Journalism for Sale: The Associated Press Tried to Hide Its Largest Climate Change Donor

There are plenty of reasons to criticize the mainstream, legacy media outlets that have an obvious leftward bent to them, but one of the most troubling revelations in recent months is the discovery that several leftwing groups – particularly those focusing on climate change – have been making large “donations” to outlets like the Associated Press.

The AP maintains that these donors don’t have influence over their editorial process, but that hasn’t been enough to keep folks from worrying that the coverage of climate and climate issues is being swayed.

One year ago, Fox News revealed that the AP and others had taken millions from these leftwing organizations.

The “Climate Fact Check 2022” report, presented by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the Heartland Institute, the Energy & Environmental Legal Institute, the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), and the International Climate Science Coalition (ICSC), stated that “climate alarmists” and members of the media engaged in claims about the relationship between manmade emissions and natural disasters, claims that clashed with “reality and science.”

In February, the Associated Press admitted that they would assign more than 24 journalists across the globe to cover “climate issues” after receiving more than $8 million over three years from various organizations.

In a new report, though, the AP has apparently been trying to minimize the visibility of some of its donors, including a $300,000 donation from a leftwing European group whose goals include phasing out fossil fuels entirely. The Washington Free Beacon recently broke this aspect of the story.

The Associated Press’s latest foreign donor wants to transform journalists into “community activists on climate change.” The AP doesn’t seem interested in publicizing that.

The KR Foundation, a Danish nonprofit that seeks the “rapid phase-out of fossil fuels,” gave the equivalent of $300,000, to the Associated Press in December 2022, according to the charity’s annual report. Though the AP says it is committed to the “highest practicable degree of transparency” regarding its backers, the news outlet added the KR Foundation to its list of current philanthropic supporters only this month, according to a Washington Free Beacon review of the AP website.

It’s the latest left-wing charity to fund the Associated Press, which says it is read by four billion people each day. Philanthropies that support packing the Supreme Court, defunding the police, and other left-wing initiatives have contributed millions of dollars to the AP in recent years, the Free Beacon reported.

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