#freepress — Public Fediverse posts

Republican President Donald Trump lashes out at another female journalist

https://www.ms.now/news/youre-the-worst-trump-rachel-scott-abc-female-journalist

#journalism #freepress #misogyny #1A #gender #Trump #MAGA #media #Republicans #GOP #ABC #RachelScott

@revjss A side note: If you can afford it, support Judd Legum's Popular Information newsletter. A #freepress is priceless.
#2A

@revjss A side note: If you can afford it, support Judd Legum's Popular Information newsletter. A #freepress is priceless.
#2A

@revjss A side note: If you can afford it, support Judd Legum's Popular Information newsletter. A #freepress is priceless.
#2A

@revjss A side note: If you can afford it, support Judd Legum's Popular Information newsletter. A #freepress is priceless.
#2A

A quotation from Hugo Black

In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell.

Hugo Black (1886–1971) American politician and jurist, US Supreme Court Justice (1937–71)
New York Times Co. v. United States 403 U.S. 713, 717 (1971) (concurring)

More about this quote: wist.info/black-hugo/36400/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hugoblack #scotus #censorship #firstamendment #fourthestate #freepress #freedomofthepress #government #journalism #media #meme #priorrestraint #SCOTUS #tyranny #watchdog

The #FCC has limited power over issues like this, & its own website states the agency “cannot prevent the broadcast of any particular point of view,” so the notion of “punishment” for #KristenWelker, the moderator of #NBC’s “Meet the Press,” would historically [& legally] be a nonstarter.

But #BrendanCarr has been quick to respond to #Trump’s requests to go after #media organizations. And he has taken aggressive action against some #FCC licensees…

#law #Constitution #FirstAmendment #FreePress

The posts were Trump’s most explicit efforts yet to direct the #FCC to carry out his wishes. FCC Chair #BrendanCarr, a Trump appointee & close ally, did not respond to request for comment.

#Trump posted a long missive Sunday about what he described as mischaracterizations of his endorsement record in primaries.

#law #democracy #US #Constitution #FirstAmendment #FreePress #FreeSpeech #authoritarianism #dictatorship #MafiaState

A quotation from Voltaire

Had there been a literary censorship in Rome, we should have had to-day neither Horace, Juvenal, nor the philosophical works of Cicero. If Milton, Dryden, Pope, and Locke had not been free, England would have had neither poets nor philosophers; there is something positively Turkish in proscribing printing; and hampering it is proscription.
 
[S’il y avait eu une inquisition littéraire à Rome, nous n’aurions aujourd’hui ni Horace, ni Juvénal, ni les œuvres philosophiques de Cicéron. Si Milton, Dryden, Pope, et Locke, n’avaient pas été libres l’Angleterre n’aurait eu ni des poètes, ni des philosophes: il y a je ne sais quoi de turc à proscrire l’imprimerie, et c’est la proscrire que la trop gêner.]

Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Letter (1733-06-20) to a First Commissioner [Lettre á un premier commis] [tr. Tallentyre (1919)]

More about this quote: wist.info/voltaire/85406/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #voltaire #authors #censorship #classics #freepress #freedomofthepress #history #literature #perspective

A quotation from Bertrand Russell

All the governments of the world adopt elaborate methods of concealing truths which they consider undesirable, and inflict various forms of penalty upon those who spread knowledge which is thought bad for the population This applies especially to knowledge of the kind which is considered seditious, and the kind which is considered obscene. I shall not give instances, since, if I did, I should myself fall under the ban of the law.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Education and the Social Order [Education and the Modern World], ch. 1 “The Individual versus the Citizen” (1932)

More about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/853…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bertrandrussell #censorship #control #freepress #freespeech #government #knowledge #obscenity #pornography #publicgood #sedition #suppression #treason #truth

A quotation from Voltaire

As you have it in your power, sir, to do some service to letters, I implore you not to clip the wings of our writers so closely, nor to turn into barn-door fowls those who, allowed a start, might become eagles; reasonable liberty permits the mind to soar — slavery makes it creep.
 
