A group calling itself the Consumers Rights League ran a full-page advertisement July 17 on page 5B of USA Today arguing against a bill before Congress it says will "pickpocket consumers" at the gas pump. A compelling topic these days, right? The ad implies the bill, H.R. 5546, called the Credit Card Fair Fee Act by its sponsors, is anti-consumer (the same public position taken, incidentally, by Visa International). The "Consumers Rights League" doesn't say on its Web site, however, that it was started by Terry L. Kibbe, a former chief fundraiser for the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Cato Institute. A March article in Forbes mentions the group's origins and Kibbe, but no details on her resume, while noting her criticism of Self-Help Credit Union, the North Carolina-based relative of the Center for Responsible Lending, which advocates against payday loans. The Consumers Rights League Web site also contains several examples of anti-consumer-group rhetoric, but discloses no information about the group's funding, the site's origins or who runs it. A June research report on the site appears to argue on behalf of the credit card industry: "Most importantly, credit cards can provide inexpensive access to credit for low-income Americans, many of whom take advantage of 0% and low-interest rates to pay down debt," is one example.
-- A Full Frontal Scrutiny original report

For millions of Internet users, the collaborative online encyclopedia Wikipedia serves as a trusted information resource, its articles covering more topics than most can imagine -- almost 2.2 million entries in English alone. Wikipedia's own readers, their expertise and their dynamic scrutiny help maintain the site's accuracy, as well as the neutrality vital to its reputation.

At least, that is how Wikipedia is supposed to operate.

In December 2007 the giant wisdom-of-the-commons encyclopedia was the Web's 8th-most visited site, according to Alexa data. Type just about any proper noun into a major search engine and a Wikipedia entry about it will probably pop up in the first page of results.

But despite all the eyeballs scanning it, and the efforts of a large volunteer work force, Wikipedia has become something of a battleground for the truth, or, at least, a kind of operating history. Beyond Wiki-debates churning daily about obviously controversial topics such as abortion or gun control, or the biographies of U.S. presidential candidates, Wikipedia's articles are becoming targets for anyone with a stake in making sure history unfolds according to proper talking points.

The earliest documented example of a "front group" was the the work of Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud who is widely considered the "father of public relations." Bernays began working as a press agent for theatres, hotels and other businesses in 1913. At the time, he was editor of the Medical Review of Reviews, a monthly magazine owned by a college acquaintance. He discovered that the then-famous actor Richard Bennett was interested in producing a play titled "Damaged Goods," which Bernays described as "a propaganda play that fought for sex education." It discussed sexual topics, such as prostitution, that were considered unusually frank for their day. Bennett was afraid that the play would be raided by police, and he hired Bernays to prevent this from happening. Rather than arguing for the play on its merits, Bernays cleverly organized a group that he called the "Medical Review of Reviews Sociological Fund," inviting prominent doctors and members of the social elite to join. The organization's avowed mission was to fight venereal disease through education. Its real purpose was to make "Damaged Goods" acceptable to the public, and apparently the plan worked. The show went on as scheduled, with no interference from police.

"This was a pioneering move that is common today in the promotion of public causes -- a prestigious sponsoring committee," notes PR industry historian Scott Cutlip. "In retrospect, given the history of public relations, it might be termed the first effort to use the front or third party technique." It was a technique that Bernays would return to time and again, calling it "the most useful method in a multiple society like ours to indicate the support of an idea of the many varied elements that make up our society. Opinion leaders and group leaders have an effect in a democracy and stand as symbols to their constituency."