NPR ludicrously claimed that the leftist Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) was not influenced by George Soros funding, despite NPR itself being funded by the leftist billionaire.
In an article published June 4, NPR complained about waning support for ERIC — an organization focused on voter registration — in Republican states and ridiculously attributed the ire over its Soros ties to a so-called “far-right misinformation machine.” However, according to the Capital Research Center (CRC), there is real evidence that Soros’ network provided funding for the organization, which was established as a project of The Pew Charitable Trusts. According to CRC investigative researcher Parker Thayer, “NPR’s insistence that there is no connection between ERIC and George Soros is laughable and refuted by their own article.”
Specifically, as Thayer pointed out, “[NPR] admit[ted] several paragraphs into the article that Soros’s private foundation provided money to the organization that created the ERIC but spen[t] the rest of the same article insisting that there is no connection.”
NPR called the association between Soros and the ERIC a “false alleged Soros connection.”
It’s worth noting that NPR itself has also been funded by Soros’ Open Society Foundations to the tune of at least $600,000 in 2016 alone. In addition, Fox News also reported on Dec. 23, 2015 that Soros granted almost $2 million “to hire 100 new reporters for 50 of [NPR’s] member stations.” Of course, NPR conveniently didn’t disclose this apparent conflict of interest when it was busy shilling for Soros in its propaganda piece. “NPR ought to be ashamed of misrepresenting the facts about ERIC and its ties to George Soros so severely,” Thayer rebuked.
While NPR acknowledged that Soros donated money to Pew— which initiated ERIC — the outlet still had the audacity to insinuate that “Soros has never had any involvement in the organization.” However, Soros clearly had monetary influence over the organization according to the CRC’s analysis. CRC noted that the funding for the project appeared to have originated with Soros’ Foundation to Promote Open Society, “which funneled two grants to Pew in 2011 totaling $725,000” precisely for its voter registration efforts. “If that’s not a description of ERIC then nothing is,” Thayer retorted.
According to CRC, “The first [grant] was ‘to support the Pew Center on the States’ voter registration modernization initiative,’ while the second funded ‘renewed project support to the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Elections Initiatives to modernize voter registration systems and to provide new project support to elections initiatives to expand the scope and scale of the voter information project.’” As Thayer noted, “[i]f that’s not a description of ERIC then nothing is.”
But that’s not all, as CRC analyzed:
Independent journalists have also uncovered references to Pew’s voter registration activities in a leaked copy of the Open Society Foundations’ 2011–12 budget. That document lists Pew Center on the States as a ‘lead grantee’ alongside the Brennan Center and Advancement Project, which oppose voter ID laws and support the Left’s array of election ‘reforms’ including Election Day registration.
But according to NPR, none of this signals “involvement.” But perhaps NPR’s gaslighting stems from the fact that it also received funding from Soros.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand they #DefundNPR.
