All the News That Fits Our Agenda

The Madison County Record, a new Illinois weekly newspaper, reports on "the filing of seemingly frivolous class action and other lawsuits" against businesses. The paper does not disclose that "the U.S. Chamber of Commerce created the Record as a weapon in its multimillion-dollar campaign against lawyers who file those kinds of suits." The local publisher said he decided against transparency because "I was afraid we'd be prejudged." The Chamber "plans to launch similar newspapers in counties that the pro-business lobby considers to be problems, particularly in West Virginia." Other examples of "advocacy media" include NRANews, from the National Rifle Association, and websites run by Capitol Advantage and Issue Dynamics.