Testifying at a Senate forum focused on free speech. (Screen grab via C-SPAN)
On Monday afternoon, I walked into room G-50 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., and took a seat at the witness table. A small placard with my name sat in front of a microphone, alongside a glass of water and notepad. Above me were the nameplates of Senators Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren, who convened what they called a “spotlight forum” to examine how the Trump administration is weaponizing government power to stifle free speech.
In a bit of a twist, I was there not to cover the story, but to testify. Alongside Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Anna Gomez, Protect Democracy counsel Conor Gaffney, and FIRE chief counsel Robert Corn-Revere, Blumenthal’s team had invited me last week to share what I’ve observed as a reporter covering the media in this moment.
Blumenthal and Warren opened the session, but they weren’t alone for long. Over the course of two hours…
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The Washington Post building. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
O'Neal's Fox Trot: Sometimes the placement of a story says it all. The WaPo’s new opinion boss, Adam O’Neal, gave his first interview since taking the role to... Fox News, an outlet that has spent years bashing the newspaper. O’Neal, who has cleaned house in the opinion division as he pushes its pages to the right, brushed off criticism by attributing it to what he called the paper’s “highly partisan” readership—quite the message to deliver when speaking to a hyper-partisan outlet! “Is it possible that highly partisan readers will no longer like it when we’re not just aligning on one side on every issue?” he asked rhetorically. Yes, O’Neal answered, saying if…
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