MediaWatch: March 1990

More Media Money Moves Left

Last year, MediaWatch brought to light for the first time a new measure of the media's political tilt: the well-worn trail of media money directed toward liberal activist groups. Through a number of philanthropic arrangements, mainly company foundations and private foundations funded by past publishing profits, media companies and their executives have funneled millions of dollars to their favorite political causes. Out of the $1.75 million in political grants that we identified last year, more than 90 percent ($1.579 million) went to liberal groups.

To underline the results of last year's study, MediaWatch once again examined annual reports and foundation records at the Foundation Center in Washington. This time, we looked at the foundations of national newspaper chains (Gannett, Knight-Ridder, and Hearst), and two large metropolitan newspapers with a national reputation (The Boston Globe and the Chicago Tribune). Once again, out of the $2.2 million in grants we identified, 90 percent ($1.978 million) went to liberal groups. This imbalance not only disproves the myth of corporate conservatism among media companies, it raises serious questions about media impartiality.

GANNETT FOUNDATION: The company foundation of the publishers of USA Today and more than 85 other daily newspapers (including the Des Moines Register, Detroit News, and Louisville Courier- Journal), the Gannett Foundation followed a predictable path in the years 1982-89, donating heavily to minority activists who lobbied for liberal policies like affirmative action and increased welfare spending. Do the readers of Gannett's family newspapers know their subscription dollars supported the Canadian group Prostitutes and Other Women for Equal Rights?

Liberal: $903,718 (98.0%)

$ 6,000 Center for Law and Social Policy

$ 7,300 Central American Refugee Center

$ 5,000 Delaware Lesbian and Gay Health Advocates

$ 6,000 International Institute for Environment and Development

$ 15,000 King Center for Nonviolent Social Change

$ 25,600 LULAC

$ 5,000 Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund

$ 200,000 National AIDS Network

$ 16,000 National Council of LaRaza

$ 5,000 National Council of Negro Women

$ 7,500 National Puerto Rican Foundation

$ 15,000 National Women's Political Caucus

$ 45,000 NAACP

$ 10,500 NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund

$ 325,000 Planned Parenthood

$ 6,000 Project on Military Procurement

$ 7,618 Prostitutes and Other Women for Equal Rights (POWER)

$ 12,500 Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund

$ 5,000 Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project

$ 117,200 Urban League

$ 55,000 Urban Institute

$ 5,000 Wilderness Society

$ 1,500 Women's Equity Action League

Conservative: $18,500 (2.0%)

$ 8,500 Manhattan Institute

$ 5,000 Media Institute

$ 5,000 Rockford Institute

KNIGHT FOUNDATION: Endowed in 1950 by profits from the Knight- Ridder chain (which currently includes the Miami Herald, Seattle Times, and Philadelphia Inquirer), the Knight Foundation declined to fund conservative groups from 1982-89. In a letter to MediaWatch, Foundation President Creed C. Black insisted the foundation "is wholly separate from and independent of Knight- Ridder, Inc." Technically yes, but Knight-Ridder Chairman Alvah Chapman and CEO James K. Batten both serve on its board of trustees, and the foundation tries to make grants only in cities where Knight-Ridder newspapers are published. Black also said "we make no grants in support of any candidates or partisan organizations." Again, for tax purposes, he is technically correct; but tax-exempt lobbies like the Urban League and Planned Parenthood were heavy hitters in the fight against the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Robert Bork.

Liberal: $394,000 (100%)

$ 50,000 Center for Environmental Education

$ 10,000 Izaak Walton League

$ 5,000 NAACP

$ 65,000 Planned Parenthood

$ 15,000 Urban Coalition

$ 249,000 Urban League

Conservative: None.

HEARST FOUNDATIONS: Also endowed by the personal profits of newspaper chain chieftains, the Hearst Foundation and the William Randolph Hearst Foundation grant lists strike more of a balance. Although Hearst has sold some of its major newspapers, its diversified holdings (Cosmopolitan, King Features Syndicate, Boston ABC affiliate WCVB-TV) insure substantial influence. Like the other foundations, the Hearst Foundations took a liking to minority advocacy groups active in the fight against Bork, but they also funded conservative think tanks like the Hoover Institution, and corrected some of their funding of the judicial left by supporting newly formed conservative legal foundations in the years 1982-89.

Liberal: $541,400 (72.6%)

$ 10,000 Audubon Society

$ 10,000 Brookings Institution

$ 5,000 Child Care Action Now

$ 15,000 Children's Defense Fund

$ 10,000 Coalition for the Homeless

$ 15,000 Educators for Social Responsibility

$ 15,000 Foreign Policy Association

$ 20,000 Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund

$ 15,000 National Council of LaRaza

$ 75,000 National Puerto Rican Coalition

$ 70,000 NAACP

$ 91,400 NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund

$ 85,000 National Urban Coalition

$ 25,000 Native American Rights Fund

$ 40,000 Urban League

$ 15,000 Women's Action Alliance

$ 25,000 Women's Legal Defense Fund

Conservative: $205,000 (27.4%)

$ 10,000 American Enterprise Institute

$ 70,000 Hoover Institution

$ 40,000 Institute for Contemporary Studies

$ 10,000 Institute for Educational Affairs

$ 5,000 National Legal Center for the Public Interest

$ 20,000 Mid-American Legal Foundation

$ 5,000 Pacific Institute for Public Policy Research

$ 45,000 Pacific Legal Foundation

BOSTON GLOBE FOUNDATION: While it's heavily involved in local charitable and arts programs, when the Globe's foundation gave to political groups from 1982-88, it gave decisively to the Left. Globe grant recipients included the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the group behind the Alar apple scare, and the Grey Panthers, the senior citizen champions of left-wing causes. For grants targeted toward "public policy/advocacy," the Globe gave to the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), which advocated the diversion of defense spending to social programs long before talk of a "peace dividend." Its 1988 Children's Defense Budget reported that on CDF positions, Ted Kennedy scored a 90.

Liberal: $110,350 (100%)

$ 3,000 American Friends Service Committee

$ 3,000 Children's Defense Fund

$ 1,500 Grey Panthers

$ 3,000 Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

$ 15,000 Massachusetts Audubon Society

$ 27,500 NAACP

$ 17,500 NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund

$ 10,000 National Public Radio

$ 1,500 Natural Resources Defense Council

$ 26,000 Oxfam America

$ 350 Physicians for Social Responsibility

$ 2,000 Women's Equity Action League

Conservative: None.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE FOUNDATIN: Although it's involved in community affairs like the Globe Foundation, the Tribune Foundation also contributed to liberal groups like the Brookings Institution, which has received at least $149,500 from media foundations. In looking at its 1985 and 1986 giving, they also funded the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, which has fought successfully to increase funding of the Left through the federal government and corporate giving programs.

Liberal: $29,125 (93.6%)

$ 5,000 Brookings Institution

$ 4,500 Council on Foreign Relations

$ 3,000 National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy

$ 3,125 Northeast-Midwest Institute

$ 13,500 Urban League

Conservative: $2,000 (6.4%)

$ 2,000 Media Institute

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