The New America Foundation released three emails in response to articles about the firing of Barry Lynn, who was planning an event critical of Google, the major funder of the think tank. Lynn is a specialist in the danger of monopolies.
I read them, and it sure looks like Lynn was fired for offending Google. At one point, Anne-Marie Slaughter, president of NAF, mentions a meeting including Susan Molinari, a former GOP member of Congress from New York who is currently a registered lobbyist for Google.
Message to the New America Foundation: When you are in a hole, stop digging.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane . . . answering the question: Why not privatize?
Looked over the website. Google is only one of the major funders who might have been “offended” by criticism. Take a look at who else is giving big bucks.
“New America thanks the organizations, individuals, and partners who share its dedication to the renewal of American politics, prosperity, and purpose in the Digital Age.”
$1,000,000+ Aphorism Foundation, Arizona State University, 11th Hour Project and Schmidt Family Foundation, Ford Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Google, Inc., William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Lumina Foundation, Eric and Wendy Schmidt, Open Society Foundations
$250,000–$999,999—Bloomberg, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Citi Foundation, Boykin Curry, Emerson Collective, Foundation for Child Development, Foundation for a Just Society, Heising-Simons Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, W. K. Kellogg Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Henry Luce Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Microsoft Corporation, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Omidyar Network, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Pivotal Ventures, Pritzker Children’s Initiative, RISE: NYC, Rockefeller Foundation, Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Siemens Foundation, Jennifer and Jonathan Allan Soros Foundation, US Agency for International Development, US Department of State
I did not spend a lot of time at the website, but two searches turned up a view of K-12 education as serving economic and workforce “needs.”
Laura,
I think you can see why I didn’t fit in at New America Foundation.
In 2013, media reported the 7th richest member of Congress, Jared Polis, was a funder of New America.
New America School, not foundation. The choice of name shows the convergence of labeling, thinking and actions by the richest 0.1% to concentrate wealth and power.
You rounded up the usual suspects! Whenever there is billionaire philanthropy, there is a political agenda. It’s so undemocratic! Free markets were originally thought to be a necessary attribute of a self-governing society. Instead rent-seeking behaviors and corporate monopolies have sent us back to a feudal era, where the mass of humanity is powerless and preyed upon.
CitizensAgainstMonopoly.org has a petition directed at Google for using unprecedented power to crush competition (how Bill Gates of them). Zephyr Teachout asks people to sign the petition.
Google goes to the DARK SIDE.
Diane, you’re right about digging a hole. Amazingly, Ann-Marie Slaughter (what a name for this news story!) admits to her “miscommunication” in setting up a meeting, right after she castigates Mr. Lynn for “telling me one thing and doing another”. There’s no reading of the email which suggests the firing is anything but a way to placate Google. Wow, that company sure has evolved from do-no-wrong to tolerate-no-dissent.
From Naked Capitalism’s Yves Smith, who wrote about New America today, ” The whole point of think tanks is to launder the money of corporations and powerful interests and lend a veneer of legitimacy to their PR and lobbying campaigns…New America’s President has a long history of applying porcine maquillage on behalf of the powerful… legitimizing intellectual prostitution.”
Hah! “porcine maquillage”. That is a great line.
Think tank shilling deafens politicians to the voices of their constituents.