CMD in the News

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The Center for Media and Democracy is at the forefront of identifying manipulative PR and propaganda. Here are just a few examples of recent media appearances of the Center and its staff:

• CMD senior researcher Diane Farsetta appeared on Air America Radio’s “The Al Franken Show.” In the January 24, 2006 interview with Franken, Farsetta discussed the Falsies Awards and the U.S. government’s spinning of the Iraq war.

• Andrew McIntosh reported on a new front group in his January 31, 2006 article “Botox maker’s lobbying assailed: ‘Grass-roots’ group fighting planned tax is company-created” for the Sacramento Bee. PR Watch editor Laura Miller said of Botox’s campaign, “They call it grass-roots. We call it Astroturf. . . . It distorts public debate and . . . the democratic process.”

• Doug Ireland writes in his February 13, 2006 article “GAO report: Bush Spends Billions on domestic propaganda” for his blog Direland, “If you haven’t seen today’s New York Times, there’s a screaming full-page anti-union ad, that ballyhoos a new anti-labor propaganda group called ‘Center for Union Facts.’ But the ad doesn’t say who’s really behind it. Well, our good friends at PR Watch, as usual, have the goods on this pro-business, union-busting scam. ‘Nothing in the advertisement or the webpage mentions Rick Berman, but—Bingo!—that’s who owns the website domain name,’ P.R. Watch reports.” Berman is behind several corporate-funded front groups and websites that take aim at environmental, public health and union activists, including Center for Consumer Freedom and ActivistCash.com.