Who'da guessed, the media sold us on a lot of bull shit and still is...
Buying the Media to Sell the Iran Nuke Deal
Time to investigate the pay-to-play scheming of NPR, the White House and left-wing non-profits.
May 26, 2016
Joseph Klein
Ben Rhodes, President Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser for strategic communications, was the subject of a recent eye-opening New York Times Magazine article. The article discussed Rhodes’ prominent role in selling Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran to the public. Rhodes, who was originally interested in writing fiction before embarking on a government career, boasted of the "echo chamber" the administration was able to create among pliant media and non-profit groups to spin the deal in its most favorable light. Channeling his days as an aspiring novelist, Rhodes filled the echo chamber with a false narrative. It turns out that the "echo chamber" itself was more like a pay-to-play chamber, which merits investigation for possible illegal conduct by at least two non-profit tax-exempt organizations.
Money was dispensed through pro-nuclear deal tax-exempt organizations to buy favorable coverage in the media, including the tax-exempt National Public Radio (NPR), according to an Associated Press report. Ben Rhodes had specifically mentioned "outside groups like Ploughshares" as playing a key role in conveying the pro-nuclear deal narrative that the Obama administration wanted the public to hear.
According to the Associated Press report, Ploughshares, a left-wing non-profit organization financed by George Soros' Open Society Institute, "gave National Public Radio $100,000 last year to help it report on the pact and related issues."
Since 2005, Ploughshares has plowed about $700,000 into NPR's coffers. Since 2010, the grants to NPR specifically mention Iran. Ploughshares’ 2015 annual report, for example, explains that the purpose of its grant to National Public Radio, Inc. is to “support national security reporting that emphasizes the themes of US nuclear weapons policy and budgets, Iran’s nuclear program, international nuclear security topics and US policy toward nuclear security.” (Emphasis added)
Ploughshares and NPR are both 501(c) (3) non-profit organizations, which take tax deductible contributions. Both organizations are prohibited from engaging in any substantial lobbying, advocacy of legislation or “propaganda.” Although both may have crossed the line in spreading Rhodes’ propaganda regarding the nuclear deal with Iran, they have denied any wrongdoing.
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Meanwhile, NPR’s media correspondent David Folkenflik went on the air in an interview with Renee Montagne, a host of NPR’s Morning Edition, to defend Ben Rhodes against the revelations in the New York Times Magazine article. Just like the president of NPR’s donor Ploughshares, Folkenflik criticized the New York Times reporter who had exposed Rhodes’ echo chamber stratagem, including Ploughshares’ involvement. Renee Montagne, who made even more money than Inskeep according to NPR’s 2013 tax filing, raised the question whether the New York Times reporter, Samuels, had possibly done “a little manipulating” himself. Folkenflik would not go that far, but said that Samuels had biases against a negotiated deal with Iran that should have been disclosed to the readers.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. NPR has done as much as possible to pretend it is an objective news agency and to obscure the Iran connection to its funding from Ploughshares. Unlike print media, however, NPR is a broadcast company that must follow FCC rules. It is also a tax exempt organization subject to IRS rules about lobbying and propagandizing. If NPR accepted payola to propagandize, which is a distinct possibility, both federal agencies should be taking notice.
Buying the Media to Sell the Iran Nuke Deal
Buying the Media to Sell the Iran Nuke Deal
Time to investigate the pay-to-play scheming of NPR, the White House and left-wing non-profits.
May 26, 2016
Joseph Klein
Ben Rhodes, President Obama's Deputy National Security Adviser for strategic communications, was the subject of a recent eye-opening New York Times Magazine article. The article discussed Rhodes’ prominent role in selling Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran to the public. Rhodes, who was originally interested in writing fiction before embarking on a government career, boasted of the "echo chamber" the administration was able to create among pliant media and non-profit groups to spin the deal in its most favorable light. Channeling his days as an aspiring novelist, Rhodes filled the echo chamber with a false narrative. It turns out that the "echo chamber" itself was more like a pay-to-play chamber, which merits investigation for possible illegal conduct by at least two non-profit tax-exempt organizations.
Money was dispensed through pro-nuclear deal tax-exempt organizations to buy favorable coverage in the media, including the tax-exempt National Public Radio (NPR), according to an Associated Press report. Ben Rhodes had specifically mentioned "outside groups like Ploughshares" as playing a key role in conveying the pro-nuclear deal narrative that the Obama administration wanted the public to hear.
According to the Associated Press report, Ploughshares, a left-wing non-profit organization financed by George Soros' Open Society Institute, "gave National Public Radio $100,000 last year to help it report on the pact and related issues."
Since 2005, Ploughshares has plowed about $700,000 into NPR's coffers. Since 2010, the grants to NPR specifically mention Iran. Ploughshares’ 2015 annual report, for example, explains that the purpose of its grant to National Public Radio, Inc. is to “support national security reporting that emphasizes the themes of US nuclear weapons policy and budgets, Iran’s nuclear program, international nuclear security topics and US policy toward nuclear security.” (Emphasis added)
Ploughshares and NPR are both 501(c) (3) non-profit organizations, which take tax deductible contributions. Both organizations are prohibited from engaging in any substantial lobbying, advocacy of legislation or “propaganda.” Although both may have crossed the line in spreading Rhodes’ propaganda regarding the nuclear deal with Iran, they have denied any wrongdoing.
...
Meanwhile, NPR’s media correspondent David Folkenflik went on the air in an interview with Renee Montagne, a host of NPR’s Morning Edition, to defend Ben Rhodes against the revelations in the New York Times Magazine article. Just like the president of NPR’s donor Ploughshares, Folkenflik criticized the New York Times reporter who had exposed Rhodes’ echo chamber stratagem, including Ploughshares’ involvement. Renee Montagne, who made even more money than Inskeep according to NPR’s 2013 tax filing, raised the question whether the New York Times reporter, Samuels, had possibly done “a little manipulating” himself. Folkenflik would not go that far, but said that Samuels had biases against a negotiated deal with Iran that should have been disclosed to the readers.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. NPR has done as much as possible to pretend it is an objective news agency and to obscure the Iran connection to its funding from Ploughshares. Unlike print media, however, NPR is a broadcast company that must follow FCC rules. It is also a tax exempt organization subject to IRS rules about lobbying and propagandizing. If NPR accepted payola to propagandize, which is a distinct possibility, both federal agencies should be taking notice.
Buying the Media to Sell the Iran Nuke Deal
