Center for Media and Democracy

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The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a nonprofit American-based media research group founded in 1993 by environmentalist writer and political activist John Stauber. It publishes PR Watch, a quarterly newsletter edited by Laura A. Miller. Stauber and CMD research director Sheldon Rampton have written five books describing what they call the murky world of public relations. Another CMD project is the SourceWatch website (formerly called Disinfopedia), a Wiki, which CMD describes as "a collaborative project to produce a directory of public relations firms, 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."

1 Political affiliations
2 Funding
3 Criticism
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Political affiliations

CMD has stated that it is not affiliated with a political party, but that it does not pretend to lack opinions or a point of view. It states its opposition to "the barriers and distortions of the modern information environment that stem from government- or corporate-dominated, hierarchical media." In contrast, it favors "grassroots citizen activism that promotes public health, economic justice, ecological sustainability and human rights."

The Capital Research Center, a conservative organization, which rates the ideological leanings of American non-profits on a 1-8 scale it describes as "1=Radical Left and 8=Free Market Right", gives the Center for Media and Democracy a ranking of "2", near the left end of its scale. ^[1]

[edit] Funding

According to its federal income tax returns, the CMD spent $351,109 on programs in 2005. It reports having received $533,779 of income in 2004.^{[citation needed]}

The CMD states that it "...does NOT accept corporate, labor union or government grants." ^[2]

CMD financial supporters reported on their website are (bold indicates current supporters as of June 2008): American Legacy Foundation Bauman Family Foundation, Careth Foundation, Carolyn Foundation, Changing Horizons Charitable Trust, CS Fund, Deer Creek Foundation, Educational Foundation of America, Ettinger Foundation, Foundation for Deep Ecology, Funding Exchange, Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund, Grodzins Fund, HKH Foundation, Litowitz Foundation, Marisla Foundation, Mostyn Foundation, Park Foundation, Proteus Fund, Rockefeller Associates, Rockefeller Family Foundation, Rockwood Fund, Stern Family Fund, Schumann Center for Media and Democracy, Sunlight Foundation, Threshold Foundation, Tides Foundation, Town Creek Foundation, Turner Foundation, Wallace Global Fund and Winslow Foundation. ^[2]

[edit] Criticism

ActivistCash.com, an internet site operated by a group called the Center for Consumer Freedom – which the CMD describes as "a front group for the restaurant, alcohol and tobacco industries"[1] – describes the Center for Media and Democracy, the sponsor of SourceWatch, as "a counterculture public relations effort disguised as an independent media organization... it is essentially a two-person operation" run by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber.^[3]