Ethics

Penny for Your Biased Thoughts?

by Sheldon Rampton — May 4, 2002 - 10:00pm

Inspired by recent public revelations about pundits who took large consulting fees from Enron, Robert W. Hahn ponders the financial conflicts of interest that pervade the world of Washington think tanks (including his own outfit, the heavily corporate-funded American Enterprise Institute-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies). Hahn's essay, "The False Promise of 'Full Disclosure'," combines some fairly frank admissions with rationalizations about the "impracticality" of full disclosure.

Main Source: 
Washington Post, May 5, 2002

Monsanto's Web of Deceit

by Laura Miller — April 29, 2002 - 7:05pm

"Anti-GMO (genetically modified organism) scientists and activists are increasingly having their credibility attacked through a campaign orchestrated by the biotech industry," investigative reporter Andy Rowell writes. In two in-depth stories Rowell and Jonathan Matthews, of Norfolk Genetic Information Network, examine the dirty tricks Monsanto has played to promote its gene altered food.

Main Source: 
http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit_index.html

Coverup at the World Trade Center?

by Sheldon Rampton — April 25, 2002 - 11:00pm

In their resignation letters, the top two members of the Ombudsman Office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have accused the agency of covering up the existence of deadly pollution in the area of the destroyed World Trade Center towers in New York. Emergency workers who were sent to the scene and residents of Lower Manhattan are developing serious, and in some cases, life-threatening respiratory ailments and other health problems.

Main Source: 
Environmental News Service, April 26, 2002

Endorsements for Sale

by Sheldon Rampton — April 22, 2002 - 11:00pm

The Child Health Corporation of America, which "says its mission is to find the best medical supplies for some of the nation's biggest children's hospitals," is "endorsing certain products in return for a percentage of sales and, in some cases, shares or warrants from their manufacturers." Nevertheless, "Manufacturers that receive the seal hold it up as a major independent endorsement."

Main Source: 
New York Times, April 23, 2002

EPA Boots a Whistleblower

by Sheldon Rampton — April 19, 2002 - 11:00pm

The resignation of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Ombudsman Robert Martin ends his long-running battle to preserve his office and its ability to independently investigate cases where the agency mishandled Superfund sites. His resignation came on the heels of actions taken by EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman to disband his office, including sending agents to confiscate his files and his computers, and to change the locks on his office.

Main Source: 
Project on Government Oversight, April 20, 2002

Oil Slick Propaganda

by Sheldon Rampton — April 11, 2002 - 11:00pm

The U.S. Interior Department's web site features a video prepared by the Patton Boggs lobbying group to promote exploration for oil and gas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Its distribution of the video violates a law forbidding federal agencies to engage in PR activities "designed to support or defeat legislation pending before the Congress." The Interior Department is becoming "a cinema house for lobbyists," says Massachusetts Congressman Edward Markey.

Main Source: 
New York Times, April 12, 2002

48 Hours

by Sheldon Rampton — April 10, 2002 - 11:00pm

While formulating its national energy policy, the Bush administration's Energy Department met with 109 representatives of the energy industry and its trade associations from late January to May 17, 2001, but gave environmental groups less than 48 hours to review and comment on the policies.

Main Source: 
New York Times, April 11, 2002

Wall Street's "Big Lie"

by Sheldon Rampton — April 10, 2002 - 11:00pm

The full extent of Wall Street's corruption doesn't stop at Enron and Arthur Andersen. Extraordinary revelations about Merrill Lynch surfaced this week when Eliot Spitzer, the New York state attorney general, publicized e-mail messages that circulated among Merrill's stock analysts, suggesting that the analysts privately doubted the stocks they publicly recommended to clients.

Main Source: 
Washington Post, April 11, 2002

Arctic Power Sees Conflict With Saudi Arabia, Drops PR Firm

by Laura Miller — April 7, 2002 - 11:00pm

Arctic Power, a lobbying organization that promotes drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, has ended its $4-million account with Qorvis Communication reports PR trade publication O'Dwyer's PR Daily. Arctic Power says there is a conflict of interest since Qorvis also is working for Saudi Arabia. One of Arctic Power's key arguments for opening ANWR to oil drilling is that it would reduce US dependence on foreign oil, particularly Middle-Eastern oil. The US is Saudi Arabia's second top export market.

Main Source: 
American Prospect, April 2, 2002; O'Dwyer's PR Daily, April 8, 2002

The News About the News

by Sheldon Rampton — April 5, 2002 - 7:06am

Leonard Downie Jr., and Robert Kaiser, two top editors at the Washington Post, have written a new book detailing the corrupting influence of corporate ownership on mainstream news. Titled The News About the News: American Journalism in Peril, their book details how the push for profits during the past quarter century has substituted entertainment for analysis, undermined investigative journalism (too expensive), given us ever-more stories about actors, sports figures, and celebrities, and blurred the lines between news and advertising.

Main Source: 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0375408746/thecenterformediA/
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