Vox’s Student Loan ‘Expert’ Is Paid by Debt Collectors
A Vox piece insisted that “student debt forgiveness isn’t happening”–but didn’t disclose the author’s ties to the student loan industry.
Report Shows How Military Industrial Complex Sets Media Narrative on Ukraine
Wealthy donors have long funded think tanks with official-sounding names that produce research that reflects the interests of those funders.
WOLA: Media’s ‘Left’ Source for Pro-Coup Propaganda in Venezuela
When it comes to Venezuela, one DC-based think tank has become the Western media’s go-to source for confirming the US elite’s regime change groupthink: the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).
Bloomberg’s Armsmaker-Funded Columnist Wants You to Know: Military Spending Is Woke
You may not know it, but bloated Pentagon budgets are actually “progressive.” Or so says a recent opinion piece in Bloomberg News.
Morning Edition’s Think Tank Sources Lean to the Right
Thirty-five percent of think tank sources on NPR’s morning news show were from conservative or center-right groups, while 19 percent involved progressive or center-left groups.
Media Ignore Government Influence on Facebook’s Plan to Fight Government Influence
The outlets that covered Facebook’s partnership with the Atlantic Council failed to examine the motives of the DC think tank, its funders, or the broader premise that “fake news” and “foreign meddling” were something in need of combating.
Media Boosts Obvious Saudi Front Group as Neutral ‘Think Tank’
Absent documented evidence of who exactly funds the group, why should media not assume—based on its connections to the government and cartoonishly pro–bin Salman line—that the Arabia Foundation is a front group for the government?
In Trump Era, ‘Both Sides’ on Immigration Includes White Nationalists
President Trump’s far-right immigration policies have US corporate media reaching to the white nationalist fringes of the faux-think tank world to provide “both sides” coverage on the topic.
Think Tank-Addicted Media Turn to Regime Change Enthusiasts for Iran Protest Commentary
Leading the pack in the “do something” insta-consensus on Iran protests was the right-wing pro-Israel think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
WaPo Fails to Note Raytheon, Saudi Funding of Advocate for Raytheon Arms to Saudis
The conflicts of interest posed by think tank funding are an endemic problem in establishment journalism, which often presents industry-funded institutes as neutral experts.
Lockheed Martin–Funded Experts Agree: South Korea Needs More Lockheed Martin Missiles
FAIR has noted 30 media mentions of CSIS pushing the THAAD missile system or its underlying value proposition in US media. Omitted from all these CSIS media appearances, however, is that one of CSIS’s top donors, Lockheed Martin, is THAAD’s primary contractor.
NYT Exposes a Favorite Source as War Industry Flack
That CSIS would promote the expansion of the military and surveillance state is predictable, since that’s who pays its bills; what the Times revealed was a specific, rather direct example of this, using heretofore secret documents.
Who Pays for Think Tanks?
Think tanks are important institutions that provide information and analysis to both policy-makers and the public. But when they court donations, it can become unclear whether that analysis is tainted by donor agendas.
FAIR’s Correspondence with ABC RE: John Stossel Organics Report
Dear David Westin: We are writing to express concern about the accuracy of John Stossel’s February 4 20/20 report, “The Food You Eat.” FAIR received numerous emails and phone calls questioning the veracity and objectivity of the report. After a preliminary investigation, we have some serious questions of our own about how the segment was […]
