I USA har miljöorganisationen The Environmental Working Group fått tag på ett PM från en pr-rådgivare, med råd om hur republikanerna ska sköta publiciteten kring de försämringar av miljölagstiftningen man planerat - utan att drabbas av samma backlash, som när man först försökte detta 1995-96.

"Examples show that language is being used as an administration public relations weapon", skriver EWG, och citerar ur rapporten

"'Climate change' is less frightening than 'global warming.' ... While global warming has catastrophic connotations attached to it, climate change suggests a more controllable and less emotional challenge."

(Detta är just ett exempel på den "framing" som Lakoff talar om.)

EWG kan också visa hur Bush-regeringen lyft formuleringar direkt ur PM:et - vilka sedan också använts av massmedia, utan att ifrågasättas:

"In presenting a policy change giving timber companies the go-ahead to log environmentally sensitive lands in the name of “protecting” them, administration officials make statements right from Luntz’s playbook.

Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman states that the program’s goal is to “’streamline unnecessary, burdensome red tape’” ( The Washington Post , 12/12/02). Similarly, The New York Times paraphrases Veneman’s announcement by stating that the new regulation is “intended to streamline the bureaucratic process” (12/12/02).

Over time, the Luntz phrases repeatedly and continually used by administration officials are showing up in the reporting of news stories."

I ett annat sammanhang (en intervju på PBS) har den amerikanske satirikern John Stewart på The Daily Show analyserat hur det ständigt utökade utbudet - nyheter 24 timmar om dygnet - ändrat förutsättningarna för nyhetsrapporteringen:

"Politicians have caught up. They understand that 24-hour news networks. [Reporters] don't have time for journalism. They only have time for reporting. They only have time to be handed things and go, this is what I've just been handed by the administration. And they read it. So now that the administration knows that, and they're very disciplined, they can manipulate what goes on the air and what sets the agenda. And that's what they do. (...)

It's an incredibly managed theatrical farce. And it's incredible to me that people are playing along with it. And they say that they're playing along with it because they're afraid of losing access. You don't have any access! There's nothing to lose!"

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