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Topic: Astroturf groups

	Astroturfing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		A form of propaganda, astroturfing attempts to selectively affect the emotions of the public, whether trying to win a campaign, be the top music record seller, the top book seller, or gain political support.
		In March 2006, a supposed environmental group called the Save Our Species Alliance was exposed as a front group that was created by a timber lobbyist to weaken the Endangered Species Act.
		Government astroturfing, as well as other sneaky tricks including an eleven-day war waged to distract from a sex scandal, are depicted in the film Wag the Dog.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Astroturfing (1849 words)

	Encyclopedia :: encyclopedia : Public relations (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-26)
		Persuasion, advocacy, and education are instruments through which individuals and organizations are entitled to express themselves in a free society, and many public relations practitioners are engaged in practices that are widely considered as beneficial, such as publicizing scientific research, promoting charities, raising awareness of public health concerns and other issues in civil society.
		One of the most controversial practices in public relations is the use of front groups -- organizations that purport to serve a public cause while actually serving the interests of a client whose sponsorship may be obscured or concealed.
		The creation of front groups is an example of what PR practitioners sometimes term the third party technique -- the art of "putting your words in someone else's mouth." PR Watch, a nonprofit organization that monitors deceptive PR activities, has published numerous examples of this technique in practice.
	www.hallencyclopedia.com /Public_relations (3536 words)

	Astroturf interest groups (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-26)
		(as opposed to interest groups) is a term commonly used to refer to groups that claim to represent some segment of the general public -- "the grassroots" -- on some issue, but, in reality are sponsored by some outside group which provides them with money and other resources.
		Astroturf groups often are little more than a paid person or two and a name.
		Astroturf groups are not limited to, or unique to, outdoor issues.
	www.forwolves.org /ralph/astroturf_interest_groups.htm (74 words)

	Wolves in Sheep's Clothing:Telecom Industry Front Groups and Astroturf \| Benton Foundation (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-26)
		Astroturf campaigns generally claim to represent huge numbers of citizens, but in reality their public support is minimal or nonexistent.
		These groups accept subsidies or grants from corporate interests to lobby or produce research when they normally might not, but too often fail to disclose the connection between their policy positions and their bank accounts.
		These corporate-backed groups are shamelessly working to convince Congress that there is widespread public and scholarly support for their policy proposals.
	www.benton.org /index.php?q=node/1900 (544 words)

	American Politics \| Participation, Interest Groups, and Lobbying » Glossary
		Interest groups may engage in direct lobbying by mobilizing their members to contact policy makers, or by hiring a contract lobbyist or having in-house lobbyists to undertake the action.
		When the normal social, economic, or political routine is disturbed, a group or groups emerge to restore the status quo ante or to take advantage of the disturbed conditions to press for policy changes.
		A watchdog group is any part of government or an interest group whose job, formally or informally, is to review and publicize what other parts of government and groups are doing, raising a public alarm when something is amiss.
	www.laits.utexas.edu /gov310/PIG/glossary.html (1468 words)

	Betsy Devine: Funny Ha-Ha or Funny Peculiar? : Making trouble today for a better tomorrow... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-26)
		"Astroturf," as in "fake grassroots" originated not with Republicans but with industry support groups, and it is still going strong there.
		These Astroturf groups are trying to tap new sources of revenue, however.
		For example, one group just got a cease and desist order from the Social Security Administration for tricky envelopes, etc. designed to "mislead the public into believing the mail is officially sent or approved by the Social Security Administration." United Seniors, of course, is appealing the order.
	betsydevine.weblogger.com /2003/02/10 (452 words)

	Public Relations and Artificial Grass Roots Coalitions
		Front groups also campaign to change public opinion, so that the markets for corporate goods are not threatened and the efforts of environmental groups are defused.
		The names of corporate front groups are carefully chosen to mask the real interests behind them but they can usually be identified by their funding sources, membership and who controls them.
		Some front groups are quite blatant, working out of the offices of public relations firms and having staff of those firms on their boards of directors.
	www.uow.edu.au /arts/sts/sbeder/PR.html (2255 words)

