GOP Proposal to Punish Fact Checkers.
Posted: Tue May 25, 2021 3:22 am
Republican Proposes Legislation To Punish Fact Checkers After He's Caught Lying
More evidence that to conservatives the 1st Amendment means the right to lie with complete impunity, and without being fact checked.
More evidence that to conservatives the 1st Amendment means the right to lie with complete impunity, and without being fact checked.
Republicans in Michigan have proposed legislation that would force fact checkers at media organizations to register with the state and to pay hefty fines if the lawmakers "deem" the outlet to be incorrect. This came about after a Republican lawmaker, Matt Maddock, was repeatedly called out by fact checkers for lying to the public. Farron Cousins explains what's happening.
What it amounts to is that these Republicans want to be able to fine journalists for exposing lies that politicians don't want to be exposed. I think Farron Cousins is probably correct in saying that if this passes in Michigan (which hopefully it won't) this will become a blueprint that will be followed by other red states, who will do the same thing, until fact checking in the United States becomes illegal - at least in the red states.Republicans in the state of Michigan recently introduced legislation to hold those pesky little fact-checkers accountable for calling out politicians who lie. See, before I get to what this legislation does. I got to take you back in time a little bit, because this legislation was actually sponsored by a Michigan state lawmaker Republican by the name of Matt Maddick and Mr. Maddock. And both in his wife had both been called out by fact checkers on social media for repeatedly lying. And it got to the point where MADEC and his wife were being called out so frequently by the fact checkers on social media, that MADEC decided to sit down, carve out this new legislation, get all of his Republican buddies in Michigan to support it. And what this legislation would do is it would force fact checkers to ensure themselves at least a million dollars. So they'd have to buy special fact-checker insurance. They would also have to register with the state.