Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Billionaire Republican Campaign Donor Buys "Now Public" "Crowd Powered Media" Online Newspaper


Cross-posted at Now Public.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Atty. Francis L. Holland
Afrosphere Member
Francis L. Holland Blog

francislholland@gmail.com
55 (73) 9123-2538

September 2, 2009

Phillip Anschutz, the new owner of the Now Public "crowd powered" liberal news site online, has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Republicans and Republican causes, including $3,000 to Senator John McCain and the Colorado Republican Party, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Phillip Anschutz has made contributions to Republican Party state branches in including $3,000 to Senator John McCain and the Colorado Republican Party, The "Now Public" blog site, where members of the general public post news stories, bills itself as a "Crowd Powered Media" website.

Phillip Anschutz, the world's 89th wealthiest billionaire, according to Forbes, has been a consistent giver to Republican candidates and causes since at least 1999. The FEC Contributions to Political Committees report says that Phillip Anschutz of Denver, Colorado gave:

Billionaire Republican donor Phillip Anschutz's twenty-five million dollar purchase of Now Public leaves the site's future editorial policies in doubt. Upon hearing the news, one Now Public blog site contributor, "Rev. Jermano" said,

"Pitiful shame to hear that. Now we have to start another News Outlet to carry on Now Public original traditions."

The DailyKos "liberal" blog is owned by Markos C. Alberto Moulitsas Zúñiga ("Kos), who says he started DailyKos during a two year training period with the CIA, after he worked for the election of Republican Congressman Henry Hyde, chief prosecutor in the House of Representatives for President Bill Clinton's impeachment.

With Now Public owned by multi-billionaire Phillip Anschutz, who has been a consistent supporter and substantial contributor to Republican candidates and causes, many liberals who want to publish news and opinions online for large audiences may find themselves increasingly squeezed out.

The FEC also lists Anschutz contributions' to at least ten state Republican Party entities:

ILLINOIS REPUBLICAN PARTY

12/30/1999 621.00 20036134782
MICHIGAN REPUBLICAN PARTY

12/30/1999 513.00 20036190432
NEW JERSEY REPUBLICAN STATE COMMITTEE

12/30/1999 423.00 20036133646
NEW YORK REPUBLICAN FEDERAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE

12/30/1999 927.00 20036190854
OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY STATE CENTRAL & EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

12/30/1999 594.00 20036213059
REPUBLICAN FEDERAL COMMITTEE OF PENNSYLVANIA

12/30/1999 657.00 20036161321
REPUBLICAN PARTY OF FLORIDA

12/30/1999 711.00 21037034107
REPUBLICAN PARTY OF KENTUCKY

12/30/1999 225.00 20036192419
REPUBLICAN PARTY OF VIRGINIA INC

12/30/1999 369.00 20036254141
WASHINGTON STATE REPUBLICAN PARTY

12/30/1999 315.00 20036351456
Recipient Total: 5580.00

The Francis L. Holland Blog
http://francislholland.blogspot.com

Skype: fazinformatica2005

francislholland@gmail.com
55 (73) 9123-2538

References:

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/DSAK.html

http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/qindcont/2/%28lname|MATCHES|:ANSCHUTZ*:%29|AND|%28fname|MATCHES|:PHILIP*:%29

http://blog.beliefnet.com/godometer/2007/12/with-help-from-brownback-mccai.html

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Markos_Moulitsas_Z%C3%BAniga

http://www.commonwealthclub.org/archive/06/06-06zuniga-audio.html

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=11410

http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2009/09/billionare-republican-campaign.html

http://my.nowpublic.com/world/billionaire-republican-campaign-donor-buys-now-public-site

2 comments:

Tokyo Shemp said...

The internet is a scam. It's full of conformity and reeks of special interests. It also reeks of psychological operations. That's not tinfoil. It's the truth. No true lefty would ever support the CIA. Your comments on the other thread are correct, Francis. I am not surprised this Now Public has turned out to be a joke. I have been burned so often, I am rather cynical about the internet, of nearly all of it. But you keep doing what you're doing. The few of us will keep on keeping on. It would have been foolish of us to think this would be an easy victory. But we can be like Nelson Mandela and stand firm to principles. Hey, I realise neither of us is suffering like he did, and I mean no offense by it. I just continue to think of pockets of awareness and enabling newbies and fence-sitters to think for themselves. But they are gonna have to do some heavy critical thinking and seek beneath the surface, for the net is clearly contaminated with status quo rubbish and strawman disinformation.

Francis Holland said...

Well, as a means of transmitting information to thousands of people, the Internet beats phone lists. (Remember those?)

The key is to create "sticky" information that people will carry elsewhere and drop like viral messaging.

H1N1 started with one person.

I'm sick of NowPublic anyway, because I'm tired of getting "helpful" messages about how to format my messages for their site. My account is temporarily blocked for that reason (and because I pointed out that the new owner is a billionaire contributor to Republican "wide-stances."

Screw 'em.