BOB GARFIELD: Well, David, thank you very much.
DAVID POLTRACK: Okay.
BOB GARFIELD: David Poltrack is executive vice president of research and
planning at CBS. He joined us from his office at Black Rock. [MUSIC]
BOB GARFIELD: Coming up, a documentation of terror using the terrorists' own
video. This is On the Media, from NPR. [FUNDING CREDITS]
copyright 2003 WNYC Radio
---------

*****************************************************************
Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 12:10:27 -0800
Subject: MediaLink
From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title�diaLink

MediaLink
From Disinfopedia

MediaLink (http://www.medialink.com//_aboutuscorp.htm) is a GLOBAL
LEADER in corporate communications services, connecting corporate clients
with news industry producers. MediaLink boasts proprietary databases used
in audience research, while a PARTNERSHIP with the Associated Press puts the
PROPAGANDA of MediaLink clients on the desks of most United States'
television news editors. MediaLink claims credit for having pioneered video
news releases

*****************************************************************
Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 19:45:49 -0800
Subject: SAIC/MediaLink/Gulf War Propaganda
From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

http://www.medialink.com/pressreleases2003/042203.htm

... Personal thoughts about the release of prisoners of war and the training
received to prepare them for the eventuality were shared by one male and
three female pilots in interviews transmitted via satellite from Doha. Two
of the women refuel planes in flight and the third is a weapons systems
officer, one of only a few U.S. Air Force females assigned to this role in
her squadron.

The two groups of satellite interviews were the second and third projects in
as many weeks delivered by Medialink for Science Applications International
Corporation (SAIC) on behalf of the U.S. Air Force. Earlier, SAIC tapped
Medialink to manage a similar live broadcast originating from a studio in
Washington, D.C., which garnered 22 television bookings in major markets.

"We are continuing to see demand from local TV stations for live satellite
interviews and taped video segments concerning war-related topics, as well
as relevant consumer news," said Lidj Lewis, Vice President of Media
Relations, Medialink. "Our strong relationships with broadcasters in the
United States and around the world have enabled us to provide our clients
with the timely strategic counsel that is critical in this swiftly-changing
news environment."...

*****************************************
Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 22:53:21 -0800
Subject: MediaLink & Iraq Incubator Hoax
From: Alex Constantine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

MediaLink & Iraq Incubator Hoax

http://list.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2�d9710a&L(R)jmc&F�� 281

THE VIDEO NEWS RELEASE

Before reviewing my pilot studies, it is important to understand why VNRs
can be so misleading. The VNR that triggered the greatest shock was created by the public relations firm Hill and Knowlton, on October 10, 1992. This was one month after U.S. troops had been sent to Kuwait to stop Iraqi
aggressions, and before Congress had actually approved the Gulf War.
Nayirah, a fifteen-year-old Kuwaiti girl, gave public testimony in front of
the congressional human rights caucus. With tears in her eyes, and at times
barely able to continue, she told of armed Iraqi soldiers storming hospitals
in Kuwait, snatching premature babies out of their incubators, and leaving
them on the floor to die...Nayirah's story was recorded by a camera crew
hired by Hill and Knowlton, and the film was used to produce a video news
release. Portions of the film were aired that night on NBC's Nightly News.
The VNR was also sent to MEDIALINK, eventually reaching a total audience of
about 35 million...President Bush evoked Nayirah's story six times in one
month while explaining the need to go to war...No fewer than seven senators referred to the babies as justification for their support of the January 12, 1991 resolution authorizing war....What members of Congress did not know was that Nayirah was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States. She had been coached by Hill and Knowlton before giving testimony....The PR company was working for a group...being financed almost entirely by the Kuwaiti royal family.[14]

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