Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) on Wednesday lashed out at the Louisville Courier Journal for partnering with Pulitzer-winning investigative journalism project ProPublica.
In a video message posted to YouTube, Bevin tore into the paper over the partnership with what he called a “biased, left-wing organization” and urged Kentuckians not to trust the paper.
{mosads}“This is the same Courier Journal, mind you, which, while it’s dying, continues to maintain that they are unbiased, that they are good journalists and that they are interested in transparency, and holding government…accountable,” Bevin says in the video. “Who’s holding the Courier Journal accountable?”
The newspapers announced the partnership earlier Wednesday, noting that the Courier Journal is one of seven local papers selected to work with ProPublica, a nonprofit, to investigate an unspecified state government program.
Bevin in the video blasts the Courier Journal for what he says is a lack of transparency in their reporting and partnership with ProPublica.
He also criticizes ProPublica over its founding history. The founders of ProPublica, Herbert and Marion Sandler, have given over a billion dollars to largely progressive philanthropic causes including the American Civil Liberties Union and were also known for expanding a savings-and-loan bank that instituted some of the same practices that led to the housing market collapse in 2008, Forbes reported.
Bevin also hits the news organization for receiving funding from wealthy Democratic donors, including billionaire philanthropist George Soros, who is frequently a target of anti-Semitic, right-wing conspiracy theories. Soros is listed among ProPublica’s supporters.
Bevin refers to Soros as “George ‘I Hate America’ Soros” in the video.
“This is the sad reality of the Courier Journal, which pretends that it’s an actual news organization or a publication, is so remarkably biased they are now full in bed with this particular organization,” Bevin says.
“The fact that you take yourselves seriously is remarkable to me,” he said. “I encourage everybody to just disregard the nonsense that comes out of this biased, left-wing organization. The Courier Journal is a sad shadow of what it once was.”
The Hill has reached out to the Courier Journal for comment. On Twitter, the newspaper responded to the video by saying they are “excited” about the partnership.