Tbf, the NED does fund a lot of ostensibly 'left' publications. I was looking into an anti-imperialist third world paper after coming across an interview with someone who seemed quite radical. Only my instinct that 9/10 'left'/'critical' publications will be funded by the CIA led me to even check the affiliates and funders, where my suspicions were confirmed. You can see how an ordinary person would categorise some outlets as 'left' (not RFA, though, lol). That doesn't excuse an outlet that proffeses special knowledge about media literacy.