The Media and Democracy Project

The NYT's Michael Grynbaum reported that this is the note that Bari Weiss sent to CBS News staffers this morning (1/2)

Bari Weiss launched The Free Press with funding from Peter Thiel allies Marc Andreessen and David Sacks. She’s the new editor-in-chief of CBS News. 1/

Bringing a Survey to a Gun Fight “Pollingism” Has Failed Democrats and Voters. Here’s Why, and What to Do Instead.

This is a long, thoughtful, and brilliant post about how to understand political campaigning & strategy from one of the progressive left's most brilliant thinkers and practitioners @anatosaurus.bsky.social. Read it and listen to her: Bringing a Survey to a Gun Fight open.substack.com/pub/michaelp...

amendments thereto—a power which, more than any othe ought to produce universal alarm, because it is levell against the right of freely examining public characters and measures, and of tree communication among the people? thereon, which has ever been justly deemed the only effec tual guardian of every other right. John Adams had expressed virtually the same idea thi three years earlier in his treatise "A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law." He wrote: "Liberty cannot be pro served without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right... and a desire to know; but besides this, ther have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean of the characters and conduct of their rulers.") Madison's phrase "the right of freely examining pubic characters and measures" really expresses the premise of the American political system: the Madisonian premise, we may call it. It tells us why Americans should scent danger when a government tries to stop a newspaper from disclosing the origins of an unsuccessful war, as the Nixon administration did when the New York Times began publishing the Pentagon Papers on the Vietnam War in 1971, or accuses a newspaper of endangering national security by disclosing secret and illegal

The people who built the US Constitutional framework cared a huge amount about info environment.

“[The people] have a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefensible right, to knowledge about the character and conduct of their rulers” - John Adams.

The DC Circuit is set to consider whether Trump violated the First Amendment by expelling the Associated Press from the White House press pool. @knightcolumbia.org's brief, just filed. knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...

See Trump’s text exchange with Jake Tapper | CNN Politics In an exclusive text interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, President Donald Trump provided new insight into the ongoing ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas nearly two years after the October 7th attac...

This highlights the pitfalls of access journalism. Conditional agenda and focus determined by the subject. Not the media person. Asymmetrical power balance leads to illusion of journalism; when it comes with strings attached.
- contacted again ?
- future “comments” etc
www.cnn.com/2025/10/05/p...

New conspiracies over Trump’s health swirl after CNN text interview The president famously does not use email and is not known to frequently use text messages

@jaketapper.bsky.social
This is not an interview. This is not a substitute for asking questions that prove the president’s grasp of reality + declaring war on American cities based on provably false claims.

www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

The Sora AI disinfo nightmare is here

For more like this:
tiktok.com/@drewharwell
instagram.com/bydrewharwell

@jaketapper.bsky.social

Are you watching POTUS speeches?

At what point will you acknowledge #TrumpIsUnfit

The Founders enshrined 1A to empower journalists to defend democracy at this point not covering this is a dereliction of duty.

bsky.app/profile/atru...

With the announcement of Bari Weiss as EIC of CBS News, it's another great day to support independent and nonprofit media. Oregon spotlight:

KLCC: @klccoregon.bsky.social

Oregon Capital Chronicle: @oregoncapitalchronicle.com

OPB: @opb.org

Ashland News: @ashland-news.bsky.social

📌 my feed

JUST IN: Chicago journalistsa re suing DHS and ICE over force used against reporters:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

🚨THIS IS A BIG DEAL. Chicago journalists are suing the Trump administration for using excessive force against reporters & protestors in violation of the 1A.
The press here is doing astounding work documenting how ICE is out of control. The violence they face in doing so is obscene.

Trump has sat for only 12 ‘daily’ intelligence briefings since taking office The scarcity of the President’s Daily Briefings comes as he pursues high-stakes diplomacy with America’s friends and foes.

Has there been any recent reporting on the President’s “Presidential Daily Briefing” and information diet?

(Politico 5/9/2025) 👇

www.politico.com/news/2025/05...

The Debate Style That Propelled Charlie Kirk’s Movement A close read of some of Mr. Kirk’s most viral exchanges shows an approach that was polished and skillful — if not always fair.

This sort of coverage reminds me of those film critics who praised the cinematographic techniques of Leni Riefenstahl while ignoring the underlying message:

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Last week Jesse Watters spoke to man named Eric who claimed he was formerly a member of antifa. Two years ago Watters interviewed Ramon "Mundo" Mendoza, a former Mexican Mafia member. Some folks thought the men looked similar. This is a side by side comparison. 🤷‍♀️

Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch pay for this to brainwash Americans.

Remember: #TubiFundsFox

Thank you @decodingfoxnews.bsky.social

YouTube video by Institute for Policy Studies Authoritarianism and The Weaponization of Social Media

My talk last week about Authoritarianism and The Weaponization of Social Media is now up. Please share if you like it.

📣 Calling all journalists, media orgs, and NGOs in the Western Balkans!

@earthjournalism.bsky.social's Western Balkans Environmental Media Grant 2025 is now open & includes €10,000 to support reporting on biodiversity, climate, & more.

🗓️ Deadline: Oct 30. https://twp.ai/9PX5GX

The Guardian (@theguardian.com) should know better than this - the US gov’t characterizing as an armed conflict its extra-judicial killing of drug smugglers on the high seas, does not make it so. Media should not legitimize the false claim.
www.theguardian.com/...

anyways

www.liberalcurrents.com/forming-an-o...

Hi @mcopelov.bsky.social

Great OpEd by @willbunch.bsky.social h/t to Philly Inquirer for publishing.

bsky.app/profile/medi...

Unprecedented constitutional crimes every day, & yet somehow it’s still not the main front page headline every day. The noise is getting covered. The signal is absent.

Hello @thomaszimmer.bsky.social

flagging this OpEd by Will Bunch at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

bsky.app/profile/medi...

Why we can’t allow Trump to ban that other f-word | Will Bunch The column the Trump regime wants to ban: America has to call out surging fascism in order to defeat it.

Trump and Vance want badly to stop you from using the f-word

That's because if we accurately call out rising fascism from the streets of Chicago to the waters of the Caribbean, we will understand that we must fight back with the moral strength of war

My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/trum...

NYT: Oregon officials vent fury as California national guard heads to Portland

NYT headline somehow makes Oregon officials sound like the out of control aggressors

Why we can’t allow Trump to ban that other f-word | Will Bunch The column the Trump regime wants to ban: America has to call out surging fascism in order to defeat it.

Must read from @willbunch.bsky.social
@inquirer.com
“Defeating fascism requires a very different type of posture-both politically and morally-than might an old-fashioned political quarrel between liberals and conservatives…we must declare ourselves anti-fascists.”
www.inquirer.com/opinion/trum...

What a day for the Third Amendment!

bsky.app/profile/acyn...

We would appreciate @sulliview.bsky.social @nhannahjones.bsky.social @bgrueskin.bsky.social @jayrosen.bsky.social sharing some insights why newsroom leaders are choosing to *not* cover these public, self-evident and worrisome videos.

It’s been hard 24h for Georgians. Grave mistakes were made. Yesterday, Georgia lost a battle against Russian takeover - but the fight for freedom &democracy continues. If there’s one thing yst proved, it’s that resistance hasnt disappeared. They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds. 1/12