John,
A new NPR report details why countering false election claims may be even harder in 2024:
Why? Republicans are waging a coordinated legal and political campaign to create the false idea that efforts to stop election lies and conspiracy theories are “censorship.”
As a result, many of the post-2020 efforts to combat election misinformation have been scaled back or dismantled entirely.
According to NPR, one election official described the chilling effect of Republican efforts, saying: “Everyone is gun shy.”
By actively undermining efforts to stop election lies, Republicans are rigging the game so people like Donald Trump can continue to spread election lies unchecked.
We’ve already seen what happens when election lies go unchecked. After the 2020 election, Donald Trump used right-wing media like Fox News and One America News Network to spread ‘the Big Lie.’
Two months later, rioters stormed the Capitol, many sincerely believing Trump’s baseless lie that Democrats had stolen the election.
Nearly three years later, our democracy is still reeling. A recent CNN poll found that an overwhelming majority of Republican and Republican-leaning voters (nearly 70%) still believe that the election was stolen.
We founded Courier Newsroom as a direct response to this toxic dynamic.
The coming election will be a true test of our democracy’s strength. At Courier, we’re dedicated to providing fact-based journalism to communities where election lies spread. But we can only continue to do this with your support, John,.
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