Did Monty Bennett hire Dallas Justice Now to attack critics and local journalists
Executive summary
Reporting by the Texas Observer, D Magazine, the Dallas Weekly and local reporters presents a consistent picture that Monty Bennett financially backed a network of groups — including Dallas Justice Now — and used a California firm, Crowds on Demand, to stage protests and pressure critics and journalists; several sources say Bennett or his companies funded those operations, though direct public disclosure of a signed contract between Bennett and Dallas Justice Now is not included in the available reporting [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. Alternative evidence points to Bennett’s public defenses of his media outlet and political activity, but the preponderance of investigative reporting links him to the astroturf campaign that targeted local critics [6] [7].
1. The allegations: activists-for-hire, fake groups and targeted protests
Investigative pieces document that groups such as Dallas Justice Now and Keep Dallas Safe behaved like “astroturf” organizations and that Crowds on Demand, a company that hires demonstrators and actors, played a role in creating and staffing protests — including a December 17, 2021 protest outside D Magazine that protesters say was funded to hold signs accusing the publication and its editor of racism [1] [4] [5]. Reporting also notes Dallas Justice Now’s online footprint and activity beginning in late 2020, and ties between those groups and outlets that repeatedly published their claims, notably the Dallas Express [8] [6].
2. The link to Monty Bennett: funding, messages, and personnel connections
Multiple reporters cite testimony and documents indicating Bennett or companies he controls financially backed Dallas Justice Now and other groups; one source reports that an individual showed messages between Crowds on Demand associates and Bennett, and that a Crowds operative (Taylor) identified Bennett as the “main backer” of Keep Dallas Safe and a funder of Dallas Justice Now, Save Texas Kids, Mission DFW and La Oportunidad [1] [4] [8]. D Magazine and the Texas Observer add that Bennett is listed as a director of related nonprofit entities tied to the broader network and that those outlets documented a pattern of funding and personnel overlap across advocacy groups and the Dallas Express [2] [5] [6].
3. Targeting critics and journalists: documented incidents and media amplification
The December 2021 D Magazine protest is reported as an instance where hired demonstrators publicly accused staff of racism and the only news outlet that covered the stunt in depth was the Dallas Express, an online publication funded and published by Bennett, which critics say amplified the manufactured demonstration and related attacks on journalists [1] [5] [6]. Steven Monacelli’s reporting for the Texas Observer and subsequent commentary frames Dallas Justice Now as part of a disinformation campaign that included false allegations and orchestrated demonstrations used to discredit critics and shape local political narratives [3] [8].
4. Bennett’s posture and competing narratives
Bennett and his supporters have characterized his media interests as “strictly objective” and defended his actions in other controversies, such as his high-profile PPP loan coverage, arguing media accounts sometimes misstate facts [7] [6]. Some coverage notes Bennett’s attempts to present the Dallas Express as independent; however, investigators and multiple local outlets challenge that portrayal by pointing to editorial patterns, funding ties and the reuse of content favorable to Bennett’s agenda [6] [5].
5. Limitations in the public record and what remains unproven
While the investigative reporting marshals testimony, message displays and patterns of funding to assert that Bennett hired Crowds on Demand and backed Dallas Justice Now to attack critics and journalists, the publicly available documents cited in these reports do not include a widely-published, signed contract from Bennett directly commissioning Dallas Justice Now to target specific journalists; the record relies on interviews, message screenshots, nonprofit filings and patterns of activity rather than a single definitive paper trail made public in the cited stories [1] [2] [3] [5].
6. Bottom line: what the evidence supports and what it does not
Taken together, the body of local investigative reporting strongly supports the conclusion that Monty Bennett funded and helped coordinate an astroturf network tied to Dallas Justice Now and used paid demonstrators via Crowds on Demand to stage protests that targeted critics and local journalists, with his media outlet amplifying those attacks; however, reporting stops short of presenting a single publicized, airtight contractual document explicitly labeled “hire Dallas Justice Now to attack” that would remove all ambiguity from motive and transactional formality, leaving a gap between strong journalistic linkage and formal legal proof in the public record [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [8] [6].