OAN’s Taylor Tinsley
12:00 PM – Tuesday, October 24, 2023
A new lawsuit accuses NewsGuard and the U.S. government of defaming Consortium News.
Consortium for Independent Journalism filed a lawsuit in a Manhattan federal court on Monday.
The filing charges the Pentagon’s Cyber Command with contracting NewsGuard to identify and report on media organizations that dissent from U.S. official positions on foreign policy.
“The First Amendment rights of all American media are threatened by this arrangement with the Defense Department to defame and abridge the speech of U.S. media groups,” said Bruce Afran, Consortium News’s attorney.
The suit alleges that, in its contract with the Pentagon, NewsGuard is “acting in concert with the U.S. to coerce news organizations to alter viewpoints” that differ U.S. policies or that of its allies, particularly as to Russia and Ukraine.
During a press conference announcing the lawsuit on Monday, editor-in-chief Joe Lauria said “Labeling commentary as false content, disinformation, or Russian propaganda, NewsGuard and the United States seek silence or abridge debate and commentary.”
The filing that noted under the agreement between NewsGaurds “Misinformation Fingerprints” program and DOD Cyber Command, media organizations that challenge U.S. foreign and defense policy as to Russia and Ukraine are reported to the government “and labeled as anti-U.S., purveyors of Russian misinformation and propaganda, publishing false content, and failing to meet journalistic standards.”
“When media groups are condemned by the government as ‘anti-U.S.’ and are accused of publishing ‘false content’ because they disagree with U.S. policies, the result is self-censorship and a destruction of the public debate intended by the First Amendment,” Afran said.
Consortium news is seeking more than $13 million in damages for defamation and civil rights violations. The organization is also seeking a permanent injunction declaring the joint program unconstitutional.
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