{"id":2320483,"date":"2024-08-07T11:54:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-07T15:54:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/heritage-censorship-report-shines-light-on-washington-examiner-investigation-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-08-07T11:59:30","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T15:59:30","slug":"heritage-censorship-report-shines-light-on-washington-examiner-investigation-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/heritage-censorship-report-shines-light-on-washington-examiner-investigation-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Heritage \u2018censorship\u2019 report shines light on Washington Examiner investigation &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fheritage-censorship-report-shines-light-on-washington-examiner-investigation-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2320483&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The \u2063article discusses a report from the conservative Heritage Foundation that highlights a Washington Examiner investigation into \u2063claims of censorship by government entities targeting conservative media. The report \u2063focuses on the National Endowment for\u2062 Democracy (NED), a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-biden-allies-worked-for-group-with-close-ties-to-chinese-communist-party\/\" title=\"Top Biden Allies Worked for Group With Close Ties to Chinese Communist Party\">nonprofit funded<\/a> \u200bby the State \u2062Department, which is accused of needing oversight due to its predominantly Democratic staff. \u2063The Washington Examiner previously reported that the NED and the State Department&#8217;s Global Engagement Center\u2064 financed the Global \u2064Disinformation Index (GDI), a\u200d British\u2063 organization that\u2064 allegedly\u200d blacklists right<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-york-times-wildly-distorts-state-bills-banning-critical-race-theory-claims-republicans-want-to-stop-teaching-slavery-and-racism\/\" title=\"New York Times Wildly Distorts State Bills Banning Critical Race Theory, Claims Republicans Want To Stop Teaching Slavery And Racism\">-leaning media outlets<\/a>, \u200dcategorizing\u200b them as \u2064&#8221;high risk&#8221; to \u2063advertisers and thus financially crippling them.<\/p>\n<p>The report cites \u200dthat \u200dbetween 2020 and 2021, the NED provided grants totaling $545,750 to GDI. This led to a lawsuit from \u200d<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/is-anyone-more-annoying-or-treacherous-than-barack-obama\/\" title=\"Is Anyone More Annoying or Treacherous than Barack Obama?\">conservative media outlets<\/a> such as the Federalist and \u2062Daily Wire against the \u200cBiden administration, claiming that the funding scheme constitutes one of the\u200b most severe government operations to\u2063 censor the\u200b American press. \u2064Amidst these \u2063controversies, Congress has banned certain Pentagon\u200b funds from being allocated\u200b to GDI, and Microsoft has ceased political \u2062advertising after\u2062 revelations about using GDI&#8217;s blacklist.<\/p>\n<p>The NED reportedly \u2062gave over $315,000 to GDI in 2022 and has since committed to\u2062 discontinuing funding for the organization. the document brings attention to\u2063 the implications of \u200dgovernment \u200dfunding on \u2062media fairness\u200b and the perceived bias against conservative outlets in the information landscape.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Heritage &lsquo;censorship&rsquo; report shines light on Washington Examiner investigation<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1724649\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>A new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/global-politics\/report\/the-undemocratic-national-endowment-democracy-needs-oversight-and-reform\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>report<\/a> released by the conservative Heritage Foundation puts a spotlight on a <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> investigative series on right-leaning media outlets appearing to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/technology\/2204408\/how-we-uncovered-a-modern-censorship-regime\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>&ldquo;censored&rdquo;<\/a> by government actors. <\/p>\n<p>The report focuses on the National Endowment for Democracy, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/finance\/2773271\/disinformation-inc-state-department-bankrolls-group-secretly-blacklisting-conservative-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>State Department-funded nonprofit<\/a> group that the author, former U.S. Agency for International Development official Tim Meisburger, argued &ldquo;needs oversight and reform&rdquo; due to it being &ldquo;staffed almost entirely by Democrats.&rdquo; The <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/finance\/2773271\/disinformation-inc-state-department-bankrolls-group-secretly-blacklisting-conservative-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>first reported in February 2023<\/a> that the NED and the State Department&rsquo;s Global Engagement Center funded the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/technology\/2801668\/disinformation-inc-meet-the-groups-hauling-in-cash-to-secretly-blacklist-conservative-news-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Global Disinformation Index<\/a>, a British group blacklisting right-of-center websites from advertising dollars.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;According to Gabe Kaminsky, an investigative reporter at the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>, the NED made grants totaling $545,750 between 2020 and 2021 to the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a British organization that compiles a list of &lsquo;risky&rsquo; online platforms that advertisers should avoid,&rdquo; Meisburger wrote in the report. &ldquo;The list ranked left-leaning sites as low risk and right-leaning outlets high risk, essentially trying to bankrupt the outlets.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>That the State Department would fund GDI prompted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2640919\/state-department-faces-lawsuit-from-conservative-media-over-funding-censorship-scheme\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>a recent lawsuit<\/a> by the <em>Federalist<\/em> and the <em>Daily Wire<\/em>, two conservative media outlets, against the Biden administration. The media outlets said the State Department&rsquo;s Global Engagement Center propped up &ldquo;one of the most egregious government operations to censor the American press in the history of the nation.