Via Fox News, the Media Research Center has published a report examining a three-hour, online journalism course offered by Poynter:
A new course on Islam designed for journalists tries to minimize the impact and importance of ”jihad” by comparing it to the number of murders in America each year. That same course claims ”right-wing activists” tried to tie American Muslims to terrorism and doesn’t mention examples of Islamic attacks on press freedom.
That’s the way a prominent news organization is teaching journalists in a three-hour online course. The Poynter News University, part of the Poynter Institute, launched the free course ”Covering Islam in America” to guide the media on their coverage of Muslim communities.
The George Soros-funded Social Science Research Council, which received $50,000 from the Open Society Institute ”For Initiative on HIV/AIDS and Social Transformation,” is one of the groups behind the initiative, along with the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication at Washington State University. That fits with a theme for liberal financier Soros, who has spent more than $52 million on influencing the media. The Islamic course also links to another Soros-funded entity, the well-financed Center for American Progress.
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This course is “A project of The Poynter Institute funded by The Knight Foundation.” Soros’s Open Society Foundations have worked closely with The Knight Foundation. They partnered up to start the Investigative News Network, which received $200,000 from the Knight Foundation and$100,000 from the Open Society Foundations. The Knight Foundations President and CEO, Alberto Ibarguen, is also on the board for AOL and yet another key Soros backed group, the progressive investigative reporting start-up ProPublica.
What can journalists expect to “learn?”
Besides learning basic facts about Muslims and their history, the course adds ways to put ”jihad” into perspective, attack conservatives, and provide a list of liberal groups that can be contacted for expert advice and quotes.
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One question asked, ”What grievances might sources associated with ‘Political Islam’ hold against Western journalists?” The answer is that ”Western journalists are seen as all of the following: ”hostile to Islam,” ”focus too much on Islamic violence,” ”viewed as water carriers for Western government agendas,” and ”thought to be unable to understand Islam unless they embrace Islam.”
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The reports that journalists are told to look at to uncover the ”right-wing activists” agenda are even more telling. The first is a report from none other than the Soros-funded progressive group Center for American Progress, which received $7.3 million from the Open Society Foundations since the year 2000.
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Another section of the course also encourages journalists to add context to their stories. They note it is important to explain political motives stating ”Politicians do not oppose or support proposed mosques and other Muslim-American projects without taking into account their own interests.”
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Besides leaving out the violent nature of Shariah law, other important facts about radical Islam and journalism are omitted.
The course is very specific in instructing journalists how to write about Sharia and is careful to omit the violence inherent in Sharia law, the oppression suffered by women and “minorities”: Christians, gays, anyone who isn’t Islamic, and the many violent incidents such as the murder of Theo van Gogh.
Read the entire piece.
MRC notes that Soros has spent $52 million in his attempt to influence the media as he has the world economy.
We’ve written earlier how the FCC is now ordering certain newsrooms to partner with Soros-funded non-profits.
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