Unspun

I like it when journalists make a show of being wise to all the tricks and spin a PR person can pull off on them.

In Indonesia, the foreign correspondents are supposed to be the sharpest of the lot so it was amusing to see the venerable Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club sending the following e-mail to its members. It included photographs of the swimmer, a press release and two third party testimonials – clippings from other magazines.

I write this only because the title of this blog is unspun . Italics are mine.

Dear JFCC members,

Undoubtedly many of you have been busy writing about the bird flu, East Timor, and now the earthquake. Here's an uplifting story from Bali, which you may be interested in:

Last week world record ocean swimmer Monte Monfore set a new world mark swimming to fight child hunger. Upon invitation from the UN, as part of the World Food Programme's international Walk the World event the native Californian living in Bali swam a pre-dawn double crossing of the dangerous Bali Strait.

Please see press release (with contact details), profile, 2 articles, and photos attached. Watch a dramatic 4-minute video of Monte's first crossing from Bali to Java in the early morning darkness with a florescent light stick attached to his swimsuit at: www.fighthunger.org

Now this is worth discussing over a drink at Cinnabar.