Research Cited

As Tenn. Workers Gear Up for Another Union Campaign, Local Media Shows Anti-Union Bias

Source: In These Times | Published: 4/15/2019

A 2014 exposé on NRTWC and NRTWLDF by the Center for Media and Democracy, an award-winning investigative watchdog group, described the organizations as “a powerful instrument of the corporate and ideological interests that want to keep wages low and silence the voice of organized labor in the political arena.” The exposé details the enormous financial resources that are funneled to both organizations from billionaires, like the Koch brothers and the Walton family, through their dark money foundations and nonprofits.

FCC “Consumer Advisory” Panel Includes ALEC, Big Foe of Municipal Broadband

ALEC

Source: Ars Technica | Published: 4/12/2019

Sprint and T-Mobile had quit ALEC in 2012 and 2015, respectively, “leav[ing] Comcast, Charter Communications, CenturyLink, and Cox Communications as the last major telecom companies sticking with the corporate bill mill,” PR Watch reported in November 2018.

‘Virtually No Risk of Drilling Restrictions,’ West Virginia Official Tells Fracking-Reliant Petrochemical Industry

Environment, Koch

Source: DeSmog | Published: 4/12/2019

“We have earned an A from the Cato Institute in fiscal policies,” he told representatives from fossil fuel and petrochemical companies, referring to a libertarian think tank that Sourcewatch describes as “founded by Charles G. Koch and funded by the Koch brothers.”

McDonald’s Retreat on Fighting Wage Increases Shows the Tide Is Turning

Economy

Source: Truthout | Published: 4/12/2019

According to the corporate watchdog group, SourceWatch, the National Restaurant Association is a key lobbying group that has fought hard in recent years to block worker-friendly issues such as paid sick days and increases in the minimum wage.

3 Questions That ‘Created Havoc’ in Betsy DeVos’ Department of Education

Education

Source: Common Dreams | Published: 4/7/2019

During our investigations, we came across a previous report published by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) in 2015, during the Obama presidential administration, that found similarly disturbing results, where federal grants had gone to hundreds of charter schools that had basically taken the money and run.

How Billionaires and Big Pharma Battled Canada’s National Drug Plan

Koch

Source: The Tyee | Published: 4/4/2019

The Fraser Institute received $4.3 million in foreign funding over 10 years from billionaire U.S. donors, beginning in the early 2000s. More than half (approximately $2.7 million) of the total foreign funding came from the Eli Lilly and Co. Foundation, a charitable arm of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly. According to the U.S.-based Center for Media and Democracy — an organization that tracks corporations’ PR campaigns and identifies corporate front groups — between 1995 and 2014 the Fraser Institute received over $1 million from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, and $400,000 from the Searle Freedom Trust, a private foundation founded with wealth from G.D. Searle pharmaceuticals (now part of Pfizer, another pharma giant).

Mayor-Elect Satya Rhodes-Conway Hires Chief of Staff, Begins Administration Transition

Democracy, Wisconsin

Source: The Cap Times | Published: 4/3/2019

In a move away from how Soglin managed the mayor’s office, Rhodes-Conway announced she will bring on Mary Bottari as her chief of staff.

Bottari joined the Center for Media and Democracy in 2009 and serves on the advisory board of Good Jobs First, a national policy resource center in economic development and smart growth. Bottari previously worked in the Wisconsin Senate for Sen. Lynn Adelman and as press secretary for U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold.

Zirpoli: Coal Doomed by Economics of Clean Energy, Not Regulation

Environment

Source: Carroll County Times | Published: 4/3/2019

Jobs related to solar energy alone employ more people than the coal industry. According to SourceWatch, “There are approximately 174,000 blue-collar, full-time, permanent jobs related to coal in the U.S.: mining (83,000), transportation (31,000), and power plant employment (60,000).” Bloomberg Business reports that “solar energy accounted for more than twice as many jobs, about 350,000 workers.” Wind energy, they found, accounted for just over 100,000 jobs. And while coal jobs are disappearing, the number of clean energy jobs is rapidly increasing.

Success! Beagles in Fungicide Study Released to Michigan Humane Society

Democracy, Environment

Source: Care2.com | Published: 4/1/2019

If that had been the case, the beagles might have ended up in another laboratory. NAIA is “a front group and industry-funded lobbying organization” for “animal agribusiness, commercial breeding, hunting, fishing, trapping, fur ranching, animal testing, and animals in entertainment,” says SourceWatch, a website run by the national watchdog group, Center for Media and Democracy.

Amid Scandal and Federal Investigations, Nashville, Tennessee Charter School Closes in the Middle of the School Year

Education

Source: World Socialist Web Site | Published: 3/21/2019

The closure of New Vision is by no means a fluke. A 2015 report by the liberal watchdog group The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) concluded that approximately 2,500 charter schools shut down across the US between 2001 and 2013, affecting 288,000 students, and noted that “the failure rate for charter schools is much higher than for traditional public schools.” As well, the report points out that school closures leave a lasting impact on students’ success rates and can contribute to higher rates of youth incarceration.