George Soros Funding Criminal Justice Reform Plants In Legacy Media

Democratic megadonor George Soros will pay journalists anywhere from $63,000 to $85,000 to advance progressive criminal justice reform.

Soros is offering media fellowships, or “Soros Justice Fellowships,” through his nonprofit: the Open Society Foundations (OSF). Fellows must produce projects that align with Soros’ goals of reducing incarceration rates and sentencing guidelines.

Media fellowships last 12 months, with the expectation that fellows make the projects their full-time work. Up to three people may apply jointly for a single fellowship.

Journalists aren’t the only ones eligible for these fellowships. OSF offers three distinct categories of fellowship funding — advocacy, media, and youth activism — which may pay up to six figures, according to scholarship data provided to universities. These categories qualify a wide variety of professions such as lawyers, advocates, grassroots organizers, artists, and filmmakers.

As The Daily Wire has reported over the years, Soros Justice Fellowship alums have made headlines for their activism — this includes Mark-Anthony Johnson, longtime ally of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, and Susan Burton, founder of the criminal justice reform activist group, A New Way of Life (ANWOL).

The fellowship program isn’t new — Soros has offered this funding for over 25 years. Since the program’s inception, a total of 469 individuals have received fellowships. Most of the earliest fellows involved in media went on to become acclaimed journalists across a variety of major legacy outlets.

The following are current fellows involved in mainstream media, out of 18 total fellows for 2022:

Yasmine Arrington, of Washington, D.C., will produce a podcast featuring only “Black and brown youth voices” discussing the criminal justice system, including juvenile probation, reentry, and recidivism. Arrington has written for TeenVogue, Essence, Black Enterprise, Forbes Magazine, Washington Post, and Baltimore Times.Zachary Siegel, of Chicago, Illinois, will write and narrate news coverage concerning current approaches to overdose deaths. Siegel has written for Harper’s Magazine, New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, The Nation, New Republic, WIRED, Politico, and Scientific American.Irene Franco Rubio, a Phoenix, Arizona, native attending the University of Southern California, will produce a podcast on juvenile minority incarceration and their criminalization in public school systems. Franco Rubio has written for Forbes, USA Today, Teen Vogue, and NPR, as well as worked for Michelle Obama’s nonprofit. Franco Rubio was recognized as a scholar by a number of prominent groups: Facebook Journalism Project, Marguerite Casey Foundation’s Equal Voice News, International Center for Journalists, and ProPublica Diversity.

Several current fellowships went to budding journalist-activists:

Tiera Howleit, a student reporter at Indiana University’s collegiate paper. Howleit’s fellowship profile says that she will use the funds to “elevate the voices of people of color […] impacted by the criminal justice system.” Howleit founded “Black Collegians” in 2020, a social justice advocacy group.Katherine Owojori, a pre-law student at USC, will work with Franco Rubio to produce the above-mentioned podcast. Owojori is an active member of Black Lives Matter: Los Angeles.

Past fellows involved in mainstream media, in the order in which their fellowship was awarded:

Cloee Cooper – PBS, The John Oliver Show, Huffington Post, The Guardian, Politico, Nevada Public Radio, Spectrum TVContessa Gayles – CNN, VICE, PBS Frontline, CBS, Wired, Al Jazeera, VoxLam Thuy Vo – Buzzfeed News, The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, NPR, ProPublica, The Guardian, The New York Times, ESPNMay Jeong – Vanity Fair, The New York Times, Harper’s, The InterceptShanita Hubbard – The New York Times, HuffPost, Essence Magazine, Fusion, The RootCynthia Greenlee – The Washington Post, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Vox, Self, Harper’s Bazaar, The Counter, American Prospect, Dissent, Ebony, Elle, Longreads, Salon, SmithsonianDonovan Ramsey – The New York Times, The Atlantic, Buzzfeed, Ebony, GQ, New Republic, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, EssenceJenni Monet – The Guardian, Yes! Magazine, Los Angeles Times, PBS, Al Jazeera, Indian Country Today, Columbia Journalism ReviewJulieta Martinelli – Futuro Media, Nashville Public Radio, CBS, Real Atlanta Magazine, Gwinnett Daily PostJames Kilgore – Medium, WIRED Magazine, Al Jazeera, SalonKatie Rose Quandt – The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, The Appeal, The Nation, Vice, Slate, Mother Jones, Brooklyn Magazine, America MagazineEbony Underwood – Huffington Post, Vibe, USA Today, The Appeal, Vibe, MicIsaac Bailey – The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, Time, Esquire, CNN, Nieman ReportsNick August-Perna – National Geographic, PBS, HBO, Vox, ViceJudith Levine – Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times, Vogue, Mother Jones, The Nation, Boston Review, SalonMaia Szalavitz – The New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, Elle, New York Magazine, New Scientist, Newsweek, CNN, MSNBC, NPRAlisa Roth – NPR, CBS, PRI’s The World, Marketplace, The New York Times, Business Week, NationMark Obbie – The Atlantic, The Trace, Politico, The New York Times, The American Lawyer, Texas Lawyer, Houston Post, Pacific Standard, Inc. Magazine, SlateOsagie Obasogie – The New York Times, Slate, Scientific American, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, New ScientistSeth Freed Wessler – Associated Press, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, ABC

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