Associated Press, this morning: Study: False statements preceded war
A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
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The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.
The Fund for Independence in Journalism mission, in their own words:
The Fund’s primary purpose is providing legal defense and endowment support for the largest nonprofit, investigative reporting institution in the world, the Center for Public Integrity
According to AP, that makes them two nonprofit journalism organizations, when in fact it’s one organization with a legal branch to shield it from lawsuits.
Ed Morrissey takes a look at who’s behind the Center for Public Integrity:
the Center for Public Integrity hardly qualifies as “independent”. It gets much of its funding from George Soros, who has thrown millions of dollars behind Democratic political candidates, and explicitly campaigned to defeat George Bush in 2004.
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Nowhere in these articles do either news organization bother to inform their reader of the partisan nature of the CPI. Besides Soros, it gets financing from the Streisand Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Los Angeles Times Foundation. The FIJ shares most of its board members with the CPI, which hardly makes it a separate entity in terms of its political direction.
Big Lizards explains How to Lie About Lying:
One notes that “Charles Lewis and Mark Reading-Smith of the Fund for Independence in Journalism staff members” — isn’t that a lovely grammatical construct? — do not deny that Iraq was “trying to… obtain” WMD, even though they appear to include such claims under the category of “false statements.”
Nor do they deny the administration’s claim that Iraq had “links” with al-Qaeda. They merely dispute the meaningfulness of those links… and dub that another “false statement” by the president and his administration.
If you look at the Wikipedia entry on the Center for Public Integrity, you’ll find more on the sources of funds. By the way,
Mr Soros was the man reported to have made $1bn profit in September 1992, betting correctly that the British currency would have to be devalued and leave the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
Now,
“I’m looking for a significant shift of power and influence away from the US in particular and a shift in favour of the developing world, particularly China.”
So, before you descend into further APDD (Associated Press Deficit Disorder), it’s worthwhile asking, “Who’s paying for the study?”, and take it from there.
Wow, thanks for the info. I just new that this “study” reeked of Sorros. Leave it to his lemmings in the media to spin it as legitamate news.
BTW, found your story on the first page on Google. Nice blog you got here, I will be back.
Thank you Chrisb! Please visit often and tell your friends, too 🙂
That man is evil.
Just looked at the Wikipedia article you referenced on the CPI, and it had this to say about the relationship between Soros and CPI:
Despite their previous connections, the Center documented Soros’ political donations during the 2004 political elections as a part of its “Silent Partners” project, which won an Online Journalism Association award for its reporting on the “527” groups that bypassed campaign finance disclosure regulations to funnel millions of dollars to both candidates[17].
Not an unambiguous condemnation of the CPI. They also did a report called the “Fat Cat Hotel” on the Clintons renting out the Lincoln bedroom.
I also found your blog by Googling the CPI. Wanted to hear the other side of the story. Thanks.
There are several inaccuracies about the Center for Public Integrity that I’d like to address. The Center is not funded by George Soros or the Soros-funded Open Society Institute foundation. Neither Mr. Soros nor OSI funded our latest project, “Iraq – The War Card: Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War.” The Center has received foundation support from the Open Society Institute in the past, most recently in 2004. The Open Society Institute, like most foundations, awards grants independently from their founders. The Center for Public Integrity accepts support from many different sources, but regardless of the source, all of the Center’s projects are editorially independent and strictly managed by in-house journalists and staff. The Center has strict guidelines on revenue sources, for example, it does not accept contributions from governments, corporations, labor unions, anonymous donors and has no advertising. The bulk of our financial support comes from independent foundations and individual contributors. As a non-partisan, non-advocacy and independent organization, our mission is to produce original investigative fact-based journalism about significant issues of public interest to make institutional power more transparent and accountable. The Center does not and has never endorsed any legislation, political candidate, party or organization. All of our investigations are freely available, including a list of foundation funders and individual contributors, on our website, http://www.publicintegrity.org.