[Puisque vous êtes, monsieur, à portée de rendre service aux belles-lettres, ne rognez pas de si près les ailes à nos écrivains, et ne faites pas des volailles de basse-cour de ceux qui, en prenant l’essor, pourraient devenir des aigles: une liberté honnête élève l’esprit, et l’esclavage le fait ramper.]

Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
Letter (1733-06-20) to a First Commissioner [Lettre á un premier commis] [tr. Tallentyre (1919)]

More about this quote: wist.info/voltaire/85298/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #voltaire #censorship #control #enslavement #freepress #freedomofthepress #liberty #regulation #restrictions #writers

A quotation not from Voltaire

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of Francois-Marie Arouet]
(Spurious)

More about this misquote: wist.info/voltaire/34462/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #voltaire #defense #freepress #freespeech #freedomofexpression #freedomofspeech #freedomofthepress #integrity #principle #selfsacrifice

Friday, May 1, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/05/friday-may-1-2026/

Jonathan Cook: Britain Has Officially Criminalized Journalism
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/12/22/jonathan-cook-britain-has-officially-criminalized-journalism/
Reporting facts in Keir Starmer’s Britain can now land you in jail for 14 years as a terrorist. This is what authoritarian governments do. By Jonathan Cook Jonathan-Cook.net CN at 30 The moment the British government began proscribing political movements…
#Politics #CivilRights #Commentary #FreePress #FreeSpeech #Gaza #Israel #Legal #PressFreedom #UnitedKingdon #ArmedResistance #Authoritarianism #BbcNewsAt10 #Democracy #DirectAction #DominicCasciani #Hamas #InternationalLaw #JonathanCook #PalestineActionProscription #U.k.PrimeMinisterKeirStarmer #U.k.TerrorismAct

Jonathan Cook: Britain Has Officially Criminalized Journalism
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/12/22/jonathan-cook-britain-has-officially-criminalized-journalism/
Reporting facts in Keir Starmer’s Britain can now land you in jail for 14 years as a terrorist. This is what authoritarian governments do. By Jonathan Cook Jonathan-Cook.net CN at 30 The moment the British government began proscribing political movements…
#Politics #CivilRights #Commentary #FreePress #FreeSpeech #Gaza #Israel #Legal #PressFreedom #UnitedKingdon #ArmedResistance #Authoritarianism #BbcNewsAt10 #Democracy #DirectAction #DominicCasciani #Hamas #InternationalLaw #JonathanCook #PalestineActionProscription #U.k.PrimeMinisterKeirStarmer #U.k.TerrorismAct

Jonathan Cook: Britain Has Officially Criminalized Journalism
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/12/22/jonathan-cook-britain-has-officially-criminalized-journalism/
Reporting facts in Keir Starmer’s Britain can now land you in jail for 14 years as a terrorist. This is what authoritarian governments do. By Jonathan Cook Jonathan-Cook.net CN at 30 The moment the British government began proscribing political movements…
#Politics #CivilRights #Commentary #FreePress #FreeSpeech #Gaza #Israel #Legal #PressFreedom #UnitedKingdon #ArmedResistance #Authoritarianism #BbcNewsAt10 #Democracy #DirectAction #DominicCasciani #Hamas #InternationalLaw #JonathanCook #PalestineActionProscription #U.k.PrimeMinisterKeirStarmer #U.k.TerrorismAct

Jonathan Cook: Britain Has Officially Criminalized Journalism
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/12/22/jonathan-cook-britain-has-officially-criminalized-journalism/
Reporting facts in Keir Starmer’s Britain can now land you in jail for 14 years as a terrorist. This is what authoritarian governments do. By Jonathan Cook Jonathan-Cook.net CN at 30 The moment the British government began proscribing political movements…
#Politics #CivilRights #Commentary #FreePress #FreeSpeech #Gaza #Israel #Legal #PressFreedom #UnitedKingdon #ArmedResistance #Authoritarianism #BbcNewsAt10 #Democracy #DirectAction #DominicCasciani #Hamas #InternationalLaw #JonathanCook #PalestineActionProscription #U.k.PrimeMinisterKeirStarmer #U.k.TerrorismAct

