Alan Caruba 5175382 180285051 2007-12-26T18:30:27Z MercolaOverMerck 5584257 rvt poor edits [[Image:Alancaruba.jpg|thumb|125px|Alan Caruba (SourceWatch)]] '''Alan Caruba''' (b. Oct. 9, 1937) is a [[public relations]] counselor and [[freelance]] writer who is a frequent critic of [[environmentalism]], [[Islam]] and [[global warming skeptic|global warming]]. ==Career== In the late 1970s Caruba founded the PR firm The Caruba Organization, and in 1990, the [[National Anxiety Center]], which identifies itself as "a [[Clearing house|clearinghouse]] for information about '[[Alarmism|scare]] campaigns' designed to influence public policy and opinion" on such subjects as [[global warming]], [[ozone hole|ozone depletion]] and [[DDT]].<ref name=NACAbout>Alan Caruba, [http://www.anxietycenter.com/about.htm "About the Center"], National Anxiety Center, accessed [[June 27]], [[2007]].</ref><ref name=WRPH>Alan Caruba, [http://www.caruba.com/where.htm "Where Read. Where Published. Where Heard"], The Caruba Organization, accessed [[June 27]], [[2007]].</ref><ref name=CO>Alan Caruba, [http://www.caruba.com/credentials.htm "Caruba's credentials"], The Caruba Organization, accessed [[June 25]], [[2007]].</ref> From 1984 until 2004, he ran [[The Boring Institute]], a "spoof" satirizing the [[mass media|media]] by releasing annual lists of the year's "boring" celebrities.<ref name=Ardell>Donald B. Ardell, [http://www.seekwellness.com/wellness/interviews/caruba.htm "An interview with Alan Caruba"], online posting, [[Seekwellness.com]], [[June 2001]], accessed [[June 25]], [[2007]]</ref> From 1994 until 2004, he was director of communications for the [[Tom DeWeese|American Policy Center]].<ref name=CO/> He is an adjunct [[scholar]] at the [[Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise]], a [[wise use]] [[think tank]] in [[Bellevue, Washington]].<ref name=CO/><ref name=CDFE>See also [http://www.cdfe.org/staff.htm "Leaders and Advisors"], [[Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise]], accessed [[June 25]], [[2007]].</ref> Caruba's clients have included [[corporation]]s, [[publisher]]s, [[think tank]]s, [[trade association]]s, [[chemical]] and [[pharmaceutical]] companies and other organizations.<ref name=CO/><ref>Alan Caruba, [http://web.archive.org/web/20000818061355/www.caruba.com/credentials.htm "Caruba's credentials"], The Caruba Organization, [[November 16]], [[2000]], archived version, [[Internet Archive]], accessed [[June 26]], [[2007]].</ref> In the 1970s he "helped introduce" the [[insecticide]] [[bendiocarb|Ficam]].<ref>Alan Caruba, [http://www.anxietycenter.com/warning/v7n23.htm "Warning signs: Bugs! Spray or pay?"], National Anxiety Center, [[June 8]], [[2005]]</ref> Since the late 1980s, he has been the PR counselor for the [[New Jersey Pest Management Association]].<ref name=CO/> Former clients include [[Hyatt Hotels]] and chemical companies Van Waters & Rogers and [[BFC Chemicals]].<ref name=AA> [http://www.pmdocs.com/PDF/2025046764_6765_0.PDF "Caruba offering clients access to Japan market"], ''[[Advertising Age]]'', [[October 4]], [[1982]], rpt. as "Document No. 2025046764/6765" (page 2), in ''[[Philip Morris]] Documents'', accessed [[June 25]], [[2007]]</ref> He identifies himself as a "founding member" and "[[Charter#Charter member | charter member]]" of the [[National Book Critics Circle]], that is, a member since its founding in 1974.<ref name=WRPH/><ref name=NBCC>[http://www.bookcritics.org/?go=membership "Membership"], [[National Book Critics Circle]], accessed [[June 28]], [[2007]].</ref> Caruba is also a member of the [[Society of Professional Journalists]], [[American Society of Journalists and Authors]] and the [[National Association of Science Writers]].<ref name=CO/><ref name=Carreply1>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1295/is_12_63/ai_57828423 "Letter to the editor"], ''[[The Progressive]]'', December 1999, [[findarticles.com]], accessed [[June 26]], [[2007]].</ref> ==Views== Caruba writes on a variety of topics including energy issues, education, the [[United Nations]], and popular culture. He has claimed that global warming is a "[[global warming conspiracy theory|hoax]]" and criticized many other claims made by environmentalists. Caruba initially supported the [[George W. Bush administration|Bush administration]]'s [[Iraq War|war with Iraq]], but has since written to express a note of caution regarding the hoped-for outcome.