Ahmed Zidan

🔔 TODAY: Government officials are citing journalism as "doxxing" to threaten press freedom.

Join our webinar with @telliotter.bsky.social, @royalpratt.bsky.social, @sovernnation.bsky.social, and @charlie4change.bsky.social to learn more.

🕑 2 pm ET

RSVP: freedom.press/journalism-isnt-doxxing

"Full María Machado treatment.”

Greece: Convictions in ‘Predatorgate’ scandal offer rare accountability in abuse of surveillance technology A Greek court has found four individuals linked to spyware maker Intellexa, guilty of unlawful access to private information.

Greece: Convictions in ‘Predatorgate’ scandal offer rare accountability in abuse of surveillance technology

ICE activity is pushing readers to nonprofit news sites that cover immigrant communities From Somalis in Minneapolis to Nepalis in New York City, immigrant communities turn to trusted local news sources. Here's our regular ranking of the top 25 nonprofit news sites in the United States.

ICE activity is pushing readers to nonprofit news sites that cover immigrant communities www.niemanlab.org/2026/02/ice-...

Florida wants its own CIA. That could lead to unchecked domestic surveillance | Seth Stern, Lauren Harper and Bobby Block A bill to create a state intelligence operation would allow scrutiny based on ‘opinions’ – and could prompt other states to follow

The language in a controversial Florida bill that aims to create a state intelligence operation “allows scrutiny based on ‘views’ and ‘opinions’, a standard that echoes some of the darkest chapters of American surveillance history.”

“Surveillance authorities, once created, rarely disappear.”

At least 108 girls b/w ages 7 & 12 were killed at their school in Minab. An IRGC base is nearby & was likely the target.

Initial attempts to deflect US/Israeli blame for the strike by claiming an Iranian misfire hit the school are undercut by vid of the base also being struck. Given the location...

Collapse Without Liberation: The Structural Reordering of the Middle East The Iranian regime has collapsed. The Iranian foreign minister has just told Al Jazeera English that the government no longer has real control over the Revolutionary Guard. He said: what happened i…

Collapse Without Liberation: The Structural Reordering of the Middle East

“Zionism is not only an occupation or nationalist expansion, but also a specific form of organizing capitalism in the region,” @ahmednaji.bsky.social writes.

Post See new posts Conversation Laura Rozen @lrozen · 2h From US admin official background briefing recording listening to, seriously question if US negotiators understood what Iranians were proposing. One official keeps saying acronym for “IAEA” wrong. They seem astonished Iran would not agree to the US supplying them nuclear fuel Laura Rozen @lrozen · 2h They took as suspicious proposals that Iran saw as concessionary. Laura Rozen @lrozen · 2h Explains why Oman FM tried to come to DC to explain what US negotiators may not have fully understood Laura Rozen @lrozen Am not saying what Iran proposed would have been enough, I dont know, but it seems US negotiators did not have the expert guidance to understand it correctly

On top of all the reporting that this war of aggression was planned well in advance, it seems that the reporting also indicates that the US political leadership are quite literally too stupid to understand basic diplomacy. I mean literally not smart enough.

We obtained the first publicly released satellite image of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's compound in Tehran, after it was struck by Israel/US. There are several destroyed buildings. Current whereabouts of Iran's supreme leader are unknown; compound used as his official residence. 🛰️📸: @airbus.com

States Can Block the Paramount-Warner Deal - The American Prospect But thanks to some clever maneuvering, they are already running out of time.

“Paramount/Warner Bros is not a done deal. These two Hollywood titans have not cleared regulatory scrutiny—the California Department of Justice has an open investigation, and we intend to be vigorous in our review,” CA AG says.

Via @prospect.org

Paramount and Warner Bros' deal is about merging studios, and a whole lot more The nearly $111 billion marriage would unite Paramount and Warner film studios, streamers and television properties — including CNN — under the control of the wealthy Ellison family.

David Ellison "will readily throw the First Amendment, CNN's reporters and HBO's filmmakers under the bus if they stand in the way of expanding his corporate empire and fattening his pockets," FPF Seth Stern said.

Read more from @davidfolkenflik.bsky.social:

A federal judge is furious at the DOJ over withholding info on the raid on a Washington Post journalist’s home.

Plus, Florida plans to have its own spy quads to monitor views it doesn't like.

Watch @trevortimm.bsky.social highlight these stories and more, and subscribe: freedom.press/newsletters

New: As David Ellison prepares to take control of CNN, legendary CBS News producer Mary Walsh, who is exiting, sent a goodbye note to colleagues.

In the note, Walsh writes, "We’ve been told to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum. Honestly, I don’t know how to do that."

