Vastly different views on censorship, and what the media should expect from the government, were on display Tuesday during a Senate hearing on the U.S. censorship-industrial complex, hosted by the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution.
Panelist Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief at The Federalist, testified that state and federal governments pay universities and nonprofits to “conduct research on so-called ‘disinformation’ for use by the censorship complex.” Using this information, the government pressures Big Tech companies to “censor American speech and debate.” The Federalist has written extensively about censorship and experienced it under former President Joe Biden, Hemingway said.
Mary Anne Franks, a law professor at George Washington University Law School, called the censorship-industrial complex a ludicrous “myth” that “has been used to vilify and harass experts, students, researchers and nonprofits working on online misinformation.” She also said it is President Donald Trump who engages in censoring the media.
That triggered Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. to come up with the example of Trump banning the Associated Press (AP) from White House briefings because the AP refused to call the newly renamed Gulf of America by its name. Durbin asked the next panelist, Gabe Rottman, a senior attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Washington, D.C., if keeping AP out of the press room was censorship.
“Yes sir, it is ‘explicit viewpoint discrimination.’ That underpins retaliatory actions by the White House and that makes it a First Amendment violation,” Rottman testified.
The ridiculous claim that the AP, with its history of twisting news to the left, was victimized by censorship, was mentioned several times.
But after AP initially said it would not comply with the name change, why should it have a seat in the press room? AP suffered cause and effect, not censorship.
Many other reporters were allowed in the room. Administration information was available to AP. Not censorship. AP reporters could watch the press briefings online or on television like every news agency outside of the Beltway. Definitely not censorship.
AP just wanted the clout of being in one of the nation’s most watched rooms, where the first copy of history is written. But no one is owed a seat for the plum assignments. Least of all, those who pledge to report it wrong. Based on physics alone, every reporter is not going to get a ride on Air Force One. That does not make is censorship.
As usual, the left is outraged at the wrong thing.
Where were the complaints when Biden refused so many times to take questions, let alone answer questions? Why didn’t the press or concerned senators complain when Biden was given prepared questions in advance and the names of reporters to call on? A staged event like that is a form of censorship designed to control the message. How many times did former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki promise to “circle back” to the media with answers that never came?
Shouldn’t the press instead be outraged that Biden and other government officials pressured social media companies to manage the content of their users, banning posts to dimmish Republicans and promoting other posts to make Democrats appear popular. Steering the national conversation by managing personal conversations is actual censorship.
Surely you know someone who was put in “Facebook jail.” That was censorship, brought to you by Biden’s administration. The propaganda press did not spend much time covering this corruption. Its lack of coverage is another form of censorship.
Everyone who enjoys the freedom of genuine communication should want to permanently stamp out that kind of control over our lives. Working together, Tuesday’s hearing was an opportunity to have a robust conversation about censorship. Instead, Durbin, Franks, and Rottman did their best to continually hijack the hearing and make it about Trump. Yes, they censored the hearing with conversation diversion — a censorship strategy brought to you by those who didn’t care when Biden censored you because they don’t want to work with Republicans. They still want to manage the message.
Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.
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