[via Neatorama]

The Washington Post has a fantastic rundown of the failure of Al-Hurra, the most superfluous station on the Arab television dial. Despite an enormous budget, a succession of non-Arab bosses have succeeded in making it even less impactful than the average propaganda stations. Some highlights:

One news anchor greeted the station's predominantly Muslim audience on Easter by declaring, "Jesus is risen today!"...

In 2004, when an Israeli airstrike killed the spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, virtually all Arabic news channels interrupted their regular programming. Al-Hurra continued with a cooking show.

Not to worry, though; surveys show Al-Hurra pulling down a solid 2% of the viewing audience, "tied with al-Manar — Hezbollah's satellite propaganda channel." Nice. Maybe because they hired a producer from Casey Kasem's radio show to run the place. Read the entire ridiculous saga at the WP. [UPDATE: Even more on the Al-Hurra fiasco, from ProPublica]

For all of their ridiculous economic power—which is truly scary to contemplate—PE firms are essentially made up of people who want to have their cake (MONEY) and eat it too (STILL BE POPULAR WITH THE PLEBES). Or, they just want to make their money and retire with it in total anonymity. The SEIU draws attention to them, and as unsophisticated as the protests may seem (although they make some good points), they succeed just by getting people to think about private equity. Which is more than most people do in the first place. No billionaire really wants to explain to the public why he pays to lobby for massive tax loopholes for himself.

"We think the buyout industry and the way it operates are systematic of what's wrong in this economy," said Stephen Lerner, director of the union's private equity project. "We want to make them responsible corporate citizens."

The private equity industry counters that the union is using street theater and overheated rhetoric to bolster its membership rolls.

"They're using a battering ram of increasingly extreme and hysterical attacks," said Douglas Lowenstein, the president of the Private Equity Council, an industry lobbying group. "They've undermined any opportunity for constructive dialogue."

Private equity firms should really figure out how to handle this stuff better. They'll never win when their spokesman is just another white dude in a suit in an office in Washington, and the SEIU's mascot is Lewis Black, who's starring in this propaganda video for the cause:

[NYT; pic via SEIU]

"The letter said Russians are fond of many of Ford’s other roles, but not this time. 'You have no future in Russia any more. Speaking plainly, it is better for you not to come here. You will be beaten and despised.'

"However, despite the protests, the film was released on Thursday on 808 screens in Russia — a record for a Hollywood film.

"The Communist Party has withered since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, but it remains the second largest party in the Duma, the Russian parliament." [ShowbizSpy]

[via Hollywood-Elsewhere]

For me, it's a given that all organizations (including the US military) attempt to "spin" what the public sees and educate and influence spokespeople who appear in the media. It's not deception any more than the political candidates who are trained to respond in a certain way, nonprofit organizations that routinely use one set of statistics instead of another or CEOs who are media trained on a daily basis by their PR firms.

Agnostic!

It's not at all a surprise to me that the ex-military personnel in this article have ties to people and companies in the defense industry, and in fact, benefit from it financially. (How else would one retired from the military earn a living?)

I have no idea!

· The New York Times wrote of commentators "losing access" if they spoke negatively. While that sounds sinister, in reality, PR 101 would tell anyone to grant access to individuals more likely to speak positively. (Think Hillary Clinton or Obama is granting a lot of time to Commentary Magazine? Think the New York Yankees are allowing a Boston Globe sports reporter unfettered locker room access?)

Probably, yes!

In reality, reporters and PR people have a give-and-take relationship. It only makes sense that "unfriendly" interests won't be granted access. Why not grant access to someone more likely to say nice things? This is true in any business, and yes, war, government and politics is business.

Okay! How to sum up the argument?

This statement makes sense to me: "The intent and purpose of this is nothing other than an earnest attempt to inform the American people," Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman, said. It was, Mr. Whitman added, "a bit incredible" to think retired military officers could be "wound up" and turned into "puppets of the Defense Department."

Spin, Spin, Spin.

"MyStarbucksIdea.com was clearly inspired by my site, which was created nearly four years ago to move barista/customer conversations to the web," Romenesko said in an e-mail Wednesday.

"My site will continue to thrive because it's an authentic reflection of how customers and employees feel about the company. MyStarbucksIdea.com, on the other hand, is clearly a corporate propaganda site," he said. [Seattle Times]

Motherfuckin right, Romenesko! He's like the Shepard Fairey of Starbucks bloggers. A serious fight could be brewing, and we, for one, are more than ready to see a pay-per-view boxing match between Jim Romenesko and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz—possibly in a steel cage, or a vat of pudding.

Can there be a peaceful resolution? One commenter on Starbucks Gossip suggests a possible path to settlement:

and what is the big deal? Stop being morons - get your own coffee company then you can complain. Why be a bunch of white trash losers and complain about things that have nothing do with you - and start something just to hear yourselves speak. Get a life.

Posted by: Gooooogirl | Mar 20, 2008 7:32:19 PM