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Will BBC Media Action, Auntie’s International, Pro-Censorship Charity, go Bust Now That Elon Musk Has Turned off the USAID Tap?

by Tony Edwards
9 February 2025 1:00 PM

The muck currently being raked up by Elon Musk’s investigations into the activities of USAID will have major repercussions across the Atlantic, specifically for BBC Media Action – “the BBC’s international charity”, according to its website.

[We work] with partners around the world to provide impartial, impactful, trustworthy media to people in need so that they can make informed choices to transform their lives. In a world of disinformation, distrust and division, we share the BBC’s values, skills and experience to bring people together, and foster greater understanding and trust.

Simply put, BBC Media Action appears to be the international arm of the BBC’s controversial Trusted News Initiative, an enterprise set up to “tackle challenges of harmful disinformation”.

BBC Media Action’s annual £32 million budget pays exclusively for projects overseas, focusing on social media and combating “the toxic combination of disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation polluting our information environments”.

Interesting that they include ‘malinformation’. As Daily Sceptic readers will know, the term describes information which is factually accurate, but which is often an inconvenient truth for the custodians of approved doctrines. So, BBC Media Action is condemned as a self-described censorship outfit. And its funding partly reflects that.

You won’t be surprised to learn that one of the “top 10 donors” is the ubiquitous Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. So, as night follows day, BBC Media Action is now heavily involved in two of Gates’ pet agendas: “climate change issues” and “vaccine hesitancy”. However, an even bigger donor is the British government. So, unwittingly, we are all funding this arm of the censorship-industrial complex.

But there’s trouble at mill. In 2023, BBC Media Action’s income began to shrink, with Gates almost completely pulling out, and the British government halving its grant. Panic stations? Not yet, for out of the blue from Washington came a mighty $3 million donation, courtesy of USAID.

Enter Elon Musk, stage right. His staff have been trawling through USAID’s accounts, and among the various things the US taxpayer is funding – $16,500 to foster a “united and equal queer-feminist discourse in Albanian society” – they will have spotted disbursements to what Musk might well characterise as some dodgy Limey outfit. He’s now cut off all funding – and it hurts. Last Tuesday, Media Action issued a press release: “We have been affected by the temporary pause in US Government funding, which amounts to about 8% of our income in 2023-24.”

Temporary? Some hope. A cursory examination of the outfit’s website and accounts will have told Musk’s sleuths everything their boss needs to know: that BBC Media Action is not only an enemy of free speech, but that also champions DEI employment policies – two prime bêtes noires of the Trump administration.

So is it game over for BBC Media Action? Possibly. Its latest accounts suggest it’s struggling: “Our total income in 23-24 was £32 million; our total expenditure was £33.8 million.” As Mr Micawber would say: “Result, misery.” Indeed, as it publicly acknowledged last October, “BBC Media Action continues to face serious challenges to its finances.” Now, four months later, with Musk almost certain to permanently cancel the USAID funding, BBC Media Action faces an uncertain future.

Is anyone likely to bail them out? Not the BBC, according to Media Action, which is at pains to insist that the charity is a wholly independent organisation. But that claim is a little suspect – the small print in BBC Media Action’s annual accounts boasts of its “unique position at the heart of the BBC”.

For example, its 85 London employees (roughly half of whom earn over £60,000 a year) appear to be able to flit from the charity to the broadcaster and vice versa. Indeed, such interchanges are encouraged “to give our London-based staff a chance to learn in other parts of the organisation”. And it’s all so effortless, because BBC Media Action’s offices are handily located within the BBC’s own White City broadcasting complex – for which, tellingly, the charity pays not a penny of rent. So the two organisations are wholly joined at the hip.

Furthermore, the BBC is legally required to use its income to underwrite the charity, whose Articles of Association state: “The BBC undertakes to contribute to the assets of Media Action in the event of it being wound up… and the cost, charges and expenses of winding up.”

So the people who would have to foot the bill in the dying days of the BBC’s Ministry of Truth would be the BBC’s own funders – the suckers who are required by law to pay the licence fee poll tax.

Tony Edwards is a former BBC TV science producer, now a medical research journalist. His latest book, The Very Good News About Wine, is an exposé of misinformation about wine and health.

Tags: BBC Media ActionElon MuskTrusted News InitiativeUSAID

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13 Comments
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soundofreason
soundofreason
9 months ago

Was she briefly possessed by the ghost of Enoch Powell? Seemed to be paraphrasing his ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech.

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Mogwai
Mogwai
9 months ago

Not sure if this person did something especially bad or just made a ”lesbian nana” type comment.

