CAUGHT – AT 9:32 P.M. ET:  As readers of Urgent Agenda know, Christiane Amanpour has never won a "woman of the year" award here.   I have long felt that she is wildly overrated as a journalist, and her obvious biases damaged CNN in the years she was its chief international correspondent.

But I never thought she'd do something so dumb that it confirmed all the suspicions we have had, and others have had.  But she has done thus.  A two-part Fox online series on ultra-lib billionaire George Soros and his attempts to influence journalism reveals that Christiane Amanpour sits on the board of Soros organzations:

When liberal investor George Soros gave $1.8 million to National Public Radio , it became part of the firestorm of controversy that jeopardized NPR’s federal funding. But that gift only hints at the widespread influence the controversial billionaire has on the mainstream media. Soros, who spent $27 million trying to defeat President Bush in 2004, has ties to more than 30 mainstream news outlets – including The New York Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press, NBC and ABC.

Prominent journalists like ABC’s Christiane Amanpour and former Washington Post editor and now Vice President Len Downie serve on boards of operations that take Soros cash. This despite the Society of Professional Journalists' ethical code stating: “avoid all conflicts real or perceived.”

The problem is, some of these "journalists" don't see it as a conflict of interest because they think they're working with "the good people," people who want to "make a difference."  It's the adolescent mantra of the sixties, brought up to date.

Among Soros front groups is something called the Center for Public Integrity.

Fred Brown, who recently revised the book “Journalism Ethics: A Casebook of Professional Conduct for News Media,” argues journalists need to be “transparent” about their connections and “be up front about your relationship” with those who fund you.

Unfortunately, that rarely happens. While the nonprofits list who sits on their boards, the news outlets they work for make little or no effort to connect those dots. Amanpour’s biography page, for instance, talks about her lengthy career, her time at CNN and her many awards. It makes no mention of her affiliation with the Center for Public Integrity.

If journalists were more up front, they would have to admit numerous uncomfortable connections with groups that push a liberal agenda, many of them funded by the stridently liberal George Soros. So don’t expect that transparency any time soon.

There have always been ethical problems in journalism, but the casualness with which "leading" journalists violate fundamental rules to associate themselves with leftist organizations is deeply disturbing.  It ratifies our worst suspicions, and is a terrible example for young journalists. 

I'd love to hear Amanpour give an explanation for her extracurricular activities.  I'm sure it will be delivered with her over-the-top British accent, which means that many listeners will consider it authoritative.

May 12,  2011