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The Media and Democracy Project

@mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social
28K followers 4K following 4.1K posts

Non-partisan civic advocacy group working to improve our media and defend our democracy 🇺🇸 #PressFreedom #BlockTheMerger mediaanddemocracyproject.org All our links: linktr.ee/FixMediaNow

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ProPublica @propublica.org · 15h
NEW: The Trump administration keeps denying and downplaying that immigration agents have been detaining Americans. It’s wrong. We’ve found more than 500 U.S. citizens have been held against their will, including handcuffed or held at gunpoint.
projects.propublica.org
More Than 500 U.S. Citizens Have Been Detained, Including Handcuffed or Held at Gunpoint, in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown — ProPublica
The government doesn’t track how often immigration officers detain U.S. citizens. So ProPublica did. We’ve found more than 500 Americans who were held against their will during this Trump administrati...
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Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 4h
I wrote about Elon Musk, and why we need to talk about him first and foremost not as an entrepreneur or rocketeer, but as the world’s most powerful white supremacist. religiondispatches.org/2026/10/06/e...
religiondispatches.org
Elon Musk, the World’s Richest Human, Is a White Supremacist
The latest warning about the Republican Party’s far-right turn has come from the unlikeliest of places: conservative commentator, George W. Bush Chief of Staff, and renowned Republican strategist Karl...
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jfbaron1.bsky.social @jfbaron1.bsky.social · 7h
Here is one way to help support democracy through responsible election coverage.
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R5_to_philly / R5Philly @r5-to-philly.bsky.social · 6h
bsky.app/profile/medi...
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Committee for the First Amendment @1acommittee.bsky.social · 6h
And so it begins, with thanks to CA electeds who caved to the oligarchs. @gavinnewsom.bsky.social @robbonta.bsky.social @xavierbecerra.bsky.social @mayor.lacity.gov So afraid of threatened job loss they backed 100% guaranteed job loss. 🥀
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Ann Telnaes @anntelnaes.bsky.social · 9h
...and 35 years ago on Oct 11th the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings began. Nothing has changed.
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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 7h
Today the Ellisons seize control of Warner Bros primarily bc of Trump’s corrupted FCC, DoJ & FTC. The consequences of this will be profound across culture, journalism, & democracy. To summarize this hostile takeover in one word, it was CORRUPT. (Dem AGs also failed) apnews.com/article/warn...?
apnews.com
Paramount completes its takeover of Warner Bros to become one Hollywood giant known as Skydance
The companies completed the deal on Tuesday, ushering in a new Hollywood giant with the now shorter “Skydance” nametag.
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 9h
Most state attorneys general released Meta from Cambridge Analytica-related claims as part of the child safety settlement. New Mexico wasn't part of that deal, and a jury there just found 26 of 29 past statements about Cambridge Analytica, hate speech and misinformation willfully deceptive.
buff.ly
Eight Years On, Cambridge Analytica Scandal Catches Up With Meta in Santa Fe
A jury found that Meta—then Facebook—misled the public in statements about Cambridge Analytica and its policies on hate speech, violence and misinformation.
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Lynn @lynnf.bsky.social · 23h
@macfarlanenews.bsky.social
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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Americans need to understand the stakes of the upcoming elections. Too many news orgs rely on “horse race coverage”, “sanewashing”, “false equivalence”, “euphemism” and other inadequacies. Endorse our pro-democracy election coverage guidelines. www.mediaanddemocracyproject.org/2026-electio...
Ahead of the midterms, journalists must:
• Make threats to democracy clear.
Protect Americans from disinformation.
I Cover elections like they matter more than sports scores.
MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY
PROJECT
Sign our open letter asking for pro-democracy coverage by visiting mediaanddemocracyproject.org
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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
A hallmark of democratic backsliding is government leaders stealing from taxpayers and using public funds to try to get themselves electoral advantages. Backsliding countries keep the form of elections, but corrupt leaders render them no longer free and fair by putting a state thumb on the scale.
