A Report by Keystone Progress August, 2013

Driving the News

How right wing funders are manufacturing news and influencing public policy in Pennsylvania

 

 2 This report was produced by Keystone P

rogress. Keystone Progress is Pennsylvania’s largest progressive

advocacy organization with over 350,000 subscribers. Keystone Progress embraces a pragmatic and flexible approach to advancing equal opportunity for all, the protection of individual freedoms, and democratic, transparent and people-oriented (rather than corporate) government.

We support every worker’s right to organize and earn a living wage, every individual’s right to control their reproductive health options, every child’s right to public

 

education, and every human being’s right to breathe clean air, drink clean water, and

access adequate health care, food and shelter. info@keystoneprogress.org 610-990-6300 

 

 3

Executive Summary

There is a disturbing new movement to supplant genuine investigative reporting with pseudo-reporting by right-wing advocacy organizations. These advocacy groups, posing as legitimate news bureaus, are well funded and have become accepted as objective news organizations by many mainstream newspapers, television and radio news operations. In fact, one such network claims that it is already "provides 10 percent of all daily reporting from state capitals nationwide."

i

 This insidious infiltration of legitimate news operations is led by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. Its local affiliate in Pennsylvania is the

Pennsylvania Independent 

.

Key Findings



 Despite its claims, the

Pennsylvania Independent 

 is far from being independent or unbiased.

 



 The

Pennsylvania Independent

is run by the far-right Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, which has close ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Koch brothers, the Tea Party, the Conservative Political Action Conference, the Heritage Foundation and numerous other conservative causes and candidates.

 



 The Franklin Center lists dozens of conservative think tanks, many of which are members of the rightwing State Policy Network, as state affiliates. The Commonwealth Foundation is one of those conservative think tanks.



 The

Independent

is staffed by conservative ideologues who have been active in conservative causes.

 



 Ninety-five percent of the Franklin Ce

nter’s

 known funding comes from the Donors Capital Fund and the related Donors Trust, "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement" that receives significant funding from the Koch brothers.

 



 Mainstream legitimate news operations are ignoring the clear conservative advocacy intentions of the

Pennsylvania Independent 

 and are republishing its

“reporting” as

legitimate, unbiased news.