Paid propaganda: NZ legacy media’s links to ‘Internews’ and US funding under scrutiny

A new revelation from WikiLeaks has exposed a deep financial and ideological link between the world’ legacy mainstream media and Internews, a US-funded organisation with a track record of influencing media narratives and promoting propaganda worldwide.

With funding from USAID amounting to nearly half a billion dollars, Internews has embedded itself within media outlets in over 30 countries, including allegedly New Zealand, raising serious questions about journalistic independence in the country.

Internews, a non-profit founded in 1982, claims to promote “trustworthy information” and support “media sustainability”. However, its mission is backed by staggering financial support from the US government. By 2023, the organisation had partnered with nearly 4,300 media outlets, trained thousands of journalists, and played a key role in social media censorship initiatives.

USAID has pushed nearly half a billion dollars ($472.6m) through a secretive US government financed NGO, “Internews Network” (IN), which has “worked with” 4,291 media outlets, producing in one year 4,799 hours of broadcasts reaching up to 778 million people and “training” over…

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 8, 2025

Among the most notable funding sources is USAID, which has funnelled $472.6 million into Internews. Other key donors include AOL-Time Warner Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the US State Department, which has funded initiatives ranging from high-quality responsible journalism in Liberia to media enabling democracy in Moldova.

Despite its vast global footprint, Internews recently attempted to erase digital traces of its top executives, including CEO Jeanne Bourgault, by removing their biographies from the organisation’s website. However, WikiLeaks preserved archived copies, intensifying speculation about the group’s motives and transparency.

The infiltration of Internews into New Zealand’s legacy media landscape has now been directly linked to the Back to News initiative launched in 2023 in partnership with GroupM New Zealand. GroupM, the “world’s leading media investment company”, collaborated with Internews to establish an advertising and funding pipeline for selected “vetted” media outlets.

A 2023 press release outlined the programme’s goals: GroupM New Zealand is introducing ‘Back to News’, an industry-first programme aimed at enabling brands to support quality journalism by reallocating media budgets to credible news publishers. The programme provides New Zealand advertisers with access to “high-quality, brand-safe ad environments” on vetted local, national, and international news sites.

The vetted media outlets included some of New Zealand’s largest legacy mainstream platforms: Stuff, NZME, Business Desk, Newshub, and 1News.

While presented as a boost to “journalistic integrity”, critics argue that the initiative instead entrenches media bias and globalist-aligned narratives. Many New Zealanders now question whether these legacy media outlets serve the interests of their audiences or those of their foreign benefactors.

The revelations of evidence for US-funded media control in New Zealand have sparked widespread outrage online, with many voicing their frustration over perceived journalistic corruption.

Responses to the story have been scathing:

“Bingo, this smells bad. It’s conceivable that most MSM journalists are either corrupt or under the thumb of corrupt management. Otherwise, how to explain their obdurate refusal to report on the biggest story of their miserable careers? Losers.”

“Oh no! With USAID funding and parroted soundbites coming to an end, does this mean that NZ media now have to do their own reporting?”

“I wonder if there are any NZ journalists that can report with originality and integrity. I’m not going to hold my breath!”

“Total control of what the public gets to hear!”

“Single Source of Truth. They told you. The Uniparty runs NZ for global elites. You have a handful of citizen politicians. All others are vetted out or disgraced if needed before the election.”

“NZ corporate news has felt like NATO news for a while now.”

“We knew the game was rigged. Will the sheep acknowledge? Will the herd remove their blinkers? Personally doubtful.”

The controversy has also raised concerns about media integrity beyond New Zealand, with Australians questioning whether their media has followed a similar trajectory.

“Just f***ing WOW! I’m sure the Australian media has been going down the same slimy road! It would be very interesting how far this rabbit hole goes, thanks for the update and keep it coming!”

“Great work, thank you. They’ll be the approved journalists always asking Jacinda the right questions.”

With the exposure of these funding ties, New Zealanders are left wondering whether legacy mainstream media operate independently if it receives significant funding from globalist foreign sources with vested interests.

HAVE YOU BEEN WONDERING IF USAID HAS A FINGER IN THE PIE OF NZ MEDIA?

I have.

After four years of trying to find someone in NZ legacy media to do some genuine investigative journalism into the thousands of NZ lives changed by the Pfizer mRNA…and drawing a blank.

Yesterday it… pic.twitter.com/vqoSi9CkFS

— NZ and the MRNA (@HopeRising19) February 8, 2025