FAIR is a national media watch group that offers criticism of media bias and censorship. It seeks to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and scrutinizes media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints.
FAIR believes that independent, aggressive and critical media are essential to an informed democracy, but thinks that mainstream media are increasingly cosy with the economic and political powers. With mergers in the news industry, limiting the spectrum of viewpoints, U.S. media outlets overwhelmingly owned by for-profit conglomerates and supported by corporate advertisers FAIR sees independent journalism compromise.
FAIR was established in 1986 to shake up the establishment-dominated media. As an anti-censorship organization, FAIR exposes important news stories that are neglected and defends journalists when they are muzzled.
Strategies and Policies
Research and Monitoring: FAIR monitors a wide range of national news media - newspapers, magazines, television and radio - and publishes regular reports documenting pro-establishment, pro-corporate tilt in major news outlets.
Media Outreach: In its efforts to challenge bias and censorship, FAIR maintains a regular dialogue with journalists at news media outlets across the country. FAIR makes recommendations to media professionals on how to expand, diversify and improve coverage of a wide range of issues.
Media Activism: FAIR encourages media consumers to become media activists and regularly puts out activist alerts. It works with a nationwide network of local activists and groups that focus on key issues in their communities and participate in national campaigns coordinated by FAIR.
Media Watch Desks: FAIR operates specialized research and advocacy desks that work with activists and media professionals on specific issues. The Women's Desk analyses the effects of sexism and homophobia in the media and works to get feminist perspectives included in the public debate. The Labor Desk scrutinizes and confronts class bias in news coverage that favors moneyed interests and slights workers and unions. The Racism Watch Desk monitors and combats the media's marginalization, misrepresentation and exclusion of people of color.
CounterSpin: FAIR runs a radio program, which draws on a network of experts, analysts, activists and artists, which expose and highlight censored stories, biased and inaccurate news and the corporatisation of public broadcasting.
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Looking at the financial situation of think tanks, different funding patterns can be found. While financial contributions from foundations play an important role especially for conservative think tanks, also contributions from governments are made to certain institutions. Yet one of the most important funding sources are corporate donors and individual contributors. Although the extent to which - in most cases conservative - think tanks rely on corporate funding varies, from the US$ 158 million spent by the top 20 conservative think tanks, more than half of it was contributed by corporations or businessmen.
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Lucius Annaeus Seneca (~4 BC - 65 AD), originally coming from Spain, was a Roman philosopher, statesman, orator and playwright with a lot of influence on the Roman cultural life of his days. Involved into politics, his pupil
Established in 1950, the National Science Foundation is an independent agency of the U.S. government dedicated to the funding in basic research and education in a wide range of sciences and in mathematics and engineering. Today, the NSF supplies about one quarter of total federal support of basic scientific research at academic institutions.
For more detailed information see the Encyclopaedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/0/0,5716,2450+1+2440,00.html
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