Tune into television coverage of the presidential campaign and undoubtedly you will hear from various pundits described as “former campaign strategists” and “political contributors” explaining the latest developments of the race. But in many cases, these pundits — though introduced as neutral experts on campaigns or party politics — in fact have financial ties to the candidates they praise on the air.
Several consultants who work at firms retained by Hillary Clinton’s campaign and her affiliated Super PACs appear regularly on the major television networks, frequently touting Clinton.
A review of pundits on the major networks and cable news also found one prominent pundit who often praised Jeb Bush, without the network revealing her relationship with his campaign.
“Journalism 101 teaches that reporters and TV news hosts must properly identify their sources and analysts,” says Jeff Cohen, an associate professor of journalism at Ithaca College. We reached out to NBC, CBS, CNN, and ABC News, but did not hear back.
Stephanie Cutter, for example, has appeared on multiple networks to discuss Clinton, and is typically introduced as a former campaign official for President Barack Obama. What hasn’t been disclosed in any of her appearances reviewed by The Intercept, however, is that the boutique consulting firm she co-founded, Precision Strategies, has been retained by the Clinton campaign for “digital consulting,” according to Federal Election Commission records. Precision Strategies has been paid at least $120,049 from the Clinton campaign since June of last year.
“I think that Hillary Clinton has done everything right. She has run a good campaign. She has outperformed in debates. She’s raised money. She’s got a great ground game,” said Cutter, speaking about the upcoming New Hampshire and Iowa primaries on NBC’s Meet the Press on January 17. She was introduced as “President Obama’s 2012 deputy campaign manager.” Her company’s affiliation with the Clinton campaign was not disclosed.
That was the second time Cutter came on Meet the Press to discuss the campaign. Last June, again identified only as a former Obama campaign manager, Cutter said Clinton had “achieved what she needed to achieve, that she’s a fighter, that she’s going to restore that basic economic bargain.”
Speaking about the Democratic primary on ABC News’ This Week in November, Cutter was introduced as “a supporter of Hillary Clinton” — but still not as a consultant whose firm was being paid by the campaign. When Cutter appeared on CNN to discuss the political impact of the Benghazi committee hearings on Clinton, she was similarly introduced as a Democratic strategist, not as someone whose firm is working for the candidate. Precision Strategies did not respond to a request for comment.
Maria Cardona, a CNN contributor, has appeared on a regular basis over the course the presidential campaign as a reliable voice in support of Clinton. She is also a longtime partner at the Dewey Square Group, a lobbying firm with extensive ties to the Clinton campaign: Two Dewey Square partners serve as fundraisers for the Clinton campaign, each raising at least $100,000; both pro-Clinton Super PACs — Priorities USA Action and Correct the Record — have paid Dewey Square for consulting services during this election; and the co-founding partner of Dewey Square now serves as the chief administrative officer of the Clinton campaign. Notably, Cardona, a DNC “superdelegate” who pledged support for Clinton last year, before any of the primary elections, also contributed the maximum donation to Clinton’s campaign.
Those ties, however, were not revealed to CNN viewers even as Cardona defended Clinton’s use of a private email server, touted Clinton’s support from young voters, praised Clinton’s record on criminal justice reform, and — on two separate occasions — declared that Clinton will “fight for middle-class families.” She has also appeared frequently on the network to analyze the race between Bernie Sanders and Clinton, often castigating the Vermont senator. Cardona appears on CNN, CNN en Español, and CNN International.
The Intercept reviewed transcripts for 50 television segments, from August 2015 through this month, in which Cardona has appeared on CNN to discuss Clinton. In five of those appearances, she was identified or she identified herself as a supporter of Clinton. In another five, she identified herself as someone who advised Clinton during the 2008 campaign. The other 40 appearances presented her as a neutral Democratic strategist or CNN contributor. And in none of her appearances was it disclosed that her firm, the Dewey Square Group, has been retained for consulting work by the Clinton Super PACs or that her colleagues at the firm are working on behalf of the Clinton campaign. Cardona did not respond to a request for comment.
CNBC contributor Sara Fagen, a political operative, has appeared twice on ABC News’s This Week to discuss the state of Republican primaries. Both times, she touted Jeb Bush’s campaign, which ended last week after a long string of dismal failures. In her appearance last August, Fagen said Bush along with Ted Cruz are the only candidates “really focused on a 35-state strategy going forward.” In her second appearance, on November 1, Fagen spoke at length about Bush’s ability to recover from weak performances at the GOP debates, telling host Martha Raddatz: “Martha, he has the most money. He has the most organization. He has the most endorsements, and the thing that he’s had that no one on that stage has, is he’s been through the fire before. And that is incredibly valuable in the long run.”
Fagen also used her position with CNBC to praise Bush’s campaign and criticize his opponents in televised appearances and through a column she writes for the website. In September, Fagen used her CNBC column to predict the “beginning of the end” of Donald Trump’s leading position in the Republican field. In the piece, she argued that Trump’s downfall would likely benefit candidates like Bush, who had collected the most “endorsements from political leaders.” In two different CNBC columns this year, Fagen praised Bush’s debate performances. In one, published on February 8, Fagen said Bush could use the New Hampshire primary, even if he finished second or third, to “catapult into the GOP nomination” and “be a new comeback kid.”
Throughout her punditry over the last year, Fagen has been introduced or bylined as a “Republican strategist” and contributor to CNBC. But FEC records show that the Bush campaign paid Deep Root Analytics, a data-consulting firm co-founded by Fagen, $586,610 in 2015, starting in July. Right to Rise USA, the Bush-supporting Super PAC, paid Deep Root Analytics $273,001, with payments starting in August 2015 and continuing into January 2016. She has also been a “bundler” for the Bush campaign, a term used to describe a fundraiser who helps collect campaign checks.
Hari Sevugan is a principal at 270 Strategies, which was co-founded by Lynda Tran, a CBS News political contributor. 270 Strategies boasts on the homepage of its website of its extensive work for the Clinton campaign. “270 Strategies worked with the Ready for Hillary team to develop their organizing approach and provided guidance on their volunteer engagement program,” the website notes, detailing work on behalf of a pro-Clinton Super PAC that later folded into the larger Clinton campaign. FEC records show that Ready for Hillary paid 270 Strategies $301,621 for consulting work, and later, the Hillary for America campaign paid the firm at least $75,200.
That relationship, however, seems to have gone unmentioned as Sevugan and Tran regularly appeared on MSNBC and CBS News to comment on the Democratic primary. Sevugan went on MSNBC in February to drastically raise the expectations for Bernie Sanders’ campaign, declaring, “Anything short of a victory there in Iowa and New Hampshire is going to be a failure for them.” After the Iowa caucus, Tran made similar arguments, again diminishing Sanders’ surge by claiming that his come-from-behind near-tie was in fact a flop.