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Rob Rogers @rob-rogers.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Trump has decided that the big tech companies, the same ones responsible for rogue AI attacks, can just regulate themselves. Great. www.patreon.com/robrogers/po...
patreon.com
AI Monster | Rob Rogers
Trump has decided that the big tech companies, the same ones responsible for rogue AI attacks, can just regulate themselves. Great.
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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
A 🧵 Announcement: Our 2026 Pro-democracy Election Coverage guidelines. Americans need to understand the stakes of the upcoming elections. Here's how to cover the mid-terms like democracy depends on it. 👉Please read and endorse the guidelines. 1/n www.mediaanddemocracyproject.org/2026-electio...
mediaanddemocracyproject.org
Add Your Name: 2026 Election Coverage Guidelines Open Letter
Sign our open letter to American journalists, editors, and media executives. Join us in demanding pro-democracy election coverage of the 2026 midterms!
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Ron Bishop @rcbsam.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Important and necessary work. If even a few editors listen, we’ll be better off.
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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The facts are shocking enough, but the bigger reason that the Cornell gang-rape case has broken through is that everyday Americans are sick of the rich and powerful and their sons getting away with it And everyone knows this fish stinks from the head My new column www.inquirer.com/opinion/corn...
inquirer.com
For a fed-up America, the elite impunity of the Cornell rape case is the last straw | Will Bunch
A nation’s frustration with rich and powerful men boils over after a stunning rape allegation at an Ivy League college.
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Dannagal Goldthwaite Young @dannagal.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This crucial work can help journalists cover elections in ways that serve - rather than undermine - democracy. Useful guidelines and an important mission.
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Data & Society @datasociety.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
For a live, sold-out recording of the @techpolicypress.bsky.social podcast, "The Nerd Reich" author @gilduran.com and D&S Director of Research @alicetiara.bsky.social talk about technology, ideology, and power. Listen now! www.techpolicy.press/gil-durn-map...
techpolicy.press
Gil Durán Maps the Rise of the 'Nerd Reich'
Justin Hendrix and Alice Marwick in conversation with Gil Durán, author of the new book The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy.
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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Be more than a passive consumer of news. “How you can demand better media coverage as the midterms loom” Examples of what is working and what must stop. Plus: some great reporting and two scary developments Timely from @sulliview.bsky.social margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/how-you-ca...
margaretsullivan.substack.com
How you can demand better media coverage as the midterms loom
Examples of what is working and what must stop. Plus: some great reporting and two scary developments
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Jenny Cohn @jennycohn.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Heads up. Milei introduced his Thiel-aligned “Super RIGI bill” in an op-ed, “opening with “praise for the Dutch East India Company.” As noted by others, the Dutch East India Company was granted a “commercial monopoly, its own army, currency & legal system, & the power to declare war.” 7/31/26 … 1/
CECO
Latin America is becoming a laboratory for tech-supremacism
share.googleMilei introduced the Super RIGI project in an op-ed for The Financial Times, opening with praise for the Dutch East India Company (VOC), a corporation that fused corporate and governmental power. It was granted a commercial monopoly, its own army, currency and legal system, and the power to declare war. It built its wealth on colonial exploitation and the enslavement of hundreds of thousands of people. In this sense, the Super RIGI is the legal framework for a foreign-flagged VOC to operate on Argentine soil.
Milei celebrates the VOC as the birthplace of limited liability, "the invention that allowed capitalism to develop its full potential", a supposed gift from the West to the world, upon which Western superiority rests.
Shortly before Thiel's arrival, Argentina's Ministry of Human Capital announced on social media the creation of a social information integration platform called the "Social Digital Twin" (Gemelo Digital Social), de-
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Gillian Brockell @gillianbrockell.com · 04/10/2026
There are new and specific numbers in this story, so it’s worth reading. I continue to resent the lack of credit to Nick Schwellenbach at @pogo.org, Dan Friedman at @motherjones.com, and me, who have previously reported every other aspect of this story, including that the sale prices were very high.
