By Mac Slavo
In a major threat to what’s left of press freedom, establishment journalists are calling for Big Tech to censor those who won’t parrot the government-approved official narrative. Journalist Sulome Anderson has publicly called for censorship of a site because it’s an independent news source.
Anderson publicly requested that Google de-rank the independent news site The Grayzone. Anderson, who, according to her bio on her Twitter page, has published with news outlets such as The Washington Post, Newsweek, New York Magazine, and Foreign Policy, labeled a recent article by Grayzone contributor Rania Khalek as “dangerous”. For her part, Khalek called Anderson’s comments to Google a “dangerous threat to press freedom.”
Khalek’s article, which Anderson specifically took aim at, is part of a two-piece investigation into alleged U.S. and Gulf states attempts to co-opt and influence the ongoing anti-corruption protests in Lebanon, according to Sputnik News.
Khalek writes that:
By joining the roadblocks around Beirut, the protesters have inadvertently allowed themselves to be used by these US-allied parties. Whether they know it or not, the media-friendly artists and students at the ring road in downtown Beirut have given cover to the Lebanese Forces roadblocks in the north and the [Progressive Socialist Party] and Future Party roadblocks in the south.
Who decides which protests are worthy/unworthy? And why?
It’s all about location!
Protest against a government the US hates and you’ll get the hero treatment in US media.
But protest against a US ally and you’re a rioter.
Watch my handy guide: pic.twitter.com/KDaCe2rbhA
— Rania Khalek (@RaniaKhalek) November 15, 2019
Anderson lashed out against the article, calling The Grayzone a “conspiracy theorist website” worthy of Google’s power-hungry censorship:
“It’s Not a Conspiracy Theory… It Is Happening Right Now”
Can someone tell me why this piece on a conspiracy theorist website written by a woman who parachuted into Beirut to spread sectarian propaganda and now pretends to be native shows up on the first page of a @Google news search about the #LebanonProtests? https://t.co/YoQKRTUx8L
— Sulome (@SulomeAnderson) December 15, 2019
Anderson describes the piece as “dangerous” and demands to know the criteria for Google news searches so this article cannot be read.
.@searchliaison @dannysullivan what is the criteria for @googlenews searches? This is dangerous disinformation that could get protesters in Lebanon killed. There are clashes almost every day between people who propagate these theories and demonstrators rallying against corruption
— Sulome (@SulomeAnderson) December 15, 2019
When establishment journalists insist something is propaganda and must be banned and censored, you know it’s something that’s worthy of attention. The systematic death of both journalism and free speech has arrived. Anderson is demanding that Google censor Grayzone.
Painting protestors in Lebanon as supported by the U.S. government puts a target on their backs. Some have already been killed and others wounded. My family and friends are out there in the streets. This kind of disinformation by people with clear agendas is dangerous.
— Sulome (@SulomeAnderson) December 15, 2019
It has become clear that this is nothing more than a government-backed attack on independent media. The establishment will stop at nothing in the battle for control over the public through what information they are allowed to have access to.
British gov/NATO-funded information warfare group the Integrity Initiative is amplifying calls for our website to be censored and removed from Google News because activists don’t like our factual reporting.
This is a gov-backed attack on independent mediahttps://t.co/oeNmqTFw5R pic.twitter.com/KG0pXnIxdu
— The Grayzone (@TheGrayzoneNews) December 15, 2019
Khalek, who is based in the Lebanese capital Beirut, calls Anderson’s intervention a “threat to press freedom”. She says it is:
“Outrageous for a journalist to turn to big tech companies to censor other journalists simply because they don’t like the politics of an outlet or reporter…. And it is alarming that Google even bothered to respond to her complaints and smears. Censorship is never the answer. Big tech companies have way too much power as it is.”
She continues saying that “big tech” should “not be looked to as arbiters of what constitutes good versus bad reporting. Moreover, there is a broader issue of tech companies working closely with western government-funded think tanks, like the Atlantic Council, to determine what is fake news.” –Sputnik News
Khalek states that this is nothing more than government censorship through a middle man.
This is insane. @SulomeAnderson — a journalist w/ a track record that includes claiming to have discovered a Hezbollah plot to attack the US, but yet for some reason no outlet would publish it ????– is calling on Google to censor @TheGrayzoneNews https://t.co/yXabNnHRkP
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) December 15, 2019
The real question is what are these establishment journalists afraid of? That they cannot refute the facts laid out? That people may start thinking on their own? That humans will come to the conclusion that they shouldn’t be owned and controlled by the media and a handful of corrupt politicians?
This article was sourced from SHTFPlan.com
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