MRC Free Speech America update summary: Since President Donald Trump's day one executive order curbing censorship policies at the federal level, the Pentagon, the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation have begun canceling grants and projects involving so-called mis- and disinformation research aimed at censoring constitutionally protected speech.
The following article is a supplement to the MRC Report: The Biden Administration Waged War on Free Speech with 57 Censorship Initiatives.
Initiative #14 The Poynter Wannabes
Type of Censorship: Grant
Agencies Involved:
- Department of State
- United States Embassy to Belgium
- United States Embassy in Brussels
- United States Embassy to Guinea
- United States Embassy in Conakry
- United States Embassy to North Macedonia
- United States Embassy in Skopje
- United States Embassy to Sri Lanka
- United States Embassy in Colombo
- United States Embassy to the Czech Republic
- United States Embassy in Prague
- United States Embassy to Belgium
- National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Office of Budget, Finance & Award Management (BFA)
- Division of Acquisition & Cooperative Support (DACS)
- Office of Budget, Finance & Award Management (BFA)
Summary:
The partnership with The Poynter Institute was not the extent of the Biden administration’s financial entanglement with censorship outfitters masquerading as “fact checkers.” Through the State Department and the National Science Foundation (NSF), the administration funneled millions more to a motley assortment of Poynter wannabes that also worked to silence Biden’s critics.
An extensive documentation of the particular censorship operations was detailed in an MRC report on five of these Biden censorship outfits. Those entities were:
- Friends of Europe, which was funded by the U.S. Embassy to Belgium;
- The International Center for Journalists, which was funded by the U.S. Embassies to Guinea, North Macedonia and Sri Lanka;
- Meedan, which was funded by the NSF;
- The Metamorphosis Foundation, which was funded by the U.S. Embassy to North Macedonia; and
- Nelez, which was funded by the U.S. Embassy to the Czech Republic.
Key Individuals:
- Michael Adler, United States Ambassador to Belgium
- Angela Aggeler, United States Ambassador to North Macedonia
- Jennifer Bachus, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Cyberspace & Digital Policy
- Kate Marie Byrnes, United States Ambassador to North Macedonia
- Julie Chung, United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka & the Maldives
- Troy Fitrell, United States Ambassador to Guinea
- Sethuraman Panchanathan, NSF Director
- Alaina Teplitz, Assistant Secretary of State for Administration
