01.09.11
The New York Times Advertises the Gates Foundation
Summary: Examples from the news whose intention is to show what agenda is being advanced and why
THE SO-CALLED ‘JOURNAL of record’ is broken, for reasons we named before. The New York Times does the Melinda propaganda, as usual, just like The Guardian did (similar headline too) after the Gates family (Gates Foundation) paid them to tilt coverage [1, 2, 3, 4]. The New York Times has also published “Charity Fixer to the Stars”:
Mr. Neilson’s first significant brush with Hollywood celebrity came in 2001, when, as the director of special projects at the Gates Foundation in Seattle, he was approached by Bono and Mr. Shriver about a $1 million donation for a media campaign to expose the extreme poverty and AIDS crisis in Africa.
Mr. Neilson, a fan of U2 since college, was gung-ho. His bosses were warier and agreed to give Bono the money only if the musician could raise an additional $2 million. Mr. Neilson went further: He arranged a meeting between Mr. Gates and Bono at the Microsoft chairman’s suite at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York during the World Economic Forum in early 2002. “I did not have full authority to do so,” Mr. Neilson recalled. “I was terrified.”
But the meeting went well. Mr. Gates sent an e-mail to staff members saying so. The news was greeted coolly, though, by Mr. Neilson’s colleagues in Seattle.
“A lot of people were like, ‘Why is Bill Gates meeting this rock star?’ ” said Joe Cerrell, the director of the European office for the Gates Foundation.
Mr. Neilson was reprimanded, he said. He left the Gates Foundation in late 2002 and moved to New York to become executive director of the Global Business Coalition, a consortium of more than 200 businesses overseen at the time by Mr. Holbrooke. He also worked briefly at the Endeavor Group, a legal and philanthropic consultancy in Washington, but that gig ended in a bitter dispute, the details of which Mr. Neilson refused to elaborate.
This was mentioned by Gates worshippers, who now suppress readers’ comments (they don’t like what people say in response):
Also, Trevor Neilson, the former Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation official who heads the Global Philanthropy Group, provides advice on giving and activism to a host of Hollywood celebrities, as detailed in a New York Times profile.
In response to it, a guy called Mitch posted questions she should have asked rather than throw softballs:
Here’s what they came up with:
* What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in philanthropy since the Gates Foundation was established in 1994?
* What’s driving the boom in global philanthropy?
* How long will it take emerging powers like China, India, and Brazil to establish philanthropic traditions that rival the tradition of philanthropy in the U.S.?
* Does the Gates Foundation have too much influence in the areas in which it works?
* How do you respond to critics who argue that, given its influence, the foundation should have more than four trustees?
* Is there a succession plan in place for Warren Buffett and Bill Sr.? What if something happens to you or Bill?
* What other foundations do you admire? How about nonprofits or NGOs?
* What is the most critical issue not funded by the Gates Foundation that you’d like to see other grantmakers address?
* Would you ever consider running for public office?
* Given your wealth and the highly visible nature of the problems you and your husband have chosen to address through your foundation, how do you stay grounded? Where do you seek wisdom?
* Do you ever get tired of all the attention and scrutiny you get paid?It’s a start. Now it’s your turn. What would you ask Melinda Gates if you had a chance to ask her one question? Let’s see if we can crowdsource the perfect interview….
Later on Melinda Gates responds and this is what Gates Keepers says about Melinda and Mitch:
Mitch Nauffts asked eleven questions of Melinda Gates late in October. It took Melinda’s minders at the Gates Foundation a month to get her to respond to three of them. Mitch is overjoyed and fawns over the responses. Gates Keepers are underwhelmed. She doesn’t quite answer any of the questions … and there are more interesting ones that she ignores.
As we promised, the coming days will bring a lot of posts about Gates’ acquisition of journalists/media, in order to explain the distortion of reality which blinds so many people to the continued harms of Bill Gates. We cannot name and shame one publication at the time because there are just so many of them and using bribes Gates is also distorting blogs now, not just corporate media. So we need to highlight who is being paid by Gates to write about Gates (disclosures are altogether missing or rare). And for those who do not understand the danger of this type of media, watch the following video and think about it this Sunday. █
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