Ron Arnold's Left Tracking Library

 SourceWatch
and PR Watch
projects of Center for Media and Democracy, Inc.

Watching SourceWatch: Incorporated by John Stauber on December 30, 1993, SourceWatch's parent - the Center for Media and Democracy, Inc. - made its reputation with rants alleging corporate misdeeds in using public relations to manipulate public opinion. The shrill anti-corporate rhetoric attracted powerful left-wing foundations with similar anti-corporate agendas.
Two-dozen foundations then poured millions into into the Center to pay for manipulating public opinion leftward. See the chart below for details.
The Center for Media and Democracy has received at least 70 foundation grants totaling at least $2,520,994, which makes its plea, "Your financial support, in any amount, is crucial to the continuation of this collaborative website and our innovate work documenting the people and issues behind the news," sound a little silly, unless they're begging big foundations.
Stauber's Center appears to be an employment haven for radicals untroubled by the strings of elite foundation grants, essentially doing on the left what corporations do on the right. SourceWatch never reveals who they’re taking money from or how much they get.
They also don't tell you that nearly three-fourths of their annual revenue goes into the pockets of their people - salaries, benefits, and payments. This profile remedies that omission.  

Center for Media and Democracy (501(c)(3) public charity)
 520 UNIVERSITY AVE #227
MADISON , WI 53703
2008 Income: $904,678
2008 Assets: $516,119
Paid $619, 674 for salaries and $105,370 to contractors ($725,044) in 2008
 Received at least 70 foundation grants totaling at least $2,520,994
 www.prwatch.org
Phone: (608)-260-9713 
Email contact: editor@prwatch.org
 EIN: 39-1777402
Incorporated December 30, 1993
Exempt since 1994

Self-description: Through its investigative journalism, books, website and public addresses the Center assists citizens, academics and journalists to understand how the modern public relations industry works to manipulate media, public opinion and public policy.
The Please contribute to SourceWatch page states: We do not accept grants from for-profit corporations or government agencies.

Actual: Works with articles, blog posts, websites and books, to manipulate media, public opinion and public policy leftward with millions from left-wing foundation grants. Run for nearly 15 years by two men, John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, and their shifting staff, the Center's rhetoric is primarily in the alarmist-to-apocalyptic range of the shrillness spectrum. Even the not-so-right-leaning Village Voice said of Rampton and Stauber: "These guys come from the far side of liberal."

They also have an odd sense of journalistic ethics: Their website at http://prwatch.org/node/5965 says,

"You cannot underestimate the importance of truth-tellers in our society in an age when the truth is swept under the bed, kept in the closet, or recycled to come out as government spin and corporate propaganda.” – Journalist Bill Moyers, speaking about the importance of the Center for Media and Democracy’s work at a reception for CMD in April 2005.

They swept the truth under the bed that Bill Moyers, as president of the wealthy foundation, the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy, had just given CMD $150,000

To fund Source Watch Organization and online collaborative to further media democracy and citizen journalism (actual grant description)

And gave them another $100,000 in 2006, total: $250,000, a quarter of a million.

So CMD was "keeping in the closet" the truth that Bill Moyers in his role as philanthropist gave them $150,000 so Bill Moyers in his role as journalist could tout a voice for his personal, visceral hatred of corporations. See the profile of Bill Moyers for more examples of his sponsored anti-corporate propaganda. Paying people to generate your applause lines is not something your average journalist does.

Ethical or not, "truth-tellers" John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton took the money and  furthered "media democracy and citizen journalism," against "government spin and corporate propaganda," sponsored by the dividends from shares of stock in the Schumann portfolio - ExxonMobil, Chevron, Marathon Oil, Royal Dutch Shell A, and Anadarko Petroleum, among many, many other big corporations. See the table below for details.

John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton produced six books that clearly spell out just how far left they are from "liberal," which are worth reading just to see how they think.

The six books by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton
Buy them here and help the Left Tracking Library!
     