“It’s not just about outcomes, it’s also about expectations, and actually I think the expectations were pretty high for Bernie heading into Iowa last night,” Tran said. “What he really needed was to absolutely win.”
Sevugan’s and Tran’s financial ties to the Clinton campaign were not disclosed in these appearances and other similar segments throughout the primary race in recent months. In several segments, their affiliations with 270 Strategies were disclosed, but not the firm’s work for the Clinton campaign.
When I sent a request for comment to CBS News and 270 Strategies last week, neither responded — although a 270 Strategies communications official began following me on Twitter. On Saturday, when Tran appeared on CBS News to discuss the results of the Nevada caucus election, the host noted for the first time: “Before we start, we should disclose that several employees of 270 Strategies do some work for the Hillary Clinton campaign, however, Lynda, you do not.”
This says more about the news media than Clinton and her supporters. All of those shows have all of the same people on them – for goodness sakes, some/most of the hosts have worked in politics. It is just another reason why people don’t believe the media.
Good read and interview on Democracy Now. Would be interesting to see this as an extension of Edward Barnes’ work. Barnes was Freud’s nephew – EB’s mother was SF’s sister, EB’s father was SF’s wife’s brother. As S.F worked for individual self understanding, EB reverse everything to public manipulation thus earning the original title of the father of propaganda – now called public relations.
Quickly becoming my favorite journalist. Very hard to find a journalist willing write about the connections between money and politics. Keep up the good work.
Democrats have diverse opinions and republicans are threatened by diversity.
You look at the election articles of the Intercept and the comments and you have to wonder if the Intercept has become a special interest of the republican party
But then again, we’re supposed to believe that republican establishment is threatened by Trump (but you didnt hear about that at this site)
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/us/politics/donald-trump-republican-party.html?ribbon-ad-idx=3&rref=politics&module=Ribbon&version=context®ion=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Politics&pgtype=article
but democrats, excuse me progressives! at the Intercept and everywhere else prefer Trump to Hillary?
Maybe the Conservative empire is hoping that Trump supporters fight it out with Sanders supporters. And the donors just don’t know what happened. They spent all this money and boohoo. Just let us plebeians try to ask for campaign finance reform now.
Looking ahead we’ll need protection AND we can keep our bored overseers entertained
See? It’s not so bad.
How Google is working for Hillary Clinton’s election. (It doesn’t appear to have had an effect on young voters, so far.) https://goo.gl/SPk5rd
The specifics about Google and Clinton are in the last few paragraphs.
That’s really disturbing.
This is a good, concise piece on all the lies she’s been telling lately re: her ties to Wall Street:
http://www.alternet.org/media/hillarys-wall-street-migraine-5-reasons-goldman-sachs-debacle-refuses-go-away
And the democratic party smiles. Thanks, Lee, for another great article.
Think I remember shillary talkin about a “vast right wing conspiracy”. She was right and she is part of it, just like O Tomma.
“Wall Street’s sinister influence on the political process has, rightly, been a major topic during this presidential campaign. But, history has taught us that the role that the media industry plays in Washington poses a comparable threat to our democracy. Yet, this is a topic rarely discussed by the dominant media, or on the campaign trail.
“But now is a good time to discuss our growing media crises. Twenty years ago this week, President Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The act, signed into law on February 8, 1996, was ‘essentially bought and paid for by corporate media lobbies,’ as Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) described it, and radically ‘opened the floodgates on mergers.’ ”
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34789-democracy-in-peril-twenty-years-of-media-consolidation-under-the-telecommunications-act
Great work and research, thanks
http://fair.org/new/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ClintonSuperpredators.png
Lee Fang what a great job. These journalist who don’t follow the ethical standards on journalism should be suspended or held accountable for their actions. Ofcourse they will be protected by their big corporate TV networks who gives big donations to their favorite candidates and the current administration who benefit from it…it makes us not to trust the media and the kind of government that we have now…we should bring back the “PEOPLE’S POWER” in America.
The fix for HRC has been in from the start. Wonder how they will feel when she loses in November.
2/27/2016 Killer Mike Co-signing Bernie’s Civil Rights Record. Powerful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6rSbLzWayQ
Liars – the entire pack. All you have to do is look at how the ratings are reported. Every time it is in favor of Clinton and then she fall on her face. But then Hilary Clinton started her political career by lying.
This is just one more example of Clinton and her lackeys’ corruption.
Disclosure is an easy thing to do, unless of course, you want to skew the bias of the ignorant population. The more I look into Clinton’s record, the more questionable activities I find. I don’t mean what the Republicans have latched onto, like Benghazi, but just things like her quickie commodities investment that paid back a fortune, things like that.
I don’t understand African-American women in SC being so for her. Some feel bad that they abandoned her for Obama, a logical decision. But ladies, vote for someone whose declared and firm policies over 3 decades will benefit you and your families. That is NOT Clinton. Ask the woman and children, or should I say, widows and orphans of Iraq.
Her supporters are saying that Sanders’ people should vow to vote for Hillary if she wins (the rigged) primaries. But they either don’t care, don’t believe, or don’t understand that so many of us feel that she is just plain unethical and unfit for the position. And therefore, we cannot vote for her. Even an awful Republican running (sort of acknowledged) is not going to make me want to vote for more of the same. The feeling of wanting to burn the whole corrupt political structure down is strong–why not let Trump do it?
The Dems are too invested in power, perks, position and Wall Street bribes to really want to change a system that they benefit so much from. They are not interested in good governance, or the benefit of the citizens of this country. I won’t vote Repub, under any circumstances, but if Clinton is the Dem candidate, I’ll vote Green, for a woman if she runs. Like I did in 2012 after the disappointment of a weak, mediocre Pres. Obama.
I voted Nader in 2000, Kerry in 2004, Obama in 2008 and Jill Stein in 2012. I will not vote for HRC but will vote again for Jill Stein if Bernie is not the nominee. I have learned over the years that as you say perhaps the whole structure needs to come down. I’m willing to give Bernie a chance to try to get somethings passed that are desperately needed but if he isn’t the nominee than the whole thing is going to hell in a handbasket. Let Trump be the one that takes us all down and then the republicans can self destruct.
