Center for Media and Democracy in the News

The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is at the forefront of identifying manipulative and deceptive PR and propaganda. Here are a few examples of recent actions and appearances by the Center and its staff:

• In a March 21, 2005 letter to the Federal Communications Commission, CMD and the nonpartisan group Free Press asked for an investigation of government-funded video news releases and of "all broadcasters who distribute government-sponsored news reports without properly identifying the source."
• CMD executive director John Stauber was featured on National Public Radio's "On Point" on March 17, 2005, discussing government propaganda and TV "fake news."
• Stauber appeared on Pacifica Radio's "Democracy Now!" on March 14, 2005, in the segment "State Propaganda: How Government Agencies Produce Hundreds of Pre-Packaged TV Segments the Media Runs as News." "What this is, actually, is propaganda, because these are not news stories. They look like news stories, but they have a bias in favor of a political program or an ideology or a product. And the networks and stations that air these, and we're talking about thousands of these produced a year, are engaging simply in plagiarism and fraud ... saying this is news when it's not news," Stauber told host Amy Goodman.
• PR Watch editor Laura Miller was a guest on Air America Radio's "Al Franken Show," March 11, 2005, discussing the PR campaign behind Social Security privatization and SourceWatch's role in tracking it.
• CMD research director Sheldon Rampton was interviewed by the New York Times' Timothy L. O'Brien for his February 13, 2005 article "Spinning Frenzy: P.R.'s Bad Press." "The Armstrong Williams scandal is an example of the close coordination between the advertiser and the commentator," Rampton told the Times. "In terms of journalistic traditions, that violates disclosure and conflicts-of-interest principles."
• Stauber was interviewed about mad cow disease on CNN's "American Morning" on January 3, 2005. "I hope the United States rethinks its [mad cow] policy. But the biggest problem we have is that we still haven't done here in the United States what we need to do to stop the spread of mad cow disease. We're still, for instance, feeding cattle blood to calves and we know blood can spread mad cow disease," Stauber said.