Kristi Noem's Agency Gave Her Donor a Lucrative Contract Just Before She
Left
The Homeland Security Department signed a multi-million dollar agreement to buy five aircraft from a company owned by a political contributor of the secretary on her last day, documents show.
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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Does anyone tthink the smartest reporters in DC don't know Trump is building a dictatorship? Of course they know. The question is why they won't tell the public loudly and clearly.
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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"A liberalism that forcefully confronts authoritarianism, oligarchy, climate change, and the numerous other enormous challenges that we face will almost certainly be one that is less attuned to the views of America's most influential paper." newrepublic.com/article/2160...
newrepublic.com
The Left Must Fight The New York Times’ Monopoly Too
The paper’s editorial vision is out of step with the robust liberalism needed today.
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Nancy Levine Stearns @nancylevinestearns.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
🚨 Trump is disappearing refugees into the hands of torturers – and rewarding them handsomely: "Refugees from third countries are being sent to Equatorial Guinea, where they are often sent back to the very countries they fled." www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Trump is disappearing refugees into the hands of torturers – and rewarding them handsomely | Tutu Alicante and Uzra Zeya
Refugees from third countries are being sent to Equatorial Guinea, where they are often sent back to the very countries they fled
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United Farm Workers @ufw.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
"Carlos" shares, "I've worked in ag for 15+ years in the Brawley, CA area. Right now I'm driving the tractor preparing the land for planting. The temperature is over 105°, so I have to drink a lot of water to avoid dehydration." #WeFeedYou
A farm worker standing to the side of his tractor
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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
A must read and call to action by @perrybaconjr.bsky.social “The New York Times has a massive, almost hegemonic influence on the political discourse among liberals in America.” newrepublic.com/article/2160...
newrepublic.com
Liberals Must Fight The New York Times’ Monopoly Too
The paper’s editorial vision is out of step with the robust liberalism needed today.
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Billie Jean Sweeney @billiejsweeney.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Bacon: “The problem is that lots of liberal activists and elites are having their perspectives shaped by the nyt in 2026.” Me: For the past 4 years, the nyt has consistently misshaped news about trans ppl, promoting medical falsehoods and repeating right-wing fabrications.
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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This is actually a good story by the New York Times' Peter Baker. But as usual, the editors ran it through their Euphemism Desk so the headline talks about Trump "moving ethical lines" instead of saying flat-out that the president is deeply corrupt and is putting your money in his pocket.
nytimes.com
How Trump Moved Ethical Lines With His Ads, Businesses and Summits (Gift Article)
The president’s decision to hold an international summit at his own private golf club, an idea rejected in his first term, illustrates how much he has shattered norms.
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Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I don't really know what to do with these pieces, because: 1. They refuse to used "illegal" & "unconstitutional" & "corruption" in the heds, deks, ledes, or body text 2. They disappear from the front page/headlines within 36 hours & never become THE NARRATIVE, contra EMAILS & BIDEN IS OLD, etc.
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Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
After 10 years of cravenly and fraudulently presenting the Know-Nothing Nazified Republican Party as one of two sane, understandable choices, major news organizations are not able to report the obvious, which is that U.S. voters seem to be increasingly coming to their senses. Epic, epic fail.
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Pete Quily @pqpolitics.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Reporters. Don’t do CNNing! “Don't platform liars or act as a stenographer for those who repeatedly lie.” Also known as Scott Jennings.
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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Journalists (and also non-journalists), please read this important statement and consider signing it Democracy is on the line
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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
The Murdochs. Three continents of degrading information diets. Power and healthy profits.
