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Democracy Now!
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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 5-8-03
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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Looks like news, sounds like news – but paid for by
drug companies: Morley Safer of 60 Minutes introduced hundreds
of fake “news breaks” broadcast on public television;
CNN’s Aaron Brown and CBS’ Walter Cronkite may
back out after a news expose revealed the scheme
Global AIDS, TB and Malaria Fund facing massive shortfall
in funding: the US has given $200 million out of a requested
$3.5 billion per year
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:20 LOOKS LIKE NEWS, SOUNDS LIKE NEWS – BUT PAID
FOR BY DRUG COMPANIES: MORLEY SAFER OF 60 MINUTES INTRODUCED
HUNDREDS OF FAKE “NEWS BREAKS” BROADCAST ON PUBLIC
TELEVISION; CNN’S AARON BROWN AND CBS’ WALTER
CRONKITE MAY BACK OUT AFTER A NEWS EXPOSE REVEALED THE SCHEME
We’re going to play you a video piece which has appeared
on public television around the country. As we play it, try
to decide if it sounds like a commercial, or more like news:
- Morley Safer, introducing an episode of the “American
Medical Review”
That’s Morley Safer, standing on an elaborate news
– style set. But this well-known face of investigative
journalism is not introducing yet another expose for his long-time
news magazine 60 Minutes.
Morley Safer is introducing one of hundreds of videos he
has appeared in – that promote drug and health care
companies.
Each video is between two and five minutes. They appear between
regular programming on public television across the country.
The company that produces them, WJMK in Boca Raton, Florida,
calls them “news breaks.” And with a name like
the “American Medical Review” and a host like
Morley Safer, the programs could easily be mistaken for news
advisories from the American Medical Association or a scientific
journal.
But The New York Times yesterday revealed that health care
and drug companies pay some $15,000 to have their companies
or products featured in the programs.
In one of the videos Safer introduced, executives at a small
drug company called Innapharma, promoted a new, experimental
antidepressant. In the video, the company’s president
said "Patients rapidly get well and they stay well for
months or years… I've never seen anything that compares."
But last month Innapharma filed for bankruptcy protection
after the Food and Drug Administration ordered it to stop
human trials of the drug because a study showed it was toxic
in animals.
A CBS spokesman told The New York Times this week that Safer
had realized after beginning to work for WJMK that the job
was not consistent with the network's standards, but that
the company had continued to produce new videos using his
taped introduction.
To replace him, WJMK hired CNN’s nighttime anchor,
Aaron Brown and former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite.
But the Times expose has caused an uproar. CNN and Aaron
Brown have already pulled out and a source close to Walter
Cronkite told the Times that Cronkite may notify WJMK as soon
as today that he is also pulling out. WJMK dismantled its
web site yesterday, which had been promoting the “American
Medical Review” shows and hosts, in addition to similar
shows like the “American Business Review” and
the “American Environmental Review”.
WJMK President Mark Kielar is still claiming the videos are
educational and not promotional, according to the Times.
Democracy Now!’s calls to WJMK were not returned.
- Jeff Cronin, Spokesperson, Center for Science in the Public
Interest
- Dr. Steven Haimowitz, is a co-founder of Healthology,
Inc., and the company’s President and CEO. For ten
years, he served as a senior-level executive in leading
international healthcare communications companies, developing
and implementing many of the most successful and effective
marketing and educational programs for clients from all
sectors of the healthcare marketplace, including Fortune
100 pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, hospitals
and health systems, managed care organizations, physician
practice management companies, academic associations, and
nutritional and consumer product companies.
Contact: www.healthology.com
8:20-8:21 One Minute Music Break
8:21-8:40 Looks like news, sounds like news, CONT’D
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:58 GLOBAL AIDS, TB AND MALARIA FUND FACING MASSIVE
SHORTFALL IN FUNDING: THE US HAS GIVEN $200 MILLION OUT OF
A REQUESTED $3.5 BILLION PER YEAR
While the pharmaceutical industry has spent hundreds of millions
of dollars on advertising, lobbying, and political campaign
contributions in the last few years, a new Congressional study
has found that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria
is threatened by a lack of money.
The study by the General Accounting Office reports the fund
does not have enough money to fund more than a small number
of programs.
The director of the fund told a congressional committee yesterday
it will to raise more than $1 billion very soon if it hopes
to support all the worthy applications for grants it expects
this year.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria was created
by the United Nations and the G8 group of industrialized nations
in 2001. AIDS, TB and malaria kill a total of 6 million people
a year around the world. Over 5,000 people die of AIDS every
day in Africa alone. 3,000 African children die every day
of malaria.
The fund had asked for $3.5 billion a year from the United
States. The US gave $200 million last year and Bush's plan
would add $200 million a year.
- Adrienne Germain, Executive Director, International Women’s
Health Organization
Links: www.iwhc.org
8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits
9:00-9:01 Billboard:
Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz secretly create new Pentagon-based
intelligence unit: Seymour Hersh examines the role the Office
of Special Plans in the lead-up to invading Iraq
Harsh New York Rockefeller drug laws turn 30: Hip hop pioneer
Russell Simmons & Anthony Papa who served 12 years for
a first-time offense call for repeal of the laws
9:01-9:06 Headlines
9:06-9:07 One Minute Music Break
9:07-9:25 Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz secretly create new Pentagon-based
intelligence unit: Seymour Hersh examines the role the Office
of Special Plans in the lead-up to invading Iraq
U.S. soldiers have uncovered a trailer in the northern Iraq
town of Tall Kayf, which they believe could be a mobile weapons
laboratory. But officials said more tests are needed before
any conclusions could be reached.
