Statistical Assessment Service

This article is part of the Center for Media & Democracy's spotlight on front groups and corporate spin.

The Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) is a stealth PR operation of the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA). Since it shares the offices (in the pricey "K Street" lobbying district of Washington) and staff of CMPA, it should be considered as a front, rather than a subsidiary or spin-off. STATS poses as a disinterested, non-partisan guardian of scientific and statistical integrity in order to plant stories with unsuspecting, credulous (or colluding) media outlets. It has been surpisingly successful in this imposture, with many persons and organisations citing STATS (especially, its web site stats.org), for example [1] and [2], as an authoritative or useful resource. STATS Senior Fellow Maia Szalavitz has written for the liberal publication The American Prospect.

STATS seems to have become less active in recent months, but this may be temporary. The Web site lists updates as late as November 2007 and the blog is current to 2008.

Early in its history, STATS concealed its affiliation with CMPA, but now discreetly mentions it. The site did not list funding sources as of 2008.

In 2004, STATS became officially affiliated with George Mason University. [3]

Areas of Interest

The STATS website lists the following as areas in which they have preformed "in-depth analysis"[4]:

• General
  • "College Ranking Mania: The Washington Monthly’s Bizarre Best College List" August, 2006
• Health
  • "What Science Really Says About the Benefits of Breast-Feeding (and what the New York Times didn’t tell you)", June 20, 2006
  • "Toy Tantrums - The Debate Over the Safety of Phthalates", January 30, 2006
  • "Teflon Is Not Forever: Why the Editors of Mother Jones Need To Be Hit Over the Head with a Frying Pan", May 2, 2007
  • "Will a Few Extra Pounds Lead to a Longer Life?", May 24, 2005
• Public Policy
  • "Dueling Numbers on Asbestos Claims", November 10, 2005
• Drugs
  • "The New York Times' Other WMD Problem", August 6, 2004

Staff

Their Staff is listed as follows as of January 2008[5]:

• S. Robert Lichter, President
• Rebecca Goldin, Director of Research
• Maia Szalavitz, Senior Fellow
• Trevor Butterworth, Editor

Staff as of Oct 2003:

• S. Robert Lichter, President
• Linda Lichter, Vice President
• Maia Szalavitz, STATS Senior Fellow
• Trevor Butterworth, STATS Managing Editor, Research Fellow at CMPA

Advisory Board

Their Advisory Board is listed as follows as of January 2008[6]:

• Sallie Baliunas, Senior Scientist, George Marshall Institute and Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Thomas C. Childers, Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania
• Wolfgang Donsbach, President, World Association of Opinion Research
• Nicholas Eberstadt, Fellow, Center for Population Studies, Harvard University
• Neil Gilbert, Professor of Social Welfare, University of California Berkeley
• Scott O. Lilienfeld, Professor of Psychology, Emory University
• Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, President, Allensbach Institut fur Demoskopie
• Nelson Polsby, Director, Institute of Government Studies, University of California Berkeley
• Harrison Pope, Director, Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, Harvard Medical School
• Stephen Strauss, Toronto Globe and Mail
• Humphrey Taylor, CEO & President, Louis Harris and Associates
• James Q. Wilson, Professor of Political Science, UCLA

Advisory Board as of Oct 2003:

• Sallie L. Baliunas
• Thomas C. Childers
• Wolfgang Donsbach
• Nicholas Eberstadt
• Neil Gilbert
• Scott O. Lilienfeld
• Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann
• Nelson Polsby
• Harrison Pope
• Stephen Strauss
• Humphrey Taylor
• James Q. Wilson

Contact

Center for Media and Public Affairs
and Statistical Assessment Service
2100 L St NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20037
STATS line (202) 223 3193
CMPA line (202) 223 2942
fax (202) 872 4014

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External Links

• [stats.org], STATS web site
• [cmpa.com], CMPA web site