Thread by @TimothyWSchwab

The rapidly evolving investigation into #BillGates & #MeToo creates serious contradictions w/ #GatesFoundation's woman-forward, equity-focused brand/PR. I don't underestimate Bill Gates, but this is a major existential crisis that could end the #GatesFoundation as we know it. 🧵

https://twitter.com/benphillips76/status/1394293450586173440

The real threat to the #GatesFoundation right now is not the rule of law or institutional dynamics within a private foundation, but rather the court of public opinion

And by that I mean the news media turning against Bill Gates. The fact that NYT, WSJ et al. are doing some hard (tho maybe still restrained) reporting on #BillGates & #MeToo means he's losing perhaps his most important and long-standing ally.

Over the last decade the news media has been incredibly kind to Bill Gates, dead focused on his good deeds and very rarely interrogating his or his foundation's power (or flaws/failures/abuses). I had enormous difficulty trying to get this published: cjr.org/criticism/gate…

For years, the news media coverage of the #GatesFoundation has traded in fiction and mythology: presenting Gates as a warm and virtuous sweater-wearing saint of a man, unimpeachable in his devotion to fixing the world, and highly effective in these efforts.

The richest guy in the world, under the auspices of philanthropy, today has one of the most powerful voices in global health, U.S. education, African agriculture, the pandemic response, etc.

This is not normal.

But the news media has normalized it for years.

The crush of new reporting into #BillGates & #MeToo tells a vital story. It's indelibly changing how we view BillGates. It feels like an unraveling. And it should open doors to break down the many other mythologies we've built up around Gates.

But it also shows how woefully unprepared the 4th estate is to confront the cult of personality in the form of billionaire philanthropy going forward.

We're always looking for heroes. And on some fundamental level we worship wealth. That means billionaires with big ideas will continue to be big attraction for journalists and readers.

Understanding the Gates Foundation---and the threat that billionaire philanthropy presents---requires looking beyond the divorce news cycle. The Gates and the Gates Foundation have gotten a free pass for far too long. There are a lot of tough questions we haven't been asking

Here's my own investigative reporting on the Gates Foundation over the last year: about.me/tim_schwab/get…