Factcheck Run by Conservative Philanthropist Annenberg Foundation

This analysis is a statement of general caution to those using factcheck.org as a means of determining 'true' and 'false' during the current election cycle. As any organization or individual claiming to have a complete understanding of 'facts' should fall under scrutiny for such a claim, factcheck is no exception. Factcheck provides substantive and in-depth analysis of issues and topics and has been cited throughout this election cycle as providing sound basis from which to determine who may be misrepresenting facts and why. And though much of the facts and analysis presented on the factcheck site seem unbiased and cite numerous sources, a number come from those with a conservative bent like the Heritage Foundation, or McCain political advisers.

As we explore the Annenberg Foundation, we find there's a lot to learn about media politics and not all is what it seemed at first blush or even on the second go around. If you take anything from this article, it should be that one should never provide any single source of information a monopoly on the truth and, that, in general, it's best to fact check from a broad base of sources.

Factcheck run by Annenberg Foundation
To better understand the potentially conservative bias of the website -- factcheck.org -- it is first worthwhile to examine who runs it -- namely the Annenberg Foundation. The Annenberg Foundation is one of the twelve largest organizations in the US operating under a 3 billion dollar grant given by Walter Annenberg. The foundation's primary goal has been to provide grants to schools in order to improve quality of education. However, a number of satellite media-related organizations have sprung from Annenberg-funded projects, one of them being factcheck.org.

Walter Annenberg -- A Powerful Conservative Publishing Mogul and Ambassador to England
Examining the Foundation itself, it is worthwhile to take a look at is founder Walter Annenberg. Born in 1908, Walter was raised by his conservative father who resourcefully scratched together a media empire by the name of Triangle Publications. Walter later inherited Triangle and used its various publications to vitriolically attack a number of liberal politicians. Annenberg's efforts endeared him to a number of conservative politicians including Richard Nixon, who appointed him as ambassador of England, and was close friends to Ronald Reagan whom he first introduced to Margaret Thatcher. While in England Annenberg gained notoriety by facilitating a number of business deals between US and British interests.

The Murdoch Connection
In 1988, Annenberg sold Triangle to media giant Rupert Murdoch. This transaction effectively ensured that the conservative slant of Annenberg's various publications would remain intact.

An Intriguing Record of School Reform
The following, year, in 1989 Annenberg founded the Annenberg Foundation which functions effectively to this day. Much of the money from the foundation has been donated to school reform. To be fair, Annenberg grants have benefited both public and private schools as was evidenced by its recent $25 million grant to the New York City school system and the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.

In a strange twist of fate, The Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) has come under fire by new conservative groups for its bottom-up approach to public education. Annenberg Foundation activities were notable in that they reformed schools to be more sensitive to local needs and less controlled by a centralized 'top-down' government bureaucracy. Yet a new brand of 'conservative' top-down corporate policies came directly into conflict with Annenberg goals for Chicago. As a result, much negative news was published in the conservative press about CAC's affect on Chicago. The negative assessment of CAC was, according to education sources, pushed by politically-motivated conservative forces and used to set the stage for the rise of the new muscle philanthropists like Gates, Broad, and Walton who used their concentrations of corporate wealth to drive their version of "reform" from the top-down.

If true, this conflict between old-guard libertarian conservatives and a new corporate-centrist guard may provide some insight as to the current, larger schisms within the larger Republican party.

The Obama Connection and a Deepening Irony
Stanley Kurtz has been accused of a swift-boat style attack against Barack Obama for his presence on a volunteer board connected with the CAC. Ironically, Bill Ayers, of current Sarah Palin Infamy, sat on the same board. In simple terms, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was attacked as a left wing plot in a direct attempt to discredit Barack as well as the educational reforms he was involved in helping to establish. It is worth noting that Obama also served on the volunteer board with Northwestern University President Arnold Weber, a former advisor to both Nixon and Reagan. When you look at the totality of the board members involved it becomes a pretty silly claim that 1. Obama was in league with terrorists and 2. that the CAC was a left-wing plot to radicalize Chicago's schools. It is for this reason that the "Chicago Tribune" called Kurtz's assertions "Alice in Wonderland Journalism."

But just as it is simplistic, silly, and unfortunate to believe the claims of Kurtz and others, it is equally silly to think the Annenberg Foundation, itself would represent views supportive of Obama's overall policies. It is therefore hardly likely that they would forsake all conservative ties and past tendencies for using their various media platforms to promote conservative agendas.

If History is any Guide...
Historically speaking, Annenberg and all he stood for was steeped in the Nixon-Reagan brand of conservative politics. So it is worthwhile to view any analysis from factcheck.org as potentially being an understanding of facts based on that particular world-view. But it is also worthwhile to distinguish the neoconservative brand of corporate centrist conservatism with the more libertarian approach of the older conservative guard. In some respects, progressives, especially new systemic progressives, rather than the old monolithic progressives, may have more in common with one another than with the powers and philosophies of the neocons.

That said, there are still many clear distinctions between liberals, like progressive democrats, and old-school conservatives like those represented by the Annenberg foundation. It is possible, even likely, that the factcheck.org site was designed specifically to allow Annenberg-style conservatives to present facts based on their particular world-view, to support privatization and localization while at the same time opposing the corporate centrist faction within its own political sphere.

In any case, you have been warned and hopefully come away from this better informed...

Sources:

"The Daily Pennsylvanian"
"The New York Times"
"The Chicago Tribune"
http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/bls_02/bls_02_00264.html
http://michaelklonsky.blogspot.com/2008/09/beyond-recession.html
http://factcheck.barackobama.com/factcheck/2008/09/23/annenberg_1.php
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/obamas_weatherman_connection.html