The controversial United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is facing the blunt end of the Trump administration’s ire. The agency has its senior officials sent on leave, contractors fired and foreign funding activities restricted. One after the other, it has been revealed how the US government’s ‘wallet with a mission’ squanders US taxpayer’s money on dubious entities even terrorist organisations in a direct or indirect fashion all to promote ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’. USAID was also funding at least major left-leaning media, outlets all of whom claimed to be ‘independent’ actually took money from the US govt.

Politico, a left-leaning media which back in 2023 defended the Trudeau administration in Canada for honouring a Nazi in its parliament, received a whopping $8.2 million from USAID via 237 transactions over the years. The top US government agencies that awarded funds to Politico were the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Energy, the Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce (DOC).

In the year 2016, the funding to Politico LLC skyrocketed from 1 new award to 80 in 2024 and 4 in the fiscal year 2025 until the USAID came under the scanner and the Trump administration announced a halt on government funding to the left-leaning media outlet. Notably, the rapid increase in funding to Politico was recorded when the Biden administration held the reins of power in the United States.

To no surprise, two former Politico writers recently accused the publication of suppressing negative news about Joe Biden and his family, particularly in the context of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal.

On 5th February, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Politico and several other media houses received funding from USAID to subsidise subscriptions using American taxpayers’ money, however, she said that this practice will stop now. Leavitt added that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is working towards cancelling those payments.

“I was made aware that USAID has funded media outlets like Politico who I know have a seat in this room. I can confirm that the more than $8 million taxpayer dollars that have gone to essentially subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the American taxpayers’ dime will no longer be happening. The DOGE team is working on cancelling those payments now,” the White House spokeswoman said.

New York Times, Associated Press and other left-leaning media outlets received funds from USAID

Besides Politico, The New York Times, a major left-leaning media outlet that a record of batting for Democrats, romanticising Khalistani terrorists, downplaying Islamist violence against Hindus in Bangladesh and eulogising anti-Hindu violence accused Islamists like Umar Khalid in India, received more than $350,000 per year since 2022 and millions since the year 2008.

Some social media users including one Ian Miles Cheong claimed that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was the largest contributor to the NYT, granting $26.9 million, while the National Science Foundation followed with $19.15 million. They further claimed that in August 2024 alone, the US government provided $4.1 million to The New York Times under the Biden administration.

Quoting Cheong’s post, Elon Musk who leads DOGE said, “NYT is government-funded media.”

As Gplus checked the official data for all fiscal years for New York Times Co, it received $2.5 million from 266 transactions. The Department of Defense with obligations of $567,082 was the top awarding agency followed by the Treasury Department with obligations to the tune of $5,41,483.

In the trailing 12 months, the media outlet received about $378,266 from 18 transactions. The New York Times received its highest funding under the Biden administration. The Department of Defense with obligations to the tune of $201198 followed by the Treasury Department with obligations of $75,012 were the top contributors to New York Times Co.

Not to forget, NYT has persistently been pushing a pro-Ukraine, anti-Trump narrative while also villainising Elon Musk. Amusingly, NYT had also endorsed democrat candidate Kamala Harris in the last presidential elections in the US wherein Harris suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Donald Trump.

Interestingly, the former owner of The Washington Post, Graham Holdings Company received over $968.1 million in government funding since 2008 with the Department of Education being its top contributor. It must be noted that Graham Holdings Company owns several television local news stations in the United States and the left leaning Foreign Policy magazine which platforms Islamists to peddle Muslim victimhood propaganda in India. Unsurprisingly, Foreign Policy is one of the prominent news outlets seething over Trump administration’s crackdown on USAID.

Another ‘independent’ news outlet that received federal funding is The Associated Press. The left leaning news outlet received $619,968 from 13 transactions in the trailing 12 months with the Department of State (DOS) being the top contributor making up to 87.45% of the funds awarded.  

The total amount awarded to The Associated Press since 2008 stood at $37.5 million.

Among the other major media houses that received federal funding over the years was Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters Special Services LLC which is the parent recipient,  was awarded a whopping $120.3 million from 239 transactions. The Department of Defense with obligations of $60.21 million was the top awarding federal agency followed by Department of Homeland Security.

Meanwhile, in the trailing 12 months Thomson Reuters Special Services LLC received $13.6 million from 28 transactions.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg is also among the top recipients of federal funding. According to the official data, Bloomberg LP received $208,418 from 12 transactions in the trailing 12 months while it has since 2008 received $6.4 million with the Department of the Treasury, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and Department of State (DOS) being top five awarding agencies.

During our search, we came across the recipient profile of  Bloomberg LP (parent recipient) and found that the company received $233.9 million from 4,281 transactions since 2008.  

In addition to this, Bloomberg’s subsidiary Bloomberg Finance LP received federal funding of $20 million in the trailing 12 months and $156.1 million in all fiscal years since 2008 with numbers being the highest under the Biden administration. Besides, Bloomberg Industry Group, INC received $15.8 million from 173 transactions in the trailing 12 months.