Calls mount for release of Palestinian protester held by ICE for nearly a year Leqaa Kordia was taken into custody last March, nearly a year after being arrested at a protest at Columbia

I I hope our principled Mayor @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social can do something about it!

#FreeLeqaa

As relieved as I am by the news of Ellie Aghayeva’s release, I’m equally horrified by the lawlessness of that federal agency that continues to run rampant — detaining innocent students and migrants and upending their lives.

I hope Aghayeva uses her platform to demand #FreeLeqaa.

JUST IN: A federal judge says the Trump administration has been “terrorizing” refugees — violating the promise America made to them when they fled persecution at home — by locking them up illegally. He blocked the policy for those in MN storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

“It does not take a scholar of legal ethics to conclude that government lawyers should not be allowed to make up a violent and organized terrorist invasion of a major American city," @freedom.press' @seth-stern.bsky.social

He rightly calls the government claims "nonsense" and "fabricated hysteria"

DOJ lawyer falsely cited terrorism to justify press freedom violations FPF complaint seeks accountability for government lawyer who undermined Constitution with fabricated hysteria

@freedom.press Thursday filed an attorney disciplinary complaint against a DOJ lawyer ridiculous remarks to a federal judge in Chicago that ICE violations of protesters and journalists’ rights were justified by “a riot with violent terrorist organizations attempting to dox ICE" and their families.

Censorship is bad for business Plus, order restricting Natanson search didn’t go far enough

📩 Read in our weekly newsletter (and subscribe):

- When profit is paramount — and press freedom isn’t
- Order restricting Natanson search didn’t go far enough
- Government lawyers: Don’t make up terrorist attacks
- Learn how to FOIA from the pros
- Plus, get to know what we’re reading...

YouTube video by Freedom of the Press Foundation Top security lessons from the FBI’s Washington Post raid

A little-read set of court docs from the FBI’s WaPo raid in Jan. show the risks journalists and sources face if devices are seized.

They also reveal key lessons on how small precautions can make a big, big difference.

Watch @trevortimm.bsky.social explain and subscribe: freedom.press/digisec

"Ellison has already shown his cards."

"Censorship is bad for business."

WBD exes, shareholders should recognize that selling companies that depend on 1A to censorial WH is not only morally wrong but harmful to their bottom line.

@seth-stern.bsky.social sends a moral warning that WBD should heed.

Detained Columbia student released after Mamdani talks with Trump Ellie Aghayeva confirms freedom hours after Department of Homeland security agents access residence hall

“The level of civil rights violations that took place is staggering.”

“These are the tactics of the brownshirts.”

Separately, Columbia — reeling from irreparable reputational damage caused by its shameless capitulation and concessions to an authoritarian administration — should do better.

DHS agents detain Columbia student after entering University-owned residence, Shipman reports <i>This is a developing story. Check back for updates. </i>

Terrifying

Record 129 press members killed in 2025; Israel responsible for 2/3 of deaths - Committee to Protect Journalists Key findings Introduction At a time when armed conflict has reached historic levels around the world, journalist killings also reached an all-time high primarily due to the actions of one government: ...

New @pressfreedom.bsky.social report shows that a record 129 journalists, media workers were killed worldwide in 2025, with Israel responsible for over two-thirds of those killings.

And drone killings of journalists spiked from two in 2023 to 39 in 2025 — with Israel responsible for 28 of the 39.

News outlets "likely hesitated to publish important leaks after seeing what happened" to Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, whose home the government raided, FPF's Seth Stern said.

Read more from @brianstelter.bsky.social:

The Century-Long Capture of U.S. Media | On the Media | WNYC Studios As media empires, from The Washington Post to CBS News, continue to be dealt significant blows, uncertainties abound about the remaining strength of a once robust American press lands...

Journalism is a public good and "shouldn't be left up to the mercy of ... market logics."

More in @onthemedia.bsky.social:

The Century-Long Capture of U.S. Media | On the Media | WNYC Studios As media empires, from The Washington Post to CBS News, continue to be dealt significant blows, uncertainties abound about the remaining strength of a once robust American press lands...

@victorpickard.bsky.social discusses the capitalistic, oligarchic and authoritarian media capture in the U.S.

Unlike the BBC and CBC models, there is a "deeply [read:flawed] American fear that if government gets involved in funding our media, we're on ... a slippery slope towards totalitarianism."

It's just insane the degree to which the federal government has simply declared war on a U.S. state. A punitive war with no discernible objective other than to immiserate its people. bsky.app/profile/apne...

@freedom.press and a coalition of nine other advocacy organizations sent a letter Wednesday to @governor.ny.gov urging NY state to provide the same support for non-profit news outlets as it does for commercial ones.

"If commercial news outlets deserve state subsidies, so do non-profit outlets."

Anxiety is normal in an unjust society.