White House Press Director Karoline Leavitt told the government at a press conference at the Brady Press Briefing Room in the White House of Andrew Harnik/Getty Images, Washington, DC. Read offline items for spending and document It’s holding it.
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Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Within 24 hours when misleading and false claims about political and political focused political news outlets began circulating on social media site X earlier this week, a White House spokesperson promised to take action. By the next day, the White House had directed the federal government agencies responsible for the contract to “pull” government subscriptions to two political services and other media.
President Trump’s first term was marked by hostility towards journalists, and in his second term, right-wing social media influencers declared, “We are the media now.”
Conspiracy theory thrives in x
On Tuesday, Semafor reported that Politico had issues with its pay system. Within hours, pro-Trump influencers began speculating and arguing that the pay issue was linked to a recent funding freeze at the US International Development Agency, a federal foreign aid agency.
X’s false claims lead to attacks on news media
X users shared a screenshot from USaspending.gov, a website that tracks federal contracts, reinforced misleading claims that Politico is receiving government subsidies, according to White House at a press conference on Wednesday. repeated Karoline Leavitt, spokesman for the program.
“I’ve been noticed by USAID’s funding to media outlets, including Politico, who knows there will be seats in this room,” says Leavitt. “I can see that the more than 8 million taxpayer dollars I made to essentially subsidize a subscription to politics about the American taxpayer dime no longer happens.”
In a statement, Politico said it had not taken a “dime” of federal grants or grants. Rather, federal agencies use the procurement process to subscribe to Politico Pro, a service that tracks the extremes of law and other policy. According to Vanity Fair, the service won over $100 million in 2023.
Politico Services subscriptions across the federal government exceeded $8 million last year, according to US expenditure. According to the same site, USAID paid Politico $24,000 in 2024 for a subscription to E&E, an E&E subscription.
USAID provides assistance to organizations for working abroad, including some foreign media. However, the agency asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, saying that “we will give money to any organization or provide news about the US.” Not there. Spurred by X’s owner Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team, the Trump administration is about to tear down its agents.
Nicole Darnoll, a government procurement expert who teaches at American universities, said that subscriptions to information services should not be confused with grants.
“The key difference from grants is that it’s an aid program,” Darnall said. “Getting access to knowledge networks, electronic news, or print media in any way is not a form of support, rather includes contractual arrangements for the purchase of goods or services.”
Nevertheless, President Trump leveled out unfounded accusations about the media via truthful social on Thursday morning. “In return” to create a good story about the Democrats. ”
Soon politics were not the only media organization to the crosshairs. X users distributed similar screenshots showing government payments to the Associated Press and the New York Times.
“The US government has long been a client of the Associated Press through both the Democratic and Republican administrations,” Associated Press spokesperson Lauren Easton told NPR in an email. “It’s very common for the government to contract with the press for content.”
The New York Times said in a similar statement that no federal grants were made to the company.
“The federal funds received by the Times are payments for subscriptions purchased by government occupations and institutions to better understand the world.”
What began as a misleading nugget turned into an anti-media campaign within days.
“At what point do you start pulling journalist’s reporting qualifications?” asked right-wing influencer Benny Johnson in a live stream.
Last year, the Justice Department discovered that Johnson and several other right-wing influencers were indirectly receiving funds from Russian government operatives through lucrative contracts. Johnson said he didn’t know Russia was the source of money.
Cancellation of contract
Axios reported Thursday that the White House asked the General Services Bureau to “draw” all contracts for Politico, BBC, E&E and Bloomberg, and “cancel all media contracts” spent by the GSA .
Bloomberg and Reuters declined to comment. The BBC has not responded to requests for comment.
The USDA told NPR on Friday in a statement that “we have completed reviews of our media agreements and February 5 has cancelled our department-wide Politico subscriptions.”
Musk wrote in X: “My guess is that 20% of legacy media funds come from the government.” In the second post, he wrote, “It should be zero.”
Musk has expressed support for the end of federal funds for public broadcasting that public media stations use to pay for NPR and PBS content.
People working in the federal government need access to specialized information to work, including effectively supporting the private sector, says Software Information, a trading group representing subscription-based business-to-business businesses. Chris Mohr, president of Industry Association, said: Publications.
“If you are partnering with or trying to promote it, you need information about the status of play in the industry and the status of play in relation to the various governments and their industry, and the policies that they are. It’s established.
Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters are members of the SIIA, Mall said.
“This is not political. It’s just what’s really going on. If you don’t have it, it could be a very big blind spot,” Mall said.