Jonathan Cook: Britain Has Officially Criminalized Journalism
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/12/22/jonathan-cook-britain-has-officially-criminalized-journalism/
Reporting facts in Keir Starmer’s Britain can now land you in jail for 14 years as a terrorist. This is what authoritarian governments do. By Jonathan Cook Jonathan-Cook.net CN at 30 The moment the British government began proscribing political movements…
#Politics #CivilRights #Commentary #FreePress #FreeSpeech #Gaza #Israel #Legal #PressFreedom #UnitedKingdon #ArmedResistance #Authoritarianism #BbcNewsAt10 #Democracy #DirectAction #DominicCasciani #Hamas #InternationalLaw #JonathanCook #PalestineActionProscription #U.k.PrimeMinisterKeirStarmer #U.k.TerrorismAct

Secret Plans for Media Censorship
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/11/13/secret-plans-for-media-censorshiphip-in-australia/
William Evans reports on efforts by Australia’s Department of Home Affairs to revive the four-decade dead D-Notice system. By William Evans Declassified Australia CN at 30 Documents obtained by Declassified Australia show that following the June 2019 Federal Police raids…
#Politics #Australia #Censorship #CivilRights #ClimateChange #FreePress #Secrecy #U.s. #UnitedKingdon #AlanRusbridger #AnnikaSmethurst #AustralianFederalPolice(afp) #AustralianHomeAffairsSecretaryMikePezzullo #Britain’sDefenceAndSecurityMediaAdvisoryCommittee(dsma) #DNoticeSystem #EdwardSnowden #Journalism #MattKennard #MediaEntertainmentAndArtsAlliance(meaa) #PeterDutton #PeterGreste #PrimeMinisterScottMorrison #TheGuardian #WilliamEvans

Secret Plans for Media Censorship
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/11/13/secret-plans-for-media-censorshiphip-in-australia/
William Evans reports on efforts by Australia’s Department of Home Affairs to revive the four-decade dead D-Notice system. By William Evans Declassified Australia CN at 30 Documents obtained by Declassified Australia show that following the June 2019 Federal Police raids…
#Politics #Australia #Censorship #CivilRights #ClimateChange #FreePress #Secrecy #U.s. #UnitedKingdon #AlanRusbridger #AnnikaSmethurst #AustralianFederalPolice(afp) #AustralianHomeAffairsSecretaryMikePezzullo #Britain’sDefenceAndSecurityMediaAdvisoryCommittee(dsma) #DNoticeSystem #EdwardSnowden #Journalism #MattKennard #MediaEntertainmentAndArtsAlliance(meaa) #PeterDutton #PeterGreste #PrimeMinisterScottMorrison #TheGuardian #WilliamEvans

Secret Plans for Media Censorship
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/11/13/secret-plans-for-media-censorshiphip-in-australia/
William Evans reports on efforts by Australia’s Department of Home Affairs to revive the four-decade dead D-Notice system. By William Evans Declassified Australia CN at 30 Documents obtained by Declassified Australia show that following the June 2019 Federal Police raids…
#Politics #Australia #Censorship #CivilRights #ClimateChange #FreePress #Secrecy #U.s. #UnitedKingdon #AlanRusbridger #AnnikaSmethurst #AustralianFederalPolice(afp) #AustralianHomeAffairsSecretaryMikePezzullo #Britain’sDefenceAndSecurityMediaAdvisoryCommittee(dsma) #DNoticeSystem #EdwardSnowden #Journalism #MattKennard #MediaEntertainmentAndArtsAlliance(meaa) #PeterDutton #PeterGreste #PrimeMinisterScottMorrison #TheGuardian #WilliamEvans

