Is Newsbud an activist group or a news organization?
1 min read
This post is an edited collection of my responses to James Corbett’s article about Newsbud’s “Confront NBC” campaign in New York.
I thought Newsbud was to be an independent news organization with no political agenda. But it seems to be turning into a political activism organization. Analysis is one thing, but lobbying a foreign government to make demands of an American media company?
And this “confront NBC” protest seems like overkill. A tiny handful of protesters that will be ignored or, God forbid, arrested if they take it too far. These resources could be spent for research and reporting on many other issues. I would be livid if I was a Newsbud donor. I hesitated to donate precisely becuase I did not see their editorial policy as transparent.
It really seems to be driven by Sibel’s emotions and passions, which is good for an activist group, but not what I think of as a credible news source.
My question is only about Newsbud’s mission. In the KickStarter campaign, it was billed as an independent media organization with no political agenda. Now, it is behaving as an activist organization with a clear political agenda, to the point of lobbying foreign governments.
It is not ethical to raise funding for one type of project, but afterwards switch it to a different type of project. You may be okay with it, but others who donated may not be. So, the ethical thing to do would be to either 1. stick to research, investigation, analysis, reporting, as Sibel is excellent at all of that, or 2. refund the KickStarter money to donors and start a new KickStarter making it clear she intends to fund a political activism group.
Sibel had her Twitter followers pressure the Turkish embassy to demand an apology from NBC. I was actually shocked she did this. It has the appearance of partisanship with the Turkish government, even if that was not her intention.
I have nothing against activism at all. I just think this all-consuming focus to “confront NBC” over one lie of many lies in the media is a quixotic errand. Beating a dead horse. I’m not sure what it’s meant to accomplish, even if successful, and why it is of overriding importance. It seems petty, and not in her stated goal of being a no-agenda news organization.
It’s not just reporting, she’s flying to New York with her crew to “confront” NBC, I guess hold a protest and make demands? Seems excessive for this one issue and it does seem like a political agenda.
This post is an edited collection of my responses to James Corbett’s article about Newsbud’s “Confront NBC” campaign in New York.
I thought Newsbud was to be an independent news organization with no political agenda. But it seems to be turning into a political activism organization. Analysis is one thing, but lobbying a foreign government to make demands of an American media company?
And this “confront NBC” protest seems like overkill. A tiny handful of protesters that will be ignored or, God forbid, arrested if they take it too far. These resources could be spent for research and reporting on many other issues. I would be livid if I was a Newsbud donor. I hesitated to donate precisely becuase I did not see their editorial policy as transparent.
It really seems to be driven by Sibel’s emotions and passions, which is good for an activist group, but not what I think of as a credible news source.
My question is only about Newsbud’s mission. In the KickStarter campaign, it was billed as an independent media organization with no political agenda. Now, it is behaving as an activist organization with a clear political agenda, to the point of lobbying foreign governments.
It is not ethical to raise funding for one type of project, but afterwards switch it to a different type of project. You may be okay with it, but others who donated may not be. So, the ethical thing to do would be to either 1. stick to research, investigation, analysis, reporting, as Sibel is excellent at all of that, or 2. refund the KickStarter money to donors and start a new KickStarter making it clear she intends to fund a political activism group.
Sibel had her Twitter followers pressure the Turkish embassy to demand an apology from NBC. I was actually shocked she did this. It has the appearance of partisanship with the Turkish government, even if that was not her intention.
I have nothing against activism at all. I just think this all-consuming focus to “confront NBC” over one lie of many lies in the media is a quixotic errand. Beating a dead horse. I’m not sure what it’s meant to accomplish, even if successful, and why it is of overriding importance. It seems petty, and not in her stated goal of being a no-agenda news organization.
It’s not just reporting, she’s flying to New York with her crew to “confront” NBC, I guess hold a protest and make demands? Seems excessive for this one issue and it does seem like a political agenda.