The ABC, CBS and NBC news shows completely ignored a new House bill amendment that would block the Department of Defense from pouring money into censorship obcessed anti-free speech organizations.
An amendment to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act for or H.R.2670 would cut down wasteful partisan spending on biased thought policing organizations like bogus news rating organization NewsGuard and the biased news blacklister The Global Disinformation Index. The amended legislation, which passed the House Armed Services Committee on June 22, bars the “availability of funds relating to censorship or blacklisting of news sources based on subjective criteria or political biases.”
But this apparently wasn’t news at all for ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News, which treated the groundbreaking amendment like it didn’t exist during their June 22, June 23, June 26 and June 27 evening broadcasts.
Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA), who introduced the pro-free speech amendment, noted in a tweet that the amendment “prohibits the Department of Defense from contracting with any one of a number of ‘misinformation’ or ‘disinformation’ monitors that rate news and information sources.” He added that “while these media monitors claim to be nonpartisan, the reality is they are not.”
Proud to pass my amendment that prohibits the Department of Defense from contracting with any one of a number of “misinformation” or “disinformation” monitors that rate news and information sources. While these media monitors claim to be nonpartisan, the reality is they are not. https://t.co/HSkaNPSSFy
— Congressman Rich McCormick, MBA MD (@RepMcCormick) June 21, 2023
McCormick is absolutely correct. His amendment to H.R.2670 specifically calls out leftist-biased NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index. Each was discovered earlier this year to be working with the government to stomp on freedom of speech.
MRC Free Speech America has repeatedly found NewsGuard’s leftist bias to be undeniable. MRC researchers found that the group gave an average rating of 66/100 to “right” and “lean right” news outlets identified by the non-partisan group AllSides. That average did not change over the course of a year, whereas “left” and “lean left” news outlets identified by AllSides only slightly decreased from 93/100 to 91/100.
But there’s more. Demonstrably showing the rating firm's leftist bias, USA Today continues to receive a perfect 100/100 credibility rating despite having admittedly fabricated 23 stories.
In March, MRC Free Speech America reported that NewsGuard, which lists the Department of Defense (DoD) and the State Department as “partners” on its website, received a payout of nearly $750,000 from the DoD. However, the group reportedly denied being “funded by government grants” in an email sent to Washington Examiner Investigative Reporter Gabe Kaminsky. If H. R. 2670 passes, NewsGuard could no longer receive DoD funding.
The Global Disinformation Index could be put in a similar position. In February, a bombshell Washington Examiner report uncovered that the then-U.K.-based GDI created secretive blacklists of “conservative” media to target their ad revenue.
It is unclear whether the DoD ever funded the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), although a State Department-backed group previously did. However, if the new National Defense Authorization Act passes the DoD couldn’t fund GDI either.
The bill leaves almost no room for workarounds or creative interpretations. It explicitly notes that “[a]ny other entity” not listed in the bill still could not receive DoD funding if that entity works to “advise the censorship or blacklisting of news sources based on subjective criteria or political biases, under the stated function of ‘fact checking’ or otherwise removing ‘misinformation.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact ABC News (818) 460-7477, CBS News (212) 975-3247 and NBC News (212) 664-6192 and demand they cover the House amendment to end state-sponsored censorship.
