Legal

FCC to Brief House Republicans on ‘Unprecedented’ George Soros Scheme to Control 200 Radio Stations

Federal law requires applicants with excessive foreign ownership to file a petition for declaratory ruling at the same time that they seek FCC approval for the relevant license transfers, they must then complete that process before the FCC can approve the assignment of licenses, and that process must enable Executive Branch agencies with national security and specific policy expertise to weigh in.

Carr continued, “Did they obtain approval from the FCC for their excessive foreign ownership? No, they did not. Did the Applicants afford the Executive Branch agencies with national security and relevant policy expertise an opportunity to consider their application as well as the source and amount of foreign investment? No, they did not.

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Free Speech

The Department of Defense has allocated millions of dollars to create phony social media profiles the government could turn against Americans.

While this may appear benign, it is a shocking admission — the government sponsored a massive network of fake social media accounts that it could manipulate, capable of capturing users’ data.

“This DARPA contract involved the development and deployment of technology to create and manage fake social media accounts at scale,” The Federalist’s CEO Sean Davis posted on X. “This is far more insidious than a simple government payment to a news agency.”

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Censorship

USAID Funded Massive ‘News’ Platform, Extending ‘Censorship Industrial Complex’ To Billions Worldwide

USAID has pushed nearly half a billion dollars ($472.6m) through a secretive US government financed NGO, “Internews Network” (IN), which has “worked with” 4,291 media outlets, producing in one year 4,799 hours of broadcasts reaching up to 778 million people and “training” over 9000 journalists (2023 figures). IN has also supported social media censorship initiatives.

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Media

New FCC Chair Turns the Spotlight on Publicly Funded NPR, PBS

NPR and PBS, both of which receive federal funding, “could be violating federal law by airing commercials,” FCC chairman Brendan Carr wrote in a Wednesday letter to NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger. “In particular, it is possible that NPR and PBS member stations are broadcasting underwriting announcements that cross the line into prohibited commercial advertisements.”

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Media

Final Nail in Legacy Media Coffin? WH Opens Press Corps to Alternative Media, Social Media Influencers, and Podcasters

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the White House Press Corps is now open to voices and influencers who aren’t part of the legacy media cartel — further legitimizing popular podcasters, alternative media outlets, and social media influencers who dominated the narrative of the 2024 presidential election. The White House’s move puts them on par with, if not above, the legacy media.

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Free Speech

Can Brent Bozell and Kari Lake ‘Make Media Great Again’ at Broadcast Agencies?

Days into his second term, Trump already appears intent on moving quickly to refocus USAGM on its mission of promoting freedom and democracy around the world. On Tuesday, he tapped L. Brent Bozell III, founder and president of the Media Research Center, to be the agency’s new CEO. In December, Trump announced Kari Lake, a former TV news anchor from Arizona, as his nominee to lead Voice of America, one of the entities USAGM oversees.

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