{"id":1756097,"date":"2022-11-30T06:05:12","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T11:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1756097"},"modified":"2022-11-30T07:48:10","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T12:48:10","slug":"bankman-frieds-money-tied-to-major-media-outlets-bringing-journalistic-integrity-into-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bankman-frieds-money-tied-to-major-media-outlets-bringing-journalistic-integrity-into-question\/","title":{"rendered":"Bankman-Fried\u2019s Money Tied to Major Media Outlets, Bringing &#8220;Journalistic Integrity&#8221; Into Question"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbankman-frieds-money-tied-to-major-media-outlets-bringing-journalistic-integrity-into-question%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1756097&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-ftx\">FTX<\/a> founder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-sam-bankman-fried\">Sam Bankman-Fried<\/a> gave millions to various media outlets throughout 2022 via his family-run nonprofit, \u201cBuilding a Stronger Future.\u201d The major companies who received funding include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/1\/7\/21020439\/support-future-perfect\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vox<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/atpropublica\/bankman-fried-family-donates-5-million-to-propublica\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ProPublica<\/a>, Semafor, and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DavidSacks\/status\/1593724962195607553\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In some cases, donations appear to be crucial to the viability of the recipients.<\/p>\n<p>In a leaked <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ggreenwald\/status\/1594385478056378374?s=20&#038;t=lLnnfeDlxt8vSOwvJNhScw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">letter<\/a>\u00a0to staff members, Roger Hodge, editor-in-chief of The Intercept, admitted that there was now a \u201csignificant hole\u201d in the company\u2019s budget. According to Hodge, the company received $500,000 a few months ago. \u201cAnother $250,000 was due in December, with $3.25 million to follow over the next two years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Downplaying the potential conflict of interest, Hodge heaped praise on his reporters in the letter: \u201cI also knew our reporters would never pull their punches because of a donation\u2014and they didn\u2019t.\u201d He adds that The Intercept disclosed Bankman-Fried\u2019s donation in its reporting on the FTX story.<\/p>\n<p>A co-founder of The Intercept took issue with these statements.<\/p>\n<p>Pulitzer Prize\u2013winning journalist Glenn Greenwald, who co-founded the outlet in 2013, but resigned after editors <a href=\"https:\/\/greenwald.substack.com\/p\/my-resignation-from-the-intercept\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">refused<\/a> to publish his reporting on Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop ahead of the 2020 presidential election, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ggreenwald\/status\/1594385478056378374\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">criticized<\/a> his former colleague for deliberately obfuscating details about the funding and for failing to disclose it in past articles.<\/p>\n<p>A representative for The Intercept told The Epoch Times that Bankman-Fried\u2019s donations were received in September of this year. \u201cIn keeping with our general practice, The Intercept disclosed the funding in <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2022\/10\/16\/democratic-party-progressive-israel-aipac-dmfi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">subsequent reporting<\/a> on Bankman-Fried\u2019s political activities,\u201d said Rodrigo Brand\u00e3o, director of communications at The Intercept, providing a link to an October article in which the financial ties are disclosed.<\/p>\n<p>Greenwald points to several articles by The Intercept, including one published as recently as Nov. 11, in which the outlet does not mention Bankman-Fried\u2019s donations. \u201cMaybe there is some place that The Intercept mentioned this extremely deep and intricate relationship between it and Bankman-Fried and FTX\u2014I can\u2019t find it,\u201d Greenwald taunted.<\/p>\n<p>Industrialist Elon Musk took aim at Bankman-Fried\u2013funded media as well, calling out Semafor, a journalistic outfit founded by former Buzzfeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith, for what Musk <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1595494411579711490\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claims<\/a> to be false reporting on FTX founder Bankman-Fried\u2019s equity stake in Twitter. Musk also <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1595342985931411456\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">highlighted<\/a> the fact that Semafor received investments from Bankman-Fried earlier this year in a $25 million <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2022\/11\/23\/semafor-under-fire-for-not-returning-investment-in-startup-by-ftxs-sam-bankman-fried\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fundraising<\/a> round.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Semafor is owned by SBF. This is a massive conflict of interest in your reporting. Journalistic integrity is \ud83d\uddd1\ufe0f. