The non-profit non-partisan Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has launched a spanking-new website.
According to its Executive Director (John Stauber) - in an e-mail communication this afternoon - CMD has breathed life into the online forum to "safeguard the fairness and integrity of US elections by using the power of citizen journalism."
What Mr. Stauber and his staff describe as an "Election Protection Wiki" is now online for web surfers to take a gander at.
The organizers assert that the ultimate goal is to ensure that citizens, journalists and government officials are able to actively monitor the electoral process in all fifty states and the District of Columbia in the upcoming election.
CMD (Center for Media Democracy) and its community of volunteer editors will continue to improve, expand and update the welcome new offering beyond election day on November 4th.
The Election Protection "Wiki" is part of CMD's award-winning SourceWatch.org website and operates on wiki software which allows anyone who registers on the website to participate in creating and updating articles.
SourceWatch contains in-depth articles on every member of (and most candidates for) the US Congress at one of their sites (Congresspedia.org).
CMD has employed both professional and volunteer editors to ensure articles are accurate, fully documented and fair.
According to sources, CMD is not affiliated with any political party.On record, though, CMD has not pretended to lack opinions or a point of view.
For example, the organizers have openly stated their opposition to "the barriers and distortions of the modern information environment that stem from government and corporate-dominated hierarchical media."
Sources confirm that CMD favors "grassroots citizen activism that promotes public health, economic justice, ecological sustainability and human rights."
Allegedly CMD does not accept corporate, labor union or government grants and maintains a lists of financial supporters on its website.
One vocal critic, ActivistCash.com (a website run by the Center for Consumer Freedom) describes the Center for Media and Democracy as "a counterculture public relations effort disguised as an independent media organization.
On the other hand, CMD has labelled - activistCash.com - "a front group for the restaurant, alcohol and tobacco industries."
In their news release, CMD asserts that it was prompted undertake the current task because past elections have been rife with upsets that have sparked controversies and disputes which have given rise to voter discontent.
Since that time, however, scores of individuals have been working tirelessly to reform US elections. Part of the exhaustive process has been to issue in-depth reports and information relevant to the issues on topics such as electronic voting machines, voter suppression campaigns and student voting rights.
However - because the information has oftentimes been spread across a myriad of websites, news sources and databases - CMD elected to take it upon themselves to launch the new site to unite forces in one fell swoop.
In sum, the "Election Protection Wiki" hopes to provide a single web portal for accessing data - that is promised to be - straightforward, comprehensive, reliable, and unbiased in content.
Because the information is non-partisan and factual - anyone of any political persuasion will be able to access the data - or use it to protect the rights of American voters in the future, CMD contends.
Check it out!
ElectionProtectionWiki.org
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