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SourceWatch

Center for Media and Democracy
Center for Media and Democracy logo.png
Abbreviation CMD
Formation 1993; 24 years ago (1993)
Type Nonprofit organization
Purpose Investigative journalism and advocacy journalism
Location
Region served
United States
Executive director
Lisa Graves
Budget
$1,007,545 (2014)
Staff
11 (2015)
Website prwatch.org

The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes PR Watch, SourceWatch, and ALECexposed.org.

CMD was founded in 1993 by progressive writer John Stauber in Madison, Wisconsin. Lisa Graves is president of CMD. Author Sheldon Rampton was formerly an editor of PR Watch.

In a report released on April 6, 2006, CMD listed information on 77 television stations that it said had broadcast video news releases (VNRs) in the prior 10 months. CMD said that in each case the television station actively disguised the VNR content to make it appear to be its own reporting, and that in more than one-third of the cases, the stations aired the pre-packaged VNR in its entirety. In August 2006, the Federal Communications Commission mailed formal letters to the owners of the 77 television stations, asking for information regarding agreements between the stations and the creators of VNRs, and asking whether there was any "consideration" given to the stations in return for airing the material.

In 2014, CMD merged with The Progressive, a progressive monthly magazine, but separated after six months.

CMD has investigated and reported on donor-advised funds, referring to such donations as a form of "dark money". According to the Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin, CMD is a recipient of donor-advised funds via the Schwab Charitable Fund.

The New York Times referred to CMD as a watchdog organization.The Washington Post described CMD as "a liberal organization that tracks the use of public relations by corporations and politicians." A May 2012 article in Isthmus, an alternative weekly newspaper based in Madison, Wisconsin, referred to CMD as an "activist group". A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel political columnist referred to CMD as "left-wing" and "liberal." CMD was referred to as "uber-liberal" by the conservative news website Watchdog.org. CMD has been referred to as a "liberal advocacy group" by The Des Moines Register, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Wisconsin State Journal, and the La Crosse Tribune.


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