Google Funds 29 US Journalism Projects That Decidedly Swing Left
Google Funds 29 US Journalism Projects That Decidedly Swing Left
By Corinne
Weaver | October 29, 2019 9:24 AM EDT
The same day Facebook
launched its “News” tab, Google quietly poured money into news projects around
the world. But many of these projects are aimed in one political direction.
The new project, the Google News Initiative North
American Innovation Challenge, announced 34 news projects to be
funded on Oct. 25. Twenty-nine of
these projects were located in the states, while the other four were in Canada.
One of the projects was unlisted. The first name on the list for the U.S., The
Dallas Morning News, ran editorials announcing its endorsement of Hillary Clinton in
2016 and Beto O’Rourke for Senate in
2018.
One of the outlets, Wisconsin Center for
Investigative Journalism, received $535,000 from liberal billionaire
George Soros between the years 2010-2013. The Center runs op-eds that claims
that “Dems Back More Openness”
than Republicans.
Some of the other
projects did not seem to have a political bent (or hadn’t been started yet.)
But those that were more established, like The Salt Lake Tribune,
were definitely tinged with blue. The Tribune endorsed President Obama back
in 2012, and in 2017 called for Republican Senator Orrin Hatch to
retire.
Typically, the projects
were city daily papers or newsletters that promoted Democrats over Republicans.
Maine Today Media, a
conglomerate of local Maine newspapers, has a policy of not endorsing
candidates, but the editorials still embrace left-wing views on climate change, immigration, and abortion.
Detour Media LLC was
not overtly political, but it was founded by Ashley C. Woods, a former
Huffington Post Editor. And the Vermont Journalism Trust had an entire section
dedicated to Democratic candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Another tab was dedicated to Democratic candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden.
The ASU Cronkite School
of Journalism, another recipient, is the home of the west coast version for PBS Newshour.
The Lensfest Institute of Journalism is partnered
with Facebook, The Washington Post, and the Knight
Foundation. It plans on delivering more newsletters to people in Philadelphia. The
Washington Post, owned by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, is one of
the biggest left-wing media outlets.
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