Front Groups

Texas Coal Showdown Spawns Multiple Front Groups

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

"The politics of Texas power and pollution have moved suddenly into the living rooms of millions of Texans," over "electric companies' plans to build 16 coal-burning plants using conventional technology that pollutes more than a newer coal system." In addition to lobbying, interested parties are launching ad campaigns and websites and forming new "pressure groups." Campaigning for the coal plants are: Texans for Affordable and Reliable Power, which receives funding from the Dallas-ba

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Main Source: 
Dallas Morning News, February 15, 2007
Topics: 
Advertising
Front Groups
Corporations
Environment

The Path to a Pink Slip

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

As a reporter for Environmental Science and Technology (ES&T), a small industry trade publication, Paul Thacker discovered an entire industry built around spinning science for the purpose of confusing the public while benefiting big business. He wrote exposés documenting the tobacco and oil industry ties of Steven Milloy's junkscience.com, which purports to debunk bad science about issues such as global warming.

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Main Source: 
America's Investigative Reports (PBS), November 10, 2006
Topics: 
Front Groups
Journalism
Climate Change
Corporations
Science

Trans Fat Spin Doctors Chart Legislative Risks

Submitted by Jonathan Rosenblum on

The spin-driven restaurant and beverage industry front group, the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), has created a grass roots compilation of city, county and state efforts to ban added trans fats in restaurant food.

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Main Source: 
Center for Consumer Freedom, December 15, 2006
Topics: 
Food Safety
Obesity
Front Groups
Marketing

"Equal Protection" Suit: A Tired Last Gasp for Tobacco Industry Allies in Nevada

Submitted by Anne Landman on

The tobacco industry’s buddies in the bar and gambling businesses are at it again, suing to try and stop Nevada's new smoke-free law, which voters approved November 7 by a margin of 54% to 46%. The law bans smoking in bars that serve meals, slot machine sections of grocery and convenience stores, in video arcades, shopping malls, schools and day-care centers. Bar and casino owners are claiming the law is unconstitutional, and saying that it will hurt their businesses, while offering no proof that it has.

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Main Source: 
Las Vegas Sun, December 5, 2006
Topics: 
Election 2006
Front Groups
Tobacco

New York City Becomes First Big City to Ban Trans Fats

Submitted by Jonathan Rosenblum on

Bucking intense restaurant industry opposition, New York City has banned all added trans fats in restaurant food. The ban was passed by the city's Board of Health on December 6, 2006, and takes effect in July 2007. Donut makers get a one-year reprieve in order to find a substitute oil for the deep-fried dough. The board's action also included a requirement that restaurant chains post nutritional information.

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Main Source: 
Alternet, December 6, 2006
Topics: 
Crisis Management
Obesity
Front Groups
Children
Health

Fast Food Nation Interview: Eric Schlosser On Obesity, Kids, and Fast Food PR

When PR Watch most recently caught a cell phone signal from Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and the new Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food, Schlosser was rushing from car to car in New York City, after London, which was just after Berkeley, where he was giving students a preview of the indie film version of "Fas

Energy Economics 101 for Nuclear Industry's Patrick Moore

Submitted by Bob Burton on

In an interview with the Toronto Star, veteran energy policy analyst Amory Lovins said that he had spoken with former Greenpeace co-founder turned nuclear power promoter Patrick Moore and concluded that "he's not well informed about energy alternatives." Earlier this year, the Nuclear Energy Institute established a front group, the

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Main Source: 
Toronto Star (Canada), October 22, 2006
Topics: 
Front Groups
Climate Change
Nuclear Power
Environment
International
Propaganda

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