Times Joins The Wal-Mart Jihad
This is a particularly egregious hit piece, even for the rapidly lowering standards of the New York Times. It seems that the Walton Family Foundation, run by the heirs of the Wal-Mart founder, has given money to think tanks that support *gasp* free enterprise. Oh. My. God. The worst part is the Times reporters slant and skew the story so much, it is positively pathetic. Example:
At least five research and advocacy groups that have received Walton Family Foundation donations are vocal advocates of the company.
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, for example, has received more than $100,000 from the foundation in the last three years, a fraction of the more than $24 million it raised in 2004 alone.
Richard Vedder, a visiting scholar at the institute, wrote an opinion article for The Washington Times last month, extolling Wal-Mart’s benefits to the American economy. “There is enormous economic evidence that Wal-Mart has helped poor and middle-class consumers, in fact more than anyone else,” Mr. Vedder wrote in the article, which prominently identified his ties to institute.
Good lord. If they received all the foundation money in one year it would be less than 1/2 of 1%. Out of curiosity, will the Times now instantly condemn George Soros and Theresa Heinz Kerry for the funding they give to leftist think tanks and organizations? This is a hit piece, pure and simple. The obvious point made by the Heritage Foundation applies here:
Several of the research groups noted that their mission is to be an advocate for free market policies and less government intrusion in business. “Those aims are pro-business, so it’s not surprising that companies would be supporters of our work,” said Khristine Brookes, a spokeswoman for the Heritage Foundation.
Last year, for instance, The Baltimore Sun published an op-ed article by Tim Kane, a research fellow at Heritage, in which he criticized Maryland’s efforts to require Wal-Mart to spend more on health care. He objected to the move on the grounds that it was undue government interference in the free market, a traditional concern of Heritage.
But, of course, we can be pretty sure from the way this article slants and what it doesn't talk about, that if the Walton Foundation had given the money to causes on the left, there would be no article.
UPDATE: David Bernstein from The Volkh Conspiracy makes a related point.
The story does have a classic line. After spending almost the entire article raising suspicions of whether the free market groups are being unduly influenced by Walton family money, and discussing whether they should disclose the contributions in their publications, the article offhandedly mentions that labor unions give prodigious funding to anti-Wal-Mart organizations. Is this an "astroturf problem," as the article tries to avoid implying, or at least something that raises at least as many issues as the Walton Family Foundation funding the likes of AEI?
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The Business of America is Business — Friday, 8 September , 2006 @ 10:43 am
By Ed, Friday, 8 September , 2006 @ 8:23 am
I think the point is to disclose that you have a financial relationship with the subject of your commentary.
It’s not that George Soros, Theresa Heinz Kerry or the Walton family should be condemned for giving to advocacy oraganizations, it’s that when those organizations specifically comment on an issue about their sponsors, it should be disclosed. If it isn’t, the commentary deserves to be questioned as possibly being ‘for hire’.
By Gaius, Friday, 8 September , 2006 @ 8:25 am
And the Times is challenging the funding of left-leaning think tanks where?
By Ed, Friday, 8 September , 2006 @ 9:55 am
And the left-leaning think tanks are writing Op-Eds about George Soros where?
It’s not the funding, it’s the disclosure when touching on issues that the funder is involved in, that’s important.