Attention to the Unseen

Alan Greenblatt writes: The censorship you never hear about may be the worst, or at least the most insidious. Thankfully, many journalists are speaking out at a crucial moment for the press. Virtually every major outlet refused the Pentagon’s edict that they publish or broadcast only information handed to them by the Department of Defense (which the administration calls the Department of War). And there have been several other examples just in recent days of journalists leaving their jobs in…

Read More Read More

  Eoin Higgins writes: Only a billionaire could look at the sclerotic state of network television news and conclude that the problem is that coverage is not sufficiently to the right. Yet that seems to be exactly the conclusion drawn by David Ellison, the billionaire whose company Skydance just bought CBS through a purchase of its parent, Paramount. Ellison’s latest move was to acquire the conservative outlet The Free Press and make the site’s founder Bari Weiss the editor-in-chief of…

Read More Read More

Jonathan Reiss writes: The FCC holds tremendous sway over broadcast media, but few administrations have pushed the boundaries of its power — and few appointees at the agency have openly talked about doing so with such nakedly political aims the way Carr does. In his effort to bring the media to heel, Trump could not invent a better ally than Carr, who has laid out a program for weaponizing the FCC against Trump’s enemies. Do you even understand the level…

Read More Read More

Politico reports: The Pentagon on Friday said reporters who cover the agency could access the building only if they agreed not to publish certain information, an unprecedented move that demands media outlets hand the department vast control over what they publish. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, in a Friday evening email, said journalists could continue to enter the Defense Department only if they sign a note saying they will not publish classified information or some less sensitive documents that are not…

Read More Read More

A free election can still result in authoritarian rule. Photo illustration: Douglas Rissing, iStock/Getty Images Plus By Karrin Vasby Anderson, Colorado State University In an authoritarian state, the leader engages in unconstitutional or undemocratic practices for the purpose of consolidating power. Key components of authoritarianism include rejecting democratic rules; denying the legitimacy of opponents; tolerating or encouraging political violence; and curtailing the civil liberties of opponents. Since he took office for a second time, President Donald Trump has sent National…

Read More Read More