Sleuths of Spin

By Bill Berkowitz, AlterNet. Posted February 22, 2005.

Given the sorry state of journalism these days, The Center for Media and Democracy's John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton are setting about an ambitious – yet necessary – undertaking: reinventing journalism.

Several right-wing activists/pundits/columnists have already developed their own roadmap for reinventing journalism. The latest case is that of Jeff Gannon, whose real name is James D. Guckert. As Gannon, Guckert reported for a conservative news site called Talon News. Somehow, Guckert gained access to White House briefings and and was seen tossing softballs at White House officials. Gannon/Guckert even got called on by President Bush at a news conference. He ended his question with "How are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?" referring to Sen. Hillary Clinton and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

Gannon/Guckert had about 13 of his 15 minutes before Media Matters for America and John Aravosis' Americablog blew the lid off his charade. Underneath that lid was James D. Guckert on full display – he was outed as a contributor to such sites as Hotmilitarystud.com, Workingboys.net, Militaryescorts.com, MilitaryescortsM4M.com and Meetlocalmen.com.

The administration's payoffs to syndicated newspaper columnists Armstrong Williams, Mike McManus and Maggie Gallagher may not be nearly as scrumptious a story as the Gannon/Guckert Affair, but they could be far more significant. After all, this loose coalition of the shilling received government money to write about their support for Bush administration policies. In early January, USA Today revealed that Williams, a prominent African-American radio and television personality, had received $240,000 from the Department of Education – through a contract with the Ketchum public relations firm – for his support for the president's No Child Left Behind project. Mike McManus and Maggie Gallagher received their checks from the Department of Health and Human Services to help promote the president's healthy marriages initiative.

Sleuths of spin John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton have exposed how corporate shills and government spokespersons manipulate the media and undermine democracy for more than a decade. Through the Madison, Wis.-based Center for Media and Democracy, they have produced a number of groundbreaking books, including Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry (Common Courage Press, 1995), Trust Us, We're Experts!: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future (Tarcher/Penguin, 2001), Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq (Tarcher/Penguin, 2003) and most recently, Banana Republicans: How the Right Wing is Turning America into a One-Party State (Tarcher/Penguin, 2004).

Two years ago, the Center launched Disinfopedia, a web site that Rampton described in a recent e-mail as "an experiment in media democracy and citizen investigative journalism." Rampton pointed out that Disinfopedia had "grown into a leading resource on the players who work behind the scenes to shape public opinion and public policy." Since its mission has evolved and expanded during the past two years, the Center recently renamed it SourceWatch. (Disclosure: I have been cited by SourceWatch.)

Rampton maintains that SourceWatch "is an example of media democracy in action – an information source that is truly 'of, by and for the people' who use it. It has become a tool that journalists and activists use to research and report on key issues such as media concentration and reform, democratic revitalization, environmental health and sustainability, the war in Iraq, corporate manipulation of government agencies, and the power and influence of right-wing special interest groups and lobbies."

In late February, I conducted an e-mail interview John Stauber. We covered a number of issues related to the media, starting with the current payola scandal.

Bill Berkowitz: How do you view the recent scandals involving the Bush administration giving payoffs to Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher and Michael McManus in exchange for favorable coverage of their issues?

I'm very happy to see this coming out, but it's really just the tip of an iceberg. Sheldon Rampton and I wrote our expose of the Public Relations industry, Toxic Sludge Is Good For You, ten years ago. It's filled with propaganda horror stories. Forty percent or more of what passes for news and information these days is the result of organized PR campaigns. It's been wonderful to see these scandals exposed and others such as the "Karen Ryan reporting" news reports. Karen Ryan runs a PR firm, and her government funded video news releases (VNRs) are aired as news by hundreds of TV news directors.

Bill Berkowitz is a freelance writer covering right-wing groups and movements.

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