The Dispatch Compromises Free Speech

One of Big Tech’s primary means of speech control is the “fact-checker,” which in practice serves only as an opinion monitor. Even the concept of a “fact-checker” is dubious on its face. It presumes as not only plausible but common that which our nation’s Founders recognized as impossible — a wholly unbiased arbiter of truth. Wisely, our Founders recognized the folly of those who would in the name of “truth” seek to control and limit unwanted speech, hence the existence of the First Amendment and its protection of our God-given right to freedom of speech.

One of the latest incidents comes from Facebook, which censored an ad from the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List this past Friday over the claim that the ad had been fact-checked as false by “independent fact-checkers.” The trouble is that the ad, which claimed that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris support abortion “up to the moment of birth” as well as support taxpayer funding of abortion, was in fact true.

More troubling still was who the “independent fact-checker” was that erroneously labeled the ad “partly false,” giving Facebook the cover for censorship. The culprit was the relatively new media outlet The Dispatch. Created just last year by long-time Beltway political pundits Jonah Goldberg and Steve Hayes, the media site is little other than a bastion for Beltway establishment never-Trumpers to ply their trade under the “conservative” banner. The question is, no matter how anti-Trump one may be, if “principled conservative” is what one claims, how can one make a mistake of this magnitude on such a foundational conservative policy position like being pro-life?

After three days of blowback, Hayes finally ran damage control by admitting the fact-check was “not justified,” dubiously blaming it on a publishing and editing error.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/74234-the-dispatch-compromises-free-speech-2020-10-19

Think Tank: Censor Conservative Media

Mainstream media outlets loathe the fact that the majority of Americans no longer trust them as sources of unbiased and nonpartisan news. This resulting distrust in the MSM has pushed many Americans to find their news from alternative sources online and across social media — something we in our humble shop have provided, by the way, since 1996.

Well, that’s not acceptable, say the gatekeepers of information. The German Marshall Fund (GMF), a think tank founded in Washington, DC, in 1948 with the objective of helping European nations combat the disinformation efforts of communists, has released a report ironically promoting the suppression of information. This is, of course, the same strategy communist nations used to squelch inconvenient ideas in their own populations.

As The Wall Street Journal editorial board observes, “Naturally, the report has a solution: Stop Facebook users from seeing content that rudely challenges elite views. The authors conclude that ‘de-amplifying — or adding friction to — the content from a handful of the most dangerous sites could dramatically decrease disinformation online.’ Presumably Facebook can swap in unimpeachable sources like CNN.”

The MSM, which has increasing become little other than the propaganda wing of the Democrat Party, loudly laments the fact that social media has allowed for the growth of alternate, often conservative, media outlets. Thus, the call for statist control of the news media and suppression of conservative voices.

The fault for the American people’s loss of trust in the MSM has everything to do with the fact that the MSM has become filled with activist “journalists.” These operatives see the promotion of a leftist agenda rather than the objective sharing of the news as their primary purpose. They see their jobs as working to change the world rather than communicating facts without regard to who they may hinder or help. That dereliction of duty created a vacuum conservative news organizations sought to fill, and now the Left’s response is to silence us rather than compete in the realm of reporting and ideas.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/74212-think-tank-censor-conservative-media-2020-10-19

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My other blogs. Main ones below:

http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://awesternheart.blogspot.com.au/ (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)

https://heofen.blogspot.com/ (MY OTHER BLOGS)

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