Think Tanks

Rethinking the Think Tanks

by Sheldon Rampton — July 31, 2002 - 11:00pm

Curtis Moore looks at corporate-funded think tanks like the Cato Institute and Citizens for a Sound Economy whose anti-environmental messages permeate the news. "Fashioning themselves after the very university research centers they deplore (or old-style "think tanks" that are only a step removed from universities), these groups have neither the neutrality nor the expertise of their academic counterparts," Moore writes.

Main Source: 
Sierra Magazine, July/August, 2002

$70 Million For Your Thoughts

by Sheldon Rampton — July 1, 2002 - 11:00pm

"You get huge leverage for your dollars," Roger Hertog told fellow wealthy donors at a recent national conference for right-wing think tanks including the Heritage Foundation and the Cato, Manhattan, and American Enterprise institutes. Hertog pointed out that a mere $70 million in donations has helped conservatives reframe the national debate on topics including antitrust law, Social Security privatization, welfare and affirmative action. Robert Kuttner, who attended the event as a "token liberal," was impressed by the right's realization that ideas matter in politics.

Main Source: 
The American Prospect, July 2, 2002

Did Microsoft Pay for Open-Source Scare?

by Sheldon Rampton — June 4, 2002 - 11:00pm

The Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (ADTI), a libertarian think tank that gets part of its funding from Microsoft, has issued a new white paper that seems calculated to tell computer buyers, "If you are not with Microsoft, you are with the terrorists." Some government agencies, including the U.S.

Main Source: 
Wired, June 5, 2002

Exposing the Environmental Juggernaut

by Laura Miller — May 5, 2002 - 11:00pm

The National Center for Public Policy Research, a right-wing think tank, has launched a new website, envirotruth.org, to attack what it calls the "jihad" that environmental activists are waging against corporations.

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, May 6, 2002

Penny for Your Biased Thoughts?

by Sheldon Rampton — May 4, 2002 - 11:00pm

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

Think Tanks in a Time of Crisis

by Laura Miller — March 28, 2002 - 5:45pm

Conservative and right-leaning think tanks continue to get more mainstream media attention than centerist and progressive groups according to a new report by Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. "The overall percentages for the year were consistent with findings for previous years, with conservative or right-leaning think tanks garnering 48 percent of the citations, centrists receiving 36 percent and progressive or left-leaning think tanks receiving 16 percent," FAIR writes.

Main Source: 
http://www.fair.org/extra/0203/think_tanks.html

Bad Mileage Is Good For You

by Sheldon Rampton — January 24, 2002 - 11:43pm

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is lobbying again against federal standards requiring automakers to improve automobile mileage of their cars. They claim that Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards force automakers to build smaller, more dangerous vehicles. As we document in our Impropaganda Review section, CEI has been flogging this argument for years, using questionable evidence. And who are they to talk about safety, anyway?

Main Source: 
http://www.cei.org/gencon/003,02307.cfm

Call for Censorship of Enviro Websites

by Sheldon Rampton — November 13, 2001 - 1:00am

In a startling plea for official censorship, Amy E. Smithson of the Henry L. Stimson Center has urged the government to "close down" web sites run by environmental organizations if they publish information about hazardous materials in local communities around the country, claiming that such information could be used by terrorists.

Main Source: 
Secrecy News, November 13, 2001

MRC Attacks TV News for Lack of Patriotism

by John Stauber — November 7, 2001 - 10:18am

A New York Times story headlined "Network Coverage a Target Of Fire From Conservatives" reports that the far-right Media Research Center (MRC) is successfully attacking news media coverage of the war, especially ABC TV, for lack of patriotism. MRC is a powerful tax-exempt PR and lobby operation begun in 1987 by L.

Main Source: 
http://www.mediaresearch.org/

Think Tank Media Visibility Up

by Laura Miller — August 1, 2001 - 8:35pm

Media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting reports in the latest issue of their magazine Extra! that media citations of think tanks grew 29 percent in 2000. Progressive groups, like the Economic Policy Institute, Urban Institute, and Justice Policy Institute, saw a significant increase in references to them in electronic media. Conservative and right-leaning think tanks, however, still got half of all media citations. The remaining half was split between centrist organizations, 30 percent, and progressive groups, 20 percent.

Main Source: 
Extra! August 2001
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