News & Opinion

A recent poll revealed that Americans have lost faith in news outlets’ ability to report the news without trying to mislead or persuade the public. Fifty percent said they disagreed with the statement that news outlets do not intend to mislead, while 52 percent disagreed with the statement that news outlets “care about the best interests of their readers, viewers and listeners.” (The Associated Press, February 15, 2023, by David Bauder) For related FAC coverage,

Families of victims of terrorist attacks in Paris and Istanbul are suing Google, Twitter, and Facebook for providing a platform for terrorists to post recruitment videos and other information; those postings were not taken down immediately. A federal law allows lawsuits against anyone aiding or abetting international terrorism. (Vox, February 16, 2023, by Ian Milhiser) In taking up Gonzalez v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh this month, the Supreme Court could make changes in Section

The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed CEO’s of Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), and Meta (Facebook) to find out how they worked with the Biden administration to allegedly stifle conservative voices. (USA TODAY, February 15, 2023, by Bart Jansen). Social media companies have been hammered by both Republicans and Democrats, with Republicans accusing the companies of liberal bias and Democrats pushing for greater effort to take down hateful speech and inaccurate information. (The Washington Post,

A Brookings Institute study revealed that former Trump strategist Stephen Bannon’s podcast was the foremost purveyor of lies in the conservative media world. Twenty percent of episodes included unsubstantiated or false claims. (The Hill, February 9, 2023, by Dominick Mastrangelo) In their study of Bannon’s podcast “War Room,” researchers also found that 70 percent of the podcasts included at least one false or misleading claim, and conservative podcasters were 11 times more prone than liberal