”British police arrest patriotic Britons who took part in anti-immigration protest in Sunderland. Thoughts?”

https://x.com/EuropeInvasionn/status/1819993048702398670

This is the result of too much multiculturalism, particularly too much Islam importation. Will the police be raiding these psycho’s homes too? I’ve seen the footage of two men with their heads cracked open after they were attacked. I’m sure they’d consider themselves ‘culturally enriched’ today;

”In Stoke a white man is cornered & is given a terrible beating by Muslims.

Later gangs of Muslims were seen with weapons, touring the town looking for other victims.”

https://x.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1820005133062644213

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transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
9 months ago
Reply to  Mogwai

Vaguely on topic we’re just now doing a bit of shopping in an area of North London with a large Turkish community, near where we used to live. They are economically successful and I’ve never experienced or heard of racial tensions with them in all the time we used to live here. I don’t think mass immigration of any culture is helpful but we should also recognise that not all cultures are the same and outcomes may depend on a mixture of race, culture and religion.

7
-1
Dinger64
Dinger64
9 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

Agreed, but why is preferential treatment given to young male black sub Saharan Africans with no identification?
Bet you wouldn’t be so keen living next door to them as majority culture?

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transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
9 months ago
Reply to  Dinger64

I’m not “keen” on any of it as I made clear in my previous post. I was merely making an observation based on my personal experience.

As to your question, I think it’s quite plausible to think that sub-Saharan Africa is the place that more people want to get out of than anywhere else – not exactly surprising – and that TPTB merely acquiesce to this as it suits them.

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nige.oldfart
nige.oldfart
9 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

A good point, one problem being is the mass immigration which does not allow for an integration, it introduces a different culture into an existing one with all the inevitable inter-reaction, good and bad. You can welcome one visitor par se, but not to one that could deemed an army of invasion.

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transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
9 months ago
Reply to  nige.oldfart

I think there are two related but distinct issues. The first is the inevitable disappearance of a distinct English culture and race, both of which are regrettable and tragic if you value cultural and racial diversity. It’s perhaps a bit too subtle for many and is therefore not ringing enough alarm bells (present company excepted). The second is the more acute and headline grabbing issue that subsets of the immigrant population have greater propensity to antisocial behaviour and crime and less willingness or capacity to make a net positive contribution.

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nige.oldfart
nige.oldfart
9 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

Indubitably.

0
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Free Lemming
Free Lemming
9 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

The two are different, but each one, unchecked, can lead to the other, so should not be separated (not in my mind at least). Erosion of British values and culture will encourage an explosion of values and cultures that cannot exist together in harmony. The refusal to integrate inevitably leads to a cultural clash, and a cultural clash inevitably leads to further refusal to integrate. Very much a chicken and egg thing.

Most of us are perfectly happy with a level of migration that benefits the UK – that in itself is a whole other topic however – where the immigrants offer something in return for a home. That, of course, is not what we have anymore. What we have is unrestricted immigration, of which a significant section of is hell-bent on bending us to their will. It’s a perverse inversion of what would happen organically. And there’s it is: what we are experiencing, which results in children being slaughtered by a savage, is nothing like organic. Our masters have been very busy laying the foundations of complete and total subjugation of the people. We let it carry on too long and now their wet dream is within touching distance.

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transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
9 months ago
Reply to  Free Lemming

I think I would agree with almost of all that.

“Most of us are perfectly happy with a level of migration that benefits the UK “

It depends what you mean by “benefits”. There are immigrants – individuals and groups – who will contribute economically and be good citizens, and if we have to have it at all, let’s have that sort, but even then the numbers need to be pretty low to avoid erosion of our culture and race. Trouble is, we’ve had so much already, of mainly I would say the wrong sort overall (I don’t mean the majority of immigrants are horrible people in case anyone thinks that’s what I mean), that now it really has to stop dead and even then with the demographics we are onto a loser. Of course, it won’t stop dead – not in our lifetimes anyway.

4
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Free Lemming
Free Lemming
9 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

Nothing I disagree with, hence my disclaimer with respect ‘benefits’.

1
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transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
9 months ago
Reply to  Free Lemming

I guess most of the people who voted for anyone but Reform think that immigration has benefited and will benefit us, or they were asleep when deciding who to vote for. For me along with Nut Zero and Medical Fascism it’s a red line

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RTSC
RTSC
9 months ago
Reply to  transmissionofflame

A lot of Turks in North London are actually Turkish Cypriots or the descendants of Turkish Cypriots who fled here when the Civil War started. They are “fairly British.” If you visit Northern Cyprus, as I have several times, there are obvious echos of British rule still in place.

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transmissionofflame
transmissionofflame
9 months ago
Reply to  RTSC

Yes that makes sense. Lots of Greek Cypriots there too – I’m not aware of major conflicts between the two groups though that may have passed me by.

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bertieboy
bertieboy
9 months ago

Oh dear – I have to admit that I wholeheartedly agree with Rachel Reeves! Presumably now she will have observed that the current situation is much worse than when she made the statement!

