The federal government is funding research aimed at countering "populist narratives" about the COVID-19 pandemic, including vaccines, focusing on countries that had "populist leaders during the pandemic," including the United States, according to a report from War Room's Natalie Winters.
The revealing of this National Science Foundation (NSF) grant comes from leaked internal communications and documents at Twitter, detailing the level of government involvement regarding censorship of what they describe as "misinformation."
"What exactly constitutes 'misinformation,' however, remains nebulous," reports Winters, "and the term has often been weaponized to silence conservatives and individuals speaking out against COVID-19 vaccines."
The grant is titled "Pandemic Communication in Time of Populism: Building Resilient Media and Ensuring Effective Pandemic Communication in Divided Societies." Almost $200,000 dollars of taxpayers' money has been allocated by the NSF to researchers at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
The description of "resilient media" in this context is ironic, given that this is the very same media that has been strong-armed into following the specific narrative put forward by the government. The fact that a taxpayer-funded grant is encouraging the proliferation of this narrative in other countries is a testament to the level of deep involvement in the censorship of "misinformation."
According to the summary of the grant, "This project uses several methods to study how populist politicians distorted COVID-19 pandemic health communication to encourage polarized attitudes and distrust among citizens, thus making them more vulnerable to misinformation generally."
"It also studies how best to counter these populist narratives and develop more effective communication channels," it continues.
In order to succeed in its goal of "countering" the populist narrative, the research focuses on "government-led pandemic communication, media policy, media coverage, and public attitudes towards the media."
"The research will inform recommendations aimed at building more resilient media organizations that are better equipped to withstand the challenges of future pandemics in divided societies."
The countries at the center of the study are Brazil, Poland, Serbia, and the United States. The NSF explains that these countries were "all led by populist leaders during the pandemic," so they’re able to "capture different types of populist responses to the pandemic."
