Media Capture and Control
The Media Capture and Control capture lane traces 618 verified events documenting this mechanism of institutional capture.
Top 10 actors in this lane
10 actors · 1836–2026
Capture lanecorruptiondemocraticexecutivefinancialintelligencejudiciallaborlegislativemediamilitaryotherregulatory
Status
confirmed
alleged
disputed
| Date | Event | Lanes | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-03-09 | Wisconsin Becomes 25th Right-to-Work State, Completing ALEC's Union Destruction Scott Walker · American Legislative Exchange Council · Scott Fitzgerald · Robin Vos · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2015-02-26 | FCC Votes 3-2 for Strong Net Neutrality Protections Through Title II Reclassification After Record Public Engagement Tom Wheeler · Federal Communications Commission · Ajit Pai · Michael O'Rielly · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2015-02-18 | LeeAnne Walters' Water Tests Show Lead at 104 ppb—Nearly 7 Times EPA Limit LeeAnne Walters · Marc Edwards · City of Flint · Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) | confirmed | |
| 2015-01-01 | ABC News kills Amy Robach interview with Virginia Giuffre about Epstein network Amy Robach · Virginia Giuffre · ABC News · Prince Andrew · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2015-01-01 | Eastern District of Texas Patent Troll Haven: Judge Rodney Gilstrap Handles 25% of All U.S. Patent Cases, Forum Shopping Peak Rodney Gilstrap · Eastern District of Texas · John Roberts · Lex Machina | confirmed | |
| 2014-11-28 | Amazon Workers in Germany Strike During Black Friday for Union Recognition Jeff Bezos · Amazon · Ver.di Union | confirmed | |
| 2014-08-16 | Gamergate Begins: 4chan Harassment Campaign Becomes Political Mobilization Blueprint Steve Bannon · Milo Yiannopoulos · Zoe Quinn | confirmed | |
| 2014-06-28 | Facebook Emotional Contagion Experiment Revealed Adam Kramer · Jamie Guillory · Jeff Hancock · Facebook · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2014-06-01 | SCL Elections Contracts with Kogan to Launch Cambridge Analytica Data Operation SCL Group · SCL Elections · Aleksandr Kogan · Global Science Research · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2013-09-30 | Darnell Earley Appointed as Flint Emergency Manager, Will Oversee Disastrous Water Switch Darnell Earley · Rick Snyder | confirmed | |
| 2013-09-17 | Brazil's President Cancels US State Visit Over NSA Spying on Dilma Rousseff Dilma Rousseff · Barack Obama · National Security Agency · Edward Snowden · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2013-08-24 | New York Attorney General Sues Trump University for $40 Million, Calls It "Straight Up Fraud" Eric Schneiderman · Donald Trump · Michael Sexton | confirmed | |
| 2013-08-05 | Jeff Bezos Purchases Washington Post for $250 Million Jeff Bezos · Donald Graham · Washington Post Company | confirmed | |
| 2013-08-01 | Retired General James Mattis Joins General Dynamics Board Five Months After Marine Corps Retirement James Mattis · General Dynamics · Marine Corps | confirmed | |
| 2013-07-01 | North Carolina Passes "Monster" Voter Suppression Law Hours After Shelby County Decision North Carolina General Assembly · Republican Party | confirmed | |
| 2013-06-23 | Snowden Flees Hong Kong for Moscow Seeking Asylum Amid U.S. Diplomatic Pressure Edward Snowden · WikiLeaks · Sarah Harrison · Hong Kong government · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2013-06-21 | Obama Prosecutes 8 Whistleblowers Under Espionage Act, More Than All Presidents Barack Obama · Eric Holder · Edward Snowden · Chelsea Manning · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2013-06-09 | Edward Snowden Reveals Identity as NSA Whistleblower in Hong Kong Video Edward Snowden · Glenn Greenwald · Laura Poitras | confirmed | |
| 2013-06-05 | Guardian Publishes First Snowden Leak on NSA Verizon Phone Records Collection Edward Snowden · Glenn Greenwald · National Security Agency · Verizon | confirmed | |
| 2013-06-01 | Justice O'Connor Expresses Regret Over Bush v. Gore Damage to Court Reputation Sandra Day O'Connor · U.S. Supreme Court · Bush v. Gore majority | confirmed | |
