Politics Added 143d ago 17 outlets

The Justice Department indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center on 11 federal fraud counts related to its paid informant program.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced a federal grand jury indictment against the SPLC on six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges stem from the SPLC's decades-long program of paying informants affiliated with extremist groups such as the KKK, with the DOJ alleging more than $3 million was funneled to such individuals between 2014 and 2023 without donor disclosure. SPLC CEO Bryan Fair said the organization will vigorously defend itself, asserting the informant program saved lives.

Divergence score

This event sits in the top 1% of divergence this week. 17 outlets covered it, splitting into 16 framing camps across 4 bias groups.

16 camps

4 bias groups

The spectrum · how 17 outlets placed this story

LeftCenterRight

AP News

CNN

Politico

NY Post

Washington Examiner

Al Jazeera

PBS NewsHour

The Hill

NPR

Reuters

Breitbart

The Federalist

Washington Post

BBC

National Review

Mother Jones

HuffPost

Horizontal = outlet biasColor = this story's framing

Supportive of action

Neutral

Dismissive

Critical

Alarmist

International angle

Widest split · the two outlets furthest apart, and who published first

Furthest apart on this story

CNN

Southern Poverty Law Center says Justice Department is investigating its work with informants

SPLC's own disclosure foregrounded

NY Post

DOJ charges Southern Poverty Law Center with fraud for paying white supremacist groups $3M to 'stoke racial hatred'

SPLC as fraud perpetrator stoking racism

How CNN and NY Post compare across every story →

First to report

CNNfirst
Politico+5.7 h
Reuters+7.8 h
NY Post+8.1 h
Washington Examiner+8.1 h
PBS NewsHour+8.7 h
NPR+8.7 h
The Hill+8.7 h
Al Jazeera+9.0 h
The Federalist+9.8 h
Breitbart+10.0 h
Washington Post+16.3 h

By each outlet's earliest publish time in this story. Feeds that index slowly can appear later than they printed.

The split, in one line

Conservative outlets frame the SPLC as manufacturing racism to justify its existence, while mainstream and left outlets warn the indictment is just the beginning of targeting critics, raise doubts about the DOJ case, and highlight political weaponization of federal prosecution.

How each outlet covered it