‘New York’ Profiles Pierre Omidyar’s Giving; ‘People’ Spotlights Ford Foundation’s President

Pierre Omidyar sees his pursuit of journalistic endeavors as his third professional career, and a mix of his technology and philanthropy background, says New York magazine (November 3) in a detailed profile of the billionaire’s giving history and his troubled effort to create First Look, a nonprofit news and entertainment site.

But First Look has run into many problems, in part because the journalists Mr. Omidyar hired—including Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian and Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone—were expecting to operate independently. That’s not what Mr. Omidyar expected and not what his grantees have experienced in the past.

“Within the ecosystem of journalism and transparency nonprofits, there is hardly an organization that doesn’t take Omidyar’s money or hope for it, but many are wary of influence,” the magazine says. “If you’re answering to Omidyar,” says the director of one nonprofit, who was not named it the article, “then you’re not really independent.”

Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, is featured in People magazine (November 17) in a section about people who live the American dream. His climb from poverty in rural Louisiana started when his single mother enrolled him in Head Start, he says.

“I felt special, like I was being given a window into a world beyond my immediate circumstances,” he tells the magazine.

At Ford, he says, he tries to keep in mind what helped him escape a bleak future. “Too often, hopes and dreams are squashed by poverty or violence” he tells the magazine. “But then you set these signals of hope, these indications of generosity.”