"The lack of transparency in the world of opinion-making is an ongoing scandal. What we have today is a system of opinion laundering, where powerful interests try to create public support for their side of issues without disclosing the hidden agendas. Media organizations then publish or broadcast credulous reports that may be grossly biased, without even hinting to news audiences what's going on."

Photo credit: Berkeley Robinson

So writes Dan Gillmor, former columnist at the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper, and recent author of "We the Media: Grassroots Journalism By the People, For the People". Gillmor is now working on a project to encourage and enable more citizen-based media, through his new venture Grassroots Media Inc.

In a recent article on his new blog, entitled Combatting Non-Transparent PR with Grassroots Energy, Gillmor continues:

"The lack of transparency in the world of opinion-making is an ongoing scandal. What we have today is a system of opinion laundering, where powerful interests try to create public support for their side of issues without disclosing the hidden agendas. Media organizations then publish or broadcast credulous reports that may be grossly biased, without even hinting to news audiences what's going on.

We need far, far more transparency than we get the opinion-making business -- and don't kid yourself, it's big business. What we have, instead, are increasingly more sophisticated efforts to hide the laundering."

Gillmor then points us to an extraordinary online resource - Source Watch - (formerly called Disinfopedia) whose aim is to expose the backers ("corporations, governments, special interest groups") behind influencing organizations ("public relations firms, think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts").

A collaborative, MediaWiki (work-always-in-progress) powered site, Source Watch contributors have gathered together an outstanding collection of articles and other information resources covering such topics as:
Main Topics

• case studies of deceptive PR campaigns


• corporate PR campaigns


• criticisms of PR


• front groups


• industry-friendly experts


• industry-funded organizations


• list of lists


• propaganda techniques


• public relations associations


• public relations firms


• public relations professionals (individuals)


• think tanks


• war propaganda

Source Watch also provides very useful advice on how to undertake research into this whole subject area, as well as tips on how to submit articles for publication on the site:

Research and Writing Tips

• How to research front groups


• Resources for studying propaganda


• Research using the web


• Article guidelines

Eye-opening and thought-provoking.