Margaret Sullivan

How to turn Jimmy Kimmel's return into a free-speech juggernaut Plus, two cringe-inducing examples of what the New York Times should stop doing.

As usual, @sulliview.bsky.social is on the nose:
How to turn Jimmy Kimmel's return into a free-speech juggernaut
Plus, two cringe-inducing examples of what the New York Times should stop doing.
margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/how-to-tur...

Preserving Our Sanity, During Insane Times. The daily flow of disaster is simply overwhelming. Here are some people with reflections on how to avoid becoming paralyzed and instead take positive steps.

"There are more of us, than of them. . . .

"That doesn't stop what RFK Jr. is doing to public health, or Pete Hegseth to the military. But it's crucial to bear in mind."
— @jfallows.bsky.social

amNY warned about the extreme hostility to journalists from ICE agents at immigration courts in NY months ago.

Now their reporter Dean Moses is one of several senselessly assaulted by ICE for doing their jobs. www.amny.com/immigration/...

How to turn Jimmy Kimmel's return into a free-speech juggernaut Plus, two cringe-inducing examples of what the New York Times should stop doing.

Don’t miss @sulliview.bsky.social’s column today. She nailed it!

open.substack.com/pub/margaret...

How to turn Jimmy Kimmel's return into a free-speech juggernaut Plus, two cringe-inducing examples of what the New York Times should stop doing.

As usual @sulliview.bsky.social nails the NYTimes MAGA interviews. "Must we go there once again? It brings to mind those endless TV interviews of Trump voters in Midwest diners that told me nothing I didn’t know before. There must be a better use of journalistic resources and readers’ time."

How to turn Jimmy Kimmel's return into a free-speech juggernaut Plus, two cringe-inducing examples of what the New York Times should stop doing.

This from @sulliview.bsky.social is the perfect description of what makes David Brooks's lofty both-sidesy columns so infuriating: "It’s one of those long, overly intellectualized Brooks pieces that starts out wrong and develops the flawed thesis endlessly."

How to turn Jimmy Kimmel's return into a free-speech juggernaut Plus, two cringe-inducing examples of what the New York Times should stop doing.

‘Americans need to get engaged and get loud about this kind of silencing, even if the subject matter seems a lot more obscure than a comedian’s late-night monologue’

@sulliview.bsky.social on how to extend the Kimmel victory to other free-speech matters
margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/how-to-tur...

Will Our Corporate Media Godzillas Have the Guts to Defend Democracy? Five companies—five—now control 90 percent of the media marketplace. And they are showing no commitment to anything resembling the public interest.

Always read @normornstein.bsky.social. His latest here: https://newrepublic.com/article/201041/corporate-media-consolidation-defend-democracy-trump

The TikTok deal puts even more media in the hands of the super-rich | Margaret Sullivan Trump is clearing the way for US investors to control a wildly popular platform where millions get their news

The ongoing consolidation of our media infrastructure by a handful of right-wing oligarchs poses a profound threat to any hope for democracy in the U.S. Read this piece by @sulliview.bsky.social:

A blunt, timely question from @sulliview.bsky.social:

Local news is doing an excellent job on the ICE campaign in our city. This from the @chicago.suntimes.com is an especially detailed status report that says:
-ICE is becoming more aggressive
-The govt is NOT mostly arresting known criminals
-Inhumane conditions at Broadview immigration lockup

Legacy media's destructive addiction to describing Trump's 'winning' Plus: Why disillusioned Democrats are abandoning traditional news outlets

Another precise, smart, sobering column from @sulliview.bsky.social today: open.substack.com/pub/margaret...

Rid me of this meddlesome priest, Pam! How mob boss Trump sped through all of Watergate in just a single weekend.

Let’s be clear: What Donald Trump said in public, in plain view, on his own social media feed is more corrupt and dangerous than anything Richard Nixon was caught on tape saying in the White House tapes. www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/rid-me-of-...

New Interview: www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a...

Legacy media's destructive addiction to describing Trump's 'winning' Plus: Why disillusioned Democrats are abandoning traditional news outlets

Another very good column by @sulliview.bsky.social

margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/legacy-med...

Legacy media's destructive addiction to describing Trump's 'winning' Plus: Why disillusioned Democrats are abandoning traditional news outlets

"One of the worst habits of the mainstream media is seeing politics and government as a game. Or maybe a horserace, but definitely something with clear winners and losers" @sulliview.bsky.social

With the media under threat, this is a failure of mission.
margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/legacy-med...

Legacy media's destructive addiction to describing Trump's 'winning' Plus: Why disillusioned Democrats are abandoning traditional news outlets

By @sulliview.bsky.social: "The public interest is not what many mainstream media outlets are focused on. They are focused on not looking biased; they are focused on performative fairness to Trump and to MAGA — even while this president and his allies are trying to destroy what journalists do"

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.

Thanks very much

Yanking Jimmy Kimmel’s show is a new low for free speech in America | Margaret Sullivan Kimmel’s sudden defenestration may be a political success for Trump but it’s a dire sign for free speech in America

"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.

Pentagon demands journalists pledge to not obtain unauthorized material Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is imposing strict new rules that would severely limit the ability of journalists to report on the Pentagon.

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.

But its sole source for Robinson’s alleged leftist leanings was this unnamed classmate. And soon after the story ran, the person who had put The Guardian in touch with Robinson’s classmate contacted the newsroom, having just seen “screenshots of a private chat in which the source is joking around with their friends” and become “fearful that the source has deliberately misled us.” So The Guardian reached out again to the classmate, asking what the truth was. The backtracking started right away. The Guardian editor characterizes the classmate’s response this way: “Oh, it was all such a long time ago. I misremembered. Actually, politically, he [Robinson] was neutral to left-leaning. I don’t really know. I just can’t remember stuff so well.” You can see the problem. Within hours of claiming that Robinson was “really leftist,” the source flipped the script. But not all the way. The source isn’t saying they got it wrong, just that they weren’t sure they got it right. So did the source have a bad memory? Or was this person just having a blast, making a mainstream publication look foolish? Whatever the motive, the Guardian editor told me, “at that minute, we’re under an obligation to correct the record as quickly and transparently as possible. So that is what we did.”

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-...

How Trump’s return is pushing the media to self-censor “A lot of the guardrails are down,” says veteran journalist Margaret Sullivan.

"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.

What gets you fired — or celebrated — on cable news? An answer in four parts: Matthew Dowd, Scott Jennings, Jesse Watters, and Brian Kilmeade

"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.

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

I’ve kept mine. I find the news coverage important. But I can understand a protest cancellation.

Self interest is a pretty big motivator, as is self protection.

What a concept