In the wake of the recent revelations about how USAID funded journalists around the world to safeguard strategic interests of the American Deep State, we investigated funding and links of some media organizations that have been very critical of the current ruling dispensation in India.
The billionaire Omidyar earlier invested in India through an organization called the Omidyar Network. This Omidyar Network was also a partner in the ‘Alliance for Affordable Internet’ initiative of USAID and jointly invested in the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) with the Rockefeller Foundation.
Pierre and Pam Omidyar also have another organization called the Luminate Group, which is making investments in India. These two graphics and subsequent explanations ought to give an explanation.
ACJ and The Congress
- Asian College Of Journalism is run by a non-profit called Media Development Foundation.
- In FY 2014-2015, Media Development Foundation received more than Rs 80 lakhs from South Asia Foundation, a non-profit registered in France, through an MoU signed in 2007, through the FCRA route
- At this time, Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar of the Congress Party was Chairman of the India Chapter.
- Currently, Mr Sashi Kumar and Mr N. Ram are both part of the advisory body of South Asia Foundation, along with Mr Navin Chawla and ex-NAC member Dr Syeda Hameed.
ACJ and Omidyar
- Mr Pierre Omidyar and Ms Pam Omidyar have established the Luminate Group for safeguarding press freedom and democracy, with the same team that worked for the Omidyar Network.
- Luminate Group has also donated to Global Disinformation Index (GDI), is a London-based think tank focused on combating alleged disinformation on online news sites. GDI is jointly funded by, among other entities, the Open Society Foundation
- The Luminate Group has funded Media Development Investment Fund – document retrieved from Luminate Group site
- MDIF has invested in Asiaville, of which Mr Sashi Kumar is Chairman and his son, Mr Tuhin Menon is CEO.
- Luminate has also invested in The News Minute and Newslaundry.
- Co-Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The News Minute, Ms Dhanya Rajendran is an alumna of the Asian College of Journalism.
ACJ and the United States State Department
The US Consulate at Chennai and ACJ jointly conducted a series of workshops by U.S. and Indian fact-checking experts, discussions among senior journalists, news ombudsmen, and working journalists during a series of workshops conducted across South India in the regional languages of Kannada, Malayalam, and Tamil in July-September 2019. Dan Shelley, Executive Director, Radio Television Digital News Association, Washington, D.C. was among the participants. A handbook for fact-checking has been published as a result of these deliberations, utilizing a grant from the US Consulate at Chennai.
The handbook recommends a set of fact checking websites for journalists to use, which include Alt News run by Mr Mohammed Zubair and Mr Pratik Sinha, Boom Live, SMHoax Slayer and Factchecker.in. Alt News is also credited as a partner that supplied training material and conducted sessions.
Radio Television Digital News Association is run by RTDNA Foundation, a founded by Colonel Barney Oldfield, whose long and impressive career included a stint as a Hollywood studio publicist, WWII Army and post-war Air Force public relations officer, author, lecturer, businessman and philanthropist who founded over 40 private foundations including the RTDNA Foundation. Col. Oldfield served as press aide to Gen Eisenhower during World War II, after which he worked as a public relations agent in Hollywood and worked for three decades in public relations for Litton Industries, an American defense contractor.
