When journalists portray officials as infallible experts, that framing lowers public resistance to government efforts to pressure platforms to remove dissenting views. This dynamic converts journalistic authority into tacit license for regulatory or administrative interventions against particular kinds of speech.
— It highlights how media framing can shift who adjudicates truth—journalists and officials rather than courts or the public—making disputes over platform moderation into institutional power struggles.
Chris Bray cites New York Times, STAT, and SCOTUSblog coverage of pandemic-era 'misinformation' and links that framing to the Missouri v. Biden consent decree ending federal pressure on platforms.