Well we both voted the same for POTUS all those years runnning, except that I voted for Ralph Nader twice. I am not as afraid of Trump, because I think that even if he were to win the election, that he would be like a lame duck president as soon as he got into office. No one would want to work with him. Not Dems, probably not most Repubs. The power of the president is overblown. George Bush could not have started the was on Iraq by himself. It took a large group of neocons, and I include Clinton here also, to start that disaster rolling. But his power to mobilize bigoted, violent yahoos reminds me of Hitler. For all of his power though, he is part of the establishment, using the laws to go bankrupt, and be bailed out by taxpayers. He isn’t owned by the other oligarchs, not really part of the banker’s club, so they’re not happy with him. I still think that Hillary Clinton is, far and away, the best candidate for the Republicans. It’s ironic that they do not realize it though.
Excellent article, Lee. Clearly, the major media companies LOVE the Citizens United SCOTUS decision. There’s a destination for most of those $billions in corporate money — it’s going to buy political ads, mostly with the same media companies. Little wonder that they show a clear preference for their biggest sources of ad revenue! And little wonder that Bernie, who uses Social Media much more than mainstream media ads, is either on blackout, or gets disparaged.
Fortunately, it’s *so* blatant at this point that everyone can see what’s happening. GAME OVER.
SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS
Code of Ethics:
1. SEEK THE TRUTH AND REPORT IT:
Ethical journalism should be accurate and fair. Journalists should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
Journalists should:
– Take responsibility for the accuracy of their work. Verify information before releasing it. Use original sources whenever possible.
– Remember that neither speed nor format excuses inaccuracy.
– Provide context. Take special care not to misrepresent or oversimplify in promoting, previewing or summarizing a story.
– Gather, update and correct information throughout the life of a news story.
– Be cautious when making promises, but keep the promises they make.
– Identify sources clearly. The public is entitled to as much information as possible to judge the reliability and motivations of sources.
– Consider sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Reserve anonymity for sources who may face danger, retribution or other harm, and have information that cannot be obtained elsewhere. Explain why anonymity was granted.
– Diligently seek subjects of news coverage to allow them to respond to criticism or allegations of wrongdoing.
– Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information unless traditional, open methods will not yield information vital to the public.
– Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable. Give voice to the voiceless.
– Support the open and civil exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.
– Recognize a special obligation to serve as watchdogs over public affairs and government. Seek to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in the open, and that public records are open to all.
– Provide access to source material when it is relevant and appropriate.
– Boldly tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience. Seek sources whose voices we seldom hear.
– Avoid stereotyping. Journalists should examine the ways their values and experiences may shape their reporting.
– Label advocacy and commentary.
– Never deliberately distort facts or context, including visual information. Clearly label illustrations and re-enactments.
– Never plagiarize. Always attribute.
JD thank you. I wonder if these journalist pass their final exam not knowing all these Ethical Rules in journalism? But then ofcourse they now learn to use their privilege by accepting large amount of money to give false positive characterization of their favorite candidates. These journalist mentioned should be held accountable for their actions.
Ahoy. The New York Times wants Mrs. Clinton to “show voters those transcripts”. I wonder where they got that idea, Lee Fang./?
*that’s probably why the NYT *endorses* Mrs. Clinton … mutter, mutter.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/opinion/mrs-clinton-show-voters-those-transcripts.html
*no joke
This sounds reasonable, but what if people don’t understand that when Mrs. Clinton expressed her undying devotion to Goldman Sachs she was simply lying? People have a bad habit of taking what politicians say at face value. This is unfair and means that politicians must now resort to giving closed speeches in front of select groups.
Everyone should just relax, try to understand that politicians don’t mean what they say, and then the content of the transcripts becomes irrelevant.
>”… but what if people don’t understand that when Mrs. Clinton expressed her undying devotion to Goldman Sachs she was simply lying?”
How can you tell?
>”This sounds reasonable,”
The Lord rests in reason.
>”Everyone should just relax,…”
Ut oh! I hear banjos playing. *Run, Forest, run …
Harold Ford Jr and Josh Barro were brought onto, NBC’s, Today this morning to discuss the current state of the Democratic and Republican primaries. A cursory glance at Wikipedia seemed to reinforce the article. Maybe I’m being overly cynical?
Personally, I found Mr. Barro’s thoughts on elitism troubling.
A brilliant and highly significant piece of detailed investigative journalism. I write from Sweden and am in much admiration of your determination to serve the cause of truth. Pleeeeeez, keep on doing what you are doing :-)
Do we really want a KOCH brothers vs GOLDMAN SACHS 2016 election? Interesting note Chelsea Clinton married Marc Venisky who is a Hedge Fund Manager at Goldman Sachs. It’s a Family Affair. Vote Bernie.
Please don’t forget Jonathan Capehart at the Washington Post and regular to MSNBC.
He wrote a hit piece on Bernie claiming that photos of him during the Civil Rights Movement were not him, and when proven wrong, he refused to retract his story.
Turns out his partner worked for the Clinton Foundation, her 08 campaign, and then at the State Department when she was Secretary of State.
Now, he just wrote a spin piece to discredit Ashley Williams confronting Hillary about her racist comments calling black youth super predators. Her incident as part of the BLM is brushed off and falsely praises Hillary – even though Mrs. Clinton rudely dismissed Ms. Williams – cutting her off before having Secret Service kick her out of the fundraiser Ms. Williams paid $500 to attend!
Jonathan Capehart should be fired, and I would urge everyone to contact the Post and demand his resignation or termination! !
I have been very pleased and impressed by this kind of work from you, Lee. I watched you tonight on an Aljazeera program with two other young journalists, and I can write that word, knowing that the three of you really are trying to be journalists in the true meaning of the word, and using ethics in your reporting. It is rare these days to find any journalistic integrity in media other than with the people still working with Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, and the likes of Amy Goodman and Matt Taibbi. I am actually proud of you, Lee. Keep up the honest work. Love seeing the truth in print and on television. Thank you for your integrity!
Very good investigative journalism. Please don’t let up. The lengths HRC is going to in furtherance of her position is disgraceful.
