Submitted by Bob Burton on
The President of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Steve Roberts, wants West Virginia's Senators Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller to "withhold voting to advance national health care reform until the Obama Administration, particularly the U.S.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
The Philadelphia Inquirer is the latest news outlet to fail to disclose the fact that Patrick Moore, a former Greenpeace activist turned PR consultant, is on the nuclear industry payroll.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
While the U.S. economy continues to reel from the fallout from the global financial crisis, there's a boom on in the gas industry wanting access to Appalachian areas underlain by the Marcellus Shale deposits. The gas-industry boom has environmentalists and many residents worried about the environmental impacts.
TPM Muckraker has exposed the fact that Newsweek is teaming up with the American Petroleum Institute (API) to host a "briefing" for Members of Congress on climate and energy policy.
Submitted by Anne Landman on
The House Global Warming Committee conducted a hearing to investigate the astroturf lobbying firm Bonner and Associates, which las
Submitted by Bob Burton on
With opposition mounting to the proposed US$3.2 billion HidroAysen hydropower scheme in southern Chile’s Patagonia, the project proponents have launched a "multi-million dollar public relations campaign to sell their project to Chile." The HidroAysen project, which involves five major dams, is being proposed by a consortium of the Chilean utility ColbUn and the and Italian-owned electricity utility Endesa.
Fake "grassroots" groups have started springing up like toadstools after a rain, and this time they're coming at us from every angle: they're on TV, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube: "Americans for Prosperity," "FACES of Coal, "The "Coalition to Protect Patients' Rights," "Americans Against Food Taxes," the "60 Plus Association," "Citizens for Better Medicare," "Patients First" ... It's making our heads spin! Issues affecting some of the country's biggest industries, like health insurance reform, a proposal to tax sodas and sugary drinks, and the FDA's possible reconsideration of the plastic additive Bisphenol A, have boosted corporate astroturfing up to a dizzying pace. With all these corporate fronts coming out of the woodwork, how can citizens tell true grassroots organizations from corporate fronts operated by highly-paid PR and lobbying firms? Here are some tips to help readers spot this kind of big-business hanky-panky.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Weber Shandwick UK counts among its clients Viking Energy, a company "seeking to build a 153-turbine wind farm in the Shetlands." But the PR firm's chair of public affairs, Jonathan McLeod, recently launched an anti-wind power campaign, using his Weber Shandwick email address.
Submitted by Bob Burton on
When Barack Obama announced new fuel efficiency standards for passenger vehicles, the Cato Institute, a Washington D.C. think tank, reacted angrily.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
There's a "crazy quilt of about 140 businesses and organizations that jumped into the climate change debate on Capitol Hill in the first quarter of this year," reports Marianne Lavelle.
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