Front Groups

SourceWatch Key to Inquiries Launched into Canadian Climate Skeptics' Election Activities

A Canadian global warming skeptics group, Friends of Science (FoS), is facing several investigations into a radio advertising blitz it ran in the 2006 election campaign, which criticized the then-Liberal government's support for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Funding for FoS came in part from a University of Calgary trust account.

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Meijer Admission

The Meijer retail chain has issued a public apology, admitting that it "likely violated campaign finance and reporting laws" and pledging to "comply with any and all direction, penalties, fines or other actions required by the Department of State" in connection with its covert effort to manipulate elections in Acme Township, Michigan, where local officials opposed its

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Freedom's Watch Wants to be the Right's MoveOn

Bill Berkowitz reports, "a number of right wing groups have been contending for the unofficial designation of the conservative version of MoveOn.org, the liberal grassroots lobbying organization. These days, Freedom's Watch appears to have a leg up on them all. ...

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James Glassman: The Journalist Turned Journo-lobbyist's Bid to Be PR Czar

James GlassmanJames Glassman, the nominee for Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, probably won't have much of an impact on how the United States presents itself to the rest of the world.

For one thing, he'll only have 11 months in the post. For another -- as his predecessor Karen Hughes proved -- putting shinier lipstick on the pig of U.S. foreign policy doesn't do much to assuage widespread anti-American sentiment. Still, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's January 30 hearing on Glassman's nomination provided some insight into Washington's evolving view of public diplomacy.

CMD and Consumer Reports WebWatch Launch Full Frontal Scrutiny

"The American public deserves to know when someone is trying to persuade them." — U.S. Federal Communications Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, Thursday, January 17, 2008

Front Groups Beware of Full Frontal Scrutiny

Front Groups - Appearances May Be DeceptiveToday, the Center for Media and Democracy and our partners at Consumer Reports WebWatch launched an exciting new project: Full Frontal Scrutiny. The site seeks to shine a light on front groups -- organizations that state a particular agenda, while hiding or obscuring their identity, membership or sponsorship, or all three. Google the term "front groups" and the number one return is CMD's extensive articles on its SourceWatch site.

"Clean Coal" for the Candidates

The coal industry front group calling itself Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC) "is waging a $35 million campaign in primary and caucus states to rally public support for coal-fired electricity and to fuel opposition to legislation that Congress is crafting to slow climate change." ABEC has already spent $1.3 million

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More Selective Science from Pharmaceutical Front Group

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is criticizing the Providence Journal for publishing an op-ed article by Robert Goldberg while failing to disclose that Goldberg and his organization, the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest

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