Democracy

Featured Participatory Project: Who Are the Pentagon's Pundits?

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

On Sunday, the New York Times outed the Pentagon's "military analyst program," an extensive effort to cultivate retired military officers as "message force multipliers" or "surrogates" spouting Bush administration talking points on Iraq and other hot-button issues. We've compiled a list of known participants, and started SourceWatch profiles on each. Can you help us uncover more about the Pentagon's pundits? What did they say, on what news programs?

Yes
Main Source: 
SourceWatch, April 23, 2008
Topics: 
Iran
Iraq
Pundits
Third Party Technique
Democracy
Ethics
Lobbying
Propaganda
U.S. Government

Media's Military Analysts Involved in "Psyops on Steroids"

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

Victoria "Torie" ClarkeIn early 2002, as "detailed planning for a possible Iraq invasion" began, then-Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria Clarke launched the Pentagon military analyst program as "the main focu

No
Main Source: 
New York Times, April 20, 2008
Topics: 
Iraq
Pundits
Third Party Technique
Democracy
Ethics
Lobbying
Propaganda
U.S. Government

Audit Reveals the PR Machine Behind Canadian Global Warming Skeptics

Submitted by Bob Burton on

An audit review (pdf) of over $507,000 (Canadian) contributed to two University of Calgary "research accounts" has revealed that C$123,427 was routed to Friends of Science (FoS) -- a group lobbying the Canadian government against taking action on global warming.

No
Main Source: 
University of Calgary, April 14, 2008
Topics: 
Advertising
Front Groups
Climate Change
Issue Management
Democracy
International
Media
Politics
Public Relations
Science

A Bad Week for Corporate Spies

From MAD magazineIf Cara Schaffer contacts you, be wary. Take emails and online comments from "activist2008" and "stopcorporategreed" with a grain of salt. Londoners, be on the lookout for Toby Kendall, a.k.a. "Ken Tobias." And activists everywhere should think twice before putting documents in the recycling or trash bins.

Over the past week, reporters and activists outed three different corporate spying operations. As John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton wrote in their 1995 book "Toxic Sludge Is Good for You!": "Movements for social and political reform have often become targets of surveillance. ... The public relations industry has developed a lucrative side business scrutinizing the thoughts and actions of citizen activists, using paid spies who are often recruited from government, military or private security backgrounds."

Last week's revelations show that these underhanded tactics are very much in use today. And they don't just impact the groups being infiltrated. By privileging corporate interests, effectively giving them the first and last word on an issue, they distort vital public debates.

Spinners Queue Up to Help China

Submitted by Bob Burton on

Free Tibet protest in LondonThe Free Tibet Campaign in the UK has warned that "any PR agency that is trying to assist China in its twisted distortion of the truth would be potentially exposing itself to protests outside its offices." Despite this, PR Week reports that Ogilvy,

No
Main Source: 
PR Week (UK), April 10, 2008
Topics: 
Activism
Crisis Management
Issue Management
Democracy
Human Rights
International
Public Relations
War / Peace

Belarusians Give Bell Hell

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

In an open letter to British public relations executive Lord Timothy Bell, two directors of the Belarus Free Theatre accuse Bell of "making money on somebody's misfortune." Bell traveled to Belarus in March and met with President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been called "Europe's last dictator." Bell told Reuters, "I have been asked to make a propo

No
Main Source: 
Charter'97 (Belarus), April 9, 2008
Topics: 
Activism
Democracy
Human Rights
International
Public Relations

The Legion of Lobbyists Behind a "Consumer" Group

Consumers for World Trade (CWT), which describes itself as being a "network of consumers," is enthusiastic about everything from the right of the U.S. President to negotiate free trade agreements, slashing import duties and quotas on items such as footwear and apparel and opposing mandatory country-of-origin labeling. You'd be right in thinking this doesn't sound like a normal consumer group, but exactly who they are is not immediately obvious. A little digging though, reveals that CWT is just another front group trying to wrap a self-serving corporate message in a public interest name.

Featured Participatory Project: Help Find the Superdelegates Whose Endorsement is "Wobbling"

Submitted by Conor Kenny on

The Superdelegate Transparency Project on Congresspedia is picking up steam as it looks more and more likely that the superdelegates will decide the Democratic presidential nominee. Our citizen journalist-generated list of superdelegates is being covered by everyone from the New York Times to CNN (video link).

But as the pressure on them picks up, many superdelegates are switching sides or hedging their bets. We need your help to figure out who these "wobbling" superdelegates are.

Yes
Main Source: 
Superdelegate Transparency Project on Congresspedia
Topics: 
Citizen Journalism
Superdelegates 2008
Election 2008
Democracy
Politics

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