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==Franklin Center "at the Forefront of an Effort to Blur the Distinction Between Statehouse Reporting and Political Advocacy"==
"For the most part, the people in charge of these would-be watchdog operations are political hacks out to subvert journalism in their quest to grab and keep power using whatever means they have to do so. . . . At the forefront of an effort to blur the distinction between statehouse reporting and political advocacy is the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity," former ''Reuters'' chief White House correspondent Gene Gibbons wrote in the ''Nieman Reports'' publication of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. He interviewed Franklin Center Executive Director Jason Stverak in March 2010, and Stverak said Franklin sites should be held to the same standard as any news publication -- judged "based upon the content that they produce." But, Gibbons writes, "four months later the Franklin Center cosponsored and played an active role in a two-day conference organized by the [[Americans for Prosperity Foundation]]. The Right Online Agenda conference included such breakout sessions as 'Intro to Online Activism' and 'Killing the Death Tax” and featured speakers such as conservative U.S. Representative [[Michele Bachmann]] of Minnesota and Tea Party activist [[Sharron Angle]], a Republican who was then running against [[Harry Reid]] in the election for U.S. Senate in Nevada. No Democratic legislators were included in the program. The finale of the Las Vegas conference was a November is Coming Rally."<ref name="GibbonsNieman">Gene Gibbons, [http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/102509/Statehouse-Beat-Woes-Portend-Bad-News-for-Good-Government.aspx Statehouse Beat Woes Portend Bad News for Good Government], ''Nieman Report'', Winter 2010.</ref>
==Accusations of Inaccuracy & 'Manufactured News'==