GEORGE SOROS
If there is one man who can be singled out as representing one of the greatest, of not the greatest, threat to freedom everywhere, I think it very fair to say that that man is George Soros, the sugar daddy of dangerous Leftist causes all across the planet. The control that this man has, either directly or indirectly, over not only the flow of information in how that information is, or is not, disseminated should be viewed as being truly frightening. When he gave $1.8 million to National Public Radio, it became part of the firestorm of controversy that resulted with federal funding for NPR being put in jeopardy. But that little gift barely scratches the surface when it comes to the widespread influence that this very controversial billionaire has on all of the state-controlled, so-called "mainstream" media. Soros was committed to the defeat of George W. Bush in 2004, to the point where he spent $27 million in the effort. And if I remember correctly all that he got for all of that money was essentially the same percentage of the popular vote for Kerry as Gore had in 2000. Today Soros has ties to more than 30 mainstream news outlets, including, of course, The New York Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press, NBC and ABC. Prominent journalists, and I use that term somewhat loosely, like ABC’s, more than just a little screwy and somewhat pompous, Christiane Amanpour and former Washington Post editor and now Vice President Len Downie all serve on boards of various operations that are on the receiving end of significant amounts of Soros cash. This despite the Society of Professional Journalists,' yes folks there is such an organization, supposed ethical code stating: “avoid all conflicts real or perceived.” Let's face it, when it comes to about 99 percent of these faux journalists, any amount of ethics is going to be in pretty short supply.
The little investigative reporting start-up under the name of ProPublica is a prime example of Soros' ability to purchase influence. ProPublica, which recently won its second Pulitzer Prize, initially was given millions of dollars from a little organization called the Sandler Foundation. Now, this Sandler Foundation is a supposed charitable foundation that was formed in 1991 with support from Herb Sandler and Marion Sandler. In 2006, the Sandlers made a contribution of $1.3 billion to the foundation, which was the second largest American charitable contribution of 2006. The Sandler Foundation's mission is to act as a catalyst when it come to any efforts made to strengthen the progressive infrastructure, expose corruption and abuse, advocate for vulnerable and exploited people and environments, and advance scientific research in neglected areas. That's quite the cockamamie mission statement, don't you think? So I guess that it makes perfect sense then that the money provided to little band of "investigative reporters" was done so that it could then set about working to further “strengthen the progressive infrastructure,” “progressive” being the code word for ultra liberal. In 2010, this little group of leftists also received a two-year contribution of $125,000 each year from the Open Society Foundations. Now just in case you were wondering where that money might have actually come from, you need look no further than the OSF website, www.soros.org. It is a network of more than 30 international foundations, mostly funded by Soros, who has contributed more than $8 billion to those efforts.
If you can believe the claims being made by the patriotic folks over there at ProPublica, we're told that all of their stories are very thoroughly researched by top-notch staffers who used to work at some of the biggest state controlled news outlets in the nation. But when spending even a little time looking over the topics, you'll find that they are almost always laughably left-wing. The site’s "proud" list of “Our Investigations" includes attacks on oil companies, gas companies, the health care industry, for-profit schools and more. More than 100 stories on the latest lefty cause: opposition to drilling for natural gas by hydraulic fracking. Another 100 on the evils of the foreclosure industry. Throw in a couple investigations making the military look bad and another about prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and you have almost the perfect journalism fantasy – a huge budget, lots of major media partners and a liberal agenda unconstrained by advertising. What a deal. One more thing: a 14 person Journalism Advisory Board is stacked with CNN’s David Gergen as well as representatives from some of the nation's top newspapers, a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal and the editor-in-chief of Simon & Schuster. Several are journalists currently employed by various outlets of the state-controlled media, and the include Jill Abramson, a managing editor of The New York Times, Kerry Smith, the senior vice president for editorial quality of ABC News and Cynthia A. Tucker, the editor of the editorial page of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
