There were long lines of people in Poland to buy the new iPhone 3G, just like in the U.S. But the difference was that in Poland, the people lined up were paid actors. The Polish subsidiary of the French firm France Telecom (Orange) was forced to admit that they had staged the popular demand for the new device. "It was a marketing stunt, " said Wojciech Jabczynski, the spokesperson for the French company. "We found it to be an interesting strategy. The goal was to grab people's attention. The people standing in line let passers-by know about the iPhone. We couldn't expect the same fever that there was in the U.S., taking into account that Apple products are less known in Poland and in Central Europe." In an odd twist, one could also observe the paid line-standers selling their spot in line to others for between 30 and 90 euros (US $45 to $135). The Polish subsidiary of the German company Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) also launched the iPhone in Poland, but without paid actors, and without lines of customers.

A year ago, World Bank President Robert Zoellick committed the lending institution to "significantly step up our assistance" to fight climate change through its loans. But instead, the World Bank is increasing its financing of fossil-fuel projects world-wide. One example is the coal-powered Tata Ultra Mega power plant in western India, which is scheduled to go on-line in 2012. When it is fully operational, it will become one of the world's 50 largest greenhouse-gas emitters and "will emit more carbon dioxide annually than the nation of Tunisia, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The plant carries a $4.14 billion price tag. The World Bank will provide "$450 million in loans and guarantees for the project and also may buy a $50 million stake in it." While the U.S. is insisting that developing countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the World Bank -- over which it exerts tremendous pressure -- is supporting projects that do the opposite. "The World Bank's lending record does not match up to Zoellick's rhetoric," says Heike Mainhardt-Gibbsof the Bank Information Center, a World Bank watchdog group. "The institution is simply not slowing down its significant funding to fossil-fuel projects that will emit greenhouse gases for 20 to 40 years."

"I think this proves the only method that works is enforcement," concluded U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official Jim Hayes. He was referring to "Scheduled Departure," a controversial ICE program that encouraged undocumented immigrants to deport themselves. Only eight people participated in the three-week, five-city program. As the Center for Media and Democracy reported previously, immigrant rights activists blasted "Scheduled Departure" as a PR stunt. ICE has since admitted that the program was designed in part "to quell criticism by immigrant advocates that its enforcement efforts were disruptive to families." Hayes said of immigrant rights activists, "They want a more vulnerable America." Immigration lawyer Lisa Ramirez is concerned that ICE may now use the failure of "Scheduled Departure" to "fuel their enforcement even further."

In an attempt to "taint the al-Qaida brand," a British counter-terrorism unit has targeted the BBC and other domestic media outlets. A report from the UK research, information and communications unit described efforts to discredit al-Qaida (AQ) by promoting messages that the terrorist group is losing support, that "they are not heroes and don't have answers," and that "they harm you, your country and your livelihood." The unit is mostly sending information to "overseas communicators" such as British embassy and consulate staffers and others "working with overseas influencers and opinion formers." But the counter-terrorism report adds: "We are pushing this material to UK media channels, eg, a BBC radio programme exposing tensions between AQ leadership and supporters. And a restricted working group will communicate niche messages through media and non-media." The report also advocates using new media to "channel messages through volunteers in internet forums." The counter-terrorism unit's material "is a mixture of recent news reports and articles from Arabic, Middle Eastern and North African news sources illustrating the theme of 'AQ is in decline' as well as articles from the New York Times, the Observer, Newsweek and American websites," reports Alan Travis.

The Pentagon's new Defense Media Activity (DMA) -- which "combines formerly separate Pentagon media organizations, such as the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, the Stars and Stripes newspaper, and the Pentagon Channel" -- needs someone to run it. The Defense Department is looking for an "energetic and imaginative executive" to oversee "2,400 military, government and contract employees around the world and a budget of more than $225 million." The DMA is tasked with communicating "messages and themes" from Pentagon officials and providing "a wide variety of information products" to Pentagon staff, servicemembers and their families, veterans and "external audiences." The DMA also provides "high quality visual information products, including Combat Camera imagery depicting U.S. military activities and operations." According to the Army Times, "development of the group and its first-year budget has been given to [Bryan] Whitman, since the job of his supervisor ... is vacant." Whitman's name frequently appears in the Pentagon pundits documents. The DMA "will not include the America Supports You public relations program," which is currently under investigation for funneling PR and marketing contracts through Stars and Stripes. Whitman said America Supports You "wasn't placed under the DMA because it is not of the same 'nature' as other external information programs."

