New America, a Google-Funded Think Tank, Faces Backlash for Firing a Google Critic (original) (raw)

Politics|New America, a Google-Funded Think Tank, Faces Backlash for Firing a Google Critic

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/us/politics/anne-marie-slaughter-new-america-google.html

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Anne-Marie Slaughter, chief executive of New America Foundation, in 2015.Credit...Paul Morigi/Getty Images

Sept. 1, 2017

WASHINGTON — The head of an influential think tank funded by Google is grappling with a mounting backlash — including from her own scholars and donors — over the firing of a leading critic of the tech giant.

Anne-Marie Slaughter, the president of the New America Foundation, pledged to re-examine her group’s policies for dealing with donors while defending the organization’s intellectual integrity. She also told the think tank’s employees that New America was “under attack from many quarters,” and warned that they should expect heightened scrutiny.

But a group of the left-leaning think tank’s current and former fellows was collecting signatures on a letter to be delivered next week to Ms. Slaughter and New America’s directors, asserting that Ms. Slaughter’s handling of the situation has jeopardized the think tank’s reputation. Other scholars affiliated with the think tank were quietly comparing notes on past instances in which they contend she placed donors’ interests over ideology.

Ms. Slaughter had also drawn criticism over her response to the Wednesday New York Times article revealing the tumult within her organization, with some suggesting to her that her declaration on Twitter that the article was “false” evoked President Trump’s attacks on the media.

At issue is New America’s firing on Wednesday of a scholar named Barry Lynn, and its exiling of his entire 10-person initiative, called Open Markets, which had been pushing for more rigorous antitrust enforcement against Google and other tech giants.

Google officials — including its parent company’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt — had complained about Open Markets multiple times. Their grievances could not be easily ignored. The company, Mr. Schmidt and his family’s foundation had donated more than $21 million to New America since the think tank’s founding in 1999, according to voluntary disclosures and tax filings.

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