This FCC does not have the authority, the ability, or the constitutional right to police content or punish broadcasters for speech the government dislikes. Free speech is the foundation of our democracy, and we must push back against any attempt to erode it.

"What good is the 1st Amendment when so many in power don’t seem to know it exists?" asks @sulliview.bsky.social at The Guardian. That list of the powerful includes media owners who are busy caving to Trump. Though I believe they know it exists but have put their profits over democratic principles.

NEW: The Pentagon told journalists it will require them to pledge they won’t gather any information — even unclassified — that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey. @washingtonpost.com

This is the biggest attack on free speech since the McCarthy era but it also has significantly less popular consensus behind it than the second Red Scare. It's being done on behalf of a minority faction led by the most unpopular president in modern history. Organizing against this can win.

When the key source for an explosive allegation in your Charlie Kirk story tells you, a few hours after you published: "Oh, it was all such a long time ago. I misremembered.... I don’t really know. I just can’t remember stuff so well.” In today's Laurels/Darts. www.cjr.org/laurels-and-...

"I think one of the things that I really worry about the most is that news organizations are going to self-censor, and they’re going to hurt themselves by not having a strong spine." -veteran journalist, @sulliview.bsky.social, earlier this year.

"it’s okay for a pundit to vow revenge on supposed political enemies. But not okay for one to point out that, in a polarized environment, hateful words can lead to hateful actions" @sulliview.bsky.social As the US right gets brazen, others go craven. margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/what-gets-...

Please subscribe — I’ve removed the paywall as a nod to the times we’re in. I’d appreciate it.

‘So it’s okay for a pundit to vow revenge on supposed political enemies. But not okay for one to point out that… hateful words can lead to hateful actions.’ @sulliview.bsky.social is especially timely in light of @karenattiah.bsky.social’s firing margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/what-gets-...

It’s all about working the refs. My latest. Link in this thread

Great take by @sulliview.bsky.social on the double-standard (or, perhaps, bad-faith nonsense) between violent rhetoric from the right and what amounts to insufficient deference from the left. margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/what-gets-...

"So it’s okay for a pundit to vow revenge on supposed political enemies," writes @sulliview.bsky.social "But not okay for one to point out that, in a polarized environment, hateful words can lead to hateful actions." open.substack.com/pub/margaret...

Excellent @sulliview.bsky.social column on the double standard in cable news (and judging from @karenattiah.bsky.social's announcement today, the Washpost Opinion section) margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/what-gets-...

Read @sulliview.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/margaret...

@sulliview.bsky.social “Once unleashed, political violence comes for everyone” It doesn’t know or care what side of the aisle…ideology…vision for the future…media preferences… “Like an infectious disease, it simply—& efficiently—finds more & more victims” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"That gun violence truly is an epidemic in America couldn’t have been clearer than when coverage of Kirk’s assassination was interrupted by yet another school shooting, this one in Evergreen, Colorado." @sulliview.bsky.social School shooting no. 47 for 2025. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I wrote this a month ago from my experience as a news ombudswoman or public editor for NYT. The specifics we now know make it even clearer https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/09/bias-monitor-cbs-news?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Per reporter Julie Brown of the Miami Herald, talking with @sulliview.bsky.social - there are MANY Epstein files we have yet to see, including:

Breaking News: A court upheld E. Jean Carroll’s $83.3 million defamation judgment against President Trump after she accused him of rape.

Register for Free Sept. 16 Webinar from Safeguarding Democracy Project: “The Risk of Federal Interference in the 2026 Midterm Elections” electionlawblog.org?p=151959

OPINION @sulliview.bsky.social “Most of the mainstream #media is overly cautious in approaching the fair topic of the president’s health”. Key to the #Trump fascism project is curbing, controlling, crushing #journalism. So far, he’s succeeding. #democracy #USA www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Among other things, we talked about her conviction that the accused #sextrafficker 🛑 DID NOT commit suicide in prison, which was the official ruling; the absurdity of the Trumpian effort to persuade the public that all the #Epsteinfiles have been released; & the increasing.. @sulliview.bsky.social

@jkbjournalist.bsky.social & @sulliview.bsky.social handily list some of the Epstein documents still be ing withheld from the public. It’s a long list. Release the files! open.substack.com/pub/margaret...

Bad enough that an opinion writer should have indulged in "classic pro-Trump projection" when criticizing Kamala Harris last year, says @sulliview.bsky.social But today, when US legacy media has hard evidence of Trump's fascism, they are minimizing it. margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/and-the-ba...

