Alex Engler

“.. it was crickets on the Bari Weiss-controlled former home of Walter Cronkite.”

@deadline.com $PSKY
deadline.com/2025/10/cbs-...

3. While big oil, big tobacco, etc. serve as well-known cautionary tales, social media research poses novel challenges for independent researchers—perhaps most notably, access to the study system itself.

It's like trying to study climate change if Exxon-Mobile owned all the world's thermometers.

Senate Republicans are holding a second hearing on alleged Biden censorship of speech entitled “Shut Your App” days after DOJ made Apple remove an app designed to report the public whereabouts of law enforcement. 🙃

You simply cannot be a political journalist today if you don't know the deep ins-and-outs of the nonsense conspiracy theories. Because people will just constantly say stuff that is blatantly false and you NEED to be ready to call it out with receipts.

Mike Johnson is presiding over the decline of Congressional power, devoting his energies into avoiding duly elected representatives into office.
If he is Speaker after the 2028 election, very easy to see him push to throw a close race to the Republican candidate.

Lawyers said the nature of the claims posed undeniable ethics challenges. “What a travesty,” said Bennett L. Gershman, an ethics professor at Pace University. “The ethical conflict is just so basic and fundamental, you don’t need a law professor to explain it.”

Good quote in this NYT article on Trump seeking $230 million in “compensation” from DOJ: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...

BROWN: There's an estimate that millions of Americans could lose their insurance if something isn't done about these premiums

REP. STUTZMAN: I think that's just a Democrat talking point to promote fear

B: No. The source is the Urban Institute. They estimate 4 mil Americans will become uninsured

Today at 10:30 EST! Registration is still open!

Among other big questions facing media and democracy , we'll ask how the ongoing shift from TV news towards online media will impact filter bubbles/echo chambers and partisanship.

Penn rejects White House proposal for special funding treatment With the decision, Penn becomes the third university to decline the offer.

And now Penn rejects the compact! Students, faculty and staff unite. @aaup-penn.bsky.social @aaup.org 🔥 www.thedp.com/article/2025...

Tax Day Is Met With Tea Parties (Published 2009)

Here's a gift link to the New York Times' coverage of the initial Tea Party rallies in April 2009 which inspired the media to treat it like a massive movement.

Check out how tiny the crowds were:

Philly: 200
DC: "several hundred"
Boston: 500
Austin: 1,000
Houston: 2,000

Second "No Kings Day" protests likely the largest single-day political demonstration since 1970, with 4.2-7.6 million participants Here are the initial results from our crowdsourced crowd-counting estimates

After adding new data to our spreadsheet, our central estimate of turnout for the No Kings Day protests yesterday has risen to 5.5 million, with an upper bound of 8.7 www.gelliottmorris.com/p/second-no-...

White words on a black background read: 50+ Immigration agents have the authority to detain whom they reasonably suspect are in the country illegally. We found more than 50 Americans who were held after agents questioned their citizenship. They were almost all Latino. ~130 Agents also can arrest citizens who allegedly interfered with or assaulted officers. We compiled cases of about 130 Americans, including a dozen elected officials, accused of assaulting or impeding officers. ~20 Among the citizens detained are nearly 20 children, including two with cancer.

Hi, I'm the ProPublica reporter who's been tracking an unusual stat: U.S. citizens grabbed by immigration agents.

I did it because the government isn’t.

This is what I found.

This is not a minor issue: it’s a serious threat to democracy. We’re rapidly transitioning into a world where, as long as you support the president, you can be above the law; if you’re in the opposition, you have a target on your back. Opposition can’t survive under these conditions.

BREAKING: UVA rejects the Trump Administration's Compact.

On October 21 at 4 PM, I hope you will join me, @gwiddp.bsky.social and The New Republic at GW for "The State of Democracy in Trump's America: Year One," featuring @ryanenos.bsky.social + others discussing U.S. democracy. Ro Khanna is keynoting! Space is limited. RSVP:
lnkd.in/euqqNB9s

I'm honored to be speaking at this event next week. If you're in the DC area, please come say hi.

this white house actively treats a large swath of americans as disloyal and outside the political community and it doesn’t merit so much as a peep from the political press

Media & Political Elite have normalized Republicans doing bad things to the majority of US citizens.

“Deplorables” was a scandal for years and she wasn’t even in the government yet. This is the White House Press Secretary, whose salary is paid by the American public.

@brown.edu rejects the compact. www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...

Universities Must Defend Their Independence by Rejecting Trump's "Compact" The Trump administration has proffered a “compact” to universities that would require them to surrender their independence and academic freedom. How many First Amendment violations can we identify in ...

New from me at Cato: I go through the numerous and massive First Amendment and academic-freedom violations of Trump's proffered "compact" with universities and then talk about the mechanism by which it would be enforced, by way of what I describe as a "retroactive push-button guillotine."

So impressed and enamored with you and your team’s fearless and dedicated work. A great write up and well deserved.

This free speech group at Columbia is taking on Trump when the university won’t – and winning The Knight Institute is defending free speech at a school now synonymous with compromising on it

This is a perilous moment for democracy in the United States, but I couldn’t be prouder of the Knight Institute’s work right now, and I don’t take for granted that we have the freedom and resources to do it. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

In addition to our first two events (on Media Fragmentation and GenAI, join us!) you can read all the Center updates in our first newsletter: t.e2ma.net/webview/18gw...

Bonus, you can see how I accidentally indicated I was quitting to hundreds of my friends and colleagues (whoops)

Hah thank you Joanna! That's a kind way to say "forgot about social media for two years" but I'm getting back in the habit...

Oh fun, friend and @northeasternu.bsky.social Professor John Wihbey is presenting on his new book, Governing Babel, on 10/29 at @shorensteinctr.bsky.social

hksexeced.tfaforms.net/f/registrati...

My new op-ed with @lkfazio.bsky.social:

Trump sent a 'compact' to our universities. They should reject this devil's bargain.
Any institution that yields to these broad and intrusive demands would forever be subservient to the whims of the government.
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Senator Cruz Figure Out Who Was President From 2018 To 2020 Challenge; Impossible

I have a simple question for Senator Ted Cruz: Who was president in 2018? How about 2020? I ask because Cruz just released a “bombshell” report claiming that the Biden administration "converted" CISA into "the…

With:

Penn Profs Duncan Watts & Sandra González-Bailón @sgonzalezbailon.bsky.social

University of Copenhagen Professor Rasmus Kleis Nielsen

Veteran journalist & media executive S. Mitra Kalita @mitrakalita.bsky.social

Penn folks can attend in person: mediafragmentation-oncampus.eventbrite.com