New York Times Investigation Finds Think Tanks Influenced by Corporate Donations

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Mina Kim

Aug 12, 2016 at

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Cash from developers, drone makers and other corporations is influencing research and political agendas at the Brookings Institution and other large think tanks, according to a New York Times investigation. The report, which Brookings and other think tanks strongly dispute, found that think tanks sometimes do not disclose their funding sources or the industry affiliations of their researchers, and in some cases confer “nonresident scholar” status on lobbyists. We discuss how think tanks are funded and their role in public discourse.

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How Think Tanks Amplify Corporate America’s Influence (NYTimes.com)
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New York Times Allegations and Our Response: A Message from Strobe Talbott, President of Brookings (Brookings.edu)

Guests:

Eric Lipton , reporter, New York Times

James McGann, director, Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, University of Pennsylvania

Bruce Katz , centennial scholar, Brookings Institution

Heath Brown, professor of public policy, John Jay College of Criminal Justice at City University of New York; author of "Pay-to-Play Politics: How Money Defines the American Democracy"

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