	[No title]
		A new report from the non-profit group Common Cause details the ways that industry groups are setting up fake grassroots organizations (aka "astroturf" organizations) to join the fight against Net neutrality legislation.
		The first group, for instance, claims to be "a nationwide coalition of Internet users." In reality, though, Common Cause has found that they're a front group for AT&T that at one point was spending $20,000 per day on advertising.
		Astroturf 2.0, as we might call it, makes use of viral marketing techniques like videos and funny cartoons that can be passed around via email.
	arstechnica.com /news.ars/post/20060811-7485.html (518 words)

	Climate Change Science
		These two reports discuss one of the more persistent urban legends being circulated by astroturf groups - that climate scientists were predicting "global cooling" and an imminent "ice age" during the 70's and that somehow, this proves that today - after over 30 years of advances - their predictions of global warming are unreliable.
		Typically, advocacy groups representing these interests employ a small number of highly paid consultants on a contract basis, nearly all of whom are drawn from the same pool of 8 to 10 scientists who are well known for their contrarian views.
		Even so, it is in the interest of these groups and their sponsors to give the appearance of being scientific and pro-environment, so most of them have been careful to craft scientific or environmental names and public images for themselves.
	www.scottchurchimages.com /enviro/ccskeptics.asp (1476 words)

	PRSkunkworks101.html
		Other groups backing this were NAACP, (an Issue Dynamics client and on the APT board) the National Hispanic Council on Aging and American Association of People with Disabilities, both on the APT board.
		However, when these same groups vote and use their name to promote the activities of the large corporation, especially when they do not fully disclose the money received or fail to first consider the needs of their own constituency, then the country should be outraged and these activities investigated.
		While many groups will counter that the phone companies only represent a percentage of their income, it is now clear that it represents100% of their favoritism on telecommunications and broadband issues.
	www.newnetworks.com /prskunkworks101.html (1486 words)

	Breast Cancer Action Montreal (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-26)
		One PR strategy is the "Astroturf" group, a group created or co-opted by the pharma company but which is perceived as grass roots while lobbying for corporate interests.
		Astroturf groups are designed to create public support for a point of view.
		Now, if someone from the board of a consumer group like the CBCN joins Advocare and, through Advo-care, publicly endorses a controver-sial position on a drug policy like DTCA, the name of the organization gives weight to their endorsement of the policy position.
	www.bcam.qc.ca /news/advocates.html (1137 words)

	[DDN] FW: Boycott: George Wash U, FCC Lawyers and Columbia Event for Ast
		The term Astroturf should not be invoked lightly - but it is important for us to dig a little into the funding and interests of policy institutes and advocates.
		Astroturf groups at every turn have harmed the public interest, from lobbying to give the phone companies exclusive rights to the networks and harming competition, harming municipalities' trying to deploy because the phone companies didn't deliver, or even helping to tax and surcharge VOIP to make it less competitive.
		There are hundreds of groups involved, impacting the decisions both on a state as well as federal level.
	www.mail-archive.com /digitaldivide@mailman.edc.org/msg04900.html (1583 words)

	Astroturf - SourceWatch (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-26)
		Astroturf refers to apparently grassroots groups or coalitions which are actually fake, often created by corporations or public relations firms.
		Campaigns and Elections magazine defines astroturf as a "grassroots program that involves the instant manufacturing of public support for a point of view in which either uninformed activists are recruited or means of deception are used to recruit them." Journalist William Greider has coined his own term to describe corporate grassroots organizing.
		Funded heavily by corporate largesse, they use sophisticated computer databases, telephone banks and hired organizers to rope less-informed activists into sending letters to their elected officials or engaging in other actions that create the appearance of grassroots support for their client's cause.
	www.sourcewatch.org /index.php?title=Astroturf (929 words)