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} He has written that he believes that: {{cquote|<blockquote>The whole of America, Europe and other nations that are the engines of the global economy, has been under attack by the environmentalists because an evil, corrupt United Nations wants to be an unelected global government and we stand in their way. This is why the worldwide environmental movement is directed from the United Nations. Behind the United Nations are those who subscribe still to the failed economic theories of Marxism and who hate the success of the United States and others who have embraced capitalism…They are the ones seeking to destroy the sovereignty of the United States by stealth, creating a North American Union to merge our nation with Canada and Mexico, sinking the individual protections afforded by our Constitution into a morass of regulations over which there will be no vote by Americans. Global warming is the mask, the charade, the Big Lie by which the destruction of the United States of America is being advanced.<ref>Alan Caruba, [http://www.anxietycenter.com/warning/v9n1.htm "Warning Signs: "Global warming on steroids"], National Anxiety Center, [[January 3]], [[2007]].</ref></blockquote>}} ==Publications== In the 1970s Caruba published a book of [[poetry]] ([[Pocket Books]]) and a novel ([[Dell Publishing]]){{Fact|date=October 2007}}, along with two book collections of his commentaries -- ''Warning Signs'' (2003) and ''Right Answers'' (2006), both published by [[Morrill Press]]. He also maintains Bookviews.com, a website devoted to new fiction and non-fiction. Under the auspices of the National Anxiety Center, Caruba writes a weekly column called "Warning Signs", which his company says is widely excerpted on such [[Conservatism|conservative]] news and opinion websites as [[CNSNews.com]], the [[Free Market News Network]], and [[Axcess News]].<ref name=WRPH/> Caruba also contributes opinion pieces to consumer and trade magazines and newspapers such as ''[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]'', ''[[The Providence Journal]]'', and ''[[The Washington Times]]''.<ref name=CO/> ==Criticism== Caruba's views on environmental issues are generally contrary to the mainstream scientific consensus, and critics have called him an "industry shill" and a "flack."<ref name=RamptonStauber>E.g., [[Sheldon Rampton]] and [[John Stauber]], "Flack Attack: Industry PR guys invent a 'green genocide agenda'", ''[[The Progressive]]'', [[October 1999]]: "Small amounts of [[bisphenol A]], a clear and rigid plastic used in the manufacture of baby bottles made from [[polycarbonate]], leach out of the plastic and can end up in milk fed to babies".</ref><ref name=Carreply2>For further responses to Rampton and Stauber, see Alan Caruba, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1295/is_12_63/ai_57828423 "Letter to the editor"], ''[[The Progressive]]'', [[December 1999]], via findarticles.com, accessed [[June 26]], [[2007]].</ref><ref name=EP>Alan Caruba, [http://www.energypulse.net/centers/article/article_display.cfm?a_id=1415 "Achieving energy independence"], EnergyPulse.net, [[January 31]], [[2007]], inc. comments.<!--Dubious source according to [[Wikipedia:Reliable sources]]; self-published website/blog w/ online posts from unknown anonymous sources.--></ref><ref name=exxonsecrets>[http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/personfactsheet.php?id=1042 "FactSheet: Alan Caruba"], [[ExxonSecrets.org]], accessed [[June 26]], [[2007]]</ref> Some have accused him of blurring the ethical line between his writings as an "independent" [[journalist]] and commentator and his own [[Public relations|public relations]] business activities and self-interest.<ref name=exxonsecrets/> His [[website]] for his [[Public relations|PR]] business, The Caruba Organization, features a link to his weekly online column "Warning Signs",<ref name=WRPH/> published on his website for the [[National Anxiety Center]], which "operates under the aegis of the Caruba Organization."<ref name=NACAbout/> In an interview published in ''[[PR News]]'', when asked "But aren't you using the press to generate publicity for yourself?", Caruba responded: {{cquote|<blockquote>To some extent, yes, but mostly [[The Boring Institute]] and other creations such as the National Anxiety Center are, for me, a PR exercise. They satirize the [[mass media|media]] in general and the process by which news is determined. Frankly, many in today’s print and broadcast media are utterly, totally dependent on PR people. They could not function without us. Too much of what passes for news today lacks depth, insight or value.