South Carolina is the latest state to push back against media-rating organizations that have helped blacklist conservative news outlets.

In the 2026-27 state budget, lawmakers included a provision barring state agencies from spending taxpayer dollars with advertising companies that use media-monitoring systems to determine which news outlets receive advertising dollars.

Gov. Henry McMaster signed the budget into law Monday, bolstering a growing movement to limit the influence of ideological gatekeepers in government advertising.

Media-rating organizations such as NewsGuard, Ad Fontes Media, and the Global Disinformation Index have a record of rating conservative outlets in ways that can cause advertisers to steer clear of them.

Full disclosure: I serve as an officer of the Independent Media Council, which is leading efforts in states and at the federal level to combat media censorship and protect independent outlets from advertising blacklists.

Momentum Against Media Blacklists

South Carolina’s action follows similar efforts in Florida and West Virginia to bar state agencies from contracting with advertising firms that rely on media monitors.

“South Carolina lawmakers deserve credit for recognizing the growing threat media blacklists pose to free speech and a free press,” said Christine Czernejewski, spokeswoman for the IMC. “Taxpayer-funded advertising should not be filtered through ideological gatekeepers masquerading as neutral watchdogs. South Carolina’s action sends a clear message that government should not subsidize private censorship schemes.”

Analyses of NewsGuard’s ratings have found a strong anti-conservative bias. For example, MRC Free Speech America analyzed news organizations and found NewsGuard “overwhelmingly favored left-leaning outlets over right-leaning ones.”

MRC researchers determined that NewsGuard provided a stellar average ‘credibility’ rating of 91/100 for ‘left’ and ‘lean left’ outlets (e.g. The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, Vox). At the same time, it dinged ‘right’ and ‘lean right’ outlets like Fox News, the New York Post and The Daily Wire with an outrageously abysmal average score of 65/100.

Although conservative outlets have often been the targets of these ratings systems, the larger concern is whether a small group of media-rating organizations should wield influence over which publishers receive advertising support and which are excluded.

The implications extend beyond advertising to artificial intelligence.

Concerns Extend to AI

As AI chatbots rely on ratings and other indicators to evaluate sources, NewsGuard can influence which voices are amplified and which are marginalized in the answers you receive from ChatGPT or Claude.

In addition to those popular AI models, NewsGuard created its own proprietary AI chatbot. Unlike general-purpose AI tools that draw on information from across the web, NewsGuard AI limits itself to sources that satisfy NewsGuard’s own ratings criteria.

We’re already seeing the consequences. In June, Aaron Sibarium of the Washington Free Beacon reported on an AI “model trained on NewsGuard’s ratings would treat many American sources as less reliable than Chinese propaganda.”

NewsGuard, which warns that ‘foreign disinformation’ has ‘infected’ the responses of Western chatbots, gives the state-owned China Daily a reliability score of 44.5—more than twice the score of the conservative outlet Newsmax, which earns just 20.

Stand Against Censorship

As more states and the federal government confront media blacklists, it’s encouraging that political leaders are stepping forward to ensure taxpayer dollars support free expression rather than viewpoint discrimination.

With South Carolina’s action this week, opposition to media blacklists is quickly becoming a national movement.

For the second consecutive year, Florida enacted a similar provision in its state budget. West Virginia passed the First Amendment Preservation Act, which Gov. Patrick Morrissey signed into law in April.

At the federal level, Congress has repeatedly included language in the National Defense Authorization Act restricting federal contracts with advertising agencies that use media-monitoring systems for military recruitment campaigns.

The Federal Trade Commission is now scrutinizing the digital advertising ecosystem as well. Under the leadership of Chairman Andrew Ferguson, the FTC announced in April that it was more closely scrutinizing viewpoint-based discrimination under the guise of “brand safety” and “misinformation.”

That’s why South Carolina’s action matters. This is a fight over whether government money should help enforce media blacklists that punish disfavored viewpoints. Taxpayers should not be forced to underwrite censorship, and lawmakers across the country are beginning to recognize that fact.

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The timing of these events is remarkable. Almost so remarkable that one might think they are intentionally sequenced. It started yesterday when the very popular former Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov issued a striking warning about Ukraine’s government, corruption, and the need to develop an immediate mechanism for elections even while the war against Russia […]

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PETERSBURG, KY — A local young-earth creationist is reportedly suffering a crisis of faith after realizing he has no explanation for the fact that Nancy Pelosi is 12,000 years old.

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday afternoon that he has selected Dr. Heidi Overton to lead the Food and Drug Administration.

“Today I am honored to nominate the wonderful Dr. Heidi Overton, MD, PhD, as our next FDA Commissioner,” Trump wrote in the Truth Social announcement. “Dr. Heidi has been a rockstar in my Administration, where she has worked directly with Secretary Kennedy, Dr. Oz, and team, to deliver on the MOST transformative Health Agenda in History.”

Her selection is already being praised by administration officials, pro-life leaders, and the head of the Make America Healthy Again movement. She is said to bring transparency to science, modernize drug approvals, deliver more MAHA wins, and is being asked to pull the abortion pill from the market.

Overton, a board-certified physician in public health and general preventive medicine, previously served as a White House fellow and most recently was a deputy assistant for domestic policy.

“We need her leadership at the FDA now to ensure that the U.S. remains the world leader for Scientific Discovery and cures,” Trump continued.

“Dr. Heidi will work with Secretary Kennedy and Dr. Oz to rapidly deliver on my priorities of faster Cures, increased American Innovation, major Clinical Trial Reforms, lower Drug Prices, and even more MAHA wins! Dr. Overton will continue putting America First, and creating a Healthy America,” he concluded.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced his support as well, saying the president chose the best person for the job.

“Heidi brings exceptional judgment, professionalism, discipline, and an unwavering commitment to the American people. I have seen her challenge assumptions, demand excellence, and turn bold ideas into meaningful results. At the FDA,” he wrote.

Pro-Life Organizations React

Lila Rose, president and founder of Live Action, a global human rights group, has already asked Overton to pull the abortion pill from the market.

“Congratulations to Dr. Heidi Overton on her nomination to lead the FDA,” Rose wrote on social media. “This is a chance to restore trust and put health over politics. Dr. Overton should pull the deadly abortion pill from the market. Step one: end mail-order abortions that kill babies even in pro-life states,” she continued.

Overton was quickly endorsed by pro-life group Americans United for Life CEO John Mize.

“Dr. Overton is the right candidate,” he said. “She has the scientific and medical background that will enable her to perform an objective analysis of the dangers chemical abortion poses to women. Americans United for Life supports Dr. Overton as the next Commissioner of the FDA.”

Overton will still need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate when lawmakers return to Washington in September.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

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