Buying the Media - The Gates Family Foundation

Bill Gates has been everywhere since the 2019 - 2020 pandemic began.  The media has given him carte blanche, allowing him to pontificate about the COVID-19 virus and how he believes the battle should continue, particularly regarding the involvement of his family trust in the development of a global 

Now, you might be wondering why Mr. Gates, a self-proclaimed authority with no education in either virology or epidemiology is being given any media exposure.  In this posting, I hope to provide you with one clear example of why he is being given any "air time" at all.

Let's look at a BBC Breakfast video dated April 23, 2020:

That's a 17 minute television exposure for Mr. Gates who waxes philosophically about vaccinating 7 billion people from one of the world's leading mainstream media outlets.

Given that Mr. Gates is an American, one might wonder why he is getting media exposure in the United Kingdom.  Let's provide some background before we look at the Gates family involvement in the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).  Here is a screen capture showing the vision, mission and values of BBC Action:

Now, here is the reason why Mr. Gates is getting any attention from the BBC, taken from the BBC Media Action's Annual Report and Accounts 2018/2019 for the year ended March 31, 2019:

You will notice that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donated £2.003 million ($2.502 million US) to the BBC's Media Action.  This is not the first year that the Gates family foundation has donated money to the BBC.  Here are some donations from previous years:

2017 - 2018 - £2.150 million.

2016 - 2017 - £2.800 million.

The Gates family also donated money to various BBC Media Action projects in both 2015 - 2016 and 2014 - 2015 as shown in this screen capture from the annual report for 2014 - 2015:

Please note that in the annual reports prior to 2016 - 2017, there was no breakdown of donors so we cannot ascertain the donations made by the Gates family foundation. 

Given that Mr. Gates wasn't even able to finish university, one would have to wonder why any media outlet would care what he has to say about the current pandemic...except where the individual getting the media exposure is a donor to that media outlet.  Now you know, money does buy exposure which leads to influence over policies.  So much for the concept of an independent media.