Tech Central Station

Tech Central Station calls itself a web site "where free markets meet technology" and intersects with a range of affiliated think-tanks including International Policy Network(IPN), the Sustainable Development Network (SDN), the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and the Scientific Alliance.

History

Started in 2000 by James K. Glassman, TCS is published and funded by Republican lobbying firm DCI Group and its clients.

During the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, Kendra Okonski wrote an article for the TechCentralStation web site, stating that "Africans are sacrificed on the altar of trendy green delusions."

Okonski works as co-ordinator for the London-based IPN and as the press contact for the SDN. She formerly worked with the Washington-based Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). [1]

Paul Georgia writes on climate change issues, but gets basic physics wrong, indicating that either Tech Central Station's editors do not know basic science or that they do not review submitted pieces.

TechCentralStation also runs frequent articles attacking the use of low-cost generic medicines, especially in developing countries, falsely seeking to claim that "generic" necessarily means "unsafe", along with other articles boosting the views of the international pharmaceutical industry. This frequently involves fierce criticism of the World Health Organization, NGOs or anyone else who speaks up for public health.

Funding

• AT&T
• ExxonMobil
• General Motors Corporation
• Intel Corporation
• McDonald's
• Microsoft
• NASDAQ
• National Semiconductor
• PhRMA
• Qualcomm

Contact Information

Tech Central Station
P.O. Box 33705
Washington, DC 20033
Phone: 800-619-5258
Fax: 202-572-6278
web site: www.techcentralstation.com
email: info AT techcentralstation.com

Related SourceWatch Resources

• Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Republican Connection
• DCI Group
• Feather Larson & Synhorst DCI
• TSE Enterprises

External Links

• "Tech central station," Wikipedia
• Andy Rowell and Bob Burton, “Rising Rhetoric on Genetically Modified Crops", PR Watch, Volume 10 No 1, First quarter 2003.
• Nicholas Confessore, "Meet the Press: How James Glassman reinvented journalism--as lobbying", Washington Monthly, December 2003.
• Pamela Jones, "A MS FUD Source Confirmed", Groklaw, November 2003.
• Tim Lambert, "Tech Central Station flunks Physics," Deltoid, May 11, 2004.
• "EDITOR'S NOTE: Digging deeper into criticism of 'Super Size Me,'" St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 20, 2004: "Glassman was identified as a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (a well-known and respected conservative Washington think tank) and as host of a Web site called TechCentralStation.com, whose publicist distributed the piece to newspapers. What we did not know when we prepared the article for publication was that McDonald's is one of the 'sponsoring corporations' of TechCentralStation.com. A reader made us aware of that Tuesday afternoon. In a telephone interview, Glassman emphasized that the Web site openly acknowledges the sponsorship connections to McDonald's (along with AT&T, ExxonMobil Intel and others) on its 'About Us' page. 'We don't have anything to hide on that score,' he said. Glassman also said he had never been paid by or received any compensation from McDonald's and that writing about "Super Size Me" was not a conflict of interest. Reminded that TechCentralStation.com had failed to note the McDonald's sponsorship when it distributed Glassman's commentary about the movie and McDonald's, Glassman said, 'I'll make sure that's absolutely clear in the future'" [2]