If the trailer turns out to be a weapons lab, it will be
the first major piece of evidence to support U.S. allegations
that Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction.
This comes as the Pentagon plans to send 2,100 more American
experts to Iraq to search for weapons. Currently the U.S.
has a force of 600 in Iraq.
To date no biological or chemical weapons have been found
raising some questions about the reliability of evidence provided
to the government.
In this week’s New Yorker an explosive article by Seymor
Hersh examines how much of the intelligence linking Iraq to
weapons of mass destruction came from a little known department
in the Pentagon called the Office of Special Plans.
Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, under the guidance of Deputy
Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, the office began gathering
intelligence on Iraq independent of the CIA or the Pentagon’s
own Defense Intelligence Agency.
According to the New Yorker article the Pentagon’s
office became one of President Bush’s main source of
intelligence regarding Iraq’s possible possession of
weapons of mass destruction and connection with Al Qaeda.
Well we are joined by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour
Hersh to outline his story…
- Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter
with The New Yorker. His latest piece is titled “Offense
and Defense: The Battle Between Donald Rumsfeld and the
Pentagon.”
Link: ”Selective Intelligence: Donald Rumsfeld has
his own special sources. Are they reliable?”
www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030512fa_fact
9:20-9:21 One Minute Music Break
9:21-9:40 Harsh New York Rockefeller drug laws turn 30: Hip
hop pioneer Russell Simmons & Anthony Papa who served
12 years for a first-time offense call for repeal of the laws
Three decades ago today, New York became the first state
in the nation to require harsh prison sentences for all drug
offenders.
The new laws were pushed through the state legislature in
1973 by then-governor Nelson Rockefeller.
The laws require a minimum sentence of 15 years for minor
possession of drugs. Enforcement of the laws rarely hit drug
kingpins. Instead, judges were forced to imprison mostly first-time,
low-level, nonviolent drug offenders. Most of them are poor,
most are people of color.
Dozens of other states and the federal government rushed
to adopt their own versions of the Rockefeller drug laws when
New York State set the precedent.
Today, New York and California alone retain their mandatory
minimum sentences.
The movement to scrap the laws is continuing to grow. Last
year, former New York Senator John Dunne appeared in a TV
commercial. He said: "In 1973, I sponsored the Rockefeller
drug laws, which have been a well-documented failure."
- Anthony Papa, was convicted of a first-time, non-violent
drug possession charge in 1985 under the tough anti-drug
laws signed by Governor Rockefeller which left the judge
no choice but to impose a harsh prison sentence of 15 Years
to Life. At the time, Papa, married with one daughter. Papa
spent the next 12 years behind bars at Sing Sing prison.
During that time, he earned degrees in behavioral science,
theology and paralegal studies. He also learned to paint.
Papa became an accomplished and acclaimed artist, painting
a powerful collection of images relating to his prison experience.
One of his pieces, "15 Years to Life," was exhibited
at the Whitney Museum.
Link: www.15yearstolife.com
- Russell Simmons, the founder of Def Jam Records and one
of the most successful recording executives, producer, promoters
in the hip hop world. Last year he helped form the Hip-hop
Summit Action Network. Phone: 347 219 2889
- Randy Credico, director of the William Moses Kunstler
Fund for Racial Justice
Link: www.kunstler.org
9:40-9:41 One Minute Music Break
9:41-9:58 A look at how a single officer in Tulia Texas arrested
46 people on false, trumped-up drug charges: Falsely convicted
suspects join us in the studio
In the tiny town of Tulia, Texas in 1999, a single under-cover
officer arrested 43 people arrested on charges of selling
small amounts of cocaine. The officer had no corroborating
evidence in the biggest drug sting in local history.
Forty out of the 43 defendants were black. More than ten
percent of the African-American community were arrested.
In some cases, hometown juries later meted out sentences
ranging from 20 years to more than 300 years.
Local officials declared the operation a stunning success.
22 of the defendants were sent to prison while others received
probation. The undercover agent at the center of the operation,
Tom Coleman, was named by the state as lawman of the year.
Last week, The Amarillo Globe-News reported defense attorneys
have hammered out an agreement with special prosecutors and
a judge.
According to he agreement, the 13 people still in prison
from the drug sting operation should be freed.
The agreement is known legally as “findings of fact
and conclusions of law.” A source close to the negotiations
told the Amarillo News the agreement will now be sent on to
the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for a final decision.
- Jeff Blackburn, Civil rights lawyer and head of the Tulia
Legal Defense Project
- Tanya White, falsely charged in Tulia Texas on drug charges.
Charges were dropped because she was able to produce evidence
showing she was in Oklahoma City at the time she was accused
of selling drugs in Tulia
- Zuri Bossett, falsely charged in Tulia Texas on drug
charges
9:58-9:59 Outro and Credits
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Kris Abrams, Mike Burke, Angie
Karran, Sharif Abdul Kouddous, Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press
with help from Noah Reibel and Vilka Tzouras. Mike Di Filippo
is our music maestro and engineer. Thanks also to Uri Galed,
Angela Alston, Emily Kunstler, Orlando Richards, Simba Rousseau,
Rafael delaUz, Gabriel Weiss, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Karen
Ranucci, Fatima Mojadiddy, Denis Moynihan and Jenny Filipazzo.
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