Unveiling the Source
Who's behind the curtain?
Before you accept any information at face value, answer these three questions:
- Who is the publisher (i.e. the source)?
- Who is the sponsor (oftentimes the owner of the publisher)?
- Who is paying for the dissemination of the information?
Identifying a sponsor takes some digging, but it can be worthwhile, and sometimes surprising. A useful tool for discovering who owns what media outlet is the Columbia Journalism Review. The Library's Mergent Online database is useful for investigating corporate affiliations and identifying company executives.
- You may be surprised to learn that the NBC network is owned by General Electric, a company that makes both electric lamps and aircraft engines. If NBC reports on the aircraft industry, should we question their bias?
Here are some examples ofsponsors of popular sources.
Source |
Sponsor |
Principal Concern |
Responsible Party (Sponsor's Leader) |
Location |
NBC |
80%-owned by GE, 20% controlled by Vivendi Universal |
electrical appliances, aircraft engines and engine parts, television broadcasting |
Jeffrey Immelt, Chairman of the Board & C.E.O., General Electric Corp. |
USA |
Lancet |
subscribers, advertisers |
medicine and health |
Richard Horton, Editor, Lancet |
UK |
Fox |
News Corp |
newspaper, periodical, TV, cable, and motion picture publishing |
Rupert Murdoch, Chairman of the Board, C.E.O. & Subsidiary Officer, News Corp |
Originally, Australia. As of 2004, USA. |
GAO |
US taxpayers |
oversight of public funds |
David M. Walker, Comptroller General, USA |
USA |
CNN |
Time Warner |
motion picture and video production, cable networks |
Richard Parsons, C.E.O., Time Warner |
USA |
PBS |
Member stations that are funded by listeners, viewers, and corporate sponsors, and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). CPB is funded by US taxpayers. |
public television and radio programming |
Cheryl Halpern, Chairman, CPB Board of Directors |
USA |
JAMA |
American Medical Association, subscribers, advertisers |
medicine and health |
William G. Plested III, President, American Medical Association |
USA |
Continue to The "Who Clue">
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