A bill barring West Virginia’s government from funding biased media ratings companies that unfairly blacklist conservative news outlets has passed the state’s House of Delegates and Senate and been sent to Republican Governor Patrick Morrisey’s desk for his signature.
The First Amendment Preservation Act (SB 531) prohibits state contracts with any “media reliability and bias monitor” and any marketing or advertising company that uses these monitors to direct government agency advertising placements or for use of programmatic advertising purchases. SB 531 applies to contracts by all government entities, including institutions of higher learning.
It also requires written certifications from companies submitting bids attesting that they do not use media reliability and bias monitors in compliance with the act. Additionally, the written certification is required whenever any relevant contract is extended, renewed, or otherwise changed or modified, even if it the original contract was signed prior to the effective date of SB 531.
SB 531 is designed to prevent “viewpoint discrimination” in state spending:
“[T]o ensure that state moneys do not fund viewpoint discrimination and that state funding advertising reaches the broadest possible audience without regard for political ideology or viewpoint.”
Once signed, the new law will apply to contracts delivered, executed, or renewed on or after July 1, 2026.
A "Media reliability and bias monitor” is defined as a company whose primary or principle function is:
“[R]ating or ranking news and information sources for the factual accuracy of their content, whether published online, in print, by audio, or digitally, or by broadcasting via radio, television, cable, streaming service, or any other ways news is delivered to the public, or that provide ratings or rankings of news sources based on misinformation, bias, adherence to journalistic standards, or ethics, including, but not limited to, organizations that claim to engage in fact checking or determining overall news accuracy.”
Media monitors – such as NewsGuard, Ad Fontes Media and Global Disinformation Index – are notorious biased against media outlets that accurately report conservative viewpoints and the facts that back them up. They also refuse to acknowledge the disinformation and misinformation peddled by liberally-based media, and the failure of those media outlets to correct their inaccuracies.
Multiple studies conducted by the Media Research Center’s NewsBusters have documented the leftist bias practiced by media monitors like NewsGuard, Ad Fontes Media and Global Disinformation Index:
- NewsGuard STILL Gives High Marks to Media that Covered Up Biden Mental Decline Scandal When outlets like CNN, Politico, Bloomberg News, Slate and others falsely cast conservatives reports of Pres. Biden’s mental deterioration as “unfounded” and “conspiracy” theories, NewsGuard continued to give these liberal outlets exceptionally high ratings.
- MRC Exposes NewsGuard for Leftist Bias Third Year in a Row 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), while dinging “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.
- STUDY: NewsGuard Ratings System STILL Heavily Biased in Favor of Left-Wing Media Outlets NewsGuard’s CEO tried to cast the now-verified Hunter Biden laptop scandal as a Russian “hoax” just prior to the 2020 presidential election. Even after the emails from the laptop were verified, NewsGuard maintained perfect scores for outlets like Politico, The Washington Post and USA Today, which interfered in the 2020 election by trying to bury the Biden family scandal as disinformation.
- STUDY: NewsGuard Ratings System Heavily Skews in Favor of Left-Wing Outlets NewsGuard’s skewed ratings give left-leaning outlets - even those who promoted the discredited Steele dossier to tie President Donald Trump to Russia - substantially more “credibility” than right-leaning outlets.
- MRC ORIGINAL: Media Literacy Firm Rigged to Favor Left-Wing Media Ad Fontes uses subjective editorial decisions consistent with the views of its CEO and a rigged media ratings system designed to reward the political left and punish the political right.
- State Department Absurdly ‘Stands by’ Funding ‘Conservative' Blacklister The Global Disinformation Index, which received money from the State Department’s interagency GEC, was established under the Biden Administration to “defund and downrank” media outlets like the New York Post, The Federalist, RealClearPolitics and The Daily Wire.
The West Virginia bill is the latest effort to crack down on the use of state and federal government taxpayer funding of biased website media rating groups used to justify viewpoint discrimination.
In 2021, for example, the Biden Administration’s Department of Defense awarded nearly $750,000 to NewsGuard to assist its efforts to identify conservative website content it could brand “disinformation.”
Then, in 2024, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) prohibited the U.S. Department of War from funding this type of use of media monitor ratings to blacklist potential advertising platforms.
That same year, the House Committee on Small Business published a report finding that:
- The Federal government has fueled a censorship ecosystem impacting not only individuals’ First Amendment rights, but the ability of certain small businesses to compete online.
- The Federal government has funded, developed, and promoted entities that aim to demonetize news and information outlets because of their lawful speech, impacting domestic businesses’ operations, reputation, customer reach, and revenue.
The report describes, not only the $750,000 award to NewsGuard, but also the Biden Administration’s dealings with similar groups, including Global Disinformation Index.
On the state level, Florida lawmakers are pushing for a law prohibiting contracts involving website rating companies.