     

The Center for Media and Democracy claims total independence from outside influences, but has received 70 foundation grants totaling $2,520,994, many of them specifically targeted, grants that came from corporate dividends and capital gains of stocks and bonds and government obligations in the foundations' investment portfolios.

Thus, SourceWatch is getting for-profit corporation money second-hand and hasn't the grace to say thanks. A U.S. government agency, the IRS, gives the Center for Media and Democracy a generous grant every year in the form of tax exemption, as it does with all 501(c)(3) groups, without which the Center would fold. The left-wing ideology of Center employees blinds them to the hypocrisy of their position and the capitalist machinery that keeps them alive.

Founder John Stauber: The Wikipedia entry for John Stauber (which warns, "This biographical article needs additional citations for verification") describes him as "an American writer and political activist who has co-authored five books about propaganda by governments, private interests and the PR industry."

The Wikipedia further states (links go to Wikipedia pages): "Stauber is the founder and executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, which sponsors PR Watch and SourceWatch. Since the 1960s, he has worked with public interest, consumer, family farm, environmental and community organizations at the local, state and national level. He edits and writes for the Center's quarterly newsmagazine, PR Watch. He is also a member of the Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution Board of Advisers.

Stauber left the Center in 2009 and is now writing independently and still blogs for the Center.

Stauber's official biography is here.

Executive Director Lisa Graves: Her appointment to replace Stauber in July 2009 moved the Center from its entrepreneurial stage to its professional management stage, indicating the group's maturity. Graves has a strong left-political background in government and in the non-profit world. She has served as a Senate staffer, a US Courts executive, and in a number of capacities at the U.S. Department of Justice. She held positions in the American Civil Liberties Union and at the Center for National Security Studies, a private far-left group founded by Robert Borosage.

Graves graduated with highest honors from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse in Political Science and earned her Juris Doctor cum laude from Cornell Law School, where she was Managing Editor of the Cornell Law Review. Graves has strong and deep connections to the Democratic Party and many friends in the Obama Administration. With a politically competent, experienced, and highly intelligent leader like Graves at the helm, we can expect the "non-partisan" Center to be much more overtly political and more attractive to larger foundations.

Sheldon Rampton: Former co-editor with Stauber of PR Watch, creator of Disinfopedia (now SourceWatch), and coiner of the term WikiMedia (now the name of the foundation that manages Wikipedia and its projects), shaped the Center as much or more than Stauber.

After graduating from Princeton University in 1982, he was a newspaper reporter for a time and then became a professional activist with the anti-Reagan Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua working on various help-the-locals programs.

He joined the Center for Media and Democracy in 1995 as co-editor of John Stauber's PR Watch anti-corporate program, and later served as research director. During that time the two turned out six books critical of corporate America and President George W. Bush (see above). He departed the Center for Media and Democracy in October 2009.

Center for Media and Democracy, Inc.
Officers and Directors Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2008

Name Title Compensation
Lisa Graves executive director, appointed 2009 not yet posted
John Stauber executive director, resigned 2009 $80,323
David Merritt president treasurer $0
Ellen Braune director $0
Anna Lappe director $0
Joe Mendelson director $0
Jan Miyasaki director $0
Inger Stole director $0

Who are these directors?
 Connecting the Dots: Interlocking Directorates and Influence Wielders


(No Photo)
David Merritt

 Former Executive Director of the Citizens Utility Board (Wisconsin consumer advocacy group against utility rate increases)


Ellen Braune

 Vice President of Communications at the Ms. Foundation for Women. Formerly a Senior Vice President at the far-left PR Firm, Fenton Communications, and a Communications Director for the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES).


Anna Lappe

 Daughter of Francis Moore Lappe (food activist and author of Diet for a Small Planet); co-founder, Small Planet Institute; author, Diet for a Hot Planet: The Climate Crisis at the End of Your Fork and What You Can Do about It; former W.K. Kellogg Foundation fellow.