5
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huxleypiggles
huxleypiggles
9 months ago
Reply to  bertieboy

Ah, nethen, Ms Reeves has since that anti immigration comment been convinced of ‘the new way’ and thanks very much for the brown envelope.

2
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Richard Austin
Richard Austin
9 months ago

Who is the leader of the Labour party? Very few voted for Starmer so he certainly is not the Prime Minister of the vast majority: 20% is risible. So, the real question has to become who is the real power in the Labour party? Starmer and Reeves (aka Matt Lucas) seem to agree on absolutely nothing whatsoever.
They couldn’t agree on who works and who doesn’t a few weeks ago. Given the evidence we have all seen, Matt Lucas is in charge banging her drums dressed as a baby.

Last edited 9 months ago by Richard Austin
1
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Richard Austin
Richard Austin
9 months ago

As to what is currently happening: come on, does anyone think the majority are out for a ruck with the Police? This has been simmering for years as Reeves well knows. Starmer hasn’t got a clue; he is less intelligent than one of Magic Grandpa’s lettuces.
Go down the Pub today, no matter where you live, and ask “Are you fed up with mass immigration and what it has, and is, causing?”. You may be unlucky get two who say they are perfectly happy.

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Traddles
Traddles
9 months ago

At least we now know who our Prime Minister supports. Personally, I find myself ashamed of the nation I now live in, a nation where illegal immigration and the consequences of that are fine, voicing or protesting against it are not, indeed, you will be punished if you do.

8
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Insurrectionist
Insurrectionist
9 months ago

A decade too late…. It’s lip service anyway

2
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varmint
varmint
9 months ago

A huge Oil Tanker puts on the brakes well in advance of where it wants to stop eg. If it doesn’t do that then it will crash into the harbour with disastrous results. This is exactly what has happened with mass immigration. We did not and still have not put the brakes on and the result is DISASTER.

4
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Free Lemming
Free Lemming
9 months ago
Reply to  varmint

Excellent point. And that lets you know just how far into the harbour they wish this tanker to go.

3
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varmint
varmint
9 months ago
Reply to  Free Lemming

wink

0
0
RTSC
RTSC
9 months ago

“We’ve all seen the protests against the almost open-borders immigration forced on us by.Blair/Brown, in order to rub the Right’s faces in diversity, and enthusiastically continued by the Not-a-Conservative-Party …… particularly Johnson.

Please don’t start an article by revising history.

1
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Claphamanian
Claphamanian
9 months ago

What are these ‘curbs’? There are plenty of curbs out in the street. They frame a broad highway.

1
0
Douglas Brodie
Douglas Brodie
9 months ago

The volte face of Reeves is reminiscent of that of Boris Johnson. As Mayor of London, he was openly climate sceptical – “wind forms couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding” – but as soon as he became prime minister, he realised that his bread was buttered on the side of the globalists’ climate change hoax and here we are today heading for Net Zero economic ruination. 

Now that Reeves is in power, as an obedient puppet she is likewise toeing the globalist party line on enforcing mass immigration, against the interests of the people of the UK.

Last edited 9 months ago by Douglas Brodie
5
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Whomakesthisstuffup
Whomakesthisstuffup
9 months ago

In various surveys, when asked if they have an issue with mass immigration, the MAJORITY of people say yes. This is therefore an issue that our politicians should deal with, rather than tarring anyone who challenges it as right wing racists. If more than 50% of the population agrees with an issue, then its a majority view not right wing!

5
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Dinger64
Dinger64
9 months ago

Are Reeves and Phillipson clones?
Is that how labour get so many supporters?

3
0
Marque1
Marque1
9 months ago
Reply to  Dinger64

Clowns, is, I think, the word.

4
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Mogwai
Mogwai
9 months ago

Now it’s Bolton’s turn;

”Tensions rise in Bolton! Muslim Defence League and British patriots face off. British police try to separate them.”

https://x.com/EuropeInvasionn/status/1820097614676685033

https://x.com/EuropeInvasionn/status/1820095072357974056

2
0
Mogwai
Mogwai
9 months ago
Reply to  Mogwai

With a side helping of pyromania in Rotherham;

https://x.com/dailyreportsx/status/1820092759006654842

2
0
ellie-em
ellie-em
9 months ago
Reply to  Mogwai

Why on Earth is there a group calling themselves Muslim defence league? Rioting on the streets of England to the battle call of Allah Akbar, indeed! Be off with them, see them off to the cry of Rule Britannia!

1
0
iconoclast
iconoclast
9 months ago
Reply to  ellie-em

Why on Earth is there a group calling themselves Muslim defence league?

Indeed.

There are a variety of existing names to choose from like Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, ISIS, Houthi, ISIL etc.

1
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