Texas Watchdog

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Texas Watchdog is an online state news website run by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. The Franklin Center funds reporters in 34 states as of June 2013[1] (it was over 40 states as of 2011).[2] Despite their non-partisan description, many of the websites funded by the Franklin Center have received criticism for their conservative bias.[3][4]

Texas Watchdog was previously an independent organization, founded the year before the Franklin Center, but funded by the Franklin Center for a duration. In June 2013, former editor and Texas Watchdog founder Trent Seibert wrote, "We've run out of money to keep delivering our award-winning local journalism. . . . [A] key donor for our operation in 2012, the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, announced last year they would not be supporting independent journalism operations in 2013."[5]

Franklin Center Funding

The Franklin Center was launched by the Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance (SAM),[6] a 501(c)(3) devoted to pushing free-market ideals. SAM gets funding from the State Policy Network,[7] which is partially funded by The Claude R. Lambe Foundation.[8] Charles Koch, one of the billionaire brothers who co-own Koch Industries, sits on the board of this foundation.[9] SAM also receives funding from the Rodney Fund. The Franklin Center also receives funding from the Wisconsin-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation,[10] a conservative grant-making organization.[11]

Franklin Center Director of Communications Michael Moroney told the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) in 2013 that the source of the Franklin Center's funding "is 100 percent anonymous." But 95 percent of its 2011 funding came from DonorsTrust, a spin-off of the Philanthropy Roundtable that functions as a large "donor-advised fund," cloaking the identity of donors to right-wing causes across the country (CPI did a review of Franklin's Internal Revenue Service records).[12] Mother Jones called DonorsTrust "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement" in a February 2013 article.[13] Franklin received DonorTrust's second-largest donation in 2011.[12]

Articles and Resources

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External Resources

References

  1. ↑ Franklin Center, Watchdog.org, organizational document, May 2013, obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy June 2013.
  2. ↑ Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, Think tank Journalism: The Future of Investigative Journalism, organizational website, accessed August 19, 2011.
  3. ↑ Rebekah Metzler, 'Watchdog' website puts a new spin on politics', The Portland Press Herald, accessed August 19, 2011.
  4. ↑ Allison Kilkenny, The Koch Spider Web, Truthout, accessed August 19, 2011.
  5. ↑ Trent Seibert, Thank you for reading and for your support. We will miss you., Texas Watchdog, June 17, 2013.
  6. ↑ Sam Adams Alliance. Sam Adams Alliance Media Kit. Organizational PDF. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  7. ↑ Media Matters Action Network. Sam Adams Alliance. Conservative Transparency. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  8. ↑ Media Matters Action Network. State Policy Network. Conservative Transparency. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  9. ↑ Media Matters Action Network. Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation. Conservative Transparency. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  10. ↑ The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Franklin Center boss wants apology from Democratic staffer. News website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  11. ↑ The Bradley Foundation. The Bradley Foundation. Organizational website. Accessed August 19, 2011.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Paul Abowd, Center for Public Integrity, Donors use charity to push free-market policies in states, organizational report, February 14, 2013.
  13. ↑ Andy Kroll, Exposed: The Dark-Money ATM of the Conservative Movement, Mother Jones, February 5, 2013.
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