After many demonstrations of political bias, NewsGuard is now finding itself as a target by free speech groups looking to strip it of its federal funding. 

NewsGuard, an organization that touts itself as an unbiased news rating group has demonstrated itself to be very biased to the left on more than one occasion, often giving conservative sites far lower trust ratings than leftist sites, even going so far as to complicate a site's relationship with advertisers. As the Media Research Center (MRC) found, the group had connections to Microsoft and the American Federation of Teachers. 

Now, a group called the Free Speech Alliance (FSA), which consists of 36 groups, is going on the offensive against NewsGuard, and attempting to sway Congress into revoking the federal funding it receives. 

Among the 36 groups are MRC, the Young American's Foundation, One America News Network, Act for America, Heartland Institute, Center for Military Readiness, Liberty Counsel, Martin Capitol, Inc., and the Concerned Women for America. 

The letter urges Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to cease any contracts with NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index, both of which are accused of attempting to censor conservative media. 

The FSA lists some data: 

For example, the Media Research Center found that NewsGuard repeatedly scored liberal sites in the 90+ range while giving an absurd average rating of 66 to conservative sites. GDI is no better, with a history of blacklisting conservative outlets like the New York Post, The Daily Wire, Real Clear Politics, and The Federalist.

Despite NewsGuard's obvious bias the government continues to fund its efforts, bankrolling a payout of $750,000 from the Department of Defense. Similarly, GDI received significant State Department funding, at least until its unconstitutional actions were exposed by the Washington Examiner.

In order to accomplish this goal, the FSA urges Republican leadership to keep Georgia Rep. Richard McCormick's free speech amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which would stop the Department of Defense from working with and funding leftist tech groups such as NewsGuard. 

Pulling funding from these kinds of groups would go a long way in stopping the censorship and attacks against conservative media, or any media that inconveniences leftist agendas, politicians, or activist groups. 

As mentioned earlier, outlets such as the New York Post have even come under attack by NewsGuard for reporting stories that inconvenience the left. Commentator Tim Pool himself was branded as having "irresponsible reporting" by NewsGuard when discussing the Hunter Biden emails, something that Pool embarrassed NewsGuard over by exposing that the information he got on the emails came from a NewsGuard-approved website. 

As Pool told Dan Bongino during an interview about the incident on Fox News, NewsGuard "Is not a legitimate agency." 

.@Timcast says the self-appointed arbiters of online credibility NewsGuard are a "joke" and "not a legitimate agency." pic.twitter.com/urVVw4NFSq

— MRCTV (@mrctv) August 18, 2022

Republican leadership should follow the urging of the FSA, not just because it unfairly targets conservatives while giving leftist outlets a pass, but because it's irresponsible to give tax dollars to groups that attempt to hamper the free speech of people or groups based on their politics.