LobbyWatch_tracks_critics_and_disinformation

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Subject:

Re:_Help_with_your_campaign_-_LobbyWatch_tracks_critics_and_disinformation

" LobbyWatch "

Tue, 1 Jun 2004 13:29:17 +0100

 

Some people reported problems with the link below.

 

It should be http://www.lobbywatch.org

 

 

*PLEASE CIRCULATE within your network/organisation and to any other groups and

individuals you think may be interested.*

 

Almost every day in countries right around the world, campaigners on

conservation, development, justice, agriculture, health and other issues find

themselves under attack in the media or in their localities.

 

How can you fight back?

 

By knowing your enemy: where they come from, what their agenda is, and

crucially, who funds them.

 

Media experts estimate that 40 percent of all " news " comes virtually unedited

from public relations offices acting on behalf of corporate and political

clients. The PR industry's proudest boast is that " the best PR is never

noticed " .

 

Few people have the time to look behind the ever-increasing number of

innocuous-sounding front groups and not-so- " independent experts " mouthing the

message of industries that have one key concern - their own financial bottom

line.

 

WE CAN HELP

 

Our new website - http://www.lobbywatch.org - has been set up to track deceptive

PR.

 

The LobbyWatch site is an invaluable resource for journalists, campaigners and

concerned citizens. It provides an A-Z directory of lobbyists, corporate front

groups, political networks, PR firms, " think tanks " and industry-friendly

scientists and other " experts " .

 

Even if you can't find exactly what you're looking for in the LobbyWatch

directory, it can give you access to other useful sources of information. It

also provides the tools to investigate and track those who aim to distort your

message and mislead the public and media.

 

The well-known British journalist and author George Monbiot has said of

LobbyWatch, " If you want to know how the world works, this is the place to

start. I cannot think of a more necessary set of facts than these.

Lobbywatch.org permits us to

peer into the crucible of politics, to see how public perceptions and government

policies are smelted and forged by corporations and their front organisations. "

 

WHO ARE WE?

 

LobbyWatch is an off-shoot of the work of GM Watch (www.gmwatch.org) which

reports on the massive PR push behind genetically modified (GM) foods.

 

In the course of investigating independent-seeming " third parties " promoting GM

we came across an array of organisations and individuals around the globe active

in often undisclosed corporate and political advocacy across a wide range of

environmental, agricultural, health, development, trade and other issues. It is

this information that

lobbywatch.org is designed to share.

 

WHAT YOU CAN DO

 

It's vital to all our futures that LobbyWatch's information and links to

resources get out there and are used to expose deceptive PR and media

misinformation.

 

Ways you can help:

 

**Please circulate this email within your network/organisation and to any other

groups and individuals you think may be interested. Whatever their area of

concern and campaigning, they need to be able to track those seeking to

undermine

their work.

 

**If you have a website, please consider providing a link to www.lobbywatch.org.

Because of the way some search engines work, our site is more likely to show up

prominently in a search if there are plenty of links to it. This will be a big

help to individuals and organisations searching for information on particular

lobby groups etc.

 

**You can tackle deceptive PR. You might write a 'letter to the editor' of a

publication that has unquestioningly published the industry line; you might

publish an article that helps set the record straight; or you might circulate an

email or give a

talk to your fellow campaigners to help them take informed action.

 

For examples of articles arising out of our investigative work, see:

 

The Fake Parade by Jonathan Matthews

multinational corporations are manufacturing the poor

http://www.freezerbox.com/archive/print.asp?id=254

 

Corporate Phantoms by George Monbiot

the corporate web of deceit around GM food (US)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,723899,00.html

 

For links to more articles: http://www.lobbywatch.org/p1temp.asp?pid=36 & page=1

 

www.lobbywatch.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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