I've recently discovered this website, and I am very impressed with it as a source of independent and reliable information. In this article they have made a major contribution to activists serving the 99 Percent by "outing" The Real News Network as another NGO front organization that functions as a gatekeeper of information in service to, and for the the interests of, the ruling capitalist class. I've had my suspicions about them in the past year as I've seen the quality of their reports slowly degenerate. However, their earlier reports worked well as a "hook" to lure me into following them on the web for quite a while.
For those who had high hopes for The Real News Network, the TRNN love fest with social capitalists like Naomi Klein and other con artists on Wall Street’s payroll — laundered by foundations like Ford, Rockefeller and NoVo — comes as a disappointment. So it should come as no surprise that TRNN start-up money ($350,000) came from Ford and MacArthur foundations. Two thirds of TRNN ongoing operating revenue comes from the rich.This report provides further evidence that our masters are using the same vehicle of information management, astro-turf NGOs, as they are using in many foreign countries to manage information (they are also used in foreign countries to destabilize governments in favor of more NATO aligned governments).
Often such generous funding seduces otherwise honest observers, analysts, and investigative website administrators who justify receiving this money, along with assurances of independence, by thinking that they can be much more effective with this funding in their quest to shed light on many issues. And they may be left alone for a while; but after they become thoroughly hooked on the money, they begin to feel the pressure to tread lightly on certain issues or to avoid them altogether. (For example, Democracy Now! will not interview any knowledgeable person who casts doubt on the official 9/11 story.) Other non-profit organizations with websites are likely directly managed by trained propagandists serving the ruling class. (See an excellent piece of research on the subject of gatekeeping authored by a political refugee (from FBI harassment) who fled from Seattle to where she now lives in New Zealand.)
