Media Silence Explained?: Soros Fingerprints On FCC Newsroom Probe

Media Silence Explained?: Soros Fingerprints On FCC Newsroom Probe

by John Nolte 22 Feb 2014, 5:53 AM PDT

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2014/02/22/media-silence-explained-soros-fingerprints-on-fcc-newsroom-probe

The real mystery behind the FCC's now abandoned "study" to police American newsrooms is why the mainstream media refused to raise holy hell over it. While Obama's lapdogs refused to bark, it was conservative media who fought for newsroom independence and got the FCC to finally back down. Other than the media's natural obedience to Obama, the fact that the fingerprints of left-wing billionaire George Soros have been found on the FCC study might also help to explain the media's silence.

CNS News reports that for the first ten years of the last decade, Soros donated more than $52 million to numerous media outlets. In a world where the media is dying a slow, painful suicide (brought about by their own incompetence and corruption), that is no small amount of money. And you can bet that those media organizations that have not benefited from Soros' largesse would someday like to. So why antagonize him?

The media's hands-off policy with Soros is nothing new. While outlets such as Politico and NBC News obsess over every move made by the libertarian Koch brothers, Soros and his spider-web of influential left-wing political operations (Media Matters, Center for American Progress) almost never receive any kind of media scrutiny. A recent media study found that the ratio of references between Kochs' organizations and Soros' organizations, in news outlets that pose as objective, are literally hundreds to one. Politico actually has Ken Vogel, a former Soros employee, constantly harassing covering the Koch brothers.

The mainstream media not only shares Soros' hard-left vision, but also benefits or hopes to benefit from Soros' bottomless billionaire well of funding. And in return, even though Soros' Tides Foundation is many times larger than the Kochs, the media look the other way for Soros and turn the Kochs into America's bogeyman. Which brings me back to the FCC proposal to police America's newsrooms.

As enamored and protective as the media are of Obama, when the Administration was caught spying on journalists last year, his Media Palace Guards still squawked. But still, this attempted move by the FCC, which is probably the scariest move against the media by the federal government since the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, resulted in almost uniform silence by the mainstream media. If alternative and conservative media hadn't been vocal, nothing would have stopped FCC from interrogating and intimidating the press.

What might explain the media's silence is the looming specter of George Soros. History already proves the media has been reluctant to cross him. Apparently, even the idea of Soviet-style monitors looking over their shoulder couldn’t change that. CNS News helps to explain why:

Two schools were working with FCC on the project, according to Byron York of The Washington Examiner. The University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Communication and Democracy, were tasked by the FCC with coming up with criteria for what information is "critical" for Americans to have. The FCC study would have covered newspapers, websites, radio and television, according to The Washington Post.

On top of the 1st Amendment problems with this proposal, the schools involved have strong ties to liberal billionaire George Soros' Open Society Foundations and have gotten more than $1.8 million from since 2000.

The journalism programs at these schools have even more ties to Soros besides their funding, including faculty members writing for university-based publications allied with Soros-funded outlets.

The schools have collaborated on this project going back at least to 2012. Lewis A. Friedland, who was a "principle investigator" for the FCC on this project, also directs the Center for Communication and Democracy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He gave a presentation at Annenberg in Feb. 2012, on "communication ecology." This was just four months before the schools presented their findings to the FCC.

There is just no rational explanation for the media's lack of outrage over a federal government "study" that should put a chill down the spine of anyone who understand how important a free press is to protecting democracy.

It is bad enough when the media pushes to have the freedoms of everyone else crushed by the federal government. But when the media stops fighting for their own freedom, the canary in that coalmine doesn’t have a chance.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Newton N. Minow was the chairman for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a senior counsel for Sidley Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Note: Mark D. Schneider was an associate general counsel for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and is a partner at Sidley Austin LLP.

R. Eden Martin is counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.

Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.

Newton N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Linda Johnson Rice is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a board of councilor’s member for the Annenberg School for Communication, a trustee at the University of Southern California, and a director at the United Negro College Fund.

Reed E. Hundt is a director at the United Negro College Fund, and was the chairman for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Colin L. Powell was a director at the United Negro College Fund, is an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and Michael K. Powell’s father.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the International Rescue Committee, the Center for American Progress, the Tides Foundation, Aspen Institute (think tank), the Media Matters, and the Brookings Institution (think tank).

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, a supporter for the Center for American Progress, and is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), the Center for American Progress, and the Tides Foundation.

Madeleine K. Albright is a director at the Center for American Progress, and a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).

Melody C. Barnes was the EVP at the Center for American Progress, the domestic policy council, director for the Barack Obama administration, and is Barack Obama’s golf partner.

Ezekiel Emanuel is a senior fellow at Center for American Progress, and Rahm I. Emanuel’s brother.

Rahm I. Emanuel is Ezekiel Emanuel’s brother, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Chicago (IL) mayor, and was the White House chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration.

Anne Mosle is a director at the Tides Foundation, and an executive director, Ascend for the Aspen Institute (think tank).

Bren Simon was a donor for the Aspen Institute (think tank), and is a donor for Media Matters.

David H. Koch is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and the EVP at Koch Industries.

Michael K. Powell is Colin L. Powell’s son, a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and was the chairman for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Blair Levin was the chief of staff to the chairman for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and is a fellow at the Aspen Institute (think tank).

James S. Crown is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Marc B. Nathanson is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a board of councilor’s member for the Annenberg School for Communication.

Linda Johnson Rice is a board of councilor’s member for the Annenberg School for Communication, a trustee at the University of Southern California, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Jane Lakes Harman is a trustee at the University of Southern California, and a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).

Lester Crown is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).

Julius Genachowski is a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute (think tank), was Barack Obama’s law school friend, and the chairman for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Kathleen Q. Abernathy was the commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and a partner at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP.

Amy L. Nathan is the senior counsel, strategic planning & policy analysis for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and was an attorney at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP.

Vernon E. Jordan Jr. is a senior counsel for Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, LLP, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).

Donna E. Shalala was a fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the chancellor for the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

Linda Johnson Rice is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a director at the United Negro College Fund, and is a friend of Valerie B. Jarrett.

Reed E. Hundt is a director at the United Negro College Fund, and was the chairman for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Valerie B. Jarrett is Vernon E. Jordan Jr’s great niece, a friend of Linda Johnson Rice, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and the senior adviser for the Barack Obama administration.

James T. Heimbach was a special assistant to the president for legislative affairs for the Barack Obama administration, and a legislative affairs director for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Thomas E. Wheeler is the chairman for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a member of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, was a fundraiser for the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign, and a fundraiser for the 2012 Barack Obama presidential campaign.

Chuck Hagel was a co-chairman for the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and is the secretary at the U.S. Department of Defense for the Barack Obama administration.

Judith A. Miscik is a member of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, and was a director at the International Rescue Committee.

Colin L. Powell is an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, and Michael K. Powell’s father.

Michael K. Powell is Colin L. Powell’s son, a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and was the chairman for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

Blair Levin was the chief of staff to the chairman for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and is a fellow at the Aspen Institute (think tank).