A GOOD DEMOCRAT does what we’ve already been doing for decades …& that is to vote for the “Lesser of the 2 Evils” through transparency, hillary is not being transparent on the speech transcripts …Hillary’s Senate Record & Other Facts:
CITIZENS UNITED…………….SUPPORTS IT / USES IT
(allows millions of $ from corporate
interest to pour into the political process
to fund campaigns by SuperPACs…
aka “the legal bribing system”)
WELFARE REFORM ACT…………SUPPORTED IT
(advocated for big cuts to the
federal aid for needy families & the
homeless to reduce gov. spending.
bigger military spending was more
important then citizens)
DOMA ……………………………………….VOTED FOR IT
(Defense Of Marriage Act, prevented
equal rights for alternative marriage)
PRISON PROFITEERING ……………….SUPPORTS IT
(hillary advocated for the ‘Crime
Control & Law Enf. Act of ’94 amping
up Reagan’s War Against Drugs by
comparing black teens as super
predators needing to be brought to heel.
till this day hillary’s against lighter sentencing
for non-violent offenders like marijuana
users, hillary’s Prison lobby donors need
people in prison (meat for the grinder)
FRACKING / OFF-SHORE OILING ……VOTED FOR IT
KEYSTONE PIPELINE…………………….SUPPORTED IT
(will result in emanate domain,
taking lands from citizens so Oil
Companies can profit, hillary flip
flopped recently on this issue for
political convenience)
BREAKING UP BIG BANKS ……………….AGAINST IT
(to avoid another “too big to fail”
fallout scenario like in ’08 Crash.
millions of lost jobs, lost homes,
401K’s, Billions lost in tax-payer $.
hillary says trust ‘Todd Frank Act’
to police Big Banks into doing the
right thing on Wall St….basically
saying if they crash it again there’ll
be penalties……..Really?NO!)
TPP FREE-TRADE…………………………..VOTED FOR IT
(lost U.S jobs / companies
profited on cheep labor by
out sourcing american jobs)
UNIONS…………………………………….. AGAINST IT
(while on the Walmart board of
directors, hillary didn’t support
her employees efforts to unionize
to fight for livable wages & equal
wages for women co-workers)
BANKRUPTCY REFORM ACT…………..VOTED FOR IT
(made it harder to fix & get good
credit, big banks & credit card
companies rake in record profits
by keeping customers in the ‘Red’)
GLASS STEAGALL ACT……………….. AGAINST IT
(regulation passed by FDR to
prevent another great depression,
deregulated by the Clintons in ’99.
would have prevented the ’08 Wall
St.Crash.. today hillary defends big
banks by claiming there’s no need
for glass steagall because ‘Todd
Frank Act’ will police the big banks
into doing the right thing…”Trust the
Banks Again!?” ..don’t think so)
IRAQ WAR AUTHORIZATION…………..VOTED FOR IT
(cost the tax payers 1.7trillion,
destabilized the middle east,
leading to ISIS today.. 700,000
esti. arabs dead, 4500 alley u.s.
soldiers dead, countless more
dismembered or suffering from
postpartum war symptoms,
Corporations like halliburton
make $Billions off Iraq War)
GMO INDUSTRY………………………………SUPPORTS IT
(the taking over of gov. funded
Genetically Modified Organisms in the
farming sector, pushing out family
farmers, the non labeling of GMO’s
in packaged foods in stores)
1960 CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT…………..AGAINST IT
(Hillary was a “Goldwater Girl”
worked for the Barry Goldwater
campaign which was anti-new deal,
anti-welfare, anti-unions,anti-gay rights,
anti-abortion, Goldwater voted against
The Civil Rights Act of ’64)
Good journalism!
Keep up the good work Lee! Excellent reporting.
Good work, keep shining a light on the corrupt media and political establishment, disgraceful.
This is bad…..really bad.
I can’t believe that the media pundits are in her pocket. that’s just crazy…now i can’t watch politics on TV anymore. this is sad! everyone is on the take now. I love how her campaign is making it so obvious she’s on the take too. Darn older people just can’t stop supporting her. If she becomes president its because the over 65 crowd..such a shame.
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows
No one under 30 believes a word that’s said by the corporate media.
The establishment is finished. Only a matter of time. The days of mind control are over.
glad to see someone finally covered this ‘ethical’ conflict, that I’m certain is much greater than those reported here. Good work.
Imagine how much worse this would be if we didn’t have the Internet.and people like Lee Fang to do the investigative journalism a piece like this takes. Excellent work.
We’ve learned this year to be suspicious of all commentators on network TV. And remember, all those talking heads you see on network TV are in the 1%.
Of all the times that I have seen Howard Dean and Barney Frank appearing on MSNBC to trash Bernie Sanders’ platform and elevate Clinton’s, not once has the network ever disclosed that Dean is a health care industry lobbyist or that Frankster is a Wall St. financial concern’s board member.
It’s all about the GRIFT. Back when I lived in VT, I sent Dean a fax saying that he was the only Democrat I was NOT going to vote for in that big election cycle. Remember, he’s a “Dean” of the Dean Witter Reynolds investment firm family. Grifting is in his blood.
Much thanks to yet another colossal article and investigative journalism from Mr. Fang!
Hillary keeps confusing me — just the other night she appeared to be supportive of democracy in Libya, yet I recall that it was the Clinton Administration which extreme renditioned (before that phrase became popular) Libyan pro-democracy activists who had fled that country, kidnapping them and flying them back for torture and possible death under the Gaddafi regime!
So Hillary now believes that as secretary of state, she and the Obama Administration financed a “pro-democracy” faction of al Qaeda in Libya?
The very same faction which, during an ostensible gun-buyback program, the al Qaeda faction decided to keep the weapons provided and take the CIA’s money also, while destroying the CIA station at Benghazzi?
Hillary soooo confuses me.
For all the supporters of Bernie, please go to http://www.graysonprimary.org to let Mr. Alan Grayson know why, as a super delegate, he should vote for Bernie!
Should be:
http://www.graysonprimary.com
Well at least the Intercept does investigative journalism. To bad the MSM is completely controlled by the Wealthy 0.00000017%, class of 500 US billionaires.
Thank you! This is extremely valuable muckraking of the undemocratic process.
Are we supposed to be surprised?
On 8 April 2008, David Barstow revealed on the front page of the NYT that myriad mainstream media pundits who favorably commented on our wars on terrroism had deep, undisclosed ties to the Pentaton.
Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
By DAVID BARSTOWAPRIL 20, 2008 1409 COMMENTS
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/us/20generals.html?_r=0
A PENTAGON CAMPAIGN Retired officers have been used to shape terrorism coverage from inside the TV and radio networks.
In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure.
The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo.
To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.
Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found.
Well duh. A pundit is better than a commercial right? And you know how much commercials cost. And if you can buy a news channel then you’re really doing good. (hello Fox)
You think, you hope at least some of the people that get paid to support democrat and republican candidates actually believe even mostly of what they’re saying and are just much smarter than us poor slobs that post for free on sites like this. I’m guessing they are, mostly.
