As U.S. citizens prepare to select the next president, one liberal donor spent more than $103 million on media over the last 14 years to promote his own progressive agenda.
Liberal billionaire George Soros pledged to give at least $25 million to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and other Democratic candidates and causes, according to Politico. And emails exposed by WikiLeaks showed Clinton staffers going out of their way to “make Soros happy” before the 2016 campaign even started.
But that’s just a small slice of the pie. Media groups in the U.S. promoting the same liberal platform as Clinton got more than twice as much Soros money.
Between 2000 and 2014, Soros pumped an astonishing $103,236,632 into media groups that circulate his liberal, anti-capitalist messages throughout the United States and abroad. Of that total, $61 million from Soros went to nine liberal media outlets In the United States which openly support the same liberal agenda as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
As the presidential election progressed, Soros’ media allies have raised their voices in unison in favor of liberal policies touted by Clinton. In 2016 alone, they helped provide illegal immigrants with “relief from deportation,” encouraged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to “call out the CIA” for the “overclassification” of emails on her personal server, written how-tos on wealth redistribution “without the guillotine,” given labor unions tips on how to “win and wield” more power, and supported the Fight for $15 movement, calling California and New York’s new $15 minimum wage a “huge victory.”
Soros directly donated to at least 141 media groups, including multimedia outlets, nonprofits, schools, “watch dogs,” legal groups and journalism societies in the U.S. and internationally. Donations from Soros ranged from $5,000 to $32 million.
Through those recipients, Soros’s reach extends even further. Groups like New America Media and Media Development Investment Fund, for example, are themselves made up of hundreds of other, smaller media outlets who are indirectly influenced by Soros’ money.
Of the 141 groups supported by Soros, 14 have received more than $1 million apiece. At least nine of those 14 organizations used the money to engage in liberal advocacy, pushing liberal policies supported by both Soros and Clinton. Those nine groups collectively received more than $61 million.
The news media are supposed to provide “an impartial, accurate approach” to news, and “avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived,” according to the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics.
However, nine Soros-funded media groups revealed a decided tilt in favor of liberals and Clinton, and opposition to both Trump and conservative political positions.
The Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), is an online, radio and podcast news outlet which claims to be “nationally respected for setting the highest journalistic standards.” It’s also a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist. Between 2000 and 2014, Soros gave the group $3,285,600.
But in spite of its claims of journalistic “standards,” CIR singled out Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for its attacks on Feb. 1, 2016. They published a series of critical articles ranging from profiling Trump donors and supporters, to lamenting that Trump supporters hate political correctness. CIR’s senior digital producer also painstakingly compiled 15 separate Trump soundbites into “The Trump Game” to “Get inside his head.” For each soundbite, readers voted for one of three reactions: “Cheer,” “Meh” or “Boo.”
The group did not run a similar series of attacks on Hillary Clinton. Instead, CIR rarely mentioned her. One of the only mentions of Clinton came was in a Feb. 10 article that said she and Sen. Bernie Sanders (who was still in the race at the time) were “sparring over female supporters.” The article said that appealing to non-white voters seemed to be Clinton’s “strong suit.”
Unlike many Soros-funded media outlets The American Prospect magazine doesn’t attempt to hide its liberal advocacy. Its goal “to advance liberal and progressive goals” is proudly emblazoned in the About Us section. That promise, along with $1,380,000 from Soros, mark The American Prospect as a reliable source for left-wing perspective.
The American Prospect began 2016 by asking, “Can Democrats Channel America’s Discontent?” It also called Trump “something new and ominous in American political life,” and accused the Republican convention of probably being “white nationalist.”
The Columbia Journalism Review, which has an intimate relationship with Soros, is so blinded by its own liberal bias, it actually advised journalists to gloss over elements of Clinton’s email scandal in February 2016.
“Let’s stop treating the contents of the email like they are huge national security secrets that imperiled the nation just because U.S. intelligence agencies said so,” CJR pleaded. The article then recommended the media criticize the CIA for “overclassification” and “still being embroiled in multiple FOIA lawsuits” instead of discussing Clinton’s misuse of her private email server.
Most outlets, however, promote Clinton more subtly. The most common way Soros-funded media groups have supported Clinton’s campaign is by avoiding her name, but praising her policies.
By supporting things like lenient immigration policy, stronger labor unions and taxing the rich, these nine Soros-funded media outlets were able to covertly support Clinton—Soros’ pick for president. {eoa}
This article originally appeared on newsbusters.org.
See an error in this article?
To contact us or to submit an article
