CENTER FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY INC
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Mission Statement
The Center for Media and Democracy is a national watchdog group that investigates the undue influence of corporations on media and democracy. CMD's investigations are regularly cited by influential leaders and outlets. CMD launched the breakthrough ALECexposed investigation. CMD's research on ALEC, the Kochs, SPN, Exxon, the Chamber, and others shapes national and local conversations about our democracy, environment, economy, and schools. Our newest site is ExposedByCMD.org, which consolidates research and reporting from PRWatch.org, ALECexposed.org, SourceWatch.org, ALECclimatechangedenial.org, StinkTanks.org, and more.
About This Cause
The Center for Media and Democracy is a national watchdog group that conducts in-depth investigations into corruption and the undue influence of corporations on media and democracy. The findings of CMD's investigative journalism are regularly cited by the leading national and state newspapers in the U.S., including the New York Times, the Guardian, and the Washington Post. CMD's reporting is credited by news shows on major broadcast stations including HBO, Showtime, PBS, NBC, CBS, and others, and has also been featured on in-depth news programs, such as Moyers & Company, Democracy Now, and the Thom Hartmann Show, as well as NPR and other public broadcasting agencies, such as the BBC and CBC. CMD is led by Lisa Graves, who formerly served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice and Chief Counsel for Nominations for the chair of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, among other strategic research and analysis roles in Washington, DC. Her vision and determination help drive CMD's substantive focus and the power of its credible story-telling. These exposés reveal how some of the most powerful corporations in the world manipulate public policy, elections, and some in the media in ways that undermine real democracy. CMD's breakthrough investigations of the Koch Brothers, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its American City County Exchange (ACCE), the State Policy Network (SPN), and numerous corporations and corporate-front groups have sparked national debate and ignited waves of related reporting by other journalists in numerous outlets and in leading national magazines. CMD's reporting has also built on excellent investigative reports in magazines like the New Yorker, Mother Jones, and more. CMD also publishes the online news journal, PRWatch; a specialized encyclopedia about corporations, their CEOs, and corporate-funded front groups, SourceWatch; a clearinghouse for news about ALEC and its award-winning investigation, ALECexposed.org; and other specialized investigative websites, like ALECclimatedenial.org. CMD focuses on documenting key facts and revealing the impact of policies on ordinary people, not on what some PR spokesperson claims is true. With the cuts to newsrooms across the country, CMD's original and in-depth investigations are more important than ever in breaking through the spin of corporate-backed PR. Our Team CMD's Executive Director, Lisa Graves, has assembled a top-notch investigative and writing team that combines exceptionalresearch capacity with the ability to break stories and translate complex documentary evidence and policy issues into powerful narratives. She serves as CMD's editor-in-chief, working to ensure that CMD's stories use smart analysis, compelling language, and engaging images. CMD has a talented management team that can process a mountain of information and deliver excellent and timely special reports, along with in-house counsel to back up its investigative efforts. Here is more information about CMD's team. CMD's Board of Directors consists of David Merritt, Inger Stole, Jan Miyasaki, Ellen Braune, Deborah Bey, Clarisa Long, Cosmo Harrigan, and Executive Director Lisa Graves. CMD was founded by John Stauber, who led CMD until he retired to become an independent activist in late 2009. Ground-breaking books by writers from the Center for Media and Democracy include: Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry Trust Us, We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles With Your Future Mad Cow USA Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq Banana Republicans: How the Right Wing is Turning America Into a One-party State The Best War Ever: Lies, Damned Lies and the Mess in Iraq Our History Founded in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1993, CMD's original reporting helps educate the public and aids grassroots action about policies affecting people’s lives—our rights and the health of our democracy. CMD publishes PRWatch.org, ALECexposed.org, SourceWatch.org, KOCHexposed.org, OutsourcingAmericaExposed.org, NFIBexposed.org, and other investigative sites, like StinkTanks.org. Its newest collaborative website is ALECclimatechangedenial.org. CMD launched ALECexposed.org in mid-2011, after a whistleblower gave CMD's Executive Director all of the ALEC bills secretly voted on by corporate lobbyists and elected officials, behind closed doors and out of the view of the public and the press. CMD's ongoing investigation of ALEC--along with the corporations bankrolling its operations and "scholarships" for legislators to attend posh resorts where corporate lobbyists and elected officials vote behind closed doors on "model" legislation to change Americans' rights--has literally transformed the national conversation about these issues and has been featured in national and international TV and print, including in a documentary narrated by Bill Moyers: "United States of ALEC." CMD also hosts CoalSwarm and FrackSwarm on CMD's SourceWatch website. CMD also partners with community groups and other research teams, including UnKoch My Campus and The Undercurrent, to help expose undue corporate influence on public institutions and our democracy. Sources and Uses of Contributions CMD is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit that accepts donations, such as gifts and grants. A copy of our most recent 990 filing is available by mail upon request. The following foundations have provided at least one grant of $5,000 or more to support the work of the Center for Media and Democracy since its inception in 1993. Those listed in bold are recent funders. • American Legacy Foundation • Bauman Family Foundation • Careth Foundation • Carolyn Foundation • Changing Horizons Charitable Trust • Courtney's Foundation • CS Fund • Deer Creek Foundation • Educational Foundation of America • Ettinger Foundation • Ford Foundation • Foundation for Deep Ecology • Foundation for Political Management • Funding Exchange • Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund • Grodzins Fund • Helena Rubinstein Foundation • HKH Foundation • Litowitz Foundation • Marisla Foundation • Mostyn Foundation • Open Society Institute • Park Foundation • Public Welfare Foundation • Proteus Fund • V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation • Rockefeller Associates • Rockefeller Family Foundation • Rockwood Fund • Stern Family Fund • Schumann Center for Media and Democracy • Sunlight Foundation • Threshold Foundation • Tides Foundation • Town Creek Foundation • Turner Foundation • Wallace Global Fund • Winslow Foundation Contributions from individuals and non-profit organizations are accepted. If you would like to include CMD in your will, a bequest in the amount you specify may be directed to the Center for Media and Democracy a nonprofit corporation, organized under the laws of the State of Wisconsin). We accept no funding from for-profit corporations or grants from government agencies, except that CMD does accept funding from CREDO, which gives donations to nonprofits based on votes by its activists and customers, rather than by a corporate agenda.