Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Are political foundations "buying" the news

A link to a story about large grants from foundations with political influence and leanings to newspapers are causing concern. This article is pointing to left-wing groups, but the same could be said if the money was coming from the Heritage Foundation or a right leaning organization. Is this good for journalism? Or is this just a glimpse into the future?

Remember that newspapers grew out of a tradition of publications with strong political views that rose almost immediately after the invention of the printing press. Maybe this is just back to the future.

Thanks to a loyal FFE reader for the link.

3 comments:

Gene Mierzejewski said...

As much as I mourn the demise of newspapers because of economic pressures and electronic competition, the funding of news operations by left-leaning "philanthropists" scares the bejabbers out of me. I have no doubt that this system would result in horribly biased reporting on political, social and cultural issues.

You mention the Heritage Foundation as a possible entrant into this game, but I've seen no evidence it or any other conservative group has any plans to do so.

In any event, leftist institutions like the Ford Foundation have so much money they could buy Heritage, the Competitive Enterprise Institute or the libertarian Cato Institute with spare change from the petty cash box.

Anonymous said...

The Mackinac Center has created its own "news" operation, Michigan Capitol Confidential, to advance its free market philosophy to government.

Jim of L-Town said...

The only point I was making was that it would not be a good thing for either side to do. I see no evidence of it either from the conservative side, but I would feel the same if there were such an entrant.