Important series by @sulliview.bsky.social: “A New Look at Journalism Ethics” www.cjr.org/new-journali... #journalism #ethics

@sulliview.bsky.social Your latest is further affirmation how major media is failing to fulfill their charge. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Journalism needs new guidelines to face new challenges, by @sulliview.bsky.social. www.cjr.org/analysis/tim...

The tolerance for lies is killing our country. Trump just called Chicago “the most dangerous city in the world, by far.” But its homicide rate isn’t even in the U.S. Top 20. Will major media call out the lie – and call it “a lie” – or will they talk about his “tenuous relationship with the truth”?

@sulliview.bsky.social IF YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT'S HAPPENING IN AMERICA...well, you CAN. Just following what happens and posting isn't enough, so Margaret Sullivan has some simple, concrete ideas (below). Time to get past just reading bad news and start to make good news!

‘Staying engaged is better than tuning out altogether. But many are really not using their time or energy in a way that could create change or make a difference.’ @sulliview.bsky.social offers ways to to move beyond hobbyism and into citizen action. margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/dont-be-a-...

Don't be a 'political hobbyist.' Here's how to harness your power. @sulliview.bsky.social

i find this image so fascinating. it is both a literal example of authoritarianism but also a second-hand reproduction of the aesthetics of other authoritarian states. it's like a simulacra of authoritarianism whose purpose is to attempt to make the simulacra real.

"The only thing that really matters now are elections, both next year and in 2028. "Short of revolution in the streets — highly unlikely — voting is the only way out of this metastasizing mess. That and some enlightened leadership." -- @sulliview.bsky.social substack.com/home/post/p-...

Thank you @sulliview.bsky.social & Julie Gerstein! Some excellent thoughtful contributions here

The transformation of the Washington Post editorial page appears to be complete.

HAPPENING NOW: Judge Xinis is leaning toward issuing another restraining order to block Kilmar Abrego Garcia's immediate deportation to Uganda at least through this week — she wants an evidentiary hearing on Friday.

An utterly clarion argument from ace historian that we are in authoritarianism. Not “on the road to,” “flirting with,” “creatively expanding federal power,” or other euphemisms that will continue to be proffered. Only question is how long will we stay there? Will depend on how we act and respond…

The precise moment when and where in recent weeks America crossed that invisible line from democracy into authoritarianism can and will be debated by future historians, but it’s clear that the line itself has been crossed. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/america-ti...

Journalists everywhere need to stand in solidarity on this killing spree and resulting news blackout. See below in this thread for some actions and stay tuned here https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-hits-gaza-hospital-killing-least-20-people-including-five-journalists-2025-08-25/

‘Outside inquiries… don’t get the job done. They elicit bland answers like “It’s not our practice to go into detail about our editorial processes.” But if you’re inside the organization, you can learn a lot more.’ Via @sulliview.bsky.social margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/cash-hando...

4/ @sulliview.bsky.social—the NYT's former public editor—theorized that reporters had been working on a bigger/longer-term story when @thecity.nyc's potato chip bag bribe story dropped and she was right. A CURRENT city editor could give us the tiktok... margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/cash-hando...

Indeed we were. And still are!

And @sulliview.bsky.social theorizes that the Times might have held off reporting the payoffs they witnessed (only to follow The City’s scoop) because they were “working on a bigger, more sweeping investigation” … and today’s NYT story supports that theory. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/n...

@sulliview.bsky.social is no longer at the Washpost and NYT, but she’s still asking tough questions about the choices their newsrooms are making. margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/cash-hando...

A must follow: @sulliview.bsky.social!

"With Trump in full dictator mode planning military deployment in Chicago and threatening to send National Guard into Baltimore, mild words like 'ruffled' are absurd. Do Post editors really think this serves their public mission?" @sulliview.bsky.social margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/cash-hando...

Is this not the best local journalism donor letter ever? Subject header: We don’t take payoffs — but we do take donations CTA: CHIP IN TODAY! thecitynyc.bluelena.io/index.php?ac... @thecity.nyc cc: @dicktofel.bsky.social @sulliview.bsky.social @bgrueskin.bsky.social @brianstelter.bsky.social

Let’s hope the NYT public editor looks into why Times reporters witnessed multiple instances of cash being handed out at the mayor’s events but didn’t write it up til they got beaten on the story by a feisty nonprofit site …. Apologies … We are being told the Times no longer has a public editor.

Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer to a ‘country club’ prison is outrageous | Margaret Sullivan

"It would be a start, in this Epstein mess, to see more sincere concern for the former children who were harmed by predators; now young women or adults, they live every day with the trauma that has followed." But "the victims...remain shamefully low on the priority list." @sulliview.bsky.social