Media Matters for America mistakenly leaked its confidential donor list containing funding from major Democratic megadonors, according to documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Media Matters is not legally mandated to publicly reveal its donors because of its status as a 501(c)(3) charity organization and the documents state they are “Not Open to Public Inspection.” However, the left-wing organization appears to have unintentionally released its top five donors of 2022 in a November public filing to the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General.
Indiana shopping-mall tycoon Deborah Simon gave Media Matters $4 million, according to the documents. She has given millions to Democratic politicians and organizations over the years, according to Federal Election Commission data.
“I’m going to do anything I can to defeat [Trump],” Simon said in 2019, according to Indianapolis Business Journal. “That’s my goal.”
Bain Capital co-founder Josh Bekenstein and his wife Anita gave $1.75 million to Media Matters. Both of them have donated millions to Democratic super PACs over the years, according to OpenSecrets data.
Left-wing megadonors including billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, organizations managed by Arabella Advisors and the Ford Foundation have historically contributed to Media Matters. Yet, despite the organization’s alleged left-wing bias, several media outlets have characterized Media Matters as simply a media “watchdog.”
Media Matters released a report in November alleging that ads from large advertisers appeared next to antisemitic posts on billionaire Elon Musk’s X, leading several of them to abandon the platform. The organization’s methodology has faced scrutiny, with X suing the organization for allegedly using a manipulative strategy to find the ads that regular X users would be exceedingly unlikely to see.
X filed “a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company,” Musk posted in November. “Their board, their donors, their network of dark money, all of them,” Musk added.
Moreover, LGBTQ rights organization Gill Foundation contributed nearly $3,000,000 to Media Matters, according to the documents. The Stephen Silberstein Foundation gave close to $2 million and has given to numerous left-leaning organizations, according to InfluenceWatch.
Lastly, billionaire Warren Buffett’s Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation donated over $1.7 million, according to the documents. Buffett endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in 2016, according to The New York Times.
Media Matters did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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