Of course some people aren’t posting for free and use the faceless cover, silence and rotating user names to pretend they’re just someone in the crowd who happened to be dropping by.(still expecting the Republicans “to return” when democrats decide on a candidate)
Oh well, its just part of the landscape you expect to be sharing space when you come to these places. Absent the money gene sometimes you just feel like saying something and then you end up keeping some very strange company. You never know who you’re talking to but you kind of do if you’re experienced. :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjL_Gf4jdfc
(I have such a crush on Lee Evans in that movie)
Lee Fang is doing some of the absolute best reporting on this campaign. I was going to write investigative reporting but I do not believe anyone in the media is really doing any investigating with Lee being one of those rare exceptions. Its times like this when I really miss the old site http://www.mediawhoresonline.com
Great article Lee! Hillary does not have connections to Wall Street and Big Business, the Hell she doesn’t . This is a perfect example of what Bernie is talking about. The media has been so distrustful and dishonest being controlled by their puppet masters. It is really sad that the voters listen to these liars and don’t think for themselves,that is why we keep getting it wrong every election and install a corrupt government! I THINK WE ARE IN REAL TROUBLE NO MATTER IF HILLARY OR TRUMP GET IN OFFICE! If it looks like a snake, moves like snake, and sounds like a snake , it is a snake (like Hillary and CNN to name a few )!!
Explain then, the MSMs total demonization of Donald Trumps campaign, and their total support of the hell bitches?
I think you are confused,but hey, so are many today.
And yes,CNN,Fox,MS(NBC),ABC,CBS ,NPR and even Cspan(corporate funded) are controlled by the same entity,Zion.
I think you are confused: C-SPAN is not corporate funded, “C-SPAN is a public service created by the American Cable Television Industry.” From http://www.c-span.org/about/mission/
Zion WTF?
An’ an’ an’ thar’s a commie behind every tree!
Thanks , for making my point !
The Donald can’t be reliably bought.
Professional women in the establishment media see Hillary and feminism as about getting more white women into Wall St. boardrooms. And, some minority women — racial as well as sexual — are also pleased as long as they are also allowed a shot at those same boardrooms.
A wealthy female news anchor, or a wealthy gay male reporter in cable “news,” is likely to identify with Hillary as their interests are the same. Especially the older they are.
A little rambling and somewhat incoherent…but you’re right – I think.
Identity politics is alive and well.
Great article, Lee Fang!! Hillary does not have ties to big business–the hell she doesn’t!! Much of the media is basically in her pocket. CNN and other mainstream media have become so dishonest and controlled by the establishment. It’s so sad that the voters can’t think for themselves and have to believe these paid-off liars. I THINK WE ARE IN FOR REAL TROUBLE NO MATTER IF IT’S HILLARY OR TRUMP. We keep getting it wrong; that’s why the government is corrupt in every election. What would you expect? If it looks like a snake, moves like a snake and sounds like a snake, it is a snake! (Hillary and CNN to mention a few.)
Yes, you do rock.
Be sure to check out the money Bertha Lewis got too. The Clintoni$ta$ love to trot her out in moments of extreme panic. Her new “institute” was set up so she could do the usual pandering without offending those in the Working Families Party.
This is indeed the sort of reporting that needs to be distributed far and wide. It baffles me to still see so much support for Clinton given all the horrible baggage she carries around with her. Her record of supporting those who are not in the top 10% is abysmal.
Lee Fang is.the.greatest!!!
Excellent reporting. If ‘alternative’ media such as this replaced the offerings of corporate media, the US might just come to its senses.
Good work Lee.
Death to the establishment !
So there “cable news networks” function pretty much like a prostitute does.
That’s insulting to prostitutes.
It seemed at first, that the Republicans had their perfect candidate, and were using Trump and the Theocratic Kleptocrats to scare us all into voting for her? The uniform rapid onset of “liberal” websites unleashing SKDK’s “BernieBro” meme was a bit ham-handed, but “make the lie BIG, keep it simple & repeat it over and over” dictum hardly originated in Europe OR Madison Ave for that matter.
EXCELLENT work
This is AMAZING reporting. Lee, you are to be commended! This is so outrageous I am going to almost cry. It’s amazing how many stations and pundits are in the bag for Clinton. Just the other day, CNN had 4 straight Clinton pundits over 30 minutes in AM drive-time analyzing the night before’s townhall with Bernie…even the moderator Cuomo berated Sander’s supporters as “argumentative”. On-line comment boards are the only place where the public’s voice can truly be heard. Wow…what an article……
I totally agree! Just emailed the author..now I bet I know where my mother got her retort to my bringing up the subject of Hillary’s emails…she said,
‘That was back before email was standard..’
Oy!
Watched as much as I could of Chris Mathews spitting the words Mitch McConnell at Bernie Sanders last night (about 3 minutes).
I’m sure 99% of people have no clue that Mathews’ wife, who is running for Congress in Maryland, has worked closely eith the Clinton Foundation and is receiving campaign contributions from Clinton donors.
With the media and the Clinton machine proving Bernie’s main point every day that the system is rigged, how can this important conversation be elevated further?
You are correct about his wife. When this first hit the news before New Hampshire, he toned-down his bias after Bernie won. Prior to that, you could have sworn HRC was off-camera giving him talking points in his headset. He’s a joke now – – actually the whole A-MessNBC station is now, unfortunately.
Even my non political wife noticed that.I’ll clue her in about his wife running for Congress and Clinton support.
The public know the MSM is corrupt.The more they back her,the more we dislike her.And the more the criminals attack Trump,the stronger he gets.:)
What gets me is all the illiberals who’ll turn to the hell bitch if Bernie loses.Hypocrites.
Many thanks for sharing that information about Matthews’ wife. It’s very revealing. I kept wondering why his show had devolved into a Hillary infomercial. I figured it was maybe a generational thing or the fact that he’s more conservative than your average MSNBC hack. How naïve of me. It’s really just good-old-fashioned political and monetary incest.
So Keith Olbermann gets suspended for donating to democratic candidates, but Matthews et al. continuously whoring themselves out to one candidate or another are allowed to stay on a blather monotonously about their favorite. Corrupt much?
Welcome to the American corporate media at its’ finest.
This is an excellent article. Great work Lee.
Over 48,300 voters have taken the pledge to either write in Sanders or vote Green Party this November with virtually no media coverage so far.
Have you taken the #BernieOrBust pledge? http://BernieorBust.org
Great reporting
Thanks for doing this! Can you also examine NPR? They seem to be a 24/7 firehouse for Hillary! Even working her name into science programs !
Great work Lee! This article confirms the bad feeling I had watching CBS News Online during the Iowa Democratic caucus. Lynda Tran was simply awful with her comments, I couldn’t decide if she was lying or stupid. Now I know thanks to this article. Shame on CBS! Edward R. Murrow must be rolling in his grave! Thank goodness for social media.
