Philanthropic Journalism?
February 24, 2011
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation not only funds Genetically Modified Organisms and massive vaccination campaigns. It also spends billions of dollars funding the media to help them spread its message.
By Luis R. Miranda
The Real Agenda
February 23, 2011
As if the fact most of the main stream media is owned by a few corporations and bailed-out by the government were not bad enough, a new kind of media ownership has sprung to life. According to a report from the Seattle Times, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation not only funds environmental polluters such as Monsanto, or inoculates thousands in the third world. After all that money is spent, there are still billions left to devote to influencing media outlets.
In an article dated February 19, 2011, the Times informs the public about how the Gates Foundation effectively bankrolls many main stream media productions in powerhouses like ABC, PBS, The New York Times and the Guardian. The organization donates billions every year to fund advocacy and policy programs, and a lot of this monies end up as payments to main stream media companies. The payments are rarely or never disclosed.
Although from the outside the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation appears to be a problem solving organization, the truth is that inside it works for the promotion of globalist programs such as vaccination campaigns, population reduction, production and development of genetically modified mosquitoes and the polarization of the society.
The Foundation’s supposed philanthropic objectives are masked with carefully chosen language that is then used in the disinformation pieces put put on the media. It all ends being a nasty mixture of Gates’ dollars and biased journalism. Many in the media environment are currently asking whether these payments are heavily influencing the media’s handling of issues and how the Foundation’s interests are being advanced.
In addition to financing news reports, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is known for paying for the training of journalists to teach them how to present the organization’s interests to the public and many times how to advocate for its objectives. Instead of presenting THE NEWS, reporters are financed to present carefully crafted talking points to the audiences.
“We’re not dealing with a lively discussion among players,” says Mark Miller, professor of media, culture and communications at New York University. “We’re dealing with one gigantic entity … that seems to be very skilled at promoting its agenda.” On top of funding the media, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently purchased 500,000 shares of biotechnology giants like Monsanto, which is actively pursuing the creation and production of experimental vaccine nanotechnology, supporting the development of genetically modified mosquitoes.
“As big as the foundation is, there is no single area we work in where we can remotely succeed without other partners and actors,” said Mark Suzman, head of policy and advocacy for the foundation’s global-development programs. “Even if we were to satisfy ourselves that the Gates Foundation were utterly benign, it would still be worrisome that they wield such enormous propaganda power,” said Mark Crispin Miller, professor of media, culture and communications at New York University.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to make sure people understand not just the need, but the opportunity, to make a huge difference in the lives of millions of people around the world,” said Joe Cerrell, who oversees the foundation’s policy, advocacy and communications work in Europe. “For us, it’s about making sure that these stories get told.” “It would be naive to believe big-money foundations don’t play the same game that corporations and other special interests do,” said Marc Cooper, assistant professor at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. “I don’t find that inherently troubling.”
Among some of the latest beneficiaries of the Foundation’s cash are:
- The International Center for Journalists, that got nearly $6 million for a program that pairs veteran journalists with news organizations in Africa.
- At PBS’ NewsHour, Suarez said a $3.6 million Gates grant has allowed him to cover stories that would otherwise have been out of reach, such as river blindness in Tanzania and Mexican programs to improve nutrition among the poor.
- Grants including $3.3 million to Public Radio International, $5 million to NPR and $1 million to Frontline. Grumbling among media observers peaked late last year when the foundation for the first time teamed up with major for-profit operations such as ABC and the Guardian.
- ABC received $1.5 million to fund overseas travel for reports on global health and development.
The Seattle Times received a $15,000 Gates grant through Seattle University for a series of stories on homelessness in 2010.