What Media Bias? Part 156

Posted without further comment:

Never accuse the Associated Press of being hidebound by journalistic tradition. In a sharp break with past practice, the once-venerable news service is providing its 1,500 member papers with ready-to-run stories produced by “independent” reporters and editors.

Earlier this month, the 163-year-old news cooperative announced it would distribute “watchdog and investigative journalism” penned not by its own staff or that of member papers, but by four outside groups: the Center for Investigative Reporting in Barkeley, Calif.; New York-based ProPublica; and two D.C. outfits, the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) and the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University.

AP, itself a not-for-profit enterprise, identified the four organizations as “civic-minded” nonprofits. They also all have decidedly liberal sponsors. A cursory glance at the “independent” news shops reveals their reliance on left-tilting patrons such as the Knight Foundation and leftist donors such as financier Herbert Sandler and currency speculator George Soros.