| 2013-05-02 | Obama Nominates Telecom Industry Lobbyist Tom Wheeler as FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler · Barack Obama · Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) · National Cable Television Association (NCTA) · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2013-01-14 | Jeffrey Sterling Indicted Under Espionage Act for Alleged Leak to James Risen Jeffrey Sterling · James Risen · Central Intelligence Agency · Obama Administration · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2013-01-01 | Four Firms Control 85%+ of Multiple U.S. Industries, Documenting Oligopolistic Market Structure Airlines · Telecom companies · Pharmaceutical companies · Agribusiness | confirmed | |
| 2013-01-01 | Kansas Implements Kris Kobach's Proof-of-Citizenship Voting Law and Expands Interstate Crosscheck Kris Kobach · Kansas Secretary of State | confirmed | |
| 2013-01-01 | Lance Wallnau Popularizes "Seven Mountains Mandate": The Theology of Institutional Capture Goes Mainstream Lance Wallnau · C. Peter Wagner · Loren Cunningham · Bill Bright | confirmed | |
| 2012-12-11 | Michigan Passes Right-to-Work in Lame Duck Surprise Using Verbatim ALEC Language Rick Snyder · American Legislative Exchange Council · Mackinac Center · Michigan GOP · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2012-11-06 | North Carolina Democrats Win Popular Vote But Lose 9 of 13 Congressional Seats Democratic Party · Republican Party · North Carolina General Assembly | confirmed | |
| 2012-10-01 | Reddit's "Manosphere" Reaches Critical Mass: r/TheRedPill and r/MensRights Become Gateway to White Nationalist Radicalization Reddit Inc. | confirmed | |
| 2012-05-04 | Heartland Institute Billboard Compares Climate Scientists to Unabomber Heartland Institute · Ted Kaczynski · James Sensenbrenner · State Farm · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2012-04-13 | Major Corporate Exodus from ALEC: Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Kraft, McDonald's, Wendy's, Mars, and Intuit Drop Membership After Public Pressure Campaign Color of Change · Coca-Cola · PepsiCo · Kraft Foods · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2012-02-01 | Indiana Becomes 23rd Right-to-Work State Using ALEC Model Legislation Mitch Daniels · American Legislative Exchange Council · Indiana Republican Party · National Right to Work Committee · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2012-01-01 | Patent Trolls Dominate U.S. Patent Litigation: 61% of All Cases, Systematic Small Business Extraction Santa Clara University School of Law · U.S. Government Accountability Office · Patent Assertion Entities | confirmed | |
| 2011-09-01 | FBI Surveils Occupy Wall Street as "Terrorist Threat" Before First Protest Federal Bureau of Investigation · U.S. Department of Homeland Security · Occupy Wall Street · Joint Terrorism Task Force | confirmed | |
| 2011-08-06 | Rick Perry's "The Response" Prayer Rally: 30,000 at Reliant Stadium as NAR Leaders Launch a Presidential Campaign Rick Perry · C. Peter Wagner · Cindy Jacobs · John Hagee · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2011-03-23 | Trump Launches Political Career with Racist Birther Conspiracy Donald Trump · Barack Obama | confirmed | |
| 2011-03-11 | Wisconsin Act 10 Crushes Public Sector Unions Using ALEC Model Legislation Scott Walker · American Legislative Exchange Council · Wisconsin GOP · Koch brothers · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2011-01-01 | Geofeedia Founded to Enable Location-Based Social Media Surveillance Phil Harris · Mike Mulroy · Scott Mitchell · In-Q-Tel | confirmed | |
| 2011-01-01 | Patent Troll Explosion: Non-Practicing Entities Impose $29 Billion Annual Cost on U.S. Economy, Targeting Small Businesses Intellectual Ventures · Nathan Myhrvold · Edward Jung · James Bessen · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2010-12-03 | ALEC Coordinates Right-to-Work Push After 2010 GOP Midterm Wave American Legislative Exchange Council · Scott Fitzgerald · Koch brothers · Americans for Prosperity · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2010-11-02 | Republicans Gain Record 680 State Legislative Seats, Securing REDMAP Objectives Republican State Leadership Committee · Republican Party | confirmed | |