Other than Bloomberg, Dow Jones & Company which owns The Wall Street Journal and is a subsidiary of News Corp is also among the major recipients of the US federal funding. The company has continuously been receiving significant funding since 2008, the highest transactions were recorded in the years 2022, 2023 and 2024. In the trailing 12 months alone, Dow Jones & Company received $969,872 from 25 transactions.

Meanwhile, Comcast Corporation (parent recipient) which owns NBC News, received $573.7 million from 31,297 transactions. The transactions peaked in the year 2022 with obligations standing at $233.5 million and 2231 new awards.

National Public Broadcaster (NPR) has also received federal funding, however, the amounts are way too less compared to other left-leaning legacy media outlets.

Interestingly, the US government had also been interested in funding entities with links to media houses in foreign countries. The USAID previously funded BBC Media Action, a British Broadcasting Corporation-linked charity. The charitable arm of BBC which claims to support journalism and communication projects in underdeveloped regions is reported to have received £2.6 million from USAID in 2023-24.

Upon checking official data, Gplus found that in the trailing 12 months, BBC Media Action received $2.8 million from 7 transactions with USAID being its top awarding agency in the United States followed by the Department of State. Overall, since 2008, BBC Media Action has received $17.3 million from 49 transactions of which the highest were made during the years 2013, 2016, 2021, 2023 and 2024.

While it is true that BBC Media Action and BBC News are not the same, a British charity affiliated to the United Kingdom’s public service broadcaster receiving massive funding from a US agency using US taxpayers’ money making it one of the top donors is in itself quite problematic. While Trump supporters view this as a wastage of government funds, the left liberals who dub USAID as the country’s ‘soft power’ continue to defend it. However, the editorial independence of those media trained by BBC Media Action remains questionable since it is not too unlikely that the US government funded the charity keeping its own policy interests and objectives in consideration.

Interestingly, USAID also funded a Pakistani “policy research and advocacy” initiative Media Matters for Democracy. The MMFD Trust received $603,686 from 14 transactions in all fiscal years since 2008 with the US Department of State being its top awarding agency.

With USAID coming under scanner, a pandora’s box opened and the veneer of ‘independent’ media that the USA’s leftist news outlets donned for so long has finally fallen off. While they may put forth arguments like those funds were for subsidised subscriptions, research and so on it is apparent that the self-proclaimed ‘independents’ too have overlords. Taking into account the kind of coverage NYT, Associated Press and other media outlets funded by US federal agencies including USAID did during the recent US Presidential elections behaving like the propaganda machinery of the Democratic Party with pathological limerence for Kamala Harris and disdain towards Donald Trump, it is not surprising that some of these outlets received highest federal funding under Biden administration.  

In fact, when media outlets receive federal funding their editorial independence is compromised and as seen in the case of Politico wherein its former journalist said that several stories about Hunter Biden were killed, self-censorship also comes into play. A truly independent media cannot be both, a government watchdog and its financial benefactor. Apparently, this is why the American people are outraged, and rightly so.

The legacy media in the US has in the recent past been receiving flak from the American people for its sheer bias against the right wing, especially Trump and his supporters while functioning as coolies of the Democrat Party and the propaganda machinery for the liberal-woke cabal. The recent revelations of the so-called ‘independent’ and ‘unbiased’ media outlets being funded by federal agencies make one wonder if the media is actually independent.

USAID and its anti-India propaganda

Gplus has time and again highlighted how the USAID has been attempting to interfere in India’s internal matters. It had attempted to bring about a ‘colour revolution’ in India through its affiliates. We recently published a deep dive on USAID’s 96-page propaganda guide meant to help the USAID team peddle influence in foreign countries, co-opt the media ecosystem and civil society and bring about ‘regime change’ in the host nation. All of this was shrewdly framed as an effort to combat ‘information disorder.’ It is a common trait of the left-liberals across the world to hide behind high-sounding terms like democracy, diversity, freedom, combating disinformation and whatnot while the real intent is to topple governments not ideology aligned with them.

Notably, the USAID backed fake news peddlers and known Modi/BJP detractors like Rana Ayyub, it promoted Atlantic Council that attacked Modi government and also collaborated with far-left billionaire George Soros during the Obama administration to promote its ‘radical agendas’ in several countries including India.

Despite not being a go-to source of information and news US-based media outlets funded by USAID or who have been recipients of federal funding in the recent past. The coverage of the NYT, Associated Press, Bloomberg and other such outlets on events like the protests against the CAA-NRC  or the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi verdict, India’s attempts to deport illegal immigrants, or its strict stand against Khalistani secessionism, Islamic terrorism and villainization of  Prime Minister Narendra Modi labelling him as Hindu ‘fascist dictator’ and whatnot, reflects their ideological bias. The US federal agencies financially backing such biased media houses reflects its support to the way these media outlets function or rather has been using its media as tools for narrative shaping on foreign soil.

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