Joe Mendelson

 National Wildlife Federation Director of Global Warming Policy; former Director, Friends of the Earth; co-founder and legal director, Center for Food Safety;legal director, International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA)


Jan Miyasaki

 Asian American Studies professor at the University of Wisconsin


Inger Stole

 Professor at the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
 


(No Photo)Deborah Bey

Director of Community Engagement at Career College Association; former  NAACP program manager. PhD (Sociology and Organizational Development) University of Michigan; Masters (Public Administration) Harvard Kennedy School.

 

The Foundation Center database and other grant-tracking databases
indicate that the Center for Media and Democracy
has received some 70 foundation grants totaling at least $2,520,994.
The grant records below are from
IRS Form 990 or 990-PF annual reports of
each named foundation, and can be found at
http://www2.guidestar.org/
 

Donor

Securities Investments
(Most recent IRS filing)

Amount given to CMD

Year

Grant Description
(If absent, it was not listed with the grant on IRS Form 990 or 990PF.)

AMERICAN LEGACY FOUNDATION
(Public charity, not a private foundation)
Washington, D.C.

Non-itemized:
Sale of securities:
$4,045,867,000;
Investment income:
$21,780,829

$167,581

2009

General support for tobacco related issues

V KANN RASMUSSEN FOUNDATION
(Private foundation)
New York

ChevronTexaco;
ExxonMobil;
General Electric;
McDonalds;
PepsiCo

$200,000

2009

Support for SourceWatch Cop15

MARISLA FOUNDATION
(Getty Oil heiress)
(Private foundation)
Laguna Beach
California

Nestle
 Unilever
Berkshire Hathaway
Microsoft
Novo Nordisk

$100,000

2008

Eco-Sourcematch project

PARK FOUNDATION INC
(Private foundation)
Ithaca
New York

T Rowe Equity;
Chicago Partners;
Institutional Capital;
Evergreen;
Climate Solutions

$50,000

2008

The Source Watch Project on Energy and Water
(Park’s investment in Climate Solutions shares increased in value by $5.4 million during 2008)

TIDES FOUNDATION
(Public charity)
San Francisco
California

Tides services donor advised funds, with no investment portfolio.

$30,000

2008

Congresspedia's election administration Wiki

EAST BAY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
 (Public charity)
Oakland
California
 

EBCF services donor advised funds, but had $7.6 million in dividend and interest income from securities in 2008

$16,000

2008

  

CLOUD MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION
(Private foundation)
New York

Monsanto;
ShoreTel;
Riverbed Technology;
AirAsia;
Chipotle Mexican Grill

$50,000

2008

News and information

GRODZINS FUND
(Private foundation)
New York
 

Glaxo SmithKline;
AIG;
Freddie Mac;
CBS;
Vornado

$15,000

2008

Science/environment

ROCKEFELLER FAMILY FUND INC
(oil fortune)
(Public charity)
New York


 

RFF services donor advised funds and operates its own programs, Had $75.9 million in endowment funds in 2008

$25,000

2007

General support

GRODZINS FUND
New York

See above

$15,000

2007

Science/Environment

FUNDING EXCHANGE INC
 (Public charity)
New York

Non-itemized:
publicly traded securities:
$22,404,261
 

$30,000

2007

  

EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION OF AMERICA
(Private foundation)
Westport
Connecticut
 

Generation Investment Management LLP;
Global Equity;
Charter Oak Partners;
KB Capital

$75,000

2007

Green clean media collaboration project

CLOUD MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION
New York

See above

$50,000

2007

News and information

ETTINGER FOUNDATION INC (Private foundation)
Westport
Connecticut

AIG
JP Cleantech
Un-itemized publicly traded securities

$5,917

2007

Efforts to stop potential war with Iraq

WALLACE GLOBAL FUND
(Private foundation)
Washington, D.C.

