Sheldon Rampton

Sheldon Rampton is the research director for the Center for Media & Democracy. A graduate of Princeton University, he has a diverse background as newspaper reporter, activist and author. In college, he studied writing under Joyce Carol Oates, E.L. Doctorow and John McPhee. He is the co-author with (Liz Chilsen) of the 1988 book Friends In Deed: the Story of US-Nicaragua Sister Cities and has worked closely since 1985 with the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua (WCCN). Prior to joining the Center for Media and Democracy, he worked for WCCN as outreach coordinator for the NICA Fund, a project that since 1992 has channeled more than $7 million in loans from socially responsible U.S. investors to support economic development efforts in low-income Central American communities. Since joining CMD, he has collaborated with John Stauber as co-author of six books:

• Toxic Sludge Is Good For You! Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry’’ (1995)
• Mad Cow U.S.A.: Could the Nightmare Happen Here? (1997)
• Trust Us, We’re Experts! How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles With Your Future (2001)
• Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush’s War on Iraq (2003)
• Banana Republicans: How the Right Wing Is Turning America Into a One-Party State (2004)
• The Best War Ever: Lies, Damned Lies and the Mess in Iraq (2006)

Rampton also designed and oversees SourceWatch, CMD’s online “encyclopedia of people, organizations and issues shaping the public agenda.” He has written numerous articles for publications including Harper’s Magazine, The Nation and In These Times, and has been interviewed or quoted in media including the New York Times, MSNBC and the Washington Post. Born in 1957, he is a native of Las Vegas, Nevada and currently lives in Portage, Wisconsin. He is married and is the adoptive father of three misbehaving cats.

• Sheldon Rampton’s blog