http://www.brandrepublic.com/mediabulletin/news_story.cfm?articleID=214417&Origin=MB22062004LOS ANGELES/WASHINGTON - Grassroots efforts to discredit Michael Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11' devolved into political warfare online last week, leading the film's distributors to put PR in the hands of some well-known Democratic consultants to help shepherd the documentary into theaters this week.
Opponents of the film, which is critical of George Bush and his administration, came under fire when liberal bloggers discovered that a website trying to keep it out of theaters, Move America Forward, was registered to a prominent Sacramento PR firm with strong GOP ties, Russo, Marsh & Rogers.
On its site, MAF asks supporters to call or write theaters saying they don't want them to carry the documentary.
MAF denied any formal connection to the firm, but said Sal Marsh, one of the firm's principals, was on its board. The two are located in the same building, and calls to RM&R for comment were returned by MAF.
Very shortly after the RM&R connection to MAF was alleged online, the website's registration was changed to the organization's leader, Howard Kaloogian, a conservative who spearheaded the campaign last year to stop CBS from airing the controversial movie 'The Reagans'.
In response, bloggers posted RM&R's phone number and staff e-mail addresses in what Markos Moulitsas of Dailykos. com dubbed a "two-pronged assault" on the anti-Moore efforts.
Moulitsas said he wanted to "go on the offensive against the PR firm that created the
site," as well as encourage readers to contact theater owners to voice support for the film.
At least two theater chains mentioned on the MAF site said they have been "inundated" with correspondence, though most of it was in favor of the film.
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