Information and Perception
Who owns and funds the channels that reach the public, how governments and platforms shape what is seen, who decides what counts as a source, and how a challenge to the record is answered.
- 01
Who Pays the Channels
Ownership caps, asset-manager holdings, revenue sources and pharmaceutical advertising, with the research on advertiser dependence and coverage.
- 02
Official Messaging
Government programs that produce the public story, from the First World War information offices to the Pentagon, the CIA and GAO propaganda rulings.
- 03
What Counts as a Source
Journals, textbooks, publishers and the volunteer-run gates of Wikipedia and Reddit, and what each one admits to the record.
- 04
Pressure on Platforms
Government and organized pressure on platform content decisions across administrations, the platforms' own rules, and what the courts decided.
- 05
The Label
How a record is dismissed without being answered: the dispatch, labels that held and labels documents later overturned, and who funds the fact-checkers.
Mechanisms documented in this report
The middleman
25 findingsOversight paid for by the overseen
1 findingThe study not run
4 findingsThe filtered record
3 findingsKnown inside, disclosed late
1 findingThe liability shield
1 findingManaging the narrative
32 findingsChannels paid by the parties they cover
5 findings