Alternative Media’s Free Speech Rights
The National Press Club hosted a press conference in Washington, D.C. on April 10, 2018 that revealed important news about the strategic attack on free speech and First Amendment rights directed at alternative media. It’s unlikely many are aware of this important information since the corporate media didn’t show up. Infowars founder and broadcaster Alex Jones focused on what he said were hundreds of frivolous defamation lawsuits intended to drive him and others in the independent press out of business and current censorship tactics being used against the alternative media on social media platforms.
Other speakers were Contributing Editor Roger Stone, Washington Bureau Chief Dr. Jerome Corsi, News Director Rob Dew, and reporters Leeann McAdoo and Millie Weaver, all of Infowars; Jack Posobiec of One America News Network; Gateway Pundit reporter Lucian Wintrich; and Lee Stranahan of Sputnik News.
Attendees were alternative media representatives, some of whom said they are being sued, including Trump Talk US, Crowdsource the Truth, Moms4Trump, Populist Wire, Think Progress, Right Wing Watch, a reporter from George Washington University, the Justice Integrity Project, the Daily Informer, and Cliff Kincaid of America’s Survival TV.
During a later Q & A, LewRockwell.com asked several speakers why President Trump doesn’t give his exclusive interviews and scoops to the alternative, independent press instead of corporate media like CNN which he has labelled fake news. Stone answered, “President Trump virtually never gives interviews to alternative media largely because there is no one working for him in the White House or in his press operation who understands the vital role that alternative media played in his election. Sadly, the president himself placates the mainstream media while ignoring substantial media outlets like Infowars and Breitbart which played a substantial role in his election. Now the question is whether the president will stand by and watch these media outlets be shut down through censorship giving control of our political discourse back to the mainstream media which is so vehemently opposed to his presidency.” Jones and Corsi both said Trump should give alternative media exclusives, with Corsi adding we all just need to be patient, that he will someday, Trump just needs time. Posobiec said Trump is 71 years old and grew up with newspapers like the New York Post and the New York Times giving him a lot of publicity and that he is still impressed by these traditional media outlets.
Jones’ attorney Andrew Grossman announced he filed an anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) motion and a motion to dismiss against a defamation lawsuit filed by Foreign Service Officer Brennan Gilmore and the Civil Rights Clinic at Georgetown University Law Center. The suit says Gilmore failed to explain how statements made by Jones were defamatory. SLAPPs are illegal in many states because such lawsuits impede free speech by burdening defendants with legal fees. Jones said Gilmore admitted he was paid by George Soros.
Prominent social media platforms including YouTube, Google and Facebook are “censoring, controlling the search results,” said Jones. Videos challenging the official version of events, for instance, interviews with Parkland school shooting witnesses claiming they saw more than one shooter, have been taken down on YouTube. “Our basic civil rights are under attack. A higher curtain of free speech is here and it’s getting more intense every day. The answer is citizen journalists.” He noted Matt Drudge was the first to expose the planned purge of libertarian, classical liberal and conservative press several years ago.
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