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1AB6KReJUj\">pic.twitter.com\/1AB6KReJUj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1595342985931411456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 23, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Smith, also a former New York Times columnist, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/10\/18\/semafor-debuts-new-media-startup.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">founded<\/a> the outlet earlier this year aiming for \u201ca focus on global news for college-educated readers.\u201d Semafor published an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semafor.com\/article\/11\/22\/2022\/sam-bankman-fried-elon-and-a-secret-text\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article<\/a> suggesting Bankman-Fried owned a $100 million stake in Twitter, presumably rolled over from his public equity holdings prior to Musk taking the company private.<\/p>\n<p>Musk <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1595551706749624321\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">responded<\/a> in a tweet reply to Smith last week: \u201cAll public holders of Twitter were allowed to roll their stock into Twitter as a private company, but he [Bankman-Fried] did not do so.\u201d The Tesla founder then asked Smith how much of Semafor is owned by Bankman-Fried, but did not receive an answer.<\/p>\n<p>The Semafor article noted that FTX listed Twitter shares as an \u201cilliquid asset\u201d on its balance sheet, according to a document reported to be circulating among FTX investors.<\/p>\n<p>Smith did not respond to The Epoch Times\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs it perhaps the case that Bankman-Fried thought he was actually buying goodwill and favorable coverage?\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2022\/11\/21\/sam-bankman-fried-journalism-funding-crypto-fraud-media\/\">asked<\/a> Robby Soave in a recent article for Reason Magazine.<\/p>\n<p>While there are no reports of financial ties between FTX and The New York Times, the Times was widely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coindesk.com\/layer2\/2022\/11\/15\/lets-talk-about-the-new-york-times-puff-piece-on-sam-bankman-fried\/\">criticized<\/a> for its \u201cpuff piece\u201d on the controversial crypto exchange founder. Soave, who is also host of The Hill\u2019s \u201cRising\u201d show, criticized the outlet for using \u201csoft, passive language\u201d in regards to alleged crimes and instead emphasizing Bankman-Fried\u2019s altruistic ventures.<\/p>\n<p>Soave highlighted the disproportionate outrage the Times seems to exhibit when covering companies like Twitter versus what is potentially the largest financial fraud in history.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne hopes they wouldn\u2019t treat [Bankman-Fried] with kid gloves out of admiration for his philanthropy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ubiquity of the former billionaire\u2019s influence and financial ties has raised questions regarding the vulnerability of our institutions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe lesson to me is just exposing how corrupt the system really is,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UqDJ6Ph8r9o&#038;t=198s\">said<\/a> Saagar Enjeti, a media personality, on a recent episode of the news podcast Breaking Points. \u201cIf you\u2019re a billionaire with the right ideology, the right amount of checks cut to the right people, you can make a hell of a lot happen in a short amount of time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it was this easy for [Bankman-Fried], imagine what the real titans of industry are doing behind the scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Musk, echoing this same sentiment with a more humorous tone, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/elonmusk\/status\/1595591868275826688\">tweeted<\/a> last Wednesday, \u201cIf [Bankman-Fried] was as good at running a crypto exchange as he was at bribing media, FTX would still be solvent!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Several attempts to reach Bankman-Fried\u00a0for a comment were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-liam-cosgrove\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/LiamCosgrove_WEB.jpg\" alt=\"Liam Cosgrove\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Liam Cosgrove works as a freelance journalist covering business, markets, and finance. He received his bachelor&#8217;s degree in mathematics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried gave millions to various media outlets throughout 2022 via his family-run nonprofit, \u201cBuilding a Stronger Future.\u201d The major companies who received funding include Vox, ProPublica, Semafor,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1732864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1756097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1756097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1756097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1732864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1756097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1756097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1756097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}