Thank you for this write up. Hopefully those that follow the media blindly will now see through their b.s. and Hillary’s b.s.
The commentators on CNN, CBS, MSNBC and other networks are uniformly useless. So now we find out, like the generals, they are all have conflicts of financial interests. Nice work.
I don’t know who these blow-dried people are, but if you believe what you hear on these TV ‘news’ channels (which are really opinion channels), you have been conned.
And oh, isn’t CNN now the 24-7 News channel for Donald Trump? Goebbels only wishes he could have CNN (and Fox).
it is more deception from campaign hillary and the media…..which is why hillary is not trusted……the clinton political machine needs to be put in the junk pile ……it represents the worst of american politics….say anything
mean nothing….we are done with it…….full on rebellion against it ….the failed 2 party system …the mass media…all bought and paid for minions of the oligarchy …we either overthrow them now or we remain just salve wage labor for a machine that has overthrown our country taken our democracy from us and left us with crumbs to live on….i would rather starve to death than accept their crumbs
I am OUTRAGED that everyone and everything in MY COUNTRY is owned by some secret, behind-the-scenes entity. Between student loans, and news media…Congress and corporations…EVERYONE is for sale. What a cheap and whorey country. It just might be our demise. Vote for BERNIE…please!
There’s a reason why she’s doing so well, the media is spinning the wheels off of it. Living abroad and watching the news sheds a lot of light on how brainwashed people are and just how biased the media are. I’ve been following Bernie when he was at 3%, the internet is taking control now and people are realizing that there’s a reason the media are spinning for Hillary.
Thanks for this investigative reporting. I watch a lot of the talking heads and not only do I question their motives but another thing equally as frustrating is this: It’s the same cast of characters over and over. I’d like to hear the opinion of others rather than the monied commentary set.
Lee Fang will be on Democracy Now this morning.
Good to know! Thanks!
Yet another reason my energy and vote is 100% behind Senator Sanders, the character of highest moral standing and least corrupt. nOT CORRUPT, just a giant among human beings who understands that the media is as infantile as all the other candidates but HRC. She is not infantile, she is just dangerous.
Every story I hear on NPR leads with GOP crap and NEVER discusses the massive popularity and WHY, of Bernie Sanders. But then I’ve been lobbying them to take on the most threatening cause of climate change as well as infectious diseases, for ten years, animal agribusiness. They’ve NEVER discussed methane from farmed animals, the worst GHG, far worse than Co2, and they’ve NEVER interviewed doctors who heal patients by putting them on the diet that PREVENTS disease, whole food plant based…This is just a further indictment that most media venues are as shallow and corrupt as most politicians. FEEL THE BERN. We do in NH!
Outstanding piece! Sometimes I question whether I’ve turned too cynical and articles like this (sadly) remind me there’s a reason I’m that way.
Whenever there is a purported political news discussion on TV or the radio, there should be a continous announcement identifying the shills that are participating and what their monetary connection is to the topic of discussion (as this is commercial commentary and not being identified as such – it’s false advertising, not entertainment). The FCC is doing a terrible service on behalf of the American people. They are lazy, incompetent, corrupt and … directed by these same shills.
Keep up the good work. Connecting a face/voice to the money is important.
Great piece. Its not limited to these pundits but 98% of all the talking heads that are on TV. NPR has been blatantly spewing Clintonganda as well. Its not a surprise that Clinton is doing well with older voters because they are mainly the only ones who watch the mainstream media and have been believing their BS their whole life. Younger people are too aware to be brainwashed like that.
It had been decided long ago that this 2016 contest would be between stalwart puppets Bush and Clinton. The shadow government can’t believe they’re losing control, in spite of the unprecedented concentration of media control. The non-establishment choices come down to a madman or a compassionate socialist. If the Democrats turn out in record numbers the socialist wins, if not we’ll have a madman with his hand on the nuclear trigger. Neither case bodes well for the oligarchy, in either case America will get what it deserves.
You are absolutely CRUSHING it. Rock on.
Next time the wonderfully cynical yet altogether principled Lee Fang lets rip a new article, wouldn’t The Intercept’s Graphic Division like (via photoshop) to give us, please, a glimpse of the future for both the USA and the world — i.e., should the wicked witch succeed in ascending to the US presidency — by replacing Benjamin Franklin’s portrait on the $100 bill with that of Hillary?
lib·er·al·ism (l?b??r-?-l?z??m, l?b?r?-)
n.
1. The state or quality of being liberal.
2.
a. A political theory founded on the natural goodness of humans and the autonomy of the individual and favoring civil and political liberties, government by law with the consent of the governed, and protection from arbitrary authority.
Terrifying
This should be on the front page of every newspaper in America. It’s so obvious to anyone who submits themselves to any of these “news” programs. The disconnect from reality is palpable when the shills start to spew. Great article. Thanks for laying it all out in the open.
What great reporting, thank you Lee Fang!
Tweety went ballistic on Bernie tonite’s College tour…! 8-(
Another great story whose link I will hurl at Hillary trolls before their blind eyes have a chance to roll my way, and before their pre-recorded lies can escape their lips. Drone lips.
Thanks Mr. Fang.
Lee, you have quickly become my favorite journalist. Keep printing the truth.
When a person is paid by a major media corporation to go on national television to essentially campaign for a politician, I suspect that technically, there may be some conflict with federal Election laws unless an opposing candidate is offered equal time — because, isn’t a media corporation acting in concert with a political campaign by paying someone to make a candidate’s case just like a super PAC coordinating with a candidate when doing campaign advertising? (Just a thought.)
Thanks Lee, it is always great to read your articles. And I really enjoyed seeing you on Democracy Now! Please keep us informed –
Great job once again Lee. Excellent work that NO ONE is doing.
You’re on fire with these stories L. Fang. Gj!
I’m trying to imagine a class action lawsuit by the few actual journalists and all journalism schools/students against the media outlets allowing paid shills to deceive viewers.
Serious harm is being caused to the profession of journalism by these posers and their enablers.
Others mentioned the previous exposure of our media hiding the facts about military contractors propagandizing their viewers… yet that practice continues as well.
Most are aware that the talking heads themselves can’t be trusted either, and that despite calling themselves journalists they do not abide by the ethics of the profession.
So, aren’t there some lawyers out there who could make a case for financial harm being caused to actual journalists by all these liars?
Aren’t there professional organizations for journalists who could fight back?
Insist on standards and ethics?
Consequences for these clear violations?
Lying by omission is still lying.
All the participants are guilty even if they aren’t the ones making the decisions.