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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
@agrobbonta.oag.ca.gov and the state Attorneys General failed their constituents and America. They failed to #BlockTheMerger to stop #TheCorruptTakeover
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Nancy Levine Stearns @nancylevinestearns.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
🔥 "I want to share with you an effort that invites your participation. It’s a way for you to push for better journalism at this critical time," says @sulliview.bsky.social @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social is gathering signatures on a letter to newsrooms! margaretsullivan.substack.com/p/how-you-ca...
margaretsullivan.substack.com
How you can demand better media coverage as the midterms loom
Examples of what is working and what must stop. Plus: some great reporting and two scary developments
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
“Originalism is an incoherent doctrine. It allows you to prove anything. Thus what it amounts to is a ritual invocation of the Founders, gesturing at this or that piece of text, before delivering whatever conclusion was approved on Fox News the night before.” www.liberalcurrents.com/we-have-no-s...
liberalcurrents.com
We Have No Supreme Court
The philosophical incoherence of originalism prevents the Court from performing its core functions as a supreme court.
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cdrLogic @cdrlogic.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Thank you, @aldermanmattmartin.bsky.social !!
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paulpro @mariopro.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Jeff Stahler
facebook.com/jeff.stahler
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Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Trump’s TIME interview should have been treated about like Biden’s debate performance. That it mostly wasn’t says a lot about the media’s ongoing normalization of Trump’s cognitive downward spiral.
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Phil Hands @phil-hands.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I did something a little different this week. Check out my comic column on how to send letters to the editor to the Wisconsin State Journal. madison.com/opinion/cart...
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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Too many news orgs rely on “horse race coverage”, “sanewashing”, “false equivalence”, “euphemism” and other inadequacies. Our guidelines include 27 guidelines divided into 3 themes. #1 Make threats to democracy clear. 2/n
Ahead of midterms journailists must make threats to democracy clear
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Paweł Wójcik 🦋🇵🇱🇪🇺 @saladinaldronni.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
As announced a few days ago, time for a major undusting of my substack - with a very long read on Syria as I see it today. Hopefully it would be interesting for some, welcome any subs and shares. Link below. saladinaldronni.substack.com/p/syria-almo...
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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
As you read the news today are journalists, editors and outlets adequately informing America? Here are our latest guidelines for pro-democracy election coverage. Advocate for better news, and also invest your attention and resources in outlets and journalists who are meeting the moment.
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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Euphemism as a strategy to mask the depravity "Family Staging Center".
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Kat O’Brien @lavidagata.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Important pro-democracy election coverage guidelines for media here, from @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social
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Andrea Pitzer @andreapitzer.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The Friday roundup is here, with links to the podcast! I also include some highlights from the new paper on competitive authoritarianism by Levitsky and Way, which uses their scale for the rest of the world to assess the political condition of the U.S.
degenerateart.beehiiv.com
October 2 Friday roundup
Links to the podcast! Also, a few thoughts on where we're at now.
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I don’t think everyone realizes how bad things are for US science: For the fiscal year that just ended, the Trump regime withheld $1.4 billion from the National Science Foundation’s research budget, which is about 1/5 of its primary research budget.
nytimes.com
National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress (Gift Article)
The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Mike Pompeo has been rewarded with a teaching fellowship at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. The same school that canceled my class on media, race and international affairs. @columbiasipa.bsky.social share.google/KEvTy5yER71U...
share.google
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to join SIPA faculty
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will join the School of International and Public Affairs as a fellow at SIPA’s Institute of Global Politics in March, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Jamal Khashoggi was killed eight years ago today. Here's what @joelsimonsays.bsky.social and I said the US should do in response. Virtually none of it happened. MBS got away with murder. knightcolumbia.org/content/how-...
knightcolumbia.org
How America Can Deliver Justice for Jamal Khashoggi
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The Media and Democracy Project @mediaanddemocracy.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Hello @hcrichardson.bsky.social here are our 2026 pro-democracy election coverage guidelines. 3 themes. 27 guidelines. These guidelines are also an *action* to sign on to - the guidelines will be sent to major newsrooms advocating they cover the mid-term elections like democracy depends on it.
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Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Khashoggi's assassination was in hindsight one of the highly salient norm-shattering moments of impunity that helped recalibrate contemporary expectations for outrageous crimes: if you're rich & powerful enough, in the words of the President of the United States, "they just let you do it"
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