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Columbia Journalism Review content tagged Astroturf

1. December 2, 2011 11:49 AM

   WSJ Gives Minimum Info on Front Group

   An astroturf group gets a hit on the minimum wage

   By Ryan Chittum

   Here's how The Wall Street Journal framed its report yesterday on several states raising the minimum wage next year: Small businesses, already on a tight budget, are looking for new ways to cut costs as they brace for minimum wage increases in several U.S. states next month. The Journal's first anecdote is from a Vermont businessman who was one of...

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2. July 10, 2012 06:06 PM

   Manufactured quotes

   News organizations fail to disclose “regular Joe” businessmen's lobbying ties

   By Ryan Chittum

   Two weeks ago The New York Times wheeled out that old chestnut of Great Recession-era economic reporting: Companies can't find workers, despite high unemployment. This one was mercifully buried inside Business Day, but it got 1,200 words all the same, including this top: After the latest, disappointing unemployment figures, policy makers and economists continue to debate how American companies might...

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3. July 18, 2012 04:38 PM

   More on NPR and manufactured quotes

   Why lobbyist-provided rent-a-quotes subvert the news

   By Ryan Chittum

   NPR Ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos (who teaches here at Columbia) takes a look at the network's poor showing with manufacturing sources over the last few weeks. I wrote about this last Tuesday, noting how a couple of small businessmen, including a New Jersey printer named Joe Olivo, show up frequently in news stories that don't disclose their ties to lobbying groups....

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