Citizen Journalism

Featured Participatory Project: ID the Candidates Supporting the "Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq"

Submitted by Avelino Maestas on

On March 27, a coalition of Democratic House candidates and military experts unveiled the "Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq." As one of the more solid commitments to end the war, it has generated a lot of buzz lately as more than 50 candidates have endorsed it. With the Iraq War as the foremost issue this season, an endorsement of the plan is a critical piece of information about a U.S. congressional candidate, so we need your help to add it to the profiles of candidates that make up Congresspedia's Wiki-the-Vote project.

Yes
Main Source: 
Congresspedia, May 27, 2008
Topics: 
Citizen Journalism
Iraq
Election 2008

Featured Participatory Project: Outing Front Groups

Submitted by Bob Burton on

Citizen journalism logoOften readers and citizen journalists will come across a name of a group that seems a little at odds with the policy message they are promoting. Some of these names were added to the SourceWatch page on front groups with the intention of returning to create an article on that at a later date.

Yes
Main Source: 
Sourcewatch, April 16, 2008
Topics: 
Citizen Journalism
Astroturf
Internet
Front Groups

The Legion of Lobbyists Behind a "Consumer" Group

Consumers for World Trade (CWT), which describes itself as being a "network of consumers," is enthusiastic about everything from the right of the U.S. President to negotiate free trade agreements, slashing import duties and quotas on items such as footwear and apparel and opposing mandatory country-of-origin labeling. You'd be right in thinking this doesn't sound like a normal consumer group, but exactly who they are is not immediately obvious. A little digging though, reveals that CWT is just another front group trying to wrap a self-serving corporate message in a public interest name.

New Participatory Project: Maximum Weirdness: Tobacco Industry Brainstorming Documents

Submitted by Anne Landman on

brainstormA rock cocaine cigarette filter? A cigarette that delivers birth control and sexual stimulant drugs to the smoker at the same time? A geriatric brand? All of these are actual ideas for new products and promotions that were recorded at cigarette company "brainstorming" meetings.

Yes
Main Source: 
Tobaccowiki.org, April 7, 2008
Topics: 
Citizen Journalism
Advertising
Internet
Ethics
Health
Marketing
Pharmaceuticals
Science
Secrecy
Tobacco

Featured Participatory Project: Help Find the Superdelegates Whose Endorsement is "Wobbling"

Submitted by Conor Kenny on

The Superdelegate Transparency Project on Congresspedia is picking up steam as it looks more and more likely that the superdelegates will decide the Democratic presidential nominee. Our citizen journalist-generated list of superdelegates is being covered by everyone from the New York Times to CNN (video link).

But as the pressure on them picks up, many superdelegates are switching sides or hedging their bets. We need your help to figure out who these "wobbling" superdelegates are.

Yes
Main Source: 
Superdelegate Transparency Project on Congresspedia
Topics: 
Citizen Journalism
Superdelegates 2008
Election 2008
Democracy
Politics

New Participatory Project: Help Us Tidy Up the TobaccoWiki "People" Database

Submitted by Anne Landman on

broomWe can use your help cleaning up Tobaccowiki's database of people involved with the tobacco industry. Many of the descriptions in the database are currently in fragmented sentences. For example, the entry for Mike Malik says, "(Manager, Direct Communications, Philip Morris c.

Yes
Main Source: 
Tobaccowiki.org, March 19, 2008
Topics: 
Citizen Journalism
Tobacco

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