News Releases

  • Death Penalty

    Gary Graham is scheduled to be executed at 7 P.M. Eastern Time. The following analysts and critics of the death penalty are available for interviews: WILLIAM HARRELL Executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, Harrell said today: “We are outraged by the board’s failure to halt this execution. The judicial system has failed us, the Board of Pardons and Paroles has failed us and the governor has failed us. This is the greatest proof that the time for a moratorium on executions in Texas is now.” The president of the board of the ACLU of Texas, Greg…


  • “Prosperity and Progress”?

    Inequalities, Health-Care Coverage, Estate Tax CHARLES ANDREWS The author of the forthcoming From Capitalism to Equality, Andrews said today: “Before we celebrate the economy’s alleged prosperity and progress, we should tally the exhaustion it is causing. The average husband-and-wife family works six hours today for every five hours worked in 1979. The percentage of employees who work 49 hours a week or more rose from 13 percent in 1976 to 20 percent today. If there is a bit of prosperity today in our role as consumers, the deeper truth is that today’s economy consumes people’s lives.” SARA NICHOLS National spokesperson…


  • Interviews Available: Father’s Day

    WILL GLENNON Glennon is author of Fathering: Strengthening Connection with Your Children No Matter Where They Are, for which he interviewed 180 fathers, aged 15 to 87, almost all of whom cried during their interviews. He said today: “Fathers need to get deeply engaged in the upbringing of their children. Fathers don’t want to be isolated, children don’t want them to be disconnected and mothers don’t want them to be absent — physically or emotionally. But we have patterns of how we raise our children which keep fathers distant, cost them emotionally, cause pain in their relationships, making boys more…


  • Arafat’s Visit to U.S.

    The following analysts are available for interviews about the U.S. visit by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat scheduled to begin on Wednesday: NASEER ARURI Professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, former board member of Amnesty International and author of The Obstruction of Peace: The U.S., Israel, and the Palestinians, Aruri said today: “The approach of Syria’s Hafez Assad toward Israel was based on equality, land for peace, an international framework, and normalization with Israel after it fully withdraws from occupied territory. By contrast, Arafat’s approach — despite lip service to the contrary — is open-ended. It would…


  • Study Finds Conservative Think Tanks Predominant

    Brookings Leads; Left-of-Center Think Tanks Decrease WASHINGTON — A study released today found that conservative think tanks and the centrist Brookings Institution dominated much of the national media debate last year. Of the 25 leading think tanks studied, Brookings had the most citations (2,883), twice as many media mentions as the next-ranked conservative/libertarian Cato Institute (1,428 cites). The conservative Heritage Foundation, which had rivaled Brookings in prominence a few years ago, has fallen to third place (1,419 cites), while the conservative American Enterprise Institute (1,263 cites) is the fourth most cited think tank in the U.S. media. These four think…


  • Analysts Available on Microsoft Decision

    The following analysts are available to comment on the Microsoft decision: NORMAN HAWKER Hawker is a law professor at Western Michigan University specializing in antitrust issues. JUDY SLOAN Sloan is a professor at Southwestern University Law School in Los Angeles. ROBERT LANDE Lande is senior research scholar at the American Antitrust Institute and professor of law at the University of Baltimore. More Information For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167 More Information More Information


  • Interviews Available on Germany and Russia

    MARTIN A. LEE Author of The Beast Reawakens, a book on neofascism, Lee said today: “President Clinton’s visit to Germany comes at a time when that country is mired in a major political scandal, involving secret slush funds and illegal influence-peddling by big business. The scandal has resulted in the fall from grace of former Chancellor Helmut Kohl and several other leaders of the Christian Democratic Union, now the main opposition party in Germany. Thus far, U.S. officials have yet to acknowledge the role that the U.S. government played in setting the stage for this scandal. For years, Washington turned…


  • Interviews on “Missile Defense”

    WILLIAM HARTUNG Senior research fellow at the World Policy Institute and co-author of the recent report “Tangled Web: The Marketing of Missile Defense, 1994-2000,” Hartung said today: “In its ongoing effort to ‘triangulate’ by co-opting Republican issues, the Clinton administration has met right-wing missile defense boosters more than half way. Meanwhile, Republicans have stepped up their calls for an elaborate, multi-tiered system akin to Ronald Reagan’s ill-fated Star Wars scheme. The nation’s four major missile contractors — Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon and TRW — are looking to missile defense to revive them from mismanagement and technical problems that have slashed…


