Media Relations

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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George Boole

b. Nov. 2, 1815, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England
d. Dec. 8, 1864, Ballintemple, County Cork, Ireland

English mathematician who helped establish modern symbolic logic and whose algebra of logic, now called Boolean algebra, is basic to the design of digital computer circuits. One of the first Englishmen to write on logic, Boole pointed out the analogy between the algebraic symbols and those that can represent logical forms and syllogisms, showing how the symbols of quantity can be separated from those of operation. With Boole in 1847 and 1854 began the algebra of logic, or what is now called Boolean algebra. It is basically two-valued in that it involves a subdivision of objects into separate classes, each with a given property. Different classes can then be treated as to the presence or absence of the same property.


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Charles Babbage

b. December 26, 1791, London, England
d. October 18, 1871, London, England

English mathematician and inventor who is credited with having conceived the first automatic digital computer. The idea of mechanically calculating mathematical tables first came to Babbage in 1812 or 1813. Later he made a small calculator that could perform certain mathematical computations to eight decimals. During the mid-1830s Babbage developed plans for the so-called analytical engine, the forerunner of the modern digital computer. In this device he envisioned the capability of performing any arithmetical operation on the basis of instructions from punched cards, a memory unit in which to store numbers, sequential control, and most of the other basic elements of the present-day computer.

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