&rdquo; Last year, Congress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/2439614\/inside-the-gops-tense-negotiations-with-democrats-to-ban-pentagon-funded-censorship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>approved a law banning<\/a> certain Pentagon funds from going to GDI. Microsoft exited political advertising after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/restoring-america\/news-restoring-america\/2773442\/disinformation-inc-read-one-of-the-blacklists-used-secretly-to-defund-conservative-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>the<\/a> <em>Washington Examiner<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/technology\/485948\/disinformation-inc-microsoft-suspends-relationship-with-group-blacklisting-conservative-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>revealed<\/a> that the company used GDI&rsquo;s blacklist of conservative media outlets, <em>Axios<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2023\/07\/27\/microsoft-xandr-political-ads-ban\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Global Engagement Center gave $100,000 in 2021 to GDI. In 2022, after years of prior giving, the NED awarded over $315,000 to the British blacklister, the NED confirmed to the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. It has since <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/technology\/1877093\/disinformation-inc-state-department-backed-group-cuts-ties-with-group-blacklisting-conservative-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>vowed<\/a> no longer to fund GDI.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;According to Kaminsky, in addition to developing disinformation &lsquo;tools,&rsquo; the NED made direct grants to a British group that sought to promote leftwing publishers in the United States while working to suppress conservative publishers,&rdquo; Meisburger wrote in the report. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The NED&rsquo;s interest in the control of speech both in the U.S. and abroad suggests its priority is promoting a particular political message and ideology rather than facilitating an open and democratic environment where all people can freely express their political ideas,&rdquo; Meisburger argued, highlighting the NED&rsquo;s board members, who are both Democrats and Republicans.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Heritage Foundation report said Congress should demand the NED be &ldquo;truly&rdquo; bipartisan and requested an independent audit by the Government Accountability Office to investigate &ldquo;violations of NED&rsquo;s statutory requirement to be bipartisan.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Congress should fold the NED&rsquo;s appropriation into the U.S. Department of State and USAID international affairs budget,&rdquo; Meisburger said. &ldquo;Because the NED duplicates existing government grant-making and diplomatic capacity, Congress should reconsider its annual appropriation. If appropriators wish to maintain current levels of &lsquo;democracy&rsquo; funding, these funds can be easily reprogrammed through government agencies and the NED institutes already funded for the same purposes.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1724649\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1724649\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent report from the conservative Heritage Foundation highlights an investigative series by the Washington Examiner regarding allegations of &#8220;censorship&#8221; faced by right-leaning media outlets from government entities. The report centers on the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a nonprofit organization funded by the State Department, which Tim Meisburger, a former official with USAID, claims requires oversight and reform due to its predominantly Democratic staff. The Washington Examiner initially reported in February 2023 that both NED and the State Department&#8217;s Global Engagement Center provided funding to the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a British organization that blacklists conservative websites from receiving advertising revenue. <\/p>\n<p>Meisburger noted in his report that between 2020 and 2021, NED granted $545,750 to GDI, which creates lists of online platforms deemed &#8220;risky&#8221; for advertisers\u2014ranking left-leaning sites as low risk while categorizing right-leaning outlets as high risk, effectively threatening their financial viability. This funding led to a lawsuit against the Biden administration filed by conservative media outlets Federalist and Daily Wire, who accused the Global Engagement Center of facilitating one of history&#8217;s most severe government censorship efforts against American press.<\/p>\n<p>In response to these revelations, Congress passed legislation prohibiting certain Pentagon funds from being allocated to GDI. Following this exposure by Washington Examiner reporters, Microsoft ceased political advertising after it was revealed they had utilized GDI\u2019s blacklist against conservative media. In 2021 alone, GDI received $100,000 from the Global Engagement Center; however, in 2022 NED confirmed it awarded over $315,000 before pledging not to fund GDI any further.<\/p>\n<p>Meisburger also pointed out that beyond creating disinformation tools, NED directly supported a British group aimed at promoting left-wing publishers while attempting to suppress their conservative counterparts. He argued that NED\u2019s actions indicate its focus is on advancing specific political messages rather than fostering an open environment for diverse political expression.<\/p>\n<p>The Heritage Foundation&#8217;s report calls on Congress to ensure true bipartisan representation within NED and requests an independent audit by the Government Accountability Office into potential violations of its statutory requirement for bipartisanship. Meisburger suggested integrating NED\u2019s budget into those of other U.S. agencies like State Department and USAID since it overlaps with existing governmental functions related to grant-making and diplomacy; he proposed reprogramming funds through these agencies if current levels of democracy funding are desired<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":381,"featured_media":2320484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Heritage-Foundation-Global-Disinformation-Index.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[6371,13357,3976,3819,32076],"class_list":["post-2320483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-censorship","tag-heritage","tag-investigation","tag-report","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Heritage-Foundation-Global-Disinformation-Index.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/381"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2320483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2320483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2320484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2320483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2320483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2320483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}