| 2010-09-24 | FBI Raids Anti-War Activists' Homes in Coordinated Nationwide Operation Federal Bureau of Investigation · Department of Justice · Anti-war activists · Grand jury | confirmed | |
| 2010-08-13 | Oracle Sues Google for Copyright Infringement Over Java APIs in Android Oracle · Google · Larry Ellison · Sun Microsystems | confirmed | |
| 2010-06-18 | Vice President Biden Credits Palantir Software for Detecting Stimulus Fraud Joe Biden · Peter Orszag · Palantir Technologies · Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board | confirmed | |
| 2010-06-01 | Trump University Changes Name to "Trump Entrepreneur Initiative" Under Pressure from NY Education Department Donald Trump · Michael Sexton · Joseph Frey | confirmed | |
| 2010-05-27 | Chelsea Manning Arrested for Leaking Classified Documents to WikiLeaks Chelsea Manning · WikiLeaks · U.S. Army · U.S. Department of Defense | confirmed | |
| 2010-05-01 | Better Business Bureau Drops Trump University Rating to D- After Flood of Consumer Complaints Donald Trump · Michael Sexton | confirmed | |
| 2010-04-08 | Thomas Drake Indicted Under Espionage Act for NSA Whistleblowing Thomas Drake · National Security Agency · Obama Administration · Department of Justice | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-27 | Oracle Completes Sun Microsystems Acquisition for $7.4 Billion, Gains Java and MySQL Oracle · Sun Microsystems · Larry Ellison · European Commission | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-01 | Gig Economy Emerges Using Worker Misclassification to Avoid Labor Protections and Unions Uber · Lyft · DoorDash · Instacart · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2010-01-01 | NSO Group Founded in Israel to Develop Pegasus Spyware Shalev Hulio · Omri Lavie · Niv Karmi · NSO Group | confirmed | |
| 2009-11-17 | Climategate Email Hack Manufactures Controversy Before Copenhagen Summit Climate Research Unit · University of East Anglia · Phil Jones · Michael Mann · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2009-09-01 | James O'Keefe's Deceptively Edited ACORN Videos Trigger Destruction of Voter Registration Organization James O'Keefe · Hannah Giles · ACORN | confirmed | |
| 2009-07-01 | In-Q-Tel and Google Ventures Co-Invest in Social Media Surveillance Firm Recorded Future In-Q-Tel · Google Ventures · Recorded Future · Christopher Ahlberg | confirmed | |
| 2009-05-01 | Russian Digital Sky Technologies Invests $200M in Facebook Alisher Usmanov · Yuri Milner · Mark Zuckerberg · Digital Sky Technologies | confirmed | |
| 2009-04-15 | Tax Day Tea Party Protests Organized by Koch Network Groups Americans for Prosperity · FreedomWorks · David Koch · Charles Koch · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2009-02-19 | Koch Network Prepares Tea Party Mobilization After Santelli Rant Rick Santelli · David Koch · Charles Koch · Eric Odom · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2009-02-19 | Rick Santelli CNBC Rant Triggers Immediate Koch Network Tea Party Response Rick Santelli · David Koch · Charles Koch · Americans for Prosperity · +5 | confirmed | |
| 2009-02-13 | Blackwater Rebrands as Xe Services to Distance from Nisour Square Massacre and Iraq War Crimes Erik Prince · Blackwater · Xe Services | confirmed | |
| 2009-01-01 | CNP Member Ralph Reed Founds Faith and Freedom Coalition - Religious Right Coordination Expands Ralph Reed · Council for National Policy · Faith and Freedom Coalition | confirmed | |
| 2009-01-01 | Dataminr Founded to Provide Real-Time Social Media Surveillance, Later Backed by CIA Venture Capital Ted Bailey · Sam Hendel · Jeff Kinsey · In-Q-Tel · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2008-09-01 | Sarah Palin's NAR Pastors Exposed: New Apostolic Reformation Theology Enters National Electoral Politics Sarah Palin · Thomas Muthee · Mary Glazier · C. Peter Wagner | confirmed | |
