The economic recession has been brutal to our Center for Media and Democracy, bringing a drop in individual and foundation funding that forced us to reduce our staff and cut our budget. Despite the stress and turmoil we stayed the course in conducting a national search for my replacement, our next executive director. We simultaneously appealed to past supporters for financial help, and we developed new programs with new supporters. I hoped that by this summer we'd be able to both announce a new executive leader and the turn-around of our economic crisis.

After months of difficulty and with hard work by our board and sacrifice by our staff, I'm elated to report that we have succeeded. An extensive search led by our consultant Susan Egmont has brought us a dynamic new executive director who despite her youth has years of national leadership in both government service and with prominent public interest and civil liberties groups in Washington, DC. We'll introduce her to you soon in early July. At the same time, we've obtained new financial support to launch a major program focused on analyzing the massive new government spending on corporate bailouts, economic stimulus and health care reform.

The health care component will be led in part by Wendell Potter, a former industry insider who is working with us to examine the role of the powerful insurance industry in undermining, manipulating and thwarting reform.

Media Advisory for June 24, 2009:

HEALTH INSURANCE INSIDER TO TESTIFY BEFORE SENATE

Contact: Page Metcalf, Center for Media and Democracy

Phone: (608) 260-9713

Email: editor AT prwatch.org

Former Executive Warns Congress: Don't Be Fooled by For-Profit Industry's Misleading Campaign

Washington, DC – Wendell Potter, a former health insurance industry insider, will testify before the full Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday June 24, 2009 at 2:30 p.m. EST, exposing the health insurance industry's resistance to needed health care reform.

Mr. Potter spent more than 20 years as a public relations executive for two large health insurers - Cigna and Humana - but left the industry after witnessing practices he felt harmed American health care consumers.