Some (if not most) US “newspapers of record” seem willing to trade in constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression for the success of a political option they “endorse.”
Worse still, this could be “old news.”
But that is one way to sum up what is currently going on at the Washington Post, who just came out with an astounding piece in defense of the Global Engagement Center (GEC) – a state State Department bureau mired in controversy.
Specifically, controversy pertaining to the way the White House “coordinates” with major social media platforms – and critics say, that takes the form of coercion and, ultimately, collusion between government and private tech companies.
Not only is GEC criticized for flagging posts on social media, but has also been sued for pushing censorship technology in violation of the First Amendment.
None of that appears to matter to the Washington Post editorial board, who refer to the lawsuit brought by two news outlets, the Federalist and the Daily Wire as – “misguided – and is now worried GEC might now get “defunded.”
Instead of talking about how America’s own government might be carrying out the ultimate “information meddling” – namely, censorship, against its own citizens to boot – the Washington Posts wants to focus on “disinformation” coming from abroad.
And there, according to the article, GEC is simply indispensable.
In early 2023, reports citing the Twitter Files revealed how GEC put pressure on the platform to censor information related to the Covid origin (blaming Russia for “taking advantage” of “disinformation” related to this issue – which would then turn out to be accepted theory, rather than a “conspiracy” one.)
But the reason GEC has come under scrutiny are not its efforts to prevent China or Russia from carrying out their fully expected propaganda campaigns. It’s what the bureau’s accused of having done at home.
Nevertheless, the Washington Post would now like to blame Republicans and other GEC critics for this government body allowing itself to steer off course and into unconstitutional activity territory.
So, according to the paper, GEC is “resisting information warfare (from Russia and China”).
And it claims that, “unfortunately, House Republicans are threatening to eliminate a key US agency that does so.”
