Project for Good Information and the Disinformation Era

It is clear that we are living in a post-truth era where veracity is in the eye of the groups responsible for ensuring that we are not exposed to disinformation.  As I have posted in the past, the various organizations that have been brought to life to prevent the spread of so-called fake news all have their own agendas and filter the truth through the eyes of their financial backers.  In this posting, we'll look at another group that is receiving funding from one of the world's wealthiest, liberal individuals.

 

Project for Good Information aka PGI was founded by 35-year-old Tara McGowan, a Democratic strategist in 2021.  Good Information Inc., it's "subsidiary" was formed for the purpose of investing in local news companies to provide the world with "fact-based information".  McGowan was the former head and co-founder of ACRONYM, a Washington-based non-profit which is "committed to building power and digital infrastructure for the progressive movement".  It was founded in 2017 and, since then, has run dozens of targeted media programs to "educate, inspire, register and mobilize voters", obviously of the Democratic bent.  In 2018, ACRONYM and its affiliated PAC, PACRONYM helped to elect progressive (Democratic since they are the only progressive people in the United States) candidates across the United States.  In 2020, PACRONYM ran one of the largest digital campaigns to defeat Donald Trump, spending nearly $100 million to persuade swing state voters as shown here:

 

...and here:

 

In 2019, ACRONYM launched Courier Newsroom, a for-profit online digital news property with the following aim:

 

"The media ecosystem in our country has changed and has led to rampant disinformation that has influenced millions of people, causing widespread distrust in our democratic institutions, in the facts — and in each other. 

 

Without trust, America’s future is under threat, including the ability to build a country, a government, and a society that works for everyone. 

 

Courier Newsroom is a civic media company that protects and strengthens our democracy through credible, fact-based journalism that seeks to create a more informed, engaged, and representative America. Under the direction of Courier Newsroom’s executive leadership team, our eight local newsrooms provide the communities we serve—including the people who live in information silos—with news centered on the people and policies affecting their lives. Our reporting is produced for the social media platforms and online channels our audiences spend their time on, with an emphasis on video, graphics, and skimmable newsletters to inform and engage our audiences in the ways they consume information today." 

 

Here are their values:

 

1.) Our reporting will be rooted in facts, science, and the communities our newsrooms serve.

2.) We will strive to tell the truth and will tell you when we get it wrong, because we believe that good information is the lifeblood of democracy, and that democracy will fail when factual journalism is out of reach. 

3.) We will be intentional about centering the voices of the people in our communities, using our platforms to amplify their experiences and opinions, especially those who are most impacted by the issues being decided in their statehouses and in Washington. 

4.) As a civic news organization, our journalists will focus their reporting around efforts to strengthen communities, rebuild struggling economies, expand access to health care and child care, address the climate crisis, and reduce inequality in all forms—and covering the leaders championing those efforts.  We will be relentless in our coverage of attempts or actions to undermine democratic institutions, especially voting rights, and ballot access, and we will make a special effort to report on public actors who are advancing those efforts.

5.) We will never manufacture “both sides” to our stories, giving equal weight to conspiracy theories or junk science. We will always provide proper context in our reporting to help ensure we don’t continue the spread of misinformation or disinformation.

6.) We will be committed to holding accountable elected officials or politicians who betray our values, cause harm, or seek to cause harm to the communities we serve. 

7.) We will not use political jargon; instead, we will work to break down inaccessible political language for our audiences.

8.) We will publish our work where our audiences are: When they move to new platforms or technologies, our brands and journalists will follow.

9.) We will prioritize hiring and contracting reporters, editors, and producers who live in the communities we serve, and we will remain committed to staffing our teams and sourcing our stories with the people who reflect the diverse and inclusive country in which we reside.

 

Here is the team behind Courier Newsroom:

 

It's pretty obvious from this background that, given McGowan's history with Courier Newsroom that the Project for Good Information is leaning hard to the left side of the political theatre that is Washington.  Interestingly, Courier Newsroom found itself the target of a complaint to the FEC over its violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act as shown here:

...largely because its activities were seen to be more like a Political Action Committee (PAC) than a media outlet, acting as an informal arm of the Democratic Party.

 

Let's go back to Project for Good Information.  According to information seen by VOX, this new entity consists of two separate entities: 

 

1.) a 501(c)(3) public foundation called the Good Information Project which exists to grant funding to nonprofit media companies although, according to AXIOS, McGowan denies the formation of a non-profit arm.

 

2.) a public benefit or B Corp called Good Information Inc. which will invest in for-profit media companies.

 

As part of the new deal, Good Information Inc. has acquired Courier Newsroom and For What It's Worth or FWIW, .  PGI plans to raise a total of $65 million with $35 million going to the B Corp, $25 million for the 501(c)(3) and $5 million dedicated to a two-year operating budget accordant to a promotional memo seen by Vox.

 

To close, here is a screen capture from Influence Watch with background on Project for Good Information:

 

And, last but not least, according to Politico and Axios, two of PGI's backers are billionaire Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and none other than George Soros, billionaire "philanthropist" who describes himself as an "international supporter of democratic ideals and causes".

  

Given McGowan's history and political bias and the political bent of two of her financial backers as I noted above, if it's good information that you're looking for, then perhaps you'd better look elsewhere.