Okay, I get that Mark Ames has a hard-on for anything that makes Glenn Greenwald look bad. And I get that NSFWCorp is all about "disrupting." And I've given them more money than anybody here, I think - I'm 6th from the top. But let me see if I can follow along: Pierre Omidyar is evil because: - he gave to/invested in companies that fund micro loans back when everyone was funding micro loans, and suspiciously stopped publicizing his participations in micro loans about the same time the AP accused them of genocide - He gave money to DonorsChoose.org, which is evil because they partnered with "Waiting for Superman", which suggests that charter schools are a viable loophole around No Child Left Behind - He gave money to Hernando de Soto Polar, which is evil because Polar worked for Fujimori, who was NOT A NICE MAN. I dunno. NSFWCorp is totally willing to grade on a curve when they're talking about Assad. Give money to Glenn Greenwald, though, and suddenly you're the Koch brothers. Full disclosure: I worked on "Waiting for Superman." My parents spent six years in Peru. I think Jeremy Scahill is a hell of a journalist. And I remember that Pierre created eBay so he could more efficiently sell his Beanie Baby collection. This all seems a little alarmist.
Yes, guilt by association is easy, especially when you are a billionaire. I am not sold. I do buy into the idea that journalists can shed a lot of the institution to the betterment of the fourth estate. And, if Omidyar is sincere about what he is proposing (at least to the extent that I understand it), then it could ameliorate the issue raised by Lowell Bergman: ...which is a very serious problem. That said, I personally believe it has to go further than that. The readership must play a role that includes the same kind of risk. NSFWCorp has taken a major step in that direction with their funding tower, and the ability that you have to unlock articles to those you deem worthy (thank you). But, we are in the age of the semi-professional reader/commentor, and almost no one recognizes it for what it's worth, although I am guessing that you do. I would love to convince Omidyar of that."What has been adjudicated and established in the wake of Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement is the ability of the press to basically write or broadcast almost anything about the government.There's very few restrictions in that way. It's not true when we're talking about private power, especially major Fortune 500 corporations, or people worth more than, say, a billion dollars."
My take on it is "beanie babies." Any money he throws towards philanthropy and journalism is found money. This isn't a guy who set out to be a venture capitalist, like Elon Musk. This isn't a guy with a deeply philosophical bent towards democracy, like George Soros. This isn't somebody who made their stake through liberal gadflyism, like Ariana Huffington. This is a guy who struck it mega-rich on beanie babies. NSFWCorp are proud, petulant and pugilistic. They remind me a lot of The Stranger back before Dan Savage settled down. I wish them all the luck in the world. At the same time, I'm not about to pretend they're fair and balanced. In reading a lot of Yasha Levine, I get the distinct sense that his life would be easier if he were less of a dick. In reading a lot of Mark Ames, I get the distinct sense that he's butt-hurt nobody paid enough attention to him back when he was in Russia. That's fine. Everybody's got baggage. "Baggage" should not be confused with "news" though.
It seems the First Amendment is going to be at the core of his new project. Interesting read from Omidyar himself: http://hubski.com/pub?id=120752
First of all, steve's right.. that is cool. But also, you're right regarding this piece. I kept waiting for the shoe to fall and it never did. Omidyar has not said much about what it is they are doing. Here is his statement, direct from his site, it's pretty vague but also pretty exciting. In an age when most media sources are also running pieces titled, "Top 10 ways to..." it will be nice to have one dedicated to investigative journalism and without the overarching need for $$. Could it be that NSFWCorp doesn't want the competition? As for the attempts at discrediting The Omidyar groups philanthropic efforts, they're grasping at straws. But whether you praise this announcement or demonize it, all we really have are "straws" thus far. But, given the people dolling out those straws, I'd say the announcement is at the least interesting and at best very encouraging.