Welcome to SourceWatch, a collaborative project of the Center for Media and Democracy to produce a directory of the people, organizations and issues shaping the public agenda. A primary purpose of SourceWatch is documenting the PR and propaganda activities of public relations firms and public relations professionals engaged in managing and manipulating public perception, opinion and policy. SourceWatch also includes profiles on think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts that work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations, governments and special interests. Over time, SourceWatch has broadened to include others involved in public debates including media outlets, journalists and government agencies. Unlike some other wikis, SourceWatch has a policy of strict referencing, and is overseen by a paid editor.

In The News MoveOn -- End This War or Manage This War '?: Author and activist Norman Solomon editorializes that "Nancy Pelosi is speaker of the House, and Harry Reid is majority leader of the Senate. But neither speaks for, much less leads, the antiwar movement that we need. ... A historic tragedy is that the most hefty progressive organization, MoveOn, seems to have wrapped itself around the political sensibilities of Reid, Pelosi and others at the top of Capitol Hill leadership." Medical Journal In Double Bubble with Apparent Beverage Industry Conflict: In its current issue, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition acknowledges that a review of soft drinks and obesity (which challenges links between the one and the other) was funded by the American Beverage Association. But the journal excludes information that one of the authors personally and professionally has close ties to the beverage industry. Yet Another Fake News Epidemic: As a result of "hospitals' desperate need to compete for lucrative lines of business" and "TV's hunger for cheap and easy stories," healthcare companies are increasingly getting into the (fake) news business. Sometimes "the hospitals pay for airtime"; sometimes "they don't but still provide expertise and story ideas" -- or prepackaged video news releases. "Viewers who think they are getting news are really getting a form of advertising," reports Trudy Lieberman. "Public Intellectuals" Don't Come Cheap: After billionaire insurance mogul Maurice "Hank" Greenberg was charged with fraud and insurance and securities violations, he hired the eSapience PR firm — whose executives include the dean of MIT's Sloan School of Management — to buff up his image. Now eSapience is suing Greenberg for unpaid bills. The lawsuit states that eSapience executives "set up a new think tank, the Barbon Institute, specifically to provide a credible-sounding new platform for Greenberg" to give an "image-rehabilitating speech." Destroying Journalism in Order to Save It: While fleeing an ambush in Afghanistan, U.S. soldiers reportedly opened fire on civilian cars and pedestrians and then destroyed photos and video taken at the scene by freelance journalists. Destroying the evidence was necessary, a military official explained later, to protect "investigative integrity" because photos or video taken by "untrained people" might "capture visual details that are not as they originally were." Latest Version of Pay for Play: Bucks for Blogs: Beware the blog that gushes about a product, movie, or anything you might consider purchasing. There's a chance that the blogger is on the payroll of "new marketing middlemen such as PayPerPost Inc. that connect advertisers with mom-and-pop webmasters." PayPerPost alone pays 15,500 bloggers for inserting their clients into blog postings. Winning Hearts, Minds and Arabic Blogs: The Washington Times reports on the U.S. State Department's "digital outreach team," mentioned in a recent interview by Karen Hughes, the Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. "We want to make sure that U.S. views are present in the Arabic cyberspace," said the State Department's Jeremy Curtin. "The first step of success is to be there and have people respond. ... The second step is to engage in a conversation. We try to adopt an informal tone, and we are careful what we say." Looking For Somewhere To Start? If you are unsure where to start, you could expand some of the recently created but currently very brief articles. (If you look at the recent changes page you will see some noted as being 'stubs' - articles that may just be a line or two and needing to be fleshed out). So if you would like to add to some of those you would be most welcome. Or if you would like some other suggestions closer to your interests you could drop SourceWatch editor, Bob Burton an email. His address is bob AT sourcewatch.org Recent Blogs On the Center for Media and Democracy's Sites The Center for Media and Democracy's (CMD's) Research Analyst, Jonathan Rosenblum, has delved into areport on the effectiveness of front groups. See "Tracking The Front Group "Boomerang" (March 14). CMD's Senior Researcher Diane Farsetta has posted a blog on "Moore Spin: Or, How Reporters Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Nuclear Front Groups" (March 12) Associate editor of Congresspedia, Elliott Fullmer has posted a blog on on Help Solve the Mystery - Who Were the Fired U.S. Attorneys Pushed Aside For? (March 7); Conor Kenny reports on Congresspedia and Sunlight at the Conservative Political Action Conference (March 3); Center for Media and Democracy's Associate Director Judith Siers-Poisson writes on "Appetite for Profit: An Interview with Michele Simon" (Feb 28);

