Paying to control the narrative.
Via Fox News:
Kentucky’s Republican Gov. Matt Bevin blasted the Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper Wednesday for partnering with ProPublica, an investigative journalism outlet whose backers include liberal financier George Soros.
In a YouTube video, Bevin accuses the outlet, ProPublica, of left-wing bias and also tears into the local paper.
“This is the same Courier-Journal, mind you, which, while it’s dying, continues to maintain that they are unbiased, that they are good journalists and that they are interested in transparency, and holding government … accountable,” Bevin says in the video. “Who’s holding the Courier-Journal accountable?”
Bevin also criticizes ProPublica’s founders, Herbert and Marion Sandler, who have donated to progressive causes and groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union. He says the news organization receives funding from Democratic donors, including Soros, whom he nicknamed George “I hate America” Soros.
Soros, a frequent target of Republican critics, supports ProPublica through the Open Society Foundations.
The Courier-Journal announced Wednesday that it is one of several local newspapers partnering with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network with the aim of investigating an unspecified state program.
“While the past year has seen yet more cutbacks at local news organizations, the ProPublica Local Reporting Network has been a bright spot nationally,” ProPublica senior editor Charles Ornstein said in a statement. “We couldn’t be happier with the accountability journalism produced by our inaugural class and are excited to pursue another year of investigative projects with moral force.”[…]
Other news organizations partnering with ProPublica for state investigations include the Charleston Gazette-Mail in Charleston, W. Va., the Connecticut Mirror, the Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C., and the Sacramento Bee in California.