PATEL: The Biden Justice Department Tried To Stop Us From Getting Records On Government Censorship Efforts
- June 10, 2023
Earlier this week, The Washington Post let the American people know whose side they’re on when it comes to free speech versus government-backed censorship; they’re on the side of the censors.
To summarize, the Post’s lengthy piece frames efforts by Republican lawmakers, conservatives and media organizations, like the Daily Caller News Foundation, to hold a well-heeled and growing industry dedicated to fighting so-called mis- and disinformation accountable as “harassment.” We’re not making this up.
Of course, after everything we’ve learned from the Twitter Files and other investigative reporting into how these groups actually operate, it’s clear that fighting disinformation is almost always a euphemism for censoring facts and opinions they don’t like, especially from conservatives.
Right after WaPo dropped its “censors are the real victims” piece, journalist Lee Fang published an email showing the Biden DOJ intervening to impede DCNF records requests regarding a little-known Department of Homeland Security panel advising the agency on combating mis- and disinformation.
A key member of this panel was Kate Starbird of the University of Washington, who founded the Center for an Informed Public. Not only does she sit on this committee, but she’s also raking in government research grants. Starbird actually featured prominently in WaPo’s piece defending the pro-censorship industry, but the paper conveniently left out Starbird’s role in advising DHS’s secretive little committee. I wonder why?
Someone has to. As WaPo’s puff piece made clear, the corporate and legacy media aren’t interested in holding the Censorship Industrial Complex accountable. In fact, major media outlets are often this insidious industry’s biggest enablers.