The Nation Magazine Serves UN-Soros Axis

Regular readers of this blog have become all too familiar with the pattern of corruption surrounding leftwing news organizations, which often take money from the very interest groups whose issues they "cover" in their articles and newscasts (see, for instance, "Pewgate: Leftwing Journalists on the Take," 03.23.05).

The Marxist journal The Nation has emerged as a hotbed for this sort of journalistic corruption — a development which comes as no surprise to Moonbat Central, which has closely followed The Nation's degeneration into a public relations arm for George Soros' Shadow Party (see "Is CBS a Shill for the Left?" 03.22.05).

Equally unsurprising is the UN's involvement in cash-for-coverage schemes at The Nation. Soros is closely aligned with the United Nations and with its network of radical NGOs. Soros' growing influence over The Nation all but guarantees the magazine's subservience to UN spin doctors.


Ian Williams — Agent of Influence

An investigative report by the press watchdog group Accuracy in Media (AIM) notes that several allegedly independent journalists who cover the United Nations have simultaneously worked for the UN, accepting lucrative contracts for cranking out UN propaganda. See "Another U.N. Scandal" by Alyssa A. Lappen (FrontPage, March 16, 2005).

One prominent beneficiary of such UN subsidies is Ian Williams, a British-born socialist who now lives in New York City, where he serves as UN correspondent for The Nation.

Typical of Williams' work is a whitewash of the UN's multibillion-dollar oil-for-food scandal which appeared in The Nation of December 12, 2004 under the headline, "The Right's Assault on Kofi Annan." Williams has spoken on UN-related issues on ABC, CBC, CNN, BBC, ITN, CNBC, MSNBC and Fox News. AIM comments:

"While Williams won't discuss the total amount of money he has received, he does not hide the general fact that he has been paid by the U.N. His personal website discloses that `He has produced several booklets for UN agencies… edited the 2001 UNCTAD report and helped draft the press-kit for the 2002 Arab Human Development Report for UNDP.' …

"Williams strongly insists that his financial relationship with the U.N. does not compromise his role as an independent and objective news professional."

Stephane Dujarric, Associate Spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, refused to provide AIM with the names of other journalistic contractors on its payroll nor the amount of money they received from the UN.


The UN-Soros Axis

Some UN-friendly journalists receive their remuneration through indirect channels — for instance, through the United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA).

UNCA receives funding from Ted Turner's UN Foundation and George Soros' Open Society Institute, according to AIM. Ian Williams is a member and past president of UNCA. It happens that UNCA briefly employed Williams' wife Anora Mahmudova — a Muslim journalist from the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan — as its office manager last year.

"The Ian Williams household was the single biggest item of spending by UNCA last year, if you calculate UNCA payments to his wife," notes AIM.

One indignant U.N. correspondent who has evidently failed to receive subsidies from either the United Nations or its agents complained to AIM, "How can you objectively cover an organization while you're taking money from that organization?"

Good question.