What bloggers do to the mainstream media – fact-check them, hold them accountable – some commenters in turn do to bloggers.<\/p>\n
My long-time regular commenter\u00a0Master of None has taken a particular interest in the Minnesota Monitor’s financing.\u00a0 He (along with Learned Foot) has, apparently, expertise to match interest in the field, as he noted<\/a> (several times<\/a>)in the comments to this post, about the Monitor’s dilatory sense of self-accountability<\/a>:<\/p>\n There is fairly compelling evidence that the Center for Independent Media is organized as a 501(c)(3) public charity. The CIM pays stipends to all of the MiniMoni bloggers, and requires them to write not only for MiniMoni, but to also publish their own blogs.<\/p>\n IRS rules for 501(c)(3) bars them from being active in politics, with pretty precise guidelines for what is permitted and what is not permitted. It seems like these rules should apply to not only MiniMoni, but also to the blogs that are operated by the CIM fellows.<\/p>\n Do you know any Tax lawyers in MOB that might be able to comment on this?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Learned Foot at KAR continued, digging into the tax status<\/a> of the Center for Independent Media<\/a> and one of its major benefactors:<\/p>\n Well, wonder no longer! While MinnMon<\/span> and CIM<\/span> aren’t forthcoming about their sources of income, at least we now know where $100,000 of it came from<\/font><\/a>:<\/p>\n $100,000 to the <\/em>Center for Independent Media<\/font><\/em><\/a>. This grant will support the Center’s efforts to strengthen its New Journalist Program by establishing a national branch in Washington, DC. The fellowship program, with operations currently in Colorado, Minnesota and Iowa, mentors and trains state-based political news bloggers<\/span> in investigative reporting with the aim of creating a robust corps of citizen journalists to add diversity and local expertise to media coverage of important issues. Fellows serving in the New Journalist Washington DC Program will focus their coverage on Congress, federal agencies, the presidency, Supreme Court and the influence of lobbying, the national press corps and campaign finance<\/em>.<\/p>\n From the Sunlight Foundation! And what is the Sunlight Foundation’s raison<\/span> d’etre<\/span><\/font><\/a>?<\/p>\n Transparency! In government!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n We’ve noted this in the past.\u00a0 What I haven’t <\/em>done, so far, is note what “Master of None” did in the comment above:\u00a0 non-profit organizations incorporated under 501c3 status have rules to follow when it comes to political partisanship, rules that 527 status doesn’t have.<\/p>\n The battle has moved to the Monitor’s comment section, where Master asks<\/a>:<\/p>\n So Robin, is CIM a 501(c)(3) or not?<\/p>\n You’re getting plenty of money from 501(c)(3)\u00a0 public charities.\u00a0 Do you really think it’s appropriate to run a leftwing blog site using tax exempt charitable donations?\u00a0 Don’t you think the Red Cross or perhaps United Way could make better use of that kind of money?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n