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This Week's Updates:
Leaked Daily Caller Document Reveals Donor Involvement in News Coverage
In 2020, CfA filed a complaint with the IRS alleging that the Daily Caller’s non-profit arm, the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF), was abusing its tax-exempt status to produce stories which were then re-published on the Daily Caller’s website. CfA urged the agency to investigate DCNF for acting as a subsidiary of the Daily Caller, and for supporting its political activities during Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Now, Semafor has published a leaked internal document from DCNF which revealed that the foundation’s donors were allowed to “propose topics for coverage” and fund entire reporting programs. Readers were not provided disclaimers about these sponsored stories when they were re-published by the Daily Caller or picked up by other outlets.
By pairing a non-profit with its for-profit business, the Daily Caller has been able to subsidize its operations with tax-exempt donations, some of which come in exchange for specific news coverage. While it isn’t illegal for non-profit newsrooms to report on topics in exchange for donations, the Daily Caller’s relationship with DCNF warrants further scrutiny in light of this story.
CfA’s Tech Transparency Project Gets a New Website
Since 2016, CfA’s Tech Transparency Project (TTP) has worked to investigate the influence of Big Tech and publish reports on the harm being done by major platforms. This research is now hosted on a new website, which allows researchers and journalists to browse TTP’s work on specific companies, including Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon.
Texas Border Militia Bill and the New Supreme Court
A Texas bill that would allow the state to create civilian “Border Protection Units” has been criticized by Human Rights Watch as “dangerous and extreme” for creating a vigilante system that endangers migrants. Legal experts have pointed out that a similar law from Arizona was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2012, but the present Court’s conservative supermajority could improve the bill’s chances of survival. Like the Arizona law, Texas’s H.B. 20 attempts to circumvent the federal government’s authority over immigration and foreign relations, though it differs by relying on volunteers instead of local law enforcement. The bill’s proponents clearly expect a legal fight – Texas House Speaker Dade Philan said that he hoped it would “make national headlines” and “take the battle all the way to the Supreme Court.” Read more about CfA’s concerns with the proposed law.
