Dark Times Academy, which was set to train Pacific Island journalists, declined requests to hand over course materials and a participant list—moves that co-founder Mandy Henk said would have compromised academic independence and breached New Zealand privacy laws.
The US Embassy had originally awarded the grant under the previous administration, intending to help Pacific media combat misinformation. However, Henk says the new administration wanted to ensure the programme “aligned with US foreign policy priorities”—priorities she sarcastically summarised as “terrorising the people of Gaza, annexing Canada, invading Greenland, and bullying Panama.”
When Dark Times Academy refused to comply, discussions with the embassy led to the grant being “terminated by mutual agreement.” Despite losing US funding, the programme, called A Bit Sus, will still proceed with enrolled journalists.
Editor’s note: Like him or not, this shows how quickly some of President Trump’s policies are being enacted. Byron Clark is an advocate of several “progressive” stances.
When Dark Times Academy refused to comply, discussions with the embassy led to the grant being “terminated by mutual agreement.” Despite losing US funding, the programme, called A Bit Sus, will still proceed with enrolled journalists.
Editor’s note: Like him or not, this shows how quickly some of President Trump’s policies are being enacted. Byron Clark is an advocate of several “progressive” stances.
The Centrist is a new online news platform that strives to provide a balance to the public debate - where this article was sourced.
3 comments:
A read of the LinkedIn page of this "disinformation" academy is revealing. According to them the recent US election was a "Coup by Silicon Valley Oligarchs" that the academy had been warning about for some time.. There is also a course run by people from "Degrowth Aotearoa" who are concerned about our planetary alignment.
If some foreign government was funding media courses teaching right wing propaganda in NZ and around the world, there would be hell to pay. Biden's political interference is something
To finish my comment - Biden's political interference here is something the NZ media has been very quiet about. It certainly wasn't mentioned in Fire and Fury.
Methinks Ms Mandy Henk got her answer to her ideological stance.
Money never comes free and if you no longer align with the people funding you find someone with money that does....bye bye.
Post a Comment