Who *isn't* in Bill Gates' pocket?

[Hannah Bell]

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has gotten a lot of attention lately for funding media organizations.

An article in the current Columbia Journalism Review called “How Ray Suarez Really Caught the Global Health Bug” by local writer Robert Fortner, formerly of Seattle’s Crosscut, is perhaps the most extensive and pointed...Fortner’s answer is Suarez and PBS Newshour got the bug after they received $3.6 million from Gates to cover global health issues.

http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/how_ray_suarez_really_caught_t.php?page=3

Fortner, who wrote about the Gates Foundation for Crosscut, said he quit in 2009 because of his unease with publisher David Brewster accepting funds from the Gates Foundation...The latest Gates media partnership was what the New York Times called “an unusual financial agreement” between ABC News and the world’s biggest philanthropy aimed at promoting greater coverage of global health issues...

I wrote recently about an another such partnership, after the Guardian announced it had been paid by the Gates Foundation to establish a news site devoted to covering global health and development issues. I thought it looked bad that they immediately did a glowing profile about Melinda Gates only days into the partnership.

http://humanosphere.kplu.org/2010/10/thoughts-on-the-gates-foundation-paying-media-to-cover-global-health-and-development/


A Lancet issue is funded by the Malaria Elimination Group which is almost completely funded by the Gates Foundation and Exxon Mobil

http://gateskeepers.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2010/11/1/4669086.html


Why Is the Gates Foundation Giving So Much Money to Journalists?

Caroline Preston
The Chronicle of Philanthropy
October 11, 2010, 4:35 pm

A $1.5-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to ABC News has led some observers to wonder why the philanthropy is helping a for-profit news organization.

The grant is also raising further questions about the Seattle foundation’s growing involvement in journalism.

The financial commitment from Gates, announced last week, is helping ABC News conduct a yearlong report on global health, a primary focus of the foundation’s work. The news outlet is putting up $4.5-million.

But Marc Cooper, a journalist and faculty member at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism, says it’s “grotesque” that ABC News—which is owned by Disney and reportedly pays anchor Diane Sawyer a salary of at least $12-million—is taking money from Gates.

http://gateskeepers.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2010/11/2/4669872.html

Bill Gates Pays Millions to AllAfrica (“Largest Electronic Distributor of African News and Information Worldwide”) to Push His Agenda

http://allafrica.com/stories/201012031015.html

NBC's "Education Nation" brought to you by Gates Foundation, Microsoft, University of Phoenix, Broad:

http://www.educationnation.com/index.cfm?objectid=F4F148D0-A41B-11DF-A44E000C296BA163


This is part of Bill's tax-free "philanthropy".

In an earlier, less sophisticated age we might have called it something else.

[IntravenousDemilo]

1. Steve Jobs. n/m

[Hannah Bell]

3. are you sure?

I ask about the popular narrative that in the 1990s the ruthlessly efficient Microsoft had “crushed” its rival, Apple, even though Apple fans insisted that its products were better designed.

“I don’t remember them being crushed,” snorts Gates. “I don’t remember them ever being crushed. We were writing software for them and in their lowest day, who invested in Apple to help them out? Well, that was Microsoft. I see,” he laughs scornfully.

http://gateskeepers.civiblog.org/blog/_archives/2010/11/8/4674605.html

[Reader Rabbit]

5. My suspicions on that:

I always thought Bill Gates and Microsoft invested in Apple, because if they didn't, they wouldn't have anyone else to steal ideas from. Hah.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

6. Nah. Mark Shuttleworth. -nt

[cali]

2. load him in the tumbrel. n/t

[xchrom]

4. recommend

[dionysus]

7. george soros?

:shrug:

[mmonk]

8. Bernie Sanders and Warren Buffet?

[KansasVoter]

9. LOL....what is your obsession with this guy? Jealous?

[Starry Messenger]

10. recommend.

[Brickbat]

11. K&R. One person influencing so much coverage is never a good thing.

[KansasVoter]

12. It amazes me that people here think EVERY donation Gates has made is bad.....

The WHO has praised him and his foundation many times.
And the STUPID logic that he want the patents shows that people here have NO IDEA how big pharma works.
If these vaccines were so valuable, then big pharma would fund them on their own. They don't need Gates money. Shit, they fund 100s of drugs a year. The reason no one is funding them is because there is not much profit to be made even if they are successful.
Gates donates millions to great causes. And people here, because all rich people are evil, try to find a reason to hate him.
If you honestly think Gates has not donated any money to good causes then you are like the 911 "inside job" fools and just so bossed you cannot think clear.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. I don't hate him. I've met him. He's actually a nice man.

But he doesn't have any knowledge of my profession. My plumber also doesn't know squat about teaching and I would never seek his advice. Bill's is no more relevant, regardless of how much money he has.

[KansasVoter]

15. The plumber is a bad comparison. A plumber cannot get advice from 100s of people.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. Bill isn't listening to teachers

I remember the last time the IRS made changes to the tax filing system, they called accountants in to get their opinion. Doctors make recommend changes in treatment protocol all the time. Congress asked insurance companies to testify when they wrote the health care bill.

I'd bet my meager paycheck that Bill Gates or his foundation consulted with doctors before funding the malaria program.

But he hasn't asked teachers what reforms we would recommend or what we think of his reforms. He just swooped in with his money and dictated what we should do.

It's just downright insulting that a college dropout has this much power over education. He could have gone about this in a more respectful way.

[KansasVoter]

17. I bet Bill Gates has talked to many teachers. My issue here is that Bill Gates....

is hated because he is rich.
But people here love Steve Jobs when he has done 1% of the charity work Gates has done. And is an asshole on top of it.
Please prove to me that Gates has never talked to teachers.

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. He came here, told us what to do, never asked what we thought or what was best for our kids

or for our community. When questioned, we were told it was his way or the highway.

That's not collaboration. So I know for a fact he didn't work WITH teachers here.  

It's also obvious from the details of his plans that no teachers were consulted. Most DU teachers can tell you that.

[MicaelS]

20. Since Gates was a student like 99.99999% of Americans

He probably thinks he knows what the problems of education consist of, and what needs to be done to fix education. He has dealt with teachers and administrators through his time as a student. My guess is he's also like a lot of Americans who are sick and tired of listening to teachers complain. And so he didn't ask you what you thought, because he knew all he would get is more complaints and he simply didn't want to hear them.

[Exilednight]

18. Why can't he (the plumber)? I've met hundreds of teachers over my lifetime, but

that doesn't make me qualified to tell them how to do their job.

[blindpig]

14. Those are mighty big pockets....

I bet you could fit the whole Congress in there....