| 2008-08-01 | FCC Orders Comcast to Stop Throttling BitTorrent Traffic in Historic 3-2 Vote on Net Neutrality Federal Communications Commission · Comcast Corporation · Electronic Frontier Foundation · Kevin Martin | confirmed | |
| 2008-07-24 | Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners Complete $26.7 Billion Clear Channel Leveraged Buyout - Creating Debt Crisis Bain Capital · Thomas H. Lee Partners · Clear Channel Communications · iHeartMedia · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2008-01-15 | Project Chanology: Anonymous Mobilizes Against Scientology, Proving Chan Culture Can Produce Real-World Action Anonymous · Church of Scientology | confirmed | |
| 2008-01-01 | Hans von Spakovsky Joins Heritage Foundation to Lead Voter Suppression Infrastructure Development Hans von Spakovsky · Heritage Foundation · American Legislative Exchange Council · Council for National Policy · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2007-10-19 | Associated Press Investigation Exposes Comcast's Secret BitTorrent Throttling and Blocking Comcast Corporation · Associated Press · Electronic Frontier Foundation · TorrentFreak | confirmed | |
| 2007-04-01 | FISA Court Judge Rejects NSA Warrantless Surveillance Expansion Roger Vinson · FISA Court · National Security Agency · Bush Administration · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2007-03-09 | DOJ Inspector General Documents Systematic FBI Surveillance Abuse Glenn Fine · Federal Bureau of Investigation · Department of Justice · U.S. Congress · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2007-03-01 | Stephen Miller and Richard Spencer Organize White Nationalist Speaker at Duke University Stephen Miller · Richard Spencer | confirmed | |
| 2007-01-01 | ALEC Launches 'Rich States, Poor States' Report with Arthur Laffer - Annual Corporate Tax Competition Manifesto to Drive Interstate Race-to-Bottom American Legislative Exchange Council · Arthur Laffer · Stephen Moore · Jonathan Williams · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2006-12-07 | Bush Administration Fires 9 U.S. Attorneys for Political Reasons Alberto Gonzales · Karl Rove · David Iglesias · Carol Lam · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2006-05-18 | Competitive Enterprise Institute Launches "CO2 is Life" Advertising Campaign Competitive Enterprise Institute · Myron Ebell · ExxonMobil · Curt Davis | confirmed | |
| 2006-03-09 | Dubai Ports World Abandons US Port Takeover Under Congressional Pressure Dubai Ports World · House Appropriations Committee · Charles Schumer · Dennis Hastert · +5 | confirmed | |
| 2006-03-01 | FBI Infiltrates Orange County Mosques with Informant in Dragnet Surveillance Federal Bureau of Investigation · Craig Monteilh · Muslim community · Department of Justice | confirmed | |
| 2006-01-01 | Ares Management Acquires Aspen Dental: Private Equity Dental Roll-Up Strategy Launches Industry Consolidation Aspen Dental · Ares Management · Leonard Green & Partners · American Securities | confirmed | |
| 2005-12-16 | New York Times Exposes NSA Warrantless Surveillance Program James Risen · Eric Lichtblau · New York Times · George W. Bush · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2005-12-15 | NSA Whistleblower Russell Tice Reports Illegal Domestic Surveillance Russell Tice · National Security Agency · Senate Intelligence Committee · James Risen · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2005-08-25 | Hans von Spakovsky Overrules DOJ Career Staff to Approve Georgia Voter ID Law Targeting Black Voters Hans von Spakovsky · Department of Justice Civil Rights Division · Georgia Legislature · Harold Murphy · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2005-08-08 | Energy Task Force Recommendations Become EPA Policy Without Review Dick Cheney · Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) · ExxonMobil · Chevron · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2005-06-08 | Phil Cooney Climate Science Censorship Exposed by Whistleblower Phil Cooney · Rick Piltz · James Hansen · ExxonMobil · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2005-01-07 | Armstrong Williams Paid 40K for Illegal Government Propaganda Armstrong Williams · Rod Paige · U.S. Department of Education · Ketchum Inc · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2005-01-03 | Dick Gephardt Founds Lobbying Firm After 28 Years as House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt · Gephardt Group · DLA Piper | confirmed | |
