re: #625 Big Steve

I have actually found the Heritage Foundation (or at least their website) to be…yes very conservative, but not one of the frothing at the mouth type of think tanks. They were well regarded in the Reagan years. Also Source Watch is not exactly non-biased being they are the work of the Center for Media and Democracy, and at least the last time I looked, headed by Sheldon Rampton who is clearly an environmental crusader. Even so when I look at Source Watch’s list of Michael’s corporate sponsors there are a number of very reputable firms on the list but to be honest I know more about the Oil industry than coal.

Heritage Foundation shilled for the tobacco industry and is currently shilling for big insurance companies against health reform. SourceWatch is nonpartisan, and the best site I know of to track these things. They are a project of the CMD:

The Center for Media and Democracy was founded by John Stauber in 1993 as an independent, non-profit, non-partisan, public interest organization. CMD’s mission is to promote transparency and an informed debate by exposing corporate spin and government propaganda and by engaging the public in collaborative, fair and accurate reporting.

To view the Center for Media and Democracy’s most recent Annual Report, click here. (PDF download)

To see what journalists say about CMD, including the late Molly Ivins, Bill Moyers, Eric Schlosser, Amy Goodman and others, click here.

The Center for Media and Democracy is run by a Board of Directors whose current members are Deborah Bey, Ellen Braune, Joseph Mendelson, David Merritt, Jan Miyasaki, John Stauber, Inger Stole, and executive director Lisa Graves (in a non-voting capacity). The Center serves journalists, researchers, policymakers and citizens at large in the following ways:

* Countering propaganda by investigating and reporting on behind-the-scenes public relations campaigns by corporations, industries, governments and other powerful institutions.
* Informing and assisting grassroots citizen activism that promotes public health, economic justice, ecological sustainability and human rights.
* Promoting media literacy to help the public recognize the forces shaping the information they receive about issues that affect their lives.
* Sponsoring “open content” media that enable citizens from all walks of life to “be the media” and to participate in creating media content.

SourceWatch is an excellent resource and highly reputable. Heritage Foundation is neither.