I don’t watch tv any more for these and other reasons, but the public (who technically own the bandwidth) who still watch this crap are not the only victims.
I fully realize the corrupters and corrupted who want to maintain this bullshit system control the legislative and judicial systems as well, but they are also maintaining a façade of honesty and accountability that should allow some openings for a creative assault against it.
It doesn’t have to be successful in court to be successful in informing more Americans and creating pressure for at least a…. how to put this without making it meaningless… a deeper façade.
The corporatist assault that started with the deregulation of our media is being challenged, but for some reason the reregulation of our media seems to get little attention.
The exposure of this corruption by TI and a few others just doesn’t seem like enough of a backlash.
I’d love for that to happen,…i just can’t conceive of a cause of action to sue under.
If anything, it is a violation of professional ethics. If journalists had an ethics board that regulated their conduct, that would be a good place to file a grievance/complaint.
That is why, NO MATTER WHAT THEY DO, NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY, WE ARE VOTING FOR OUR BERNIE ANYWAY!!
Wow. The fact is that whoever is advising Clinton is doing a TERRIBLE job because everything they do backfires. Whoever is advising Hillary either hates her guts or is just amazingly incompetent because the Clinton campaign so fas has been a disaster of backsliding, lies, stonewalling, and truly pathetic attempts to smear her opponent, who is kicking her ass.
I’d go with incompetent. The establishment is run by thoughtless drones who don’t know how to do anything but follow a formula and who are extremely out-of-touch with reality.
It’s incompetence.
She’s always been bought in on the marketing formulas. Even if she was an authentic, caring, concerned person, she’d pay someone to train her how to appear authentic, caring, and concerned on stage.
Everything she says and does screams, “fraud!” Most of it, turns out, actually IS fraud. But the fact is that everything about her is scripted and phony – and unless people already know you very well, it cannot be hidden. People figure it out eventually.
The only real issue is money in politics. There are 2 canidates, one thinks money in politics is killing our country and planet. The other gets filthy rich off that money. Its not hard to see which is better for Americans. #Bernie2016
And, on HuffPost, this joker, Jason Cherkis, who is probably on Clinton’s payroll is distorting Sadners’ record by presenting an out of context quote.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-superpredator_us_56bd00b9e4b08ffac124806b
You’d be hard pressed to find a Hillary supporter who isn’t on her payroll.
Donald Trump is ultimately going to steam roll over Hillary Clinton, so all this will be in vain.
I am already getting ready for bidding on the wall construction tender. And I am not going to keep any doors in any of the walls my company constructs. Trump is going to throw all these bad journalists over the wall, and good luck to them coming back in.
Great article, Lee!
Buh-bye, Hillary. Buh-bye! Don’t let the door catch you in the *** on the way out!
You guys are some of the most courageous reporters out there. Outstanding journalism.
Others beat me to it, but great article keep it up!
Good article. These types of financial interests should be disclosed. Shame on CNN and NBC / ABC / CBS News for shoddy journalism. I like the comment about Bush having a 35 state strategy. I guess Trump didn’t have one of those… Or at least Trump didn’t hire that person’s company.
To be fair, many of the pundits singing the praises of Mrs. Clinton are not being paid, but merely angling for a job in her administration. So there’s no need to impugn their motives or suggest their praise is anything less than sincere.
I don’t blame the TV networks for not announcing that their commentators are being paid by the various political campaigns. This would quickly become tiresome, and might even cause some viewers to question the objectivity of the network itself. Many people can’t relate to the tremendous integrity of the pundits, who can take money from the campaigns without allowing it to skew their commentary in the slightest. Just as Mrs. Clinton is not affected by the money paid to her by Goldman Sachs for a quickie speech, the pundits are not affected by the money paid to them by the Super PACs.
This helps restore my faith in the system.
Nice, you made me lol
Thanks for setting the record straight. Too many readers here credulously believe every tale of corruption spun in front of them. Perhaps they fail to understand that the great force of will required to advance in national politics or mass media corresponds out of necessity to an unimpeachable integrity.
Precisely. I think many people are projecting their own corruptibility onto these media correspondents – which is unfair. We can’t afford to undermine the morale of our public figures who, after all, set the example for everyone else to emulate. If they’re criticized, they may respond: “If no one appreciates me, I’ll just milk the system for all it’s worth” – and what kind of example would that set?
HA! You got me…thanks, made me smile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py6_WixcAug My dedication to the Revolutionaries!
Stay steadfast in your pursuit of the light
The light is knowledge
Do you want it?
And if you had it would you flaunt it?
It’s yours!
Hillary Clinton has engaged in political, if not financial, racketeering.
Just as Secretary Clinton deliberately thwarted the public’s FOIA access to State Dept business by colluding with others to:
-set up a private email server
-co-mingle State Dept, Clinton Foundation, and personal emails to claim personal rather than public ownership
-keep official business secret
-delete select emails of her choosing
-obscure/hide the interactions between the Clinton Foundation and State
She also thwarted campaign finance laws by colluding with banksters by:
-claiming she was ‘not certain’ she was running for President so she could
-hold lucrative campaign fundraising events masqueraded as ‘paid speeches’
-be paid personally rather than to an official campaign fund
-avoid campaign donation reporting requirements
-avoid limits on campaign contributions
-receive larger sums because they were corporate and not personal
-thwart campaign finance laws by receiving prohibited corporate funds
-keep the substance of her ‘speeches’ to banksters secret
These ‘speeches’ are secret because they were FUNDRAISING EVENTS/APPEALS. Typical Clinton.
Hillary’s skirting/thwarting laws goes way back. Her Rose Law Firm business records were subpoenaed but went missing for a couple of years until they mysteriously reappeared on a table in the White House. This is a long pattern.
Secrecy Clinton has a serious character flaw – at the VERY LEAST – and should never be President.
The woman probably has the Secret Service bring a litter of puppies with her wherever she travel, so that she can order all the people out of her rooms and then stomp on their little tales, in order to enjoy their howls of pain.
(Only kidding a little I think.)
The Clintons are perhaps the most successful crime family in the US for the past generation. Perhaps for all time, given a lifetime of cheating and scounderling. Case in point:
When Chelsea gets a “position” at a major news outlet paying over half a million a year for her talents, it immediately recalls an observation of the leader of that notorious clan:
“If you see a turtle sitting on a fencepost, he had help getting there”
He should know better than anyone.
Propaganda masquareding as journalism and perfected to such a degree Herr Goebels would only be jaleous. The Media is fast transforming from being the fourth branch of Government, as wisely envisioned by our Founding Father, to becoming the fifth column ( a stealthy and lethal one) in our democracy.