| 2004-11-18 | FDA Whistleblower David Graham Testifies on Vioxx Cover-up Before Senate Dr. David Graham · Food and Drug Administration · Merck · U.S. Senate Finance Committee · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2004-06-28 | WHIG-Enabled Torture Authorization Establishes Executive Immunity Precedent for Constitutional Crisis Governance John Yoo · Jay Bybee · Alberto Gonzales · White House Iraq Group · +6 | confirmed | |
| 2004-06-04 | Stewart v. Blackwell Applies Bush v. Gore Equal Protection Precedent to Ohio Voting Disparities Sixth Circuit Court · Ohio Secretary of State · Ken Blackwell · Stewart v. Blackwell plaintiffs · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2004-05-10 | Canada Concludes Maher Arar Wrongly Rendered to Syria for Torture Based on False Intelligence Maher Arar · Central Intelligence Agency · Royal Canadian Mounted Police · Syria · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2004-03-10 | Hospital Confrontation Over NSA Surveillance Program John Ashcroft · James Comey · Alberto Gonzales · Andy Card · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2004-02-22 | Washington Post Exposes Abramoff Native American Lobbying Scandal Susan Schmidt · Washington Post · Jack Abramoff · Michael Scanlon · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2004-01-05 | Scott Bloch Dismisses 1,000+ Whistleblower Cases at OSC Scott Bloch · Office of Special Counsel · Whistleblower Groups · U.S. Congress · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2003-11-25 | Bush Administration Hides 39B Medicare Part D Cost from Congress Thomas Scully · Richard Foster · George W. Bush · Charles Rangel · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2003-07-14 | Valerie Plame's CIA Identity Leaked in Retaliation for Wilson's Iraq WMD Criticism Valerie Plame · Joseph Wilson · Robert Novak · Dick Cheney · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2003-07-07 | WHIG Coordinates Campaign to Discredit Joseph Wilson, Leading to Plame Leak White House Iraq Group · Karl Rove · Scooter Libby · Colin Powell · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2003-06-02 | FCC Deregulation Enables Sinclair Broadcasting Expansion Michael Powell · Federal Communications Commission · Sinclair Broadcasting · David Smith · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2003-05-01 | Powell-WHIG Template Establishes Crisis-Accelerated Institutional Capture Blueprint for Ongoing Democratic Transformation George W. Bush · Powell Memorandum Institutional Network · White House Iraq Group · Heritage Foundation · +6 | confirmed | |
| 2003-03-08 | Halliburton KBR Receives $7 Billion No-Bid Iraq Contract Through Systematic Corporate-State Fusion Infrastructure Coordination Dick Cheney · Halliburton Corporation · Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) · U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · +4 | confirmed | |
| 2003-03-01 | Vanity Fair editor removes Epstein victim allegations after intimidation meeting Graydon Carter · Vicky Ward · Jeffrey Epstein · Vanity Fair · +1 | confirmed | |
| 2003-01-21 | OGC Formalizes Systematic Network Coordination Infrastructure Through Executive Order George W. Bush · Office of Global Communications · White House Iraq Group · Television Network Executives · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2003-01-15 | WHIG Establishes Systematic Opposition Research and Critic Monitoring Apparatus Karl Rove · Karen Hughes · Mary Matalin · Condoleezza Rice · +3 | confirmed | |
| 2003-01-01 | ExxonMobil Channels Millions to Climate Denial Think Tanks and Front Groups ExxonMobil · American Enterprise Institute · Cato Institute · Marshall Institute · +2 | confirmed | |
| 2002-12-19 | Central Park Five Exonerated: DNA Proves Innocence After 13 Years Yusef Salaam · Korey Wise · Antron McCray · Kevin Richardson · +3 | confirmed |