Secret Plans for Media Censorship
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/11/13/secret-plans-for-media-censorshiphip-in-australia/
William Evans reports on efforts by Australia’s Department of Home Affairs to revive the four-decade dead D-Notice system. By William Evans Declassified Australia CN at 30 Documents obtained by Declassified Australia show that following the June 2019 Federal Police raids…
#Politics #Australia #Censorship #CivilRights #ClimateChange #FreePress #Secrecy #U.s. #UnitedKingdon #AlanRusbridger #AnnikaSmethurst #AustralianFederalPolice(afp) #AustralianHomeAffairsSecretaryMikePezzullo #Britain’sDefenceAndSecurityMediaAdvisoryCommittee(dsma) #DNoticeSystem #EdwardSnowden #Journalism #MattKennard #MediaEntertainmentAndArtsAlliance(meaa) #PeterDutton #PeterGreste #PrimeMinisterScottMorrison #TheGuardian #WilliamEvans

Secret Plans for Media Censorship
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/11/13/secret-plans-for-media-censorshiphip-in-australia/
William Evans reports on efforts by Australia’s Department of Home Affairs to revive the four-decade dead D-Notice system. By William Evans Declassified Australia CN at 30 Documents obtained by Declassified Australia show that following the June 2019 Federal Police raids…
#Politics #Australia #Censorship #CivilRights #ClimateChange #FreePress #Secrecy #U.s. #UnitedKingdon #AlanRusbridger #AnnikaSmethurst #AustralianFederalPolice(afp) #AustralianHomeAffairsSecretaryMikePezzullo #Britain’sDefenceAndSecurityMediaAdvisoryCommittee(dsma) #DNoticeSystem #EdwardSnowden #Journalism #MattKennard #MediaEntertainmentAndArtsAlliance(meaa) #PeterDutton #PeterGreste #PrimeMinisterScottMorrison #TheGuardian #WilliamEvans

‘Polarizing’ *journalist* #BariWeiss to become #CBSNews editor-in-chief in wake of controversial #Paramount merger

Opponents say Weiss’s ‘anti-woke’, pro-Israel stance will be like ‘dropping a grenade’ in the newsroom

#FourthEstate #journalism #media #Trump #censorship #ViewpointDiscrimination #propaganda #law #FreePress
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bari-weiss-cbs-paramount-merger-b2838771.html

From PEN America:

A Five-Alarm Fire for Free Speech

The Trump Administration’s 100 Day Assault on Free Expression
https://pen.org/report/trump-administration-100-days/#heading-9

#Press #Journalism #FreePress #PENAmerica

…[#MartyBaron said], #Bezos’ closer proximity to #Trump at the inauguration & through #Amazon’s production deal on a #MelaniaTrump documentary did not appear to fulfill his public goal of increasing the #WashingtonPost’s independence. “It was a sign of dependence, not independence—the dependence of Amazon, #BlueOrigin & Bezos on Donald Trump," he wrote.

#MafiaState #kleptocracy #FourthEstate #journalism #media #FreePress #censorship #propaganda #trumpaganda #ViewPointDiscrimination #law #USpol

“It was only weeks ago that The Post described itself as providing coverage for ‘all of America,’” #MartyBaron wrote in his statement. “Now its opinion pages will be open to only some of America, those who think exactly as he does.”

…Baron also accused #Bezos of acquiescing to #Trump & the his attacks on the #press for his own business interests.

#MafiaState #kleptocracy #FourthEstate #journalism #media #FreePress #censorship #propaganda #trumpaganda #ViewPointDiscrimination #law #USpol

#Bezos said on Wed he would mandate the paper’s #opinions section to focus on supporting #FreeMarkets & #PersonalLiberties, saying those pieces w/opposing views can “be left to be published by others.”

The move was rebuked by current & former #WashingtonPost staffers, though it was praised in a trolling post by #Trump’s WH.

#MartyBaron #FourthEstate #journalism #media #FreePress #censorship #propaganda #trumpaganda #ViewPointDiscrimination #law #USpol

Legendary #WashingtonPost Editor, #MartyBaron, Slams #Bezos for ‘Betraying’ Paper with #MAGA Makeover

Fmr WaPo executive editor Marty Baron condemned #JeffBezos’ revamp of the paper’s #opinions section in a statement to the Daily Beast, saying he was “sad & disgusted” by the #billionaire’s demands.

