OPINION:
According to Gallup polling released in October, the level of confidence Americans have in the media to report the news in a full, fair, and accurate way is tied with a five-decade low. It’s no surprise, given the recent rise of flagrant news media bias. But the deep-seated political ideology of some journalists organically seeping into coverage is only one piece to the puzzle.
A cottage industry of “paid-for journalism” also taints what Americans watch, read, and listen to.
Traditionally, the news media has been funded by a combination of advertising and subscriptions. But over the past few decades, economic headwinds, technology, and shifting consumer preferences have left local newspapers across the country struggling to survive, with an estimated 2,000 outlets closing their doors.
To fill the gap, wealthy private foundations with liberal agendas have stepped in to fund new journalism startups that push a one-sided narrative. It’s created a deceptive web of reporters publishing articles that often reflect the agenda of their outlet’s donors. The quid pro quo concept is familiar to politicos who influence public policy but is largely a 21st-century phenomenon in the world of local media.
The latest example of this alarming trend reared its ugly head in Nebraska earlier this year. An article published in the Flatwater Free Press singled out Gov. Jim Pillen’s hog farms as a source of groundwater contamination in the state. But after applying even an ounce of scrutiny to the story, the claim falls flat.
The reporter acknowledges the governor’s farming operation is only a “potential culprit” and later notes that per the Nebraska Dept. of Environment and Energy, no hog farm is known to have contaminated a rural resident’s drinking water. The critical distinction is buried 60 paragraphs into the story.
Given the crux of the article is significantly divorced from reality, the author ostensibly went out of their way to smear the Republican leader—who some believe, with his no-nonsense demeanor and everyman appeal, has talents that may take him well beyond the governor’s mansion. And after a little digging into the relatively new media outlet, it’s not difficult to imagine why.
Despite claiming to be “independent,” the Flatwater Free Press has deep funding ties to leftwing activism.
The outlet is funded by a handful of wealthy groups through the Nebraska Journalism Trust—a nonprofit incorporated in 2021. According to the Trust’s tax return for that year, about 40% of its income came from one source: the Weitz Family Foundation. This foundation is run by a family politically active on the left, with money also supporting the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Nebraska Abortion Resources, and Black Votes Matter.
Another 25 % of its funding came from the Lozier Foundation and the Sherwood Foundation, which also support left-of-center causes. That means roughly two-thirds of the outlet’s funding came from sources with a liberal bent.
Nebraska residents aren’t the only ones grappling with a rise in “paid-for journalism,” a scheme that frequently targets the farming community.
A California foundation is funding The Guardian, an international publication, to write a series of articles critical of the U.S. food model. The funding supports “a year-long series examining the injustices of America’s broken food system in which Big Food corporations and industrial farming hurt consumers, farmers and workers across the industry.”
In reality, the U.S. food supply chain is the world’s envy for its affordability, abundance, and safety.
Meanwhile, a foundation in Georgia funds newspapers in the Southeast to push a specific narrative that ties animal agriculture to climate change. Judging by the content, the goal is to fan the flames of climate hysteria to increase the appetite for new regulations placed on farmers and other businesses. More than 140 stories have been published thanks to the program.
Public trust in the media is near rock bottom. And the rise of “paid-for journalism” will only sour confidence further. Americans should be skeptical of what they read and be on the lookout for activism—or, in Gov. Pillen’s case, mudslinging—disguised as news.
• Jack Hubbard is an owner and partner at Berman and Company.
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