This is the Daily Media Update published by the Institute for Free Speech. For press inquiries, please contact [email protected].  

PBS "VPM News Focal Point": Nina Jankowicz & Gary Lawkowski

.....Watch Nina Jankowicz and Gary Lawkowski talk about issues surrounding government’s role in combating disinformation and whether that impacts freedom of expression rights.

[Ed. note: Interview with IFS Senior Fellow Gary Lawkowski begins around the 8min40 sec mark in the linked video.]

ABA Journal: 6th Circuit blocks ethics probe of judicial candidates who touted GOP links, anti-abortion endorsements

.....A federal appeals court has blocked the Kentucky Judicial Conduct Commission from investigating two judicial candidates accused by citizens of touting their Republican background and their endorsements from anti-abortion groups.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Cincinnati granted an injunction pending appeal Oct. 28 in a lawsuit by Kentucky judicial candidates Joseph Fischer and Robert A. Winter Jr. Fischer is running for the state supreme court, and Winter is running for the state court of appeals.

The Gazette: A software glitch? A fake candidate? Judge weighs unusual facts of campaign finance lawsuit

.....A federal judge is considering whether to block Colorado's constitutionally-embedded campaign spending limits from being enforced against a single Republican candidate, little over one week before the 2022 election.

New York Post: Feds keep Facebook censorship portal despite DHS Disinformation Board demise

.....Government and law enforcement officials are able to request censorship of Facebook and Instagram posts using a special portal — despite the Biden administration’s failed attempt to establish a Disinformation Governance Board, according to a new report.

The previously unknown portal allows officials with .gov or law enforcement email addresses to request censorship in the name of fighting “disinformation,” The Intercept reported.

Axios: Sen. Chris Murphy calls for probe into Saudi Arabia's stake in Twitter

By Jacob Knutson

.....Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Monday called for a congressional investigation into the national security implications of a company partially owned by Saudi Arabia maintaining its stake in Twitter following Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of the platform.

NPR: Right-wing 'zombie' papers attack Illinois Democrats ahead of elections

.....Schoenburg first noticed these papers several election cycles ago, born out of the conservative Illinois Policy Institute, which crusaded against greater taxation and regulation. Since then, they have spread across the state, presenting themselves as down-home newspapers in multiple communities with names that hark back to times before people relied on social media to find out out about developments in their communities.

Washington Post: James Bennet was right

.....Controversy over an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) consumed the New York Times in June 2020 and claimed the job of then-editorial page editor James Bennet. Two-and-a-half years later, Bennet has shared some thoughts about the episode — and, in particular, the role of Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger.

Glenn Greenwald: The Consortium Imposing the Growing Censorship Regime

.....There has been some reporting — by me and others — on the new and utterly fraudulent “disinformation” industry. This newly minted, self-proclaimed expertise, grounded in little more than crude political ideology, claims the right to officially decree what is “true” and "false” for purposes of, among other things, justifying state and corporate censorship of what its “experts” decree to be "disinformation.” The industry is funded by a consortium of a small handful of neoliberal billionaires (George Soros and Pierre Omidyar) along with U.S., British and EU intelligence agencies. These government-and-billionaire-funded “anti-disinformation” groups often masquerade under benign-sounding names: The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, The Atlantic Council's Digital Forensics Research Lab, Bellingcat, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. They are designed to cast the appearance of apolitical scholarship, but their only real purpose is to provide a justifying framework to stigmatize, repress and censor any thoughts, views and ideas that dissent from neoliberal establishment orthodoxy. It exists, in order words, to make censorship and other forms of repression appear scientific rather than ideological.

Washington Post: As midterms loom, TikTok faces its next political test

By Cat Zakrzewski, Naomi Nix and Taylor Lorenz

.....Three years ago, TikTok imposed strict rules prohibiting campaign advertising as the video-sharing app tried to avoid the scandals over political content that have long dogged its social media rivals.

Forbes: Congressman Spends $540 Of Campaign Money At Insane Asylum

By Zach Everson

.....On Sept. 1, the campaign for Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.V.) spent $540 on event tickets at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. The 160-year-old former hospital for the mentally ill in Weston, West Virginia now offers historic and paranormal tours.

Los Angeles Times: Commentary: A fight for power in Sacramento tests boundaries of campaign finance law

.....Rendon’s supporters see the PAC as evidence that Rivas is trying to buy votes. They point to the fact that the new PAC is spending most of its money to help candidates in seats Democrats are sure to win, and much less to support Democrats in swing districts.

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