Public Knowledge: We're Radical Socialists, Dammit!
April 1, 2010
| 1:37 PM
What's the best way to rake in donations? Public Knowledge thinks portraying itself as a radical group fighting big media conglomerates helps -- even as it quietly accepts corporate sponsorships. In its latest fundraising solicitation, the consumer advocacy group claims that communications giants are "on the war path" against it, branding the nonprofit as "pirates," "radicals" and "socialists." As evidence, it links to critical FCC filings and an essay penned by a detractor. Problem is, a close inspection of those documents doesn't substantiate the name calling. In fact, the nearest anyone comes to using the S-word is to reference an interview the founder of a related watchdog, Free Press, gave to a socialist organization. "We have been under constant attack by industry and their funded bloggers and think tanks," responded Gigi Sohn, the president of Public Knowledge, whose corporate benefactors include Comcast, Microsoft and Time Warner Cable. "If anything, our message understates the ferocity of these attacks." Send a donation and receive a free t-shirt featuring Legal Director Harold Feld, who circulated the solicitation, posing as Che Guevara.
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