America’s largest newspaper chain is partnering with the ACLU of Michigan to promote election misinformation in the 2024 election, despite an obvious conflict of interest.
The Detroit Free Press and Lansing State Journal have promoted sponsored content from the ACLU of Michigan on X that alleges “abortion rights are in jeopardy in Michigan this November.”
The “sponsored” posts are “paid for by Gannett,” the largest newspaper company in the U.S. that owns both Michigan newspapers and 19 others. With over 100 daily newspapers and nearly 1,000 weekly newspapers, the news empire regularly covers abortion litigation from the ACLU across 44 states, one U.S. territory, and six countries.
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The X posts link to editorials from the ACLU that come with a disclaimer:
“This story is paid for by an advertiser. Members of the editorial and news staff of the USA TODAY Network were not involved in the creation of this content.”
The “story,” which is “paid for by ACLU of Michigan,” centers on the Trump national abortion ban lie and a 2022 ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights into the Michigan Constitution. The measure approved by voters played a key role in propelling Democrats to their first government trifecta in Michigan in 40 years, and they’ve relentlessly focused on the issue to motivate voters ever since.
In the “story,” the ACLU connects former President Donald Trump’s appointment of three U.S. Supreme Court justices and the court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade to unnamed politicians who “are promising to pass a national abortion ban that would take away reproductive rights – including from the people of Michigan.”
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“In Michigan, the 2016 presidential election was decided by less than 11,000 votes. The stakes could not be higher this November – and you, the voter, can make all the difference,” according to the ACLU’s “story.” “You have the power to protect your rights by voting in the presidential election.”
The ACLU juxtaposes “threats to people’s ability to control their bodies and their reproductive lives,” including efforts to restrict contraception and IVF, with promises from Vice President Kamala Harris to sign “a law to restore reproductive freedom” if elected.
“Michigan voters made it abundantly clear that protecting reproductive rights, including abortion, is a priority,” said Merissa Kovach, political director of the ACLU of Michigan. https://t.co/XnVNDHNbQt
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) September 14, 2024
The “story” also highlights rulings from the Democratic controlled Michigan Supreme Court that “has helped protect abortion access,” as well as voters’ “power to protect your rights when it comes to the very critical Michigan Supreme Court race in November.”
The “story,” however, omits statements from Trump’s campaign that debunked the national abortion ban lie, as well as Trump policy proposals designed to promote reproductive health. The ACLU does not mention the organization is suing Michigan in an effort to secure taxpayer-funded abortions.
Democrats including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and others, as well as advertisements from Project Freedom on YouTube, have taken the same misleading approach.
Trump reiterated his stance on abortion at the presidential debate with Harris after she parroted the same election misinformation.
“It’s a lie. I’m not signing a ban, and there’s no reason to sign a ban, because we’ve gotten what everybody wanted, Democrats, Republicans and everybody else, and every legal scholar wanted it to be brought back to the states,” Trump said.
Trump’s position on abortion has been clear since April, when he debunked claims he’d sign a national abortion ban in a video posted to Truth Social.
“My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land,” Trumps said.
Last month, the 45th POTUS unveiled a new plan to require the federal government to pay for IVF treatments or mandate insurance companies cover the cost, which runs tens of thousands of dollars per cycle.
The ACLU’s X ads “paid for by Gannett” follow calls on the media from Michigan’s top election official to partner with Democrats in “prebunking” alleged election “misinformation” ahead of the 2024 election.
Benson, who vowed nonpartisanship, partnered with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel at the National Press Foundation’s “Election Security” fellowship in Detroit in July to call on the media to counter the “era of misinformation” with “greater context” to win the “narrative battle.”
“It’s much more difficult for us to figure out how to fight that narrative battle, which essentially was about calling things out for what they were … but also really to protect the minds of voters just as we are trying to protect the operations and processes from being misled by this misinformation,” Benson said.
“We are all targets potentially of an autocratic regime that could really fundamentally change things in America, which is what we’ve seen elsewhere,” Nessel said.