In a new report, the Washington Times details NewsGuard’s close funding ties with Big Pharma as the media monitoring organisation has sought to close down criticism of vaccines and Covid policies. Newsmax has more.
“I think it’s a really sinister organisation, and it’s the enemy of good journalism everywhere,” the Daily Sceptic Editor-in-Chief Toby Young told the Washington Times.
Young’s publication was targeted by NewsGuard as it covered the COVID-19 pandemic, including publishing criticisms over lockdowns, mandates and experimental vaccines.
But now Young is decrying the $6 million founding funds provided to NewsGuard in part by Publicis Groupe, which represents leading pharmaceutical and healthcare companies including Pfizer, according to the Times.
NewsGuard was founded in 2018 by Steven Brill, a well-known Democrat activist and donor.
Media Research Centre analysis has shown NewsGuard consistently gives conservative media low rankings while bestowing high rankings to liberal media.
The group’s rankings are, in turn, used by major ad agencies to block conservative media from airing advertisements and denying them revenue.
Billionaire and X owner Elon Musk expressed this support for Newsmax coverage of NewsGuard’s bias in October, agreeing it is “not cool” for it to push a “political agenda” with its ratings.
“Yeah, it’s not cool. Pushing a political agenda in the name of ‘guarding’ the public,” Musk posted on X after he called NewsGuard a “scam” and said it should be “disbanded immediately.
Yeah, it’s not cool. Pushing a political agenda in the name of “guarding” the public.
When Publicis helped launch NewsGuard, Chair Maurice Levy hailed the idea.
“NewsGuard will be able to publish and license ‘white lists’ of news sites our clients can use to support legitimate publishers while still protecting their brand reputations,” Levy said then.
Now legitimate criticism of health mandates is being squelched with the help of NewsGuard.
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