<ref>Alan Caruba, [http://web.archive.org/web/19990203050831/www.caruba.com/feature-5.html "The PR news interview: Alan Caruba on The Boring Institute, Dennis Rodman and other pressing issues"], [http://www.prandmarketing.com/ PR News Online], ([[December 30]], [[1996]])</ref></blockquote>}} While representing pesticide industry clients in his [[public relations]] business,<ref name=CO/> Caruba has published a series of pro-pesticide columns.<ref>E.g., Alan Caruba, [http://anxietycenter.com/warning/v9n11.htm "Warning Signs: The new dark age"], National Anxiety Center, [[March 14]], [[2007]]; [http://www.cnsnews.com/news/viewstory.asp?Page=/Commentary/archive/200704/COM20070409e.html "Warning Signs: The war on America's lawns"], rpt. in ''[[CNSNews.com]]'', [[April 9]], [[2007]]; both accessed [[June 25]],[[2007]].</ref> [[SourceWatch]] criticized Caruba for defending [[columnist]] [[Michael Fumento]] when he was dropped by [[Scripps Howard|Scripps Howard News Service]] after ''[[Business Week]]'' revealed Fumento had not properly disclosed his ties to biotech giant [[Monsanto]].<ref name=AC>[http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Al_Caruba "Alan Caruba"] profile in [[SourceWatch]], accessed [[June 26]], [[2006]].</ref><ref>[[Sheldon Rampton]] and [[John Stauber]], [http://www.prwatch.org/books/experts.html ''Trust Us, We're Experts: How Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future''] (New York: Tarcher/Penguin [Penguin USA]), 2001), ISBN 1-58542-139-1</ref> Scripps featured several pro-biotech and pro-Monsanto columns by Fumento before his [[conflict of interest]] was uncovered, but after its disclosure, Caruba still justified Fumento's actions: "Suffice it to say that even writers need to eat and pay the rent," going on to characterize SourceWatch as "a [[Left-wing politics|left-wing]] organization that devotes a lot of time to attacking the public relations profession in general and conservative writers in particular."<ref>Alan Caruba [http://www.anxietycenter.com/warning/v8n5.htm "Warning Signs: Smearing conservative writers"], National Anxiety Center, [[February 1]], [[2006]], accessed [[June 26]], [[2007]]</ref> Although SourceWatch editor [[Bob Burton]] has called into question the factual accuracy of some of Caruba's articles, Caruba has not withdrawn or altered any of his weekly commentaries. According to Burton, in 2006, while Caruba was engaged in protracted disagreements with ''SourceWatch'' and its parent company [[Center for Media and Democracy]], he "impl[ied] that the book [[Mad Cow USA]], co-authored by CMD's [[John Stauber]] and [[Sheldon Ramption]], is irrational and extremist since, according to Caruba, 'there has never been a case of [[mad cow disease|this disease]] in the U.S.A.'"<ref name=Burton>[[Bob Burton]], [http://www.prwatch.org/node/4441 "Anxious Al Caruba"], [[Center for Media and Democracy]] blog, [[February 7]], [[2006]]</ref> Burton also cites Caruba's view that "Members of the public who support organizations like CMD ... have been so 'intensely propagandized' that they 'believe that [[global warming]] [aka "[[climate change]]"] is something other than a normal [[climate]] cycle.'"<ref name=Burton/> ==Published works== *{{cite book | last = Caruba | first = Alan | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Warning Signs | publisher = [[Merrill Press]] | date = 2003 | location = [[Bellevue, Washington]] | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 0936783354}} *{{cite book | last = Caruba | first = Alan | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Right Answers | publisher = Merrill Press | date = 2006 | location = Bellevue, Washington | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0936783482}} ==References== {{Reflist|2}} ==External links== *[http://www.caruba.com The Caruba Organization] *[http://www.anxietycenter.com National Anxiety Center] *[http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/ Al Caruba's blog] *[http://www.theconservativevoice.com/profile/2678/Alan-Caruba.html ''The Conservative Voice'' profile and article index] *[http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Al_Caruba SourceWatch.com profile] *[http://www.energypulse.net/centers/author.cfm?at_id=204 EnergyPulse.net profile and article index] {{DEFAULTSORT:Caruba, Alan}} [[Category:Ozone hole skeptics]] [[Category:Global warming skeptics]] [[Category:American columnists]] [[Category:Criticism of Islam]]