Research Cited

Laughing Liberally Milwaukee to Hold October Show

Source: Wisconsin Gazette | Published: 10/17/2017

In addition to Milwaukee progressive comedians, each Laughing Liberally Milwaukee features a special interview with a local activist, journalist, or political figure. October’s guest is Lisa Graves, executive director at the Center for Media and Democracy, a nationally-recognized watchdog group that leads in-depth investigations into the corruption that undermines our democracy, environment, and economic prosperity.

Corporate Corruption Profits the President

ALEC

Source: NJ Today | Published: 10/16/2017

In July 2011, The Nation published a series of articles produced in collaboration with the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) that showcased some of the ALEC model bills and described ties to the Koch family, and CMD launched a website “ALEC Exposed” that documented more than 800 of ALEC model bills, the legislators and corporations that had helped to draft them, and the states that enacted them.

Coal Boss Takes Climate Change Denial to the Extreme

Climate, Environment

Source: InsideClimate News | Published: 10/11/2017

Murray has worked assiduously for years to head off federal climate regulation. In fact, emails obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy showed that Murray conferred with then-Oklahoma Attorney General Pruitt in 2015 after the Obama EPA announced its plans for reducing carbon emissions from the electric power sector. Inhofe acted as a go-between, arranging a phone meeting between the two.

Where Are They Now?: Former Sask. Reporter Never Afraid to Stand up to Big Chemical Corporations

Environment

Source: Regina Leader-Post | Published: 10/10/2017

The volume of paper documents — some 200,000 — was an obvious deterrent. So too was the scanning technology over the years. But von Stackelberg always kept his eye on that changing technology and eventually they decided the time was right. Partnering with the Center for Media and Democracy and the Bioscience Resource Project, von Stackelberg and van Strum digitized the thousands of pages of documents and put them online as The Poison Papers.

‘Ethical Bordellos:’ Op-Eds Don’t Always Disclose Big Pharma Conflicts of Interest

Democracy

Source: Health News Review | Published: 10/9/2017

Editors might believe the op-ed label relieves them of responsibility. “They can post (submissions) with very little scrutiny as an op-ed,” said Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, a corporate watchdog group. “It’s happened with a lot of papers. It’s a nod to the blog world.”

How PR Firms Created “Dialogue” Structure Used by Cancer Groups and Tobacco Clients

Democracy

Source: The Cancer Letter | Published: 10/6/2017

One of the publications I followed at the time was PR Watch. It was a quarterly that was exactly what its name suggests. In 2002, I stumbled across a story that filled in the gaps in my understanding of the dialogue schema used by PR firms. The piece was written by two guys I don’t know: Bob Burton and Andy Rowell.

Gorsuch Set to Speak to Organization with Alleged Ties to Islamophobia

Koch, SPN

Source: LawNewz | Published: 9/28/2017

[The Fund for American Studies] is a far-right organization with ties to myriad conservative academic fronts, legal institutions and ideological welfare organizations. TFAS is directly tied to the State Policy Network (SPN) group of think tanks and tax-exempt entities, according to The Center for Media and Democracy. SPN itself is funded by various multinational corporations including Facebook, Walmart and has their ground operation almost entirely paid for by the Koch Brothers’ Americans for Prosperity.

Scott Pruitt Dings Taxpayers for a $25,000 Cone of Silence So He Can Keep His Phone Calls Secret

Democracy, Environment

Source: Daily Kos | Published: 9/26/2017

In a change from longstanding practice, he doesn’t post his appointment schedules. And, after scrutiny of his emails as attorney general of Oklahoma were pried loose by The New York Times and a lawsuit from the Center for Media and Democracy—exposing his close ties to energy companies in his efforts to smash regulations affecting them—Pruitt avoids email exchanges with EPA staffers, preferring face-to-face meetings and verbal instructions. Plausible deniability enabled.

EPA Spending Almost $25,000 to Install a Secure Phone Booth for Scott Pruitt

Democracy, Environment

Source: The Washington Post | Published: 9/26/2017

Thousands more pages of emails from his time as Oklahoma’s attorney general, released earlier this year after the Center for Media and Democracy sued for them to be made public, detailed an often-chummy relationship between Pruitt’s office and Devon Energy, a major oil and gas exploration and production company based in Oklahoma City.

State AG, Press Association Team Up for Open Records/Open Meetings Seminars

Democracy, Environment

Source: Red Dirt Report | Published: 9/25/2017

The meetings were last hosted in 2014 and drew more than 600 attendees from state and local offices, school boards, public officials and residents. Hunter’s renewal of the meetings comes on the heels of his predecessor Scott Pruitt, now head of the Environmental Protection Agency, who was often the subject of open records requests himself. In fact, prior to being sworn in as President Donald Trump’s pick to head the agency, the Center for Media and Democracy filed nine open records requests with the AG’s office beginning in January 2015.