Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
At the "Utah Energy Summit," Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer called for more federal money to develop "clean coal" as an alternative to petroleum and a solution to global warming.
Submitted by John Stauber on
PR maven Rick Berman, the right-wing lobbyist who has made a lucrative career of starting and managing industry-funded front groups such as Center for Consumer Freedom and ActivistCash.com, gets a CBS 60 Minutes work-up this weekend.
Submitted by Judith Siers-Poisson on
After withdrawing his nomination in the face of Congressional opposition, President Bush has used a recess appointment to make Sam Fox U.S. Ambassador to Belgium.
Submitted by Elliott Fullmer on
The CATO Institute, a Washington D.C. think tank known for its libertarian bent, last week called for eliminating disclosure requirements for those who contribute funds in support or opposition of ballot measures (referendums).
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Submitted by Bob Burton on
Two former food industry websites -- Best Food Nation and the Grow America Project -- are being merged and re-birthed as a new front group, the Center for Food Integrity (CFI).
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
PR Week gave its "Public Affairs Campaign of the Year 2007" award to the Porter Novelli firm and the Abundant Forests Alliance, a front group for the "wood and paper products industry." The campaign was launched in response to "environmental activist" efforts to "change the foresting industry's procurement practices." The campaign's goal was to convince
"We just find it maddening that Hill & Knowlton, which has an $8 million account with the nuclear industry, should have such an easy time working the press," concluded the Columbia Journalism Review in an editorial in its July / August 2006 issue.
Corporate front groups can cause a "boomerang effect" to their sponsors, damaging the reputations of companies like ExxonMobil, Merck, and PepsiCo, when the sponsor's role in misrepresenting issues is widely revealed.
In December 2006, I interviewed author Michele Simon about her book, "Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines our Health and How to Fight Back." The excerpts below are from that original interview, which took place on WORT, community radio in Madison, Wisconsin. For more information on Michele and her work, please visit her website.
Judith Siers-Poisson (JSP): How did you personally become so involved and interested in food politics?
Michele Simon (MS): It started about 10 years ago when I was struggling with my own weight and turned to a vegetarian diet and, lo and behold, I lost the weight I was struggling with. And then, from there, I started to learn all of the other ways our diet impacts our own health, in addition to the environment, animal welfare, and labor, and so many aspects of society -- I was just amazed at how much was impacted by those food choices.
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