White Washington .com: Your Internet Resource Against Government / Political Spin
and Calculated Misrepresentation.
In public relations, spin is a usually pejorative term signifying a heavily
biased portrayal in one's own favor of an event or situation. While traditional
public relations may also rely on creative presentation of the facts, "spin"
often, though not always, implies disingenuous, deceptive and/or highly
manipulative tactics. Politicians are often accused of spin by their political
opponents.
The term is borrowed from ball sports such as cricket, where a spin bowler may
impart spin on the ball during a delivery so that it will curve through the air
or bounce in an advantageous manner.
Because of the frequent association between "spin" and press conferences
(especially government press conferences), the room in which these take place is
sometimes described as a spin room. A group of people who develop spin may be
referred to as "spin doctors" who engage in "spin doctoring" for the person or
group that hired them.