Popular Articles Over The Last Week North Korean propaganda poster The ebb and flow of political debate is reflected in the traffic to SourceWatch pages. In the last week the articles on propaganda and propaganda techniques are both up in the top 10. There has also been strong demand for information on specific propaganda techniques such as product placement, video news releases, greenwashing and corporate social responsibility. The focus of U.S. politics has shifted somewhat away from individual politicians and towards scandals. Topping the list was the conviction of I. Lewis Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. With over 2,000 pageviews over the last week, the article on Valerie Plame, the Central Intelligence Agency agent whose role with the spy agency was leaked to the media, came in at number four. Nearly 900 readers have stopped by the article on the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal, which has been compiled by SourceWatch editor, Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI has also compiled a comprehensive set of links to articles on the scandal at Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal/External Links. On the Congressional front, the article on Barack Obama, a contender for the Democratic Party's nomination for the 2008 Presidential campaign, is still up amongst the top ten. Other popular articles on U.S. politics have been those on Nancy Pelosi, the 110th Congress, Hillary Clinton, and Republican candidate for the Presidency, John McCain. After quite a while with little traffic, over 500 readers have gone to the profile on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the anti-Kerry group that had a major impact on his run in the 2004 Presidential election. Interest in the topic of global warming remains strong, and in particular the profiles on the climate change skeptics. In the last week some of the most sought after articles have been on sceptics such as Patrick J. Michaels, Richard S. Lindzen, Tim Ball, S. Fred Singer and the small band of Australian sceptics involved in the Lavoisier Group. Articles on private military corporations, such as Blackwater USA, and the military-industrial complex, were up amongst the 50 most popular articles again. Over 1,000 readers went to the page on think tanks. The individual organization most sought out by readers was the American Enterprise Institute. On the PR front, the most sought after articles are those on public relations firms. The most popular profiles on major corporations were those on Wal-Mart Stores and McDonald's. What They're Saying About SourceWatch "As a journalist frequently on the receiving end of various PR campaigns, some of them based on disinformation, others front groups for undisclosed interests, [CMD's SourceWatch] is an invaluable resource." -- Michael Pollan author of The Botany of Desire "Thanks for all your help. There's no way I could have done my piece on big PR and global warming without the CMD [Center for Media and Democracy] and your fabulous websites." -- Zoe Cormier, journalist, Canada Getting Started To learn how you can edit any article right now, visit SourceWatch:About, SourceWatch:Welcome, newcomers, our Help page, Frequently Asked Questions, or experiment in the sandbox. SourceWatch Content Sourcewatch also includes specific case studies of deceptive PR campaigns, corporate PR campaigns, the activities of front groups, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts. We are also building profiles on public relations associations, specific criticisms of PR, common propaganda techniques, war propaganda and much, much more. Research and Writing Tips Article guidelines How to research front groups Resources for studying propaganda Research using the web Welcome to Congresspedia SourceWatch also hosts Congresspedia, a "citizen's encyclopedia of the U.S. Congress" and a joint project of the Center for Media and Democracy and the new Sunlight Foundation. This citizen journalism project includes more than a thousand articles, including one on every current and many former members of Congress. Read more about Congresspedia and join the effort to root out corruption and promote transparency by contributing information!

SourceWatch History

SourceWatch began as the "Disinfopedia" in February 2003. In January 2005 the name was changed to SourceWatch. Contributors are now working on 68,584 articles. In the last twelve months SourceWatch has served over 73 million pages to users.