The liberal news media generally don’t cover liberal billionaire George Soros’s influence and agenda. Now, as thousands of leaked documents show his foundation “channelling money into other countries for political purposes,” the networks continue avoiding the subject.
A group calling itself “DCLeaks” posted the “workplans, strategies, priorities and other activities of Soros,” including thousands of documents it claims are from Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF). The leaks were published online on Aug. 13, but since that time the networks and many national print and online media ignored them.
The documents appear to show Soros trying to buy liberal policy around the world. As one of the leaked files said, OSF is “in the business of channeling money into other countries for political purposes.”
Soros is a prominent liberal donor who gave at least $25 million to Hillary Clinton’s campaign and funds a myriad liberal media entities through his foundations. He also gave Clinton advice on unrest in Albania while she was Secretary of State, The Blaze reported on Aug. 12. Soros recommended three people for “mediator” — one of whom was later chosen for the job.
But none of the morning or evening news shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC mentioned Soros or Open Society Foundations between Aug. 13, and Aug. 23. Investor’s Business Daily editorial board noticed a similar “bizarre media blackout” when it surveyed print and online media.
“We couldn’t find a single story on The New York Times, CNN, Washington Post, CBS News, or other major news sites that even noted the existence of leaked documents, let alone reported on what’s in them,” IBD noted on Aug. 19.
What was the media ignoring exactly? According to IBD’s editorial, “juicy insider details of how a fabulously rich businessman had been using his money to influence elections in Europe, underwrite an extremist group, target U.S. citizens who disagreed with him, dictate foreign policy, and try to sway a Supreme Court ruling ...”
Such a scandal is newsworthy. One of the leaked OSF memos described funding a Center for American Progress project to investigate conservatives in the U.S. critical of Islam, according to the Daily Caller.
The Daily Caller also found one from February 2016, exposing an OSF plan to “influence the Justices” toward a “favorable ruling in U.S. v Texas.” Such a ruling would allow illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. if they were parents of a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident.
Another leaked report from October 2015 outlined a $650,000 donation “to invest in technical assistance and support for groups at the core of the burgeoning #BlackLivesMatter movement,” Breitbart reported. The report also asked whether OSF “should seek to shape” the Black Lives Matter movement, or simply “facilitate its direct action.”
The Washington Times first reported that Soros was funding Black Lives Matter in January 2015. The Daily Beast tried to discredit that claim in August 2015, using statements from Ken Zimmerman, the OSF director of U.S. Programs. But all Zimmerman said was the foundation hadn’t given money to the three women who started the Black Lives Matter hashtag.
Breitbart also found that OSF was trying to “redesign” the racial categories for the 2020 census, and change the way incarcerated persons are counted. Changes to the census “could impact the future composition of the House of Representatives,” according to Breitbart.
The Daily Caller also reported that OSF promised to give $10 million annually for three years to Al Gore’s climate group, Alliance for Climate Protection.
But the leaks showed Soros wasn’t just trying to affect politics in the U.S.
Jerusalem Post uncovered anti-Israeli statements in the “Soros leaks” files, including documents that celebrated “a number of successes in challenging Israel’s racist and anti-democratic policies” and boasted “influencing EU-Israel bilateral negotiations.” Documents also indicated Soros was pumping millions into “organizations supportive of Palestinian civil society organizations,” The Independent (UK) reported.
Other documents showed Soros was using the migrant crisis in Europe as a chance to influence immigration policy, according to Daily Mail. OSF said the immigration crisis was the “new normal” in Europe, and provided “new opportunities for reforming migration governance at the global level.”
While ignoring the “Soros leaks,” the evening news shows found time to cover potential risks of holding an open house, McDonald’s decision to remove their fitbit Happy Meal toy, explain that Brazilian Jazz is influenced by Samba and American Jazz, and interview an elderly white woman who built a slave cabin to start a conversation about race in her community.
Methodology: MRC Business searched morning and evening news shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC for mentions of “Soros” and “Open Society Foundations” between Aug. 13, 2016 and Aug. 23, 2016.
