Center for Media and Democracy

is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization founded by author and activist John Stauber in 1993. CMD's other program staff in May, 2007, included Sheldon Rampton, Judith Siers-Poisson, Diane Farsetta, Bob Burton, Anne Landman, Patricia Barden, and Conor Kenny. CMD strengthens participatory democracy by investigating and exposing public relations spin and propaganda, and by promoting media literacy and citizen journalism, media "of, by and for the people." CMD's programs include PR Watch, a bimonthly print publication; six books by CMD staff; Spin of the Day; the Weekly Spin listserv; and, Congresspedia and SourceWatch, part of CMD's wiki-based investigative journalism collaborative to which anyone can contribute content.

The Center for Media and Democracy serves social change activists, journalists, researchers, policymakers and the public at large in the following ways:

• Countering propaganda by investigating and reporting on behind-the-scenes public relations campaigns by corporations, industries, governments and other powerful institutions.
  
• Informing and assisting grassroots citizen activism that promotes public health, economic justice, ecological sustainability and human rights.
  
• Promoting media literacy to help the public recognize the forces shaping the information they receive about issues that affect their lives.
  
• Sponsoring "open content" media that enable citizens from all walks of life to "be the media" and to participate in creating media content.
  

Projects

Toward these ends, the Center sponsors the following projects:

PR Watch, which investigates and exposes how the public relations industry and other professional propagandists manipulate public information, perceptions and opinion on behalf of governments and special interests.

Spin of the Day, which offers web-based daily reporting on public relations, propaganda and media spin.

SourceWatch, an Internet-based "open content" encyclopedia of people, groups and issues shaping the public agenda. "Congresspedia" is a section of SourceWatch that reports on every member of the U.S. Congress and Senate.

Resource Center, through our staffed office which answers inquiries from journalists and other members of the public seeking to understand the forces and influences behind current issues.

Publications

Publications including articles and the following books by CMD staff:

Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry (1995)

Mad Cow USA, which documents the PR coverup of human and animal health risks from mad cow disease (1997)

Trust Us We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future (2001)

Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq (2003)

Banana Republicans: How the Right Wing is Turning America Into a One-Party State (2004)

The Best War Ever: Lies, Damned Lies and the Mess in Iraq (2006)

Public education campaigns, including public speaking and activities such as CMD`s work to raise awareness about the PR coverup by government and industry of problems related to mad cow disease. Other campaigns include Stop Fake News, exposing the extent to which US TV media use corporate and government supplied reports as news; and, Defend The Press, a coalition fighting government intimidation of journalists reporting on the war in Iraq.


CMD Network:

John Stauber