Who really funds FreePress and its net neutrality allies?
Submitted by Scott Cleland on Fri, 2009-10-02 18:16
Conflict of InterestFCCNet NeutralityOpen Internet
I posted the comment below on the Washington Post’s IT blogpost where FreePress urged the the Post to disclose its financial interests in cable systems.
FreePress hounds any voice that doesn’t support ‘net neutrality’ regulation to disclose their financial interests, like they did with urging the Washington Post to disclose that they owned cable systems in their editorial opposing net neutrality. I agree they should have disclosed, but I don’t agree that disclosure is only important for net neutrality opponents, but not for proponents like FreePress and its allies. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
FreePress has frequently attacked me as a shill and Astroturf. They ignore that I openly, unabashedly, and regularly disclose that my firm Precursor LLC is an industry consulting firm that works for companies and that I am Chairman of NetCompetition.org which is funded by broadband interests. It is not news that I strongly agree with the broadband sector view that markets produce better outcomes for consumers than regulation.
If transparency is truly important to Free Press, why doesn’t FreePress lead by example and openly disclose who all their major funders are and also demand that other prominent activist organizations in the net neutrality debate like New America Foundation, Public Knowledge, and the Media Access Project also fully disclose their corporate funding directly from Google, eBay, Amazon, or indirectly from their executives, employees or friends?
FreePress and its allies would have more credibility if they lived up to the standard they demand from everyone else and publicly disclosed who their corporate or wealthy sponsors are. FreePress doesn’t trust the representations of anyone else, why should anyone trust FreePress’ claims of being free of big money interests — be they corporate or individual?
So self-appointed astroturf-busters Mr. Tim Karr and Mr. Derek Turner of FreePress, be principled, take the high road, lead by example, and paste your major contributor list here and insist that your net neutrality regulation allies do the same. Come clean.
http://www.precursorblog.com/content/who-really-funds-freepress-and-its-net-neutrality-allies
Comment from the above article -
“In denial
Submitted by Brett Glass on Sat, 2009-10-10 22:55.
At http://www.wetmachine.com/totsf/item/1674, Harold Feld, besides launching an ad hominem attack against Scott, also denies that Free Press expunges the names of its contributors from its published Forms 990.
But as one can see on page 16 of the PDF at -
http://www.freepress.net/files/FP_990_combined_Final.pdf,
Free Press really does blot the names out.
We do know the identities of some of Free Press’ funding sources, because while Free Press does not publish their names, some of the funders disclose that they’re giving money to Free Press.
For example, the Ford Foundation says that it has given Free Press several hundred thousand dollars. (This puts the lie to Free Press’ claim that it does not accept money from corporations, because the Ford Foundation is a corporation, albeit a nonprofit one.)
But who else is contributing? Does Free Press use the all-too-common ruse of listing corporate contributions as personal contributions from their executives? Is this why Free Press won’t reveal the list?”
One wonders if Benton has anything to do with them as I think they do “work” for some Muslim countries.