Morgan Stanley;
Glenmede Funds;
UBS
Dreyfus

$25,000

2007

General support

HKH FOUNDATION
 (AMAX Mining heri)
(Private foundation)
New York

Standish Mellon Fixed Income;
Money Market Funds;
Publicly Traded Securities

$10,000

2007

  

PARK FOUNDATION INC
Ithaca
New York

See above

$50,000

2007

To stop fake news campaign

MARISLA FOUNDATION
Laguna Beach
California

See above

$100,000

2007

No fake news sources watch

MADISON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
Madison
Wisconsin

Commonfund  Multi-Strategy Equity Investors;
Commonfund Multi-Strategy Bond Investors; Commonfund Multi-Strategy Global Hedged

$30,000

2007

  

MADISON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
Madison
Wisconsin

See above

$30,000

2007

  

AMERICAN LEGACY FOUNDATION
Washington, D.C.

See above

$16,996

2007

  

SAN FRANCISCO FOUNDATION
(Public charity)
San Francisco
California

 

Corporate stocks $94.3 million
Government obligations
$75.2 million
Money Market Funds $79.3 million

$5,000

2007

For general support

LITOWITZ FOUNDATION INC
(Private foundation)
Miami
Florida

 

El Paso Pipeline
Teekay LNG Partners
Energy Transfer Equity
Plains All American Pipeline
Spectra Energy Partners

$11,000

2006

Support for human rights

MARISLA FOUNDATION
Laguna Beach
California

See above

$100,000

2006

No fake news/ source watch

HKH FOUNDATION
New York

See above

$25,000

2006

  

PARK FOUNDATION INC
Ithaca
New York

See above

$50,000

2006

The No fake News campaign

SCHUMANN CENTER FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY INC
(General Motors Acceptance Corp fortune)(Private foundation)
New Jersey
 

ExxonMobil
Chevron
Diamond Offshore
Marathon Oil
Royal Dutch Shell A
Anadarko Petroleum

$100,000

2006

For general support

ROCKEFELLER PHILANTHROPY ADVISORS INC(Public charity)
New York


 

Vanguard Global Equity Fund
Blackrock Low Duration Bond Fund
Blasckrock Intermediate Bond Fund

$25,000

2006

Science and Technology

EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION OF AMERICA
Westport
Connecticut

See above

$75,000

2006

Green, Clean Media Collaboration Project

GRODZINS FUND
New York

See above

$15,000

2006

Science/environment

CLOUD MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION
New York

See above

$33,000

2006

News and information

ROCKEFELLER FAMILY FUND INC
New York

See above

$20,000

2005

General support

THE THRESHOLD FOUNDATION
(Public charity)
San Francisco
California

 

Foundation consists of wealthy donors, see Joshua Mailman profile.
Money Market Funds, $821,564

$25,000

2005

Disinfopedia Project

SCHUMANN CENTER FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY INC
New York
 

See above

$150,000

2005

To fund source Watch Organization and online collaborative to further media democracy and citizen journalism

GRODZINS FUND
New York

See above

$15,000

2005

Science/environment

WALLACE GLOBAL FUND
Washington, D.C.

See above

$25,000

2005

  

ETTINGER FOUNDATION INC
Westport
Connecticut

See above

$5,000

2005

  

FIDELITY INVESTMENTS CHARITABLE GIFT FUND
(Public charity)
Cincinnati
Ohio

Managed $3.7 billion in donor advised funds in 2009. It had $557 million in investment income in 2009

$10,000

2005

  

CLOUD MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION
New York

See above

$20,000

2005

News and information

PARK FOUNDATION INC
Ithaca
New York

See above

$50,000

2005

To support the 'No Fake News' campaign

PARK FOUNDATION INC
Ithaca
New York

See above

$10,000

2005

The Source Watch Project

MARISLA FOUNDATION
Laguna Beach
California

See above

$100,000

2005

Source watch

WINSLOW FOUNDATION
(Private foundation)
Princeton
New Jersey

$15.5 million in unspecified corporate stocks, $2.7 million in corporate bonds, $2.2 million in government obligations in 2009.

