Another difference that can be noted between right and left-wing think tanks concerns their media appearance and media relations. While in 1997 53 % of the U.S. media references made to think tanks involved conservative institutions, progressive think tanks accounted for only16 % of the media citations made to think tanks (32 % centrist institutions). This suggests that the media agenda is markedly influenced by conservative issues and ideology, and therefore leads to a considerable imbalance within the spectrum of political views.
On the other hand the financial resources of right- and left- wing media associated with think tanks also differ appreciably. While conservative foundations provided US$ 2,734,263 to four right-of-center magazines between 1990 and 1993 including The National Interest, The Public Interest, The New Criterion, and The American Spectator, over the same time period four left-of-center publications, namely The Nation, The Progressive, In These Times, and Mother Jones received only US$ 269,500 from foundations.
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Think tanks undertake research in very specific public policy areas. Which topics they cover mainly depends on their political and ideological orientation. In any case think tanks produce incredible amounts of "research findings". The crucial aspect usually is not their production, but their distribution. Therefore most think tanks have developed sophisticated dissemination strategies, whose main aim is the communication of their ideas to important audiences. These include members of governmental institutions, policymakers in the executive branch, news media, intellectuals, business men as well as academic and policy communities - in short, everybody, who is involved in shaping public opinion.
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Visa International's over 21,000 member financial institutions have made VISA one of the world's leading full-service payment network. Visa's products and services include Visa Classic card, Visa Gold card, Visa debit cards, Visa commercial cards and the Visa Global ATM Network. VISA operates in 300 countries and territories and also provides a large consumer payments processing system.
U.S. company founded on March 18, 1850, as an express-transportation company, but today operating as a worldwide organization providing primarily travel-related and insurance services and international finance operations and banking. Headquarters are in New York City.
American manufacturer of tobacco products. The origins of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company date to the post-Civil War era, when Richard Joshua Reynolds (1850-1918) began trading in tobacco, first in his native Virginia and then in Winston, N.C., where in 1875 he established his first plug factory. The company began to diversify in the 1960s, acquiring chiefly food and oil concerns, and the tobacco concern became a subsidiary of R.J. Reynolds Industries, Inc., in 1970.
RAND (an acronym for research and development) is a non-profit institution that tries to "improve public policy through research and analysis". RAND was created at the urging of its original sponsor, the Air Force (then the Army Air Forces) and employs more than 500 people. Most work in RAND's Santa Monica, California headquarters, others are based in Washington, D.C. Some operate from RAND's Council for Aid to Education in New York City and from RAND Europe in Delft, the Netherlands. Areas of research are: Foreign relations and diplomacy, security and defense, economic issues, regional studies, social issues, health and welfare, education, labor and human resource development, science and technology.
Merck & Co. is a research-driven pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of human and animal health products, and provides pharmaceutical benefit services through Merck-Medco Managed Care LLC. The Company is comprised of two operating segments. Merck-Medco primarily includes sale of non-Merck products and Merck-Medco pharmaceutical benefit services, principally manages prescription drug programs and programs to help manage patient health. Merck-Medco sells its services to corporations, labor unions and insurance companies. Merck Pharmaceuticals consists of therapeutic and preventive agents, generally sold by prescription, for the treatment of human disorders. The Company's human health products are sold to drug wholesalers and retailers, hospitals, clinics, government agencies, and managed care providers.
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is the world business organization, the only representative body that speaks with authority on behalf of enterprises from all sectors in every part of the world. ICC promotes an open international trade and investment system and the market economy. Its conviction that trade is a powerful force for peace and prosperity dates from the organization's origins early in the century. The small group of business leaders who founded the ICC called themselves "the merchants of peace".
Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Palo Alto, USA, Sun Microsystems manufactures computer workstations,
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Johnson and Johnson is a manufacturer of health care products serving the consumer, pharmaceutical and professional markets. For the nine months ended 10/3/99, revenues increased 17% to $20.24 billion. Net income increased 14% to $3.38 billion.
Broker-dealer and futures commission merchant specializing in investment, finance, research, mergers and acquisitions.