‘It Is Ironic’: DCNF Reporter Calls Out Biden Censorship Agency’s PR Efforts After Pushback

Daily Caller News Foundation reporter Katelynn Richardson criticized the National Science Foundation (NSF) for its public relations efforts after her inquiries regarding censorship at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday.

The NSF developed a media strategy and even contemplated crafting a list of conservative media outlets not to communicate with, according to a House Judiciary Committee report published on Tuesday. NSF program manager Michael Pozmantier also indicated in an email that he would look into removing the agency’s videos on “misinformation” the day after the DCNF reported on its research plan dubbed “Track F” and linked to the videos, the Tuesday report revealed. (RELATED: DHS Subdivision Quietly Deleted Video Urging Americans To Report Covid ‘Disinformation’ From Family Members)

Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie asked Richardson about what occurred after her reporting on this research plan. “Based off of the emails that this committee obtained, after I sent a couple very basic questions, reaching out about what exactly these grants were, what exactly these programs entail, it seems they created a media strategy in order to deflect questions … some of the messaging said they would call it as ‘pro-democracy,’ and it is ironic. And I wonder if they see that irony,” Richardson said.

The NSF had spent nearly $39 million on research programs to combat so-called “misinformation” since President Joe Biden’s inauguration by November 2022, according to a report by the Foundation For Freedom Online (FFO), the DCNF reported. The NSF awarded additional grants to counter mis- and disinformation following FFO’s report, the majority of which are under the “Convergence Accelerator Track F: Trust & Authenticity in Communication Systems” or “Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC),” the DCNF found.

“If the agency’s reaction to fair questions from journalists is to strategize ways to rebrand to avoid attention, why does it have any business funding tools that tell reporters what is true and what is false? If their impulse is to hide information, how can projects it backs be trusted to sort out what information is authoritative?” Richardson said in her opening statement at the Tuesday hearing.

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