  • United – U.S. Airways

    United Airlines said today it intends to buy U.S. Airways. The following analysts are available for interviews: PAUL HUDSON Executive director of the Aviation Consumer Action Project, Hudson said today: “If this merger is approved without major divesting of routes and other restrictions, the ‘Big Six’ will quickly become the ‘Big Three’ and U.S. airline passengers will be the major losers. No airline should control more than 25 percent to 30 percent of the nation’s airline seats or over 40 percent of seats in a particular region. This merger would give United dominant control of most routes in the Northeast…


  • Interviews Available on International Issues

    SIMONA SHARONI Author of Gender and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Sharoni is currently a professor at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She said today: “If there is any relationship between the recent mini-intifada and the negotiations, it is that the two issues that have been central to the protests — the Palestinian refugees and the release of political prisoners — have not been seriously addressed. Those who are familiar with the Oslo Accords, its supplements and its rocky implementation should not be surprised that Palestinians have once again taken to the streets…. If Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon is designed to…


  • Independence Day: Interviews Available

    CECILIA O’LEARY Associate professor of history at California State University at Monterey Bay and author of To Die For: The Paradox of American Patriotism, O’Leary said today: “Under the banner of patriotism, the right has successfully institutionalized repressive policies and justified an occupation of Iraq with no end in sight. Aspirations for American empire are…

  • * Fed Rate * World Bank Reform? * Homeland Profits? * Free Trade in Canadian Drugs and Internet Music

    ELLEN FRANK Professor of economics at Emmanuel College in Boston and author of the forthcoming Money Illusions: The Rise of Finance and the End of Economic Policy, Frank said today: “The fact that this Fed has cut rates this low indicates that they are concerned about a prolonged economic slump setting off deflation. If prices…

  • * Estate Tax * Minimum Wage * Housing Crisis

    CHUCK COLLINS Today the House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a permanent repeal of the estate tax. Collins is co-founder of United for a Fair Economy and co-author, with William Gates Sr., of Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes. Collins said today: “The bill to permanently repeal the federal…

  • * Mideast ‘Honest Broker’? * Iraq Turmoil * Iran

    CHRIS TOENSING CATHERINE COOK Toensing and Cook are with the Middle East Research and Information Project based in Washington. They can discuss the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. More Information BRIAN AVERY An activist with the International Solidarity Movement, Avery has just returned to South Carolina. Two months ago in the West…

  • * Iraq’s WMD * Israel’s Nukes * ‘Terrorism’

    RAHUL MAHAJAN Mahajan is the co-author of an op-ed published today in USA Today titled “End the Deception” and author of the forthcoming book Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond. He was featured in an IPA news release on March 18, 2003 titled “White House Claims: A Pattern of Deceit,” which noted…

  • Interviews Available on Bush in the Mideast

    SAMIH FARSOUN Author of Palestine and the Palestinians and professor of sociology at American University, Farsoun is available for interviews about Bush’s trip to the Mideast, as well as the region’s political and economic development. SIMONA SHARONI Sharoni is professor of peace and conflict studies and Middle East politics at Evergreen State College and executive…

  • Bush’s G8 Trip

    SALIH BOOKER Booker, the executive director of Africa Action, said today: “In the G8 Summit, Africa will come up once more to be used for purposes of spin — to make the claim that rich Western countries are compassionate and caring. Unfortunately, the track record suggests this is unlikely to be anything more than a…

  • Interviews Available: FCC’s Big Grab?

    JANINE JACKSON Jackson is program director of the media watch group FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting), which has objected to the FCC’s proposed rule changes, scheduled to be voted on June 2. The FCC proposals would allow further media consolidation, including cross-ownership between newspapers and TV stations in the same market. More Information ROBERT…

  • Agenda-Building on Iran

    ROSS POURZAL A Washington-based political analyst who is active with the Alliance of Progressive Iranians, Pourzal said today: “A reduction in Iran’s adventurism, evidenced by closer ties to the European Union, has met with increased U.S. extremism, driven by the Pentagon. This is persuading Iran that it needs a nuclear deterrent. The White House is…

  • Interviews Available: Ending Iraq Sanctions

    JAMES PAUL Executive director of the Global Policy Forum, which monitors policy-making at the United Nations, Paul is author of the report “Oil in Iraq: The Heart of the Crisis.” Paul said today: “The United States has bullied support from an unhappy and reluctant Security Council. The resolution … gives legitimacy to the occupation authorities,…

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