	Antienvironmental Front Groups
		The Wise Use movement is a nationwide network of industry lobbies and grassroots front groups that originated during the 80's as an offshoot of the "Sagebrush Rebellion" in rural America.
		But whatever their focus, these groups ultimately seek the elimination of virtually all environmental protections - even where public health and safety are involved - in the hope of securing unlimited short-term access to natural resources, property development, or access to the harvest of fish and game.
		Many industry and ultra-conservative advocacy groups know this and will design public images for themselves intended to either divert attention from their actual agendas, or even to deliberately misrepresent themselves in name and stated mission.
	www.scottchurchimages.com /enviro/aeref.asp (1355 words)

	broadband » News » Exposing Astroturf - Common Cause Issues Report
		Common Cause and The Center For Digital Democracy have released a report identifying some of the "astroturf" groups cable and phone companies have been using to pollute the well of honest broadband and IPTV discourse by pretending to be consumer groups.
		I think one of the most insidious things is how these PR groups hijack minority or elderly groups to try and sound legitimate as they push agendas that usually don't even remotely benefit said groups.
		In reality, these groups have been hi-jacked and co-opted by PR outfits like Issue Dynamics, who have been hired to shape public opinion.
	www.broadbandreports.com /shownews/73186 (2091 words)

	Astroturf organizing / Mountain Xpress / mountainx.com
		Adapting tried-and-true advertising techniques to serve political ends, these front groups collectively deliver a message tailored to the economic, religious and patriotic beliefs of their predominantly rural, small-town audiences.
		Brownie Newman, executive coordinator of the regional environmental group the WNC Alliance, was the target of a wise-use smear campaign when he ran for Asheville City Council last year.
		The group succeeded in overcoming intense, even potentially violent, initial opposition to the plan from poorer dairy and tree farmers in the area.
	www.mountainx.com /news/2002/1113environment.php (2184 words)

	Astroturf Troopers
		Moya denied the existence of her astroturf network, but the MoJo Wire has obtained a memo that says otherwise, written by Moya herself.
		Moya and GCC refused to answer questions about their grassroots setup, but some of the corporate-funded astroturf groups named in her memo, including Texas Citizens for a Sound Economy and People for the West, confirmed that they were part of Moya's network of "state grassroots leaders," and that they received this memo.
		The Environmental Working Group's CLEAR site tracks hundreds of anti-environmental groups and their funders, complete with a searchable database.
	www.motherjones.com /news/feature/1997/12/gwrightwing.html (861 words)

	Astroturf Groups \| Save Access
		Organizations and non-profits are referred to as 'astroturf groups' when they have no real grassroots support.
		Often these groups form legitimate 501c3 non-profit organizations - but their message is anything but reflective of an actual community.
		Also common are 'front groups', typically these are DC based 'think tanks' that specialize in promoting deregulation and other forms of 'free market' position papers.
	saveaccess.org /astroturf (238 words)

	Making Light: More astroturf (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-26)
		A lot of "astroturf" groups, on the other hand, are brand spanking new and seem to have little or no real membership outside of their parent organizations.
		In other words, if you're claiming (as is everyone here, apparently) that the so-called problem of "astroturf" is so much more prevalent on the right, it does not prove your claim to (1) point out 1 or 2 examples of right-wing astroturf, or (2) point out that a couple of left-wing organizations are not astroturf.
		I have never heard of the group, but judging from their website, they have 24 staffers, several state chapters, and 700,000 members.
	nielsenhayden.com /makinglight/archives/006420.html (13973 words)

	Welcome to Illiberal Conservative Media (ICM) - by eRiposte
		Other examples of alleged astroturfing include a 1991 campaign by PR firm Kloberg where apparently leaked internal documents claimed to have placed dozens of letters to the editor as well as op-eds and articles praising Mobutu's regime in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
		Considering that conservative organizations/front groups receive far more funding than progressive organizations/front groups, it is not unreasonable to conclude that the former tend to dominate the astroturfing industry.
		Thus, the lack of transparency in the media on who's behind a certain organization and who funds the organization (industry, in particular) would significantly benefit conservative groups - an advantage that is solidified by the fact that right-leaning groups are more commonly associated with spreading misleading or false information on a variety of issues.
	media.eriposte.com /5-2.htm (9588 words)