But it's obvious and should go without saying that this ProPublica group is far from being the only Soros-funded organization that is stacked with members of our supposedly neutral press. The Center for Public Integrity is another great example. Don’t you just love the names of these anti-American and anti-freedom organizations? It's like some modern day doublespeak. Because the names these people come up with for their little organizations are really quite humorous, and are always 180 out from what they are truly all about. And this group's board of directors is filled with the same "usual suspects," such non-journalists like Amanpour from ABC, right along side blatant liberal media kooks like Arianna Huffington, of the lonny "Huffington Post" and now AOL. Like ProPublica, the CPI board is a veritable Who’s Who of state controlled journalism and top media organizations, including Christiane Amanpour, Anchor of ABC’s Sunday morning political affairs program, “This Week with Christiane Amanpour.” A reliable lefty, Ms. Amanpour has called tax cuts, "giveaways," the Tea Party a "bunch of extremists" and then there's this one that's my all time favorite, she's even called Barry, "very Reaganesque." Also on the board is Ms. Paula Madison, Executive vice president and "chief diversity officer" for NBC Universal, who leads NBC Universal’s corporate diversity initiatives, spanning all broadcast television, cable, digital, and film properties and Matt Thompson, Editorial product manager at National Public Radio (NPR) and an adjunct faculty member at the prominent Poynter Institute.
Once again, just like ProPublica, the CPI’s investigations are just about 100 percent liberal, you know like attacks on the coal industry, payday loans and even conservatives like Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) is also more transparent about where its true political sympathies lie, especially when it pursues a detailed investigation into conservative funders David and Charles Koch and their “web of influence.” According to the center’s own 990 tax forms, the Open Society Institute (George Soros) gave it $651,650 in 2009 alone. But hey, that's totally different. And then there's the well-known Center for Investigative Reporting, which of course follows the same template as the previous group mentioned as well as any group tied to Soros. It too has its own cadre of important "journalists" on its board as well as an ultra liberal editorial agenda. Both the board of directors and the advisory board contain leftist journalists from major state controlled news outlets. The board features Phil Bronstein (President) of the San Francisco Chronicle, David Boardman of The Seattle Times, Len Downie, former Executive Editor of the Washington Post, now VP and George Osterkamp a CBS News producer. Readers of the site are greeted with numerous stories on climate change, illegal immigration and the evils of big companies. It counts among its media partners The Washington Post, Salon, CNN and ABC News. CIR received close to $1 million from Open Society (George Soros) from 2003 to 2008.
Why does it all matter? Well, journalists, we are constantly being told, are neutral in their reporting. But in almost the same breath, many bemoan the influence that money has on politics. As ridiculous as it may sound, but it is a maxim of both the left and a majority of those in the state controlled media that conservatives are bought and paid for by business interests. Yet where are the concerns about where their money comes from? Such is the hypocrisy that so thoroughly permeates the left and the media. Fred Brown, who recently revised the book “Journalism Ethics: A Casebook of Professional Conduct for News Media,” argues journalists need to be “transparent” about their connections and “be up front about your relationship” with those who fund you. Unfortunately, that rarely if ever actually happens. While the nonprofits list who sits on their boards, the news outlets they work for make little or no effort to connect those dots. Take for instance Ms. Amanpour's biography page which talks about her lengthy career, her time at the Communist News Network (CNN) and her many bogus awards. But nowhere is there any mention of her rather dubious affiliation with the Center for Public Integrity. If journalists were to be more up front, perish the thought, they would have to admit their numerous uncomfortable connections with suspect groups that push a blatantly liberal agenda, with many of them being funded by the stridently liberal kook, George Soros. But don’t expect that transparency any time soon. Until that time actually comes to pass, our ability to once again feel that we can actually trust these supposed "watch dogs" of our Democracy to tell us the truth, will be nonexistent. But then, somehow I have the feeling that that doesn't really bother them all that much anyway. They've ceased being the providers of information, having now morphed into what has now essentially become nothing more that the purveyors of Democrat propaganda.
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