When I hear the phrase Main Stream Media, I reach for my gun.
The Clintons are professional influence peddlers. You’d have a hard time finding anyone they haven’t paid.
Good article, keep digging Lee!
NBC, CBS and ABC network news deliberately ignoring Bernie, only 10 minutes of coverage thru Nov. 30. Trump 234, Clinton 113, BIDEN even received 56 minutes. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/07/donald-trump-has-gotten-more-nightly-network-news-coverage-than-the-entire-democratic-field-combined/
ABC News devoted 81 minutes to Trump, 20 seconds to Bernie Sanders, even though Bernie has more supporters http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/12/11/abc-world-news-tonight-has-devoted-less-than-on/207428
Welcome to the Truman Show
Liberalism is a mental disorder. It’s easy for the media to do what they do. They have an audience of lunatics that sit on the edge of their seats waiting to hear this bullshit.
Actually, those are old GOP folks that sit on the edge of their seats to get their news and opinions fed to them from the television set.
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/12/28/fox-news-literally-dying-age-younger-viewers-refuse-watch-fox.html
What does liberalism have to do with the subject of this article, and also what does it have to do with your “audience of lunatics?”
You seem to be on the edge of your seat at a very liberal media site, tensely waiting to react.
You seem to think Fox News is above this sort of thing?
Awesome article Lee! The light is coming through. It’s just a matter of time when everything is illuminated. The truth can not be hidden for long. Expect the unexpected people!
Best article yet on this website.
It’s the military contractors as TV pundits scandal all over again. I suppose this is just a chronic condition now.
That was my immediate reaction as well. It has long been clear to anyone with a critical mind that the corporate media have no integrity whatsoever. They are dutiful and well paid servants of the political and economic elites.
The whole mainstream media is in Clinton’s boat it seems – even NPR, hook-line & sinker.
A tragedy for ethics in journalism.
The level of corruption is breathtaking! Keep keeping on Mr. Fang.
Nice Work. Please keep pressure CNN to comment on this. Don’t let the mainstream press be allowed to not respond when they have not acted neutral in +200 shows. Pls. track who covers this article and who don’t. Tells a lot about our political system.
Excellent article Lee, keep shining some light on these corrupt Establishment types!
I’m glad that there are still some real journalists lurking in the dark corners of the internet if not the mainstream media.
Main stream propaganda machine didn’t think it would have this much of a struggle. They had to show their faces behind the masks. Cracks in the armor from the pressure of the fed up masses. No worries they will win, only a violent revolution with a massive non voting into the sysytem will blow their cover for good. It’s progress now we need to take them down, future maybe very bright.
In other words, mainstream media are just one long infomercials for the oligarch candidates?
Concise, to the point, and true. Hope you won’t mind if I plagiarize you.
I appreciate this piece very much. One request, Lee: could you find a better descriptor than “political operative”? That’s almost as unhelpful as the labels the networks use. Thanks.
Can you also please find out the connection between former Philadelphia mayor and current CNN contributor Michael Nutter and Hillary Clinton? Cause his vitriol for Sanders is just unmatched. His attacks not only are extremely one sided, they also sound overly rehearsed. I’ll be really amazed if he isn’t on the take!
Thank you! I’ve been saying the same thing. I lived in Philly for 7 years while he was Mayor, the guy is a total asshole. I wouldnt be surprised if he’s riding her coattails for a cabinet position
well the man is a self described Nutter,is that a start?
“And Lynda, you do not.” : Blatant lie.
Thanks Lee. Great work.
As corollary to this, have there been any pundits praising Bernie Sanders without disclosing financial ties to his campaign? I’m guessing not, but it should be mentioned at least.
Well, you’re here…tell us all about them.
On second thought, there are probably no talking head pundits singing Bernie’s praises, because they’re all afraid of the policies he advocates. They would have to be living like the rest of us. Bummer…
Great work! Thanks! Once the election is over – I will donate to you guys!
What would really be fun would be to get the “Pentagon pundits” to comment on the Clinton pundits. Find out what each group thinks about the other’s lack of full disclosure. Might be a heavily edited piece.
Excellent article yet again Mr Fang. I wonder what impact their biased “opinions” would have on viewers if they knew that they were financially tied to the candidates they praise so often. I hope that someone takes up the task of documenting all of the pundits and “analysts” political ties. That way when one of them says something on tv you can just search them in a database and see what ties they have to the causes they speak for.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Henceforth, I will turn the channel following debates and town halls and not give these paid-for pundits a second of my attention. I’m also going to make a donation to The Intercept (can I do that?) in appreciation of real journalism.
You absolutely rock Lee!
Love your articles!
Nobody trusts the corporate media anymore. The average age of the tv viewer is now 66… The days of mind control are slowly coming to an end.
Nobody with half a brain trusts anything coming out of the television anymore.
Great work, Lee.
This article should be discussed by water coolers and dining tables all across America. It should be all over social media.
We the People ought to be outraged, incensed.
Alas, few will notice or care. And nothing will change.
Few will notice because this information will never by distributed by MSM. Singing to the choir here. How do we get these facts out? If you forward it to like-minded people, that doesn’t accomplish anything. And if you forward it to those who need to hear it, they won’t bother to read it. Sad but true.
Thank you for your doggedness. Great piece.
They are a sickening pathetic bunch. Everytime they open their mouths, i just shut my ears and switch channels. Corruption in high places must stop. And it must start with Dirty Hillary.
Allowing paid, high-level campaign operatives on TV to advocate for a candidate, without informing the viewers of that paid relationship, is simply outrageous.
Great article Lee! I’d love to see an infographic of TV pundits and their financial ties, sorted by network and number of appearances.
If there is a prize for anti-corruption journalism, Lee Fang should win it hands down.
Boom goes the dynamite!
“Did not respond to a request for comment,” should be the name of your column.
I’ve noticed some of your previous work being picked up and carried forward at other outlets. Pretty soon, some of these folks may be obliged to respond.
I think it’s incredible that CBS went with disclosure after your inquiry. That has to feel pretty darn good!
This is a very cheap way to buy national coverage and it should require disclosures just as campaign ads require disclosures. Very troubling.
Another great piece, Mr. Fang. I wish Sanders would explicitly confront her about these ties or that people at her town hall events could ask about this without her goons carting them away a-la that Black Lives Matter protester.
Clinton has so much seediness to answer for on so many different levels that it’s a wonder that these questions don’t begin to stick.
If Hillary wins, she will be a lame duck president for her 4-8 years, what a waste.
Great work, Lee.
Are we still surprised by any of this?