	Common Cause Blog :: Astroturf
		Our March report exposed nine organizations that looked like think tanks or grassroots groups, but that were actually controlled by telephone and cable company interests.
		Since that time, the telecom reform debate has kicked into high gear and a handful of new Astroturf groups were launched.
		The Wall Street Journal published a major article about the study last week and it was featured on other media outlets such as the radio and TV program Democracy Now and in the San Antonio Express News.
	www.commonblog.com /tag/Astroturf (1253 words)

	Teletruth Comments
		A form of propaganda, industry astroturfing attempts to selectively affect the emotions of the public.
		In this strategy, press releases and product information is written by an employee of a company and made to look as though some people have a genuine interest in the forthcoming product and are willing to write professional quality articles within minutes of the product announcement.
		But what you might not know is that there is a secret group of astroturf consumer groups who work for and are funded by the phone companies'
	voip-blog.tmcnet.com /blog/rich-tehrani/voip/teletruth-comments.html (1983 words)

	OpinionJournal - John Fund on the Trail
		The foundation blueprint may also be a model for future campaigns, as more nonprofit 501(c)3 groups (which rarely make lists of their donors public) get involved in the Social Security and legal reform debates.
		Its ban on using soft money to run issue ads in the 60 days before an election mean that such ads will run earlier, make campaigns longer and allow incumbents to avoid criticism of their voting records.
		The next time Congress debates further "reform" of the rules for conducting elections, it would behoove all of us to learn who is really behind the effort, and what their true motives might be.
	www.opinionjournal.com /diary/?id=110006449 (1460 words)

	MuniWireless » Blog Archive » Telecom front groups and astroturf organizations unmasked by Common Cause
		Telecom front groups and astroturf organizations unmasked by Common Cause
		This group was formed to confuse the public and appear to be the “Broadband Coalition” a group truly promoting broadband deployment.
		The FCC was presented with the ultimatum that if they didn’t free the Bells from obligations to share their fiber networks then they would tell the public that the FCC was to blame.
	muniwireless.com /municipal/1122 (367 words)

	MuniWireless » Blog Archive » Fake phone company consumer group wants to tax VOIP
		The group is mainly comprised of astroturf and co-opted groups funded by the Bell companies and are being coordinated by Washington-DC based Issue Dynamics and Sam Simon, to push the Bell monopoly agenda — not your agenda.
		This group of non-profits is being heavily funded and coordinated to be proactive in lobbying for decisions that will ultimately be harmful to their own constituencies, such as low income families, or seniors.
		These groups may say that the money they take from the phone companies is only a part of their total.
	www.muniwireless.com /archives/watch/633 (2290 words)

	The Left Coaster: The Media's True Colors - Part 1E
		At ICM I have provided numerous examples that scratch the surface of what is a huge operation -- an operation that is dominated far more by wealthy, business-friendly/business-funded conservative groups than by the usually (but not always) more cash-strapped progressive or liberal groups (that usually try to keep businesses accountable and protect consumers).
		As I have shown at ICM and as others have others have shown, conservative (and often corporate-funded) groups more commonly indulge in misleading and deceptive advertising or claims.
		As I have discussed further here, GOP astroturf letters tend to be much higher than any pro-Democrat astroturf, but it doesn't stop the media from creating false equivalence in their reporting on this.
	www.theleftcoaster.com /archives/004405.php (1665 words)

	Appear independent
		Hill and Knowlton set up an astroturf group called Citizens for a Free Kuwait to make it appear as if there were a large grass-roots constituency in support of the war.
		So the CDC was financing both groups at the same time, and the fact is that while the two sides debated on red-herring issues, so to speak, they agreed on one thing, and that is that we needed stronger public health measures, and that the CDC were good guys.
		The EIS was instrumental in that, and the partnership program, since 1984, when it began for the AIDS project, has been instrumental in creating what appears to be a spontaneous support for the public health activist viewpoint of AIDS, and for blaming it on a virus, from all sectors.
	www.whale.to /vaccine/ploy.html (1057 words)

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