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Censorship and demonetization of conservative media is nothing new. We’ve been dealing with it here at PJ Media for years. Today, our management warned us that we could even be demonetized ahead of the election—and no one would be shocked if that happened. 

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This week, we learned that the New York Times is planning a hit piece on high-profile conservatives, including Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson. 

A reporter from the Times reached out to Shapiro via text message: 

Note the questions: 

Are you a member of the YouTube Partner Program?

If so, how frequently does YouTube demonetize your videos?

Has YouTube sent you messages, emails or notices in the last year that your content contains misinformation?

Are you now or have you ever been a Trump supporter? When did you stop beating your wife? 

The planned hit piece—which has now been exposed as a blatant attempt to sway the election for Kamala Harris—is nothing short of election interference. 

“What, precisely, is NYT doing?” Shapiro asked in a lengthy X thread. “It’s perfectly obvious: using research from Media Matters, a radical Left-wing organization whose sole purpose is destroying conservative media… in order to pressure YouTube to demonetize and penalize any and all conservatives ONE WEEK FROM THE ELECTION.”

“That’s the entire game here,” he added. “Run an article in America’s ‘most trusted newspaper’ that declares pretty much every major conservative a purveyor of ‘misinformation’ on YouTube, thus strong-arming YouTube into taking action against conservatives.”

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In fact, around 25% of Americans get their news primarily from YouTube, so booting conservatives off the platform or hiding their videos in the lead-up to the election would have a devastating effect on conservative messaging and perhaps even depress Republican turnout. That’s why you see left-wing media operations, including the NYT, running nearly identical headlines suggesting that Trump and his followers are “literally Hitler.” 

Media Matters, which has been running a decades-long disinformation campaign to discredit conservatives at the behest of the Democrat Party, claims that it identified 286 videos (purportedly from The Daily Wire) that contain “election disinformation, including narratives that have been debunked or are not supported with credible evidence.” In case you’ve been in a cave for the last four years, that’s code for “videos that support Donald Trump.” 

Remember this from 2016 (HT InfluenceWatch)? 

Messages released by WikiLeaks showed that Clinton’s 2016 campaign also treated Media Matters as a campaign surrogate while coordinating with the group. The campaign allegedly wanted Media Matters to “muddy the waters” on certain issues Clinton might be vulnerable on by questioning the media’s coverage of how Republicans would handle the same issues and whether they would “do the bidding of their billionaire super-PAC donors and the special interests.” [Emphasis added]

No serious person believes that Media Matters is anything but an arm of the Democrat Party, and now we learn that the New York Times is colluding with the organization. They’re not even trying to hide it. 

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“This isn’t about ‘election misinformation,'” Shapiro added. “Obviously. As pretty much everyone knows, I have always acknowledged that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. And if it is ‘election misinformation’ to point out the ‘rigging’ of the voting rules for election 2020.” That includes ballot harvesting and the massive mail-in campaigns triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. He notes that denying election results is still protected by the First Amendment. 

I mean, come on. Democrats deny elections nearly every time they lose. 

“This is totally scandalous. In 2020, the legacy media shut down dissemination of the Hunter Biden laptop story and laundered the claim that it was all Russian disinformation, all to get Joe Biden elected.” And let’s not forget about the bogus “Russia collusion” and “pee tape” stories ginned up by Hillary Clinton’s campaign. 

“They’re even more brazen: they’re openly trying to intimidate YouTube, one of the most dominant news platforms in America, into shutting down anyone who isn’t pro-Kamala,” said Shapiro. “Again, understand the mission from these supposed guardians of free speech and American liberty: silence the opposition the WEEK BEFORE THE 2024 ELECTION.”

Benny Johnson also got the NYT treatment: 

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New York Times reporter Nico Grant (who has since locked down his X account) came at Tucker with the same questions. Carlson responded with some questions of his own. 

“So the New York Times is working with a left wing hate group to silence critics of the Democratic Party?” he asked on X. “Please ask yourself why you’re participating in it. This is why you got into journalism? It’s shameful. I hope you’re filled with guilt and self-loathing for sending me a text like this. Please quote me.” 

Grant asked if Carlson would like to address his specific questions about YouTube. 

“Would I like to participate in your attempt to censor me? No thanks. But I do hope you’ll quote what I wrote above and also note that I told you to fu** off, which I am doing now. Thanks.” 

Is it any wonder that a recent Gallup poll found, “For the third consecutive year, more U.S. adults have no trust at all in the media (36%) than trust it a great deal or fair amount. Another 33% of Americans express ‘not very much’ confidence.” 

When one-third of Americans have no trust in the media whatsoever, you know there’s a problem. Yet everyone on the left—from the New York Times to the Biden/Harris campaign to Merrick Garland’s corrupt DOJ—think this is feature, not a bug, of “democracy.” 

So that’s what we’re up again, folks. Choose wisely when you go to the voting booth on Tuesday. And if you can afford a few bucks a month (in this crappy Biden-Harris economy), we’d appreciate you signing up to be a VIP member. You get lots of great benefits (read about them here), but you’ll also be helping us fight the lies and the censorship. 

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And if, God forbid, we get demonetized in the next week, we’re going to need your help more than ever. Sign up here to become a new VIP member and get 60% off when you use the promo code FIGHT. If you’re already a member (thank you!), you can upgrade to our new Platinum program here. We’ve got tons of great movies in the TownhallTV vault, including Dinesh D’Souzas’s new film, “Vindicated.” Also, our Platinum members now have direct messaging with our writers, so please drop me a message and say hello when you get a minute. I’d love to hear from you.