Lisa Graves's News Articles

"Death Panels" and Big Tobacco

by Lisa Graves — October 7, 2009 - 9:36am
  • Topics: Health, Think Tanks, Tobacco

    • This week's issue of Rolling Stone has an illuminating article, "The Lie Machine," by Tim Dickinson on anti-heath reform spin. Dickinson's article quotes internal corporate memos showing how Big Tobacco spun media stories about health care reform in 1994 and how its progeny are striking again.

    "Love IS Worth Fighting For" -- Lt. Dan Choi

    by Lisa Graves — October 4, 2009 - 7:29am
  • Topics: Iraq, Terrorism, Democracy, Gay / Lesbian, Human Rights

    • "Love is worth fighting for." That's how Lt. Dan Choi ended his remarks this weekend about his journey from West Point to Iraq to discharge under the continuing Pentagon policy of "don't ask, don't tell" (DADT). It really made me think about this deeply flawed policy I have opposed privately over the years. Because, as Lt. Choi distilled it so well, love is worth fighting for.

    He is one of only eight people in his graduating class at West Point who majored in Arabic, and so his story also brought home to me the gap between the rhetoric about the "global war on terror" (GWOT) and the reality, in a particular way. Since I left the government over four years ago, I have been speaking out about misplaced priorities involving terrorism, civil liberties, and human rights.

    Exposing How the Government Lied about National Security Letters and the Patriot Act

    by Lisa Graves — September 30, 2009 - 9:47am
  • Topics: Terrorism, Human Rights, Propaganda, U.S. Government

    • Last week, I was honored to be invited to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Patriot Act, a new endeavor for the Center for Media and Democracy, even though CMD has covered national security-related issues in its books and on SourceWatch.

    One of the reasons I was so pleased to be able to join CMD is because in Washington, DC, I saw first-hand how propaganda and selective disclosures were used to influence and distort public opinion. In my testimony, I highlighted examples from the Patriot Act debate in 2005 where key information was hidden while the bill for reauthorization was being publicly debated, and did not come out until after the bill had passed. With parts of the Patriot Act up for renewal and reform this fall, I wanted to make sure the public record included the story of how the previous Bush administration misled the American people. I also wanted to share my views about why these extraordinary powers need to be fixed to better protect civil liberties and human rights.

    Welcome, Mary Bottari, the Director of the Real Economy Project of CMD!

    by Lisa Graves — August 25, 2009 - 11:09am
  • Topics: Activism, Internet, Economy

    • I am very pleased to announce that Mary Bottari is joining the Center for Media and Democracy. She is the Director of a new project we are calling the "Real Economy Project." (You know, the "real" economy, as opposed to the faux Wall Street-driven economy?)

    For those of you who don’t know Mary, she really is a powerhouse — she’s an exceptional public interest advocate with tremendous communications and campaigning experience. For the last ten years, she has served as a senior analyst for the Washington, D.C.,-based consumer group Public Citizen.

    She started in its Global Trade Watch division in the months before the World Trade Organization’s Seattle Ministerial meeting. Mary was deeply involved in planning for Seattle, and she ran the NGO press center to help communicate the disillusionment of labor, farm, and environmental groups with the corporate trade agenda.

    Op-Ed

    Cash-Roots, Manufactured Anger, and Hot Air over Health Care

    by Lisa Graves — August 17, 2009 - 10:00pm
  • Topics: Astroturf, Front Groups, Health

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    Protesters or Faux-Testers?

    This summer's health care town hall meetings have been turned into high-profile media opportunities for people shouting talking points crafted by anti-health reform front groups. These confrontations make "good news" but don't make for good policy. I don't doubt the sincerity of the anger of some of these seriously misinformed protesters, so I wouldn't label the lot "faux-testers," but these flames have been stoked by lie upon lie.

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