Some of the motivating forces behind the 2020 elections could prove to be sinister for the First Amendment and media outlets the left hates.
The founder of Data for Progress, a far-left think tank that endorses socialism and the Green New Deal, wants the next Democrat president to silence Fox News. He shared a study done by two Columbia University researchers that claimed judges who watched Fox delivered harsher criminal sentences based on racial motivation.
Sean McElwee, cofounder of Data for Progress, tweeted out, “The next Democratic presidential administration must dismantle Fox News.” Even New York Magazine admitted that this was a little extreme, saying, “as awful as Fox News might be, would be incompatible with small-d democratic government.”
Data for Progress was founded in response to President Donald Trump’s election win in 2016. In its about section, it starts “Hillary Clinton decisively won the popular vote in 2016. She did not win the presidency.” One of its latest blog posts insinuates that U.S. voters are not aware of any female Republicans in office, and criticizes the GOP for its lack of female representation.
In another tweet referencing his desire to remove Fox News, McElwee slammed the network, “The existence of an explicitly white nationalist media channel that spreads virulent misinformation is a far greater threat to democracy than getting rid of it.”
The study he posted was presented on January 26 by Columbia University researchers Elliott Ash and Michael Poyker. It determined, based on the data selected from nine states, that “Higher Fox News viewership increases incarceration length, and the effect is stronger for black defendants and for drug-related crimes.”
