(Robert Jonathan, Headline USA) The Associated Press, one of the pillars of the traditional “objective” journalism industry, is reportedly raking in large amounts cash in exchange for pushing left-wing, social justice-type propaganda.
This alleged revenue stream purportedly includes an inclusive storytelling program between the wide-reaching and ubiquitous wire service and the Ida B. Wells Society, an organization founded by Nikole Hannah-Jones, the author of the historically inaccurate and divisive 1619 Project.
As part of this arrangement, Wells reportedly teamed up with the Hearthland Foundation, which was founded by Hollywood celebrities Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw.
“[AP] last year announced a series of ‘partnerships’ to subsidize reporters covering climate change, race, and democracy. A review of the donor roster shows that the vast majority fund left-wing political causes, while none are supporters of conservative initiatives,” the Washington Free Beacon reported in an article that exposed these apparent lucrative agreements with progressive charities.
Lofty philanthropies allegedly writing six- or seven-figure checks to the AP include the Rockefeller Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation, among others.
The Walton entity is among those that reportedly funded, for example, stories that linked this summer’s heat wave to global warming and other such environmental alarmism.
Another nonprofit that reportedly funds AP’s so-called democracy journalism initiative publicly denounced the Supreme Court’s landmark decision overturning race-based college admissions policies.
The democracy journalism effort reportedly receives funding from one or more groups that advocate packing the Supreme Court with a cabal of left-wing activists.
One byproduct of the Donald Trump era is making known the degree to which media content, especially at the corporate level where misinformation is regularly lamented, has become transactional.
Perhaps it always was this way, but it wasn’t so obvious as it is now, with the adoption of a globalism narrative. Plus the phenomenon when opinion pundits abruptly switch up their belief systems when changing jobs.
Many of the same outlets, which have prospered and gained influence pursuant to the First Amendment, have become vocal censorship advocates as well as government lapdogs (principally when Democrats are in charge) rather than watchdogs.
In something of an understatement, the Beacon asserted that “The funding, much of it from these sorts of overly political actors, will make it more challenging for the Associated Press to swat away accusations of political bias.”
Once considered the gold standard of journalism objectivity, AP seems to have lost its luster.
According to a media bias rating organization called AllSides, AP’s political news coverage, in particular, includes “analysis presented as fact, subjective qualifying adjectives, word choice bias, bias by omission of views and omission of source attribution.”
In 2022, AllSides revised its AP rating from centrist to leans left, which the former defines as a moderate alignment “with liberal, progressive, or left-wing thought and/or policy agendas.”
Following the lead of websites and blogs, mainstream media bastions such as AP, the latter whose reporting is relied upon by many national, regional and local news organizations, likely would be more consumer friendly by simply acknowledging their ideology.
“Though the Associated Press is funded largely by subscriptions from the thousands of news organizations that pay to license its content, its donors shell out millions to subsidize coverage of some of the country’s most divisive political issues,” the Beacon added.
An AP spokeswoman insisted that the wire service “maintains ‘complete control’ over content produced through its philanthropic partnerships, and that ‘no funder has any influence over AP journalism.'”