Tobacco manufacturers discovered over 40 years ago that radioactive polonium-210 exists in cigarettes and tobacco smoke, and spent decades working to remove it, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health. The companies tried to remove polonium -- a naturally-occurring, alpha particle-emitting constituent of the fertilizers and soil used to grow tobacco -- by creating special filters, washing the tobacco leaf and genetically altering tobacco plants, but ultimately failed. Instead of coming clean, the companies kept their internal research on polonium and information about their unsuccessful efforts to remove it secret. They didn't want to heighten public awareness of polonium in cigarettes. Polonium-210 is the lethal radioactive substance that was used to poison Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.

Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Bush administration officials exaggerated what U.S. intelligence agencies were reporting about Iraqi weapons, according to Congressional investigations. But even before that exaggeration, the intelligence reports had been skewed by an administration eager for war, according to recently declassified documents. For example, the CIA's white paper on "Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Program" was supposedly based on the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). But drafts of the CIA paper existed in July 2002, "long before the NIE was even requested by Congress." There are few differences between the early draft and final paper, mostly made "to insert more charges" about Iraqi weapons activities, "or to sharpen them. ... Little of the text shows the kind of approach characteristic of intelligence analysis." An early draft of a September 2002 British paper on Iraqi weapons shows that its claims were also made "even more somber," suggesting that "the Bush administration and the Tony Blair government began acting in concert to build support for an invasion of Iraq two to three months earlier than previously understood." U.S. intelligence agencies' use of information from the anti- Saddam Hussein exile group Iraqi National Congress -- and their dismissal of more reliable sources saying there were no Iraqi WMDs -- "most likely flows directly from the prodding ... by high levels at the Pentagon and White House," concludes the National Security Archive.

Listen to this week's edition of the " Weekly Radio Spin," the Center for Media and Democracy's audio report on the stories behind the news. This week, we look at sustainable greenhouse gas emissions, the politics of banking and those wily union bosses. In "Six Degrees of Spin and Fakin'," how John Rendon waves the U.S. flag. The Weekly Radio Spin is freely available for personal and broadcast use. Podcasters can subscribe to the XML feed on www.prwatch.org/audio or via iTunes. If you air the Weekly Radio Spin on your radio station, please email us at editor@prwatch.org to let us know. Thanks!

NCI finding: Cigarette ads and smoking in the movies influence kids to smoke. Cigarette ads and smoking in the movies influence kids to smoke Philip Morris and the tobacco industry in general have long insisted that cigarette advertising has no influence whatsoever in getting people to start smoking, claiming it only influences existing adult smokers to change brands. But this week the National Cancer Institute published an extensive, 684-page monograph that evaluates current evidence regarding the power of the media to both encourage and discourage tobacco use. NCI found that "The total weight of evidence -- from multiple studies, conducted by investigators from different disciplines, and using data from many countries -- demonstrates a causal relationship between tobacco advertising and promotion and increased tobacco use." NCI further concluded that smoking in the movies causes more children to start smoking, saying "the depiction of cigarette smoking in movies is pervasive" and "the total weight of evidence ... indicates a causal relationship between exposure to depictions of smoking in movies and youth initiation."

Wounded Iraqi child ( U.S. Army picture)The U.S. military is in the process of hiring a public relations firm to help it carry out " information operations" in Iraq, "to counter insurgent misinformation tactics." An Army public affairs officer said the goal of the work is to communicate "with people in Iraq in as many ways [as] possible what we're trying to do to help them, and what we're trying to do to prevent people from using these ruthless roadside bombs that blow up people in streets, in schools, and mosques." The one-year contract may be extended for up to three years and cost up to $300 million. "Public affairs executives speaking on background said the contract has elicited a lot of attention from Washington agencies because of its potential size," reports PR Week, "but that firms with previous experience working in dangerous, high-security environments in Iraq -- such as Lincoln Group, The Rendon Group and MPRI -- would have an inside track on winning the bid."