$25,000

2005

  

PANTA RHEA FOUNDATION INC
(Private foundation)
La Jolla
California

Paul Capital Partners
Sutter Opportunity Fund
Bear Stearns
Special Value Opportunities Fund LLC

$10,000

2005

  

MARISLA FOUNDATION
Laguna Beach
California

See above

$10,000

2004

Mad Cow disease research and writing

MARISLA FOUNDATION
Laguna Beach
California

See above

$100,000

2004

Source Watch Program

HKH FOUNDATION
New York

See above

$25,000

2004

Environmental protection

WINSLOW FOUNDATION
Princeton
New Jersey

See above

$20,000

2004

  

DEER CREEK FOUNDATION(Private foundation)
St. Louis
Missouri
 

Passthrough funds from Foundation Partners Fund.

$20,000

2004

For a media outreach effort designed to educate the public and policymakers about bovine sponge form encephalopathy or mad cow disease, and the health risks associated with the US meat industry's continuing vulnerability to widespread contamination

GRODZINS FUND
New York

See above

$10,000

2004

Science/environment

CLOUD MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION
New York

See above

$15,000

2004

News and information

MOSTYN FOUNDATION INC
(Private foundation)
New York

General Electric
Merck & Company
Varian, Inc.
Consolidated Energy
Teleflex

$5,000

2004

  

HKH FOUNDATION
New York

See above

$25,000

2003

Environmental protection

ETTINGER FOUNDATION INC
Westport
Connecticut

See above

$5,000

2003

For Weapons of Mass Destruction Project

MARISLA FOUNDATION
Laguna Beach
California

See above

$40,000

2003

General support

CLOUD MOUNTAIN FOUNDATION
New York

See above

$9,500

2003

New and Information

WINSLOW FOUNDATION
Princeton
New Jersey

See above

$15,000

2003

  

MARISLA FOUNDATION
Laguna Beach
California

See above

$40,000

2002

Support of 'Trust Us We're Experts'

GRODZINS FUND
New York

See above

$5,000

2002

  

GRODZINS FUND
New York

See above

$5,000

2001

  

BAUMAN FAMILY FOUNDATION(Private foundation)
Washington, D.C.

Corporate stock managers:
Goldman-Sachs $49 million
Manchester Capital $29.4 million

$10,000

2001

For general support

HKH FOUNDATION
New York

See above

$25,000

2001

  

RICHARD AND RHODA GOLDMAN FUND
(Private foundation)
San Francisco
California

 

Corporate stock $214 million
Corporate bonds $61.7 million
Government obligations $44.2 million

$25,000

2001

  

MARISLA FOUNDATION
Laguna Beach
California

See above

$40,000

2001

Trust US We Are Experts Program

TURNER FOUNDATION INC
(Private foundation)
Atlanta
Georgia

 

Time Warner stock from Ted Turner’s investment,
$2.2 million; Income from family members, $12 million.

$15,000

2001

For support of an educational campaign in conjunction with the CMD publication 'Trust Us We're Experts How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future'

FOUNDATION FOR DEEP ECOLOGY
Sausalito
California

 

Corporate stock, $15 million
Corporate Bonds, $4.3 million
Government obligations $3.2 million

$5,000

2001

  

FOUNDATION FOR DEEP ECOLOGY
Sausalito
California

See above

$6,000

2000

  

GRODZINS FUND
New York

See above

$10,000

2000

  

HKH FOUNDATION
New York

See above

$20,000

1999

  
Center for Media and Democracy, Inc. Vital Statistics
Wisconsin Secretary of State Corporation Database
Entity ID C039537
Registered
Effective Date		 12/30/1993
Period of Existence PER
Status Incorporated/Qualified/Registered  
Status Date 12/30/1993
Entity Type Non-Stock Corporation
Annual Report
Requirements		 Non-stock Corporations are required to file an Annual Report under s. 181.1622 WI Statutes.
Addresses
Registered Agent
Office
JOHN STAUBER
520 UNIVERSITY AVE #227
MADISON , WI 53703 z
Principal Office
520 UNIVERSITY AVE #227
MADISON , WI 53703
United States of America


 

 

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