AMAC Exclusive – By Andrew Shirley
A fund controlled by left-wing billionaire George Soros is set to take control of the second-largest chain of radio stations in the country – just in time to disseminate pro-Democrat talking points ahead of the 2024 election.
According to bankruptcy filings cited by the New York Post, Soros Fund Management is set to scoop up media giant Audacy, which owns more than 220 radio stations nationwide and filed for bankruptcy in January. In total, Soros Fund Management is set to take on $400 million of Audacy’s debt, enough to give the firm effective control over all the stations.
Officially, Soros Fund Management has maintained that they will have no influence on the editorial content of the radio networks. However, given the obvious left-wing political bent of Soros Fund Management’s other activities, listeners have reason to doubt that assertion. According to Open Secrets, 100 percent of Soros Fund Management’s political donations went to Democrats in the 2022 cycle – nearly $300,000 in total.
Soros, a Hungarian-American hedge fund manager, is perhaps the most prolific funder of the Democrat Party in the country, using his complex web of nonprofits and dark money groups to funnel money to liberal candidates and causes. In total since 2020, Soros and Soros-linked organizations have donated some $500 million to Democrats. Soros personally donated $170 million in just the 2022 cycle to Democrat candidates.
Soros is perhaps most notorious for single-handedly funding the rise of far-left prosecutors throughout the country, including names like Alvin Bragg in New York, George Gascon in Los Angeles, and the since-recalled Chesa Boudin in San Francisco.
The liberal billionaire’s foray into radio is particularly concerning for conservatives, as talk radio has historically been targeted by Democrat legislators seeking to silence conservative voices. In 2021, the Democrat-controlled House held a “Hearing on Disinformation and Extremism in Media” which was openly aimed at bashing conservative hosts and outlets. As far back as 2007, the left-leaning Center for American Progress wrote that conservative talk radio created a “structural imbalance” that the federal government needed to correct with stricter regulations.
Now, it appears Soros may be pioneering an alternative approach to intimidating conservatives into silence on the airwaves – simply buying the radio stations themselves and dictating their programming.
If these acquisitions go through, Soros would arguably have more influence over talk radio than any other single individual in America.
Back in 2022, Soros-linked entities also created the “Latino Media Network” (LMN) which gobbled up numerous prominent Spanish language stations. According to Inside Radio, LMN was created by Stephanie Valencia, a former Obama White House staffer, and Jess Morales Rocketto, a former Hillary for America and AFL-CIO employee. Their major investors included Lakestar Finance, an investment entity affiliated with Soros Fund Management LLC.
LMN notably took over two conservative Spanish talk radio stations in Miami, which is one of the epicenters of the Latino backlash against the Democrat Party. In total, the Latino Media Network controls stations with access to one-third of the Hispanic population of the United States.
As popular host Lourdes Ubieta, who resigned in protest over the purchase, stated, “They did this to silence conservative Hispanic voices.”
Soros’s sudden interest in acquiring media entities hasn’t stopped with just radio stations, either.
Last August, Fortress, another fund linked to Soros, purchased bankrupt Vice Media for $350 million. Although Vice has seen a precipitous decline in readership and influence in recent years (likely due to the outlet’s overtly woke messaging) the acquisition nonetheless gives Soros’s empire another stake in the media industry.
In addition to outright purchases of media entities, Soros has also built a network of influence with individual media personalities. According to a report released last year from the Media Research Center, “at least 54 prominent media figures (e.g. reporters, anchors, columnists, editors, news executives and journalists) are tied to Soros through their connections to organizations that he funds.”
Some notable names on that list include NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour, PolitiFact Editor-In-Chief Angie Drobnic Holan, and Washington Post Executive Editor Sally Buzbee.
As the report notes, “Soros once told The New York Times that he was working to ‘bend’ the arc of history ‘in the right direction,’ and he’s using his global media clout to do it.” That effort will now likely be bolstered by 220 more radio stations to parrot Democrat Party talking points.
However, Soros’s growing media empire is not immune from rapidly deteriorating public trust in corporate and legacy media outlets. Just 32 percent of Americans say they have “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of trust in the media – down from 55 percent in 2000.
As political figures like Soros have a greater hand in influencing news narratives, Americans will increasingly turn elsewhere for their information.
Andrew Shirley is a veteran speechwriter and AMAC Newsline columnist. His commentary can be found on X at @AA_Shirley.
