Steven Harkins, Melissa Jones, David Miller

29 November 2010

Helen Disney, the Chief Executive of the Stockholm Network, the private company that coordinates the work of more than 100 free-market think tanks argues in a letter to the British Medical Journal that 'funding sources for research carried out by policymaking organisations such as think tanks ought to be transparent wherever possible'.

She claims that 'we list all sponsors on our website and in our annual reports' and the funding of the Network is 'openly declared'.

In fact, Disney does not publicly disclose how much money her company gets from Pfizer, GSK or Merck or the rest of the corporate interests that bankroll her operation.

This raises questions over how closely the research produced by the Stockholm Network correlates to the commercial interests of its sponsors.

Disney advocates transparency yet the Stockholm Network chief executive and her staff have made repeated edits to remove material from Wikipedia about their organisation. This includes mention of think tanks leaving the Network, and links to articles such as by Corporate Europe Observatory, which had reported that the Network had responded 'seriously' to its 2005 EU funding transparency survey '...but with a remarkable determination to avoid naming funders' .

Powerbase is, as Disney notes, a project of the non-profit organisation Spinwatch, set up to promote transparency and shine a light on issues, people and groups shaping the public agenda. It is not anti- think tank or ideologically opposed as Disney contends but rather believes it is valid to investigate potential conflicts of interest and to ask in whose interests think tanks operate? That is why Spinwatch is pushing for think tanks to be included (alongside PR and lobbying companies) on the statutory register of lobbyists the coalition government is committed to introducing.

Disney also asserts SpinWatch is 'funded by a number of foundations with an explicit anti-globalisation agenda'. In fact, our main current funders include the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, the Roddick Foundation and Network for Social Change, none of whom hold such a stance. Another key funder, the Isvara Foundation, has 'a deep commitment to globalisation from below', and a strong focus on corporate accountability and lobbying transparency. As is proper, SpinWatch publishes a full list of funders, including amounts, on its website. In the interests of transparency the Stockholm Network should do the same.

First published in the BMJ 29 November 2010 (Rapid Responses). Re: Legitimacy of think tanks / The Stockholm Network.

Harkins, et al. 341:doi:10.1136/bmj.c6413   Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

References:
Centre for Responsive Politics, Lobbying: Pfizer Inc, Opensecrets.org, URL: http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmsum.php?lname=Pfizer+Inc&year=2009,
HDisney, Revision as of 13:28 7-August-2008, Wikipedia, 7-August- 2008, URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stockholm_Network&action=historysubmit&diff=230401827&oldid=228369798, Accessed 18-November-2010
HDisney, HDisney, Revision as of 15:25, 20-January-2009, Wikipedia, 20-January-2009, URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stockholm_Network&diff=prev&oldid=265296778, Accessed 18-November-2010
Stockholm Network, Revision as of 15:52, Wikipedia, 18 July 2008, URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Stockholm_Network&diff=next&oldid=226458158
Corporate Europe Observatory, Transparency unthinkable? Financial secrecy common among EU think tanks, Corporate Europe Observatory, July 2005, URL: http://archive.corporateeurope.org/thinktanksurvey.html#note25,