The move is seen as a blow to organizations that unduly put conservative media under a “blacklist.”
By Catholics for Catholics
The fight against the blacklisting of conservative media is on.
Patrick Morrisey, the Governor of West Virginia signed into law last week the First Amendment Preservation Act (SB 531), a comprehensive measure that prohibits state agencies from doing business with advertising firms that rely on media “blacklists” or ideological rating systems.
The law marks a strong escalation in a growing national push to curb federal and state agencies from working with advertising firms that use third-party organizations to engage in censorship, according to a story by Newsmax.
The First Amendment Preservation Act does not plainly name exact organizations, but it is commonly believed to be a response to left-wing entities such as NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), groups which have drawn inquiry for compiling ratings that influence where advertisers place their dollars and which publications are deemed acceptable by Big Tech firms.
“Governor Morrisey deserves tremendous credit for standing up for free speech and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are never used to enforce ideological media blacklists,” said Christine Czernejewski, spokesperson for the Independent Media Council (IMC).
The IMC represents over a dozen independent and conservative media outlets that reach more than 70 million Americans regularly.
The measure, according to Czernejewski, ensures “diverse voices should be heard and that public funds are used to ensure that all citizens are informed, not a narrow political group.”
Groups like NewsGuard and GDI function as gatekeepers in the digital and television advertising ecosystem, according to IMC and other supporters that contend that media monitoring uses highly biased criteria and decisions that overly punish conservative outlets, while permitting left-leaning or even foreign state-backed media to receive more favorable treatment.
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