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Center for Media and Democracy

Celebrating a decade-long fight to purge propaganda from journalism

by Laura Salinger

Over a decade ago, John Stauber had a vision of creating an alternative media outlet which would reveal how the public relations industry manipulates public information on the behalf of the government and special interests. He called the quarterly "PR Watch" and launched the first edition in 1993.

Beginning as a small effort to challenge traditional media information, "PR Watch" grew into what is now the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). Staffed by five people and seen as a invaluable local resource in alternative media, CMD works to counter propaganda, promote grassroots citizen activism, and sponsor "open content" media which allows all people to take control of media content.

"The center was formed 10 years ago and the basic mission is to do investigative journalism into deceptive public relations and propaganda campaigns," CMD senior researcher Diane Farsetta said.

CMD recently celebrated their decade-long fight to purge propaganda from journalism with a 10th anniversary celebration at the Barrymore Theatre on Madison’s near east side. Over 100 local activists and organization supporters showed up to laud the organization’s efforts to speak the truth. Although the mood was one of celebration with food and drinks circulating the room, the messages were serious.

The celebration featured a fitting keynote speaker who is one of the nation’s leaders in independent media— award-winning journalist and Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman. Democracy Now! is a national news program broadcast on over 225 stations in North America which provides alternative perspectives to those found on U.S. corporate-sponsored media. Goodman praised CMD for its outstanding work in investigative journalism.

"PR Watch is essential reading," Goodman said. "You have a national treasure right here in Madison."

Goodman criticized mainstream media for their role in the war on Iraq, saying that in many cases it acted as a "conveyor belt for the lies of an administration." She urged audience members to sift through the myths created by multi-million dollar public-relations campaigns and to seek out the stories of the people.

"We so need to hear the truth these days," Goodman said. "If only we could hear from families in Iraq. We’ve got to hear the people speaking for themselves."

Stauber, an investigative journalist and CMD’s executive director, warned the audience of propaganda circulating in the media.

"We report on the darkside of the propaganda industry," Stauber said. "We are all brought up taught that there is no propaganda in countries like ours. In reality, we are the most propagandized country in the world."

Stauber has co-authored five books with CMD research director Sheldon Rampton in an effort to expose how the media is fed by a powerful public-relations industry and how this in turn affects Americans’ view of their country and the world. Their book “Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush’s War on Iraq” reveals, in stark detail, the aggressive public relations campaign used to the sell the war in Iraq to the American public. The book spent eight weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Their latest book, “Banana Republicans: How the Right Wing is Turning America into a One Party State,” examines how the aftermath of 9/11 and the Republican’s organizing power has moved the United States in directions that would have been previously unthinkable.

While Stauber and Rampton work to unearth how the media uses propaganda to sway public opinion, they also remain hopeful that democratic media outlets are on the rise.

"Really, what we all are concerned with as an organization is how to develop a democratic media [so] that people can get the truth," Rampton said. "We are living in a time of new technology, like the internet, which makes it possible to come up with many more forms of mass communication."

An example of new forms of media include CMD’s project called Disinfopedia.org, an "internet-based open content encyclopedia of people, groups, and issues shaping the public interest." The Web site, which welcomes submissions from anyone choosing to contribute, started with 100 articles developed by CMD staff and has grown to nearly 5,000 articles.

Other CMD programs include "Spin of the Day,” which offers internet-based daily reports on public relations and propaganda; a resource center; skills training; publications; and public-education campaigns.