WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans are investigating federal funding from a UK-based organization that has falsely declared The Post and other major news outlets to be “risky” potential disseminators of false information.
Sources within the House and Senate say investigators are attempting to resolve how London’s Global Misinformation Index secured federal funding before it blacklisted 10 outlets, including The Post, that boast conservative or libertarian opinion sections in December.
“Congress can prohibit using funds to fight disinformation through censorship or suspension of accounts. It will possibly also prevent the funding of groups that create these sorts of blacklists,” said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University.
Three sources told The Post that’s what lawmakers are taking a look at. One congressional adviser said: “This could possibly be something that comes out of the investigation – [but we] you could have to know all of the facts first.”
Two other sources said lawmakers are exploring methods to achieve this treatment – noting that GDI has reportedly secured $100,000 from the State Department’s Global Engagement Center and $545,000 from the government-funded National Endowment for Democracy.
![Jonathan Turley](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/Congress_Oversight_40437jpg-423d2.jpg?w=1024)
each firms reported they do not plan to supply additional funding for the group, but past spending has caused concern on the Capitol.
GDI calls himself “the world’s first rating of media services based on the chance of spreading misinformation” and released its blacklist targeting advertisers without providing any evidence that The Post actually spreads disinformation.
“No such program or office should receive any federal funding; That is all I can let you know,” said Congressman Dan Bishop (R-NC), who serves on the select subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee on Government “Arms”.
“My office is currently taking a look at all possible ways to eliminate funds for these rogue agencies violating the rights of Americans and is working to analyze them,” Bishop said.
“U.S. taxpayer dollars should never be diverted to left-wing disinformation groups that are attempting to blacklist U.S. news outlets like The Latest York Post,” said James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight Committee. “Freedom of speech and press are core American values and should be shielded from radical progressives looking for to censor opinions and facts that don’t fit their political narrative.”
Comer, who requested more information on funding from Secretary of State Antony Blinken wa Letter of February 23he added, “The House Oversight and Accountability Committee is pressing the Biden administration for answers about this attack on the First Amendment.”
![Hunter Biden's New York Post cover.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/2022-12-03-00_52_50-Movies-TV.jpg?w=510)
“It is incredibly concerning that the US government is allegedly funding the Global Disinformation Index, which is getting used to focus on conservative media outlets,” said Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). “Recently, we have now seen the US government try to make use of the tech sector to regulate the narrative on many issues. Outlets just like the Huffington Post and BuzzFeed are amongst the most important disseminators of disinformation, but are rated as highly trustworthy in response to the index.
“No taxpayer money should ever be used to censor or suppress speech,” she added.
A minimum of one well-known promoting company, the Microsoft-owned Xandr, he said it “stopped using GDI’s services” in response to a series of Washington Examiner investigative reports, but it surely’s not clear how widely this rubric has been adopted by third parties that place ads, or by individual firms.
The demand to guard reporting from government meddling comes as President Biden prepares to announce his annual budget proposal on Thursday – with an annual funding bill as a possible vehicle for attaching amendments that prohibit similar use of taxpayer funds in the long run.
Also on Thursday, a select subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee on Government Armaments will achieve this conduct a trial evaluate the revelations within the “Twitter Files,” including the disclosure that the State Department’s Global Engagement Center also funded the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, which sent proposed blacklists to the social media giant.
The 25-page GDI report that included the proposed promoting blacklist said that 20 articles per news source had been analyzed, in addition to a review of publication policies regarding headlines, patches, and other issues. The evaluation also assessed whether stores engaged in “negative targeting”, including “using ridiculing, derogatory or hateful remarks, together with promoting unfounded doubt or distrust of a selected actor”.
The report’s distinction between “criticism” and “targeting” seemed subjective.
![Jacob Komer](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1464223893.jpg?w=1024)
“Criticism was not considered negative direction so long as the creator used sound reasoning and backed up his or her claims with articles despising or denigrating individuals resembling politicians, the president of the USA, journalists, television personalities or celebrities,” the report noted, which noted that “Big Tech” and specific firms were heavily loaded [criticized] for taking a stand on issues resembling disinformation.”
The report doesn’t provide an in-depth evaluation of specific outlets, but states that advertisers should consider “lowest risk” to work with 10 outlets, including NPR, Latest York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, BuzzFeed and Huffington Post. The Wall Street Journal, which like The Post is owned by News Corp, also got the green light.
The report’s “ten riskiest news sites” list topped The Post’s list of libertarian magazine Reason, RealClearPolitics, Federalist, Each day Wire, American Conservative magazine, and Newsmax.
“The Latest York Post has been rated as high-risk, primarily resulting from a scarcity of transparency regarding operating policies and practices,” the report said. “The location has not published any public guidelines regarding using titles in content, the categories and variety of sources on which its content is predicated, or its pre-publication fact-checking and post-publication revision processes. In consequence, even when there are relevant policies in place, they can’t be included in a site’s risk assessment.”
The Post publishes news headlines, quotes by name or transparently describes sources and publishes corrections when errors are reported, a typical practice in large news organizations.
“Moreover, content downloaded from The Post often exhibited bias, sensationalism and click-bait, which carries the chance of misleading the location’s readers,” the post continues. “Importantly, the GDI study didn’t review specific high-profile stories and didn’t try and determine whether or not they were disinformation. Quite, the chance assessment is predicated on a sturdy operating framework and blind evaluation of a sample of articles across the location.”
![Dan Bishop](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/1464258493.jpg?w=1024)
Other news polls were more favorable to The Post. For instance, a survey for blind readers by AllSides that assesses media bias, present in October that readers placed The Post closer to the political center by way of impartial coverage than the Latest York Times.
Political opposition to government funding of GDI stems from the Biden administration’s since abandoned plans to create a Disinformation Management Board, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union to say“The First Amendment prohibits the federal government from deciding for us what’s true and what’s false, on the Web or anywhere.”
UCLA law professor and free speech expert Eugene Volokh says that while it is just not unconstitutional to discover allegedly false information or fund groups that achieve this, Congress can block funding such efforts within the name of upholding free speech principles.
“It may be a very good idea for Congress to do that,” said Volokh. “On the very least, the funds aren’t well spent.”
Aaron Terr, director of public advocacy on the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which has proven to be a outstanding opponent of the ACLU in its fight for free speech, said: “Official narratives.”
“Receiving public funding for the Global Disinformation Index will not be enough to violate the First Amendment, but the federal government should avoid efforts to chop off news outlets due to the content of their reports,” said Terr. “The State Department’s involvement paints a disturbing picture of a government agency attempting to finish the First Amendment by encouraging censorship within the private sector.”
The Global Disinformation Index didn’t immediately reply to The Post’s request for comment.
A spokeswoman for the National Endowment for Democracy said it could not provide additional funding to GDI and that “we have now implemented strict policies and practices to make sure that NED and the work we fund remain internationally focused, ensuring that the Foundation doesn’t develop into involved in domestic politics.” .
The State Department said its Global Engagement Center, which funded GDI, was working with the organization on “anti-disinformation efforts in East Asia and Europe.”
“Global Disinformation Index award closed on March 15, 2022.” the department reported. “No further work is planned.”