#FourthEstate #journalism #media #FreePress #censorship #propaganda #trumpaganda #ViewPointDiscrimination #Trump #law #USpol
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-wapo-editor-marty-baron-sad-and-disgusted-at-bezos-opinions-overhaul/

“I will always be thankful for the opportunity I was given to work alongside a team of opinion #journalists whose commitment to strong, innovative, reported commentary inspired me every day,” #DavidShipley wrote.

#WashingtonPost #JeffBezos #UnitedStates #press #journalism #billionaires #plutocracy #broligarchy #ViewPointDiscrimination #propaganda #censorship #FreePress #democracy #DemocracyDiesInDarkness

Leavitt did not provide specific details of how the plan might work, but it would allow #Trump and his aides to handpick which #reporters & #media personalities were granted the ability to ask him questions & observe his behavior.

#transparency #ViewpointDiscrimination #censorship #propaganda #Trumpaganda #law #FreePress #journalism #news #democracy

Thoughts for today: Jamuary 20, 2025

While my political views are for the most part completely opposite of the late Senator Barry Goldwater, I do find many quotes attributed to him both insightful and thought provoking. The quote below seems especially thought provoking for today:

“Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. Their mistaken course stems from false notions of equality, ladies and gentlemen. Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism. Fellow Republicans, it is the cause of Republicanism to resist concentrations of power, private or public, which enforce such conformity and inflict such despotism. It is the cause of Republicanism to ensure that power remains in the hands of the people. ”
― Barry Goldwater

#USPolitics #AbsolutePower #Despotism #FreePress #HumanRights

Reference: Good Reads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/369997.Barry_M_Goldwater

Who is next? You or I for taking pictures of protest signs? This is a very slippery slope to #Fascism!

#NYC #journalist who documented #ProPalestinian vandalism arrested on felony #HateCrime charges

“This is an extremely serious charge against a #journalist. If he did not a participant in these events, this could be a brazen violation of the right of the press to gather news.” -- attorney Robert Balin

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Updated 3:46 PM EDT, August 6, 2024

NEW YORK (AP) — "A New York City journalist was arrested on felony hate crime charges Tuesday after filming a pro-#Palestinian protest earlier this summer in which activists hurled red paint at the homes of top leaders at the #BrooklynMuseum.

"#SamuelSeligson, an independent videographer, was not involved in the #vandalism, but is accused of traveling in a car with the #activists and entering private property with them, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the case.

"The official spoke with The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

"Leena Widdi, an attorney for Seligson, said New York Police Department officers twice raided Seligson’s Brooklyn apartment in the past week before he turned himself in early Tuesday.

"She described the arrest and use of a hate crime statute as an 'appalling' overreach by police against a journalist with a city-issued press credential. Seligson, who is Jewish, is a fixture at New York City protests who has licensed and sold footage to mainstream outlets, including Reuters and ABC News.

"'Samuel is being charged for alleged behavior that is protected by the First amendment and consistent with his job as a credentialed member of the press,' Widdi said in an email. 'What is even more concerning, however, is that this member of the press is being charged with a hate crime.'"

https://apnews.com/article/gaza-nypd-sam-seligson-brooklyn-museum-eea8ee12248d38d856fe5cabcac7a0d1

#FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreePress #ACAB #FreePalestine #PressFreedom #HumanRights #Protest

Opinion: Child marriage is legal in Michigan. That has to change.

https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2023/05/26/michigan-child-marriage-lawmakers/70245627007/

#FreePress #ChildMarriageBanMI #EndChildMarriage #ChildRights #LegalReformMI #ProtectChildrenMI #Politics #News

Opinion: Child marriage is legal in Michigan. That has to change.

https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2023/05/26/michigan-child-marriage-lawmakers/70245627007/

#FreePress #ChildMarriageBanMI #EndChildMarriage #ChildRights #LegalReformMI #ProtectChildrenMI #Politics #News

Opinion: Child marriage is legal in Michigan. That has to change.

https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2023/05/26/michigan-child-marriage-lawmakers/70245627007/

#FreePress #ChildMarriageBanMI #EndChildMarriage #ChildRights #LegalReformMI #ProtectChildrenMI #Politics #News