As
Newsguard’s project advances, it will soon become almost impossible
to avoid this neocon-approved news site’s ranking systems on any
technological device sold in the United States.
by
Whitney Webb
Part
4 - The oligarch team’s deep bench
While
Brill and Crovitz’s connections alone should be enough cause for
alarm, a cursory examination of Newsguard’s advisory board
makes it clear that Newsguard was created to serve the
interests of American oligarchy. Chief among Newsguard’s
advisors are Tom Ridge, the first Secretary of Homeland Security
under George W. Bush and Ret. General Michael Hayden, a former CIA
director, a former NSA director and principal at the Chertoff Group,
a security consultancy seeking to “advise corporate clients and
governments, including foreign governments” on security matters
that was co-founded by former Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Chertoff, who also currently serves as the board chairman of major
weapons manufacturer BAE systems.
Another
Newsguard advisor of note is Richard Stengel, former editor of
Time magazine, a “distinguished fellow” at the Atlantic Council
and Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy under President
Barack Obama. At a panel discussion hosted last May by the Council on
Foreign Relations, Stengel described his past position at the State
Department as “chief propagandist” and also stated that he
is “not against propaganda. Every country does it and they have
to do it to their own population and I don’t necessarily think it’s
that awful.”
Other
Newsguard advisors include Don Baer, former White House
communications director and advisor to Bill Clinton and current
chairman of both PBS and the influential PR firm Burson Cohn &
Wolfe as well as Elise Jordan, former communications director for the
National Security Council and former speech-writer for Condoleezza
Rice, as well as the widow of slain journalist Michael Hastings —
who was writing an exposé on former CIA director John Brennan at the
time of his suspicious death.
A look
at Newguard’s investors further illustrates the multifarious
connections between this organization and the American political and
corporate elite. While Brill and Crovitz themselves are the company’s
top investors, one of Newsguard’s most important investors
is the Publicis Groupe. Publicis is the third largest global
communications company in the world, with more than 80,000 employees
in over 100 countries and an annual revenue of over €9.6 billion
($10.98 billion) in 2017. It is no stranger to controversy, as one of
its subsidiaries, Qorvis, recently came under fire for
exploiting U.S. veterans at the behest of the Saudi government and
also helped the Saudi government to “whitewash” its human rights
record and its genocidal war in Yemen after receiving $6 million from
the Gulf Kingdom in 2017.
Furthermore,
given its size and influence, it is unsurprising that the Publicis
Groupe counts many powerful corporations and governments among
its clientele. Some of its top clients in 2018 included
pharmaceutical giants Eli Lilly, Merck, Pfizer and Bayer/Monsanto
as well as Starbucks, Procter & Gamble, McDonalds, Kraft
Heinz, Burger King, and the governments of Australia and Saudi
Arabia. Given its influential role in funding Newsguard, it is
reasonable to point out the potential conflict of interest posed by
the fact that sites that accurately report on Publicis’ powerful
clients — but generate bad publicity — could be targeted for such
reports in Newsguard’s ranking.
In
addition to the Publicis Groupe, another major investor in
Newsguard is the Blue Haven
Initiative, which is the venture capital “impact
investment” fund of the wealthy Pritzker family — one of the top
10 wealthiest families in the U.S., best known as the owners of the
Hyatt Hotel chain and for being the second
largest financial contributors to Hillary Clinton’s 2016
presidential campaign.
Other
top investors include John McCarter, a long-time executive at U.S.
government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, as well as Thomas Glocer,
former CEO of Reuters and a member of the boards of
pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., financial behemoth
Morgan Stanley, and the Council on Foreign Relations, as well
as a member of the Atlantic Council’s International Advisory Board.
Through
these investors, Newsguard managed to raise $6 million to
begin its ranking efforts in March of 2018. Newsguard’s
actual revenues and financing, however, have not been disclosed
despite the fact that it requires the sites it ranks to disclose
their funding. In a display of pure hypocrisy, Newsguard’s
United States Securities and Exchange Commission Form D — which was
filed March 5, 2018 — states that the company “declined
to disclose” the size of its total revenue.
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