OPINION:
The taxpayer-funded National Endowment for Democracy was right to stop funding the Global Disinformation Index, which created a blacklist of conservative and non-liberal news outlets for advertising agencies to avoid (“State Dept.-backed group drops ‘disinformation’ index targeting conservative outlets,” web, Feb. 21).
GDI smears truthful critics of the Biden administration, accusing them of disinformation without citing any factual errors. It praises error-filled left-wing publications such as the Huffington Post, which peddles Biden-administration talking points, gets sued for libel and has published writings by GDI’s founder.
GDI rated 10 news outlets as the “riskiest” for disinformation — without identifying a single “false” statement. According to GDI, a bad rating does not require a false claim, because that, GDI claims, is “extremely difficult to assess at scale.”
Reason, a libertarian magazine, is factually accurate, wins journalism awards and was given the highest rating by “a service that rates adherence to basic principles of good journalism.” Yet GDI falsely claims Reason is one of the “Ten Riskiest Online News Outlets.”
HANS BADER
Arlington, Virginia
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