Washington National Opera Is Leaving the Kennedy Center; The New York Times, January 9, 2026

Adam Nagourney, The New York Times; Washington National Opera Is Leaving the Kennedy Center

"The Washington National Opera decided on Friday to move its performances out of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, abandoning the hall where it has played since 1971 in perhaps the largest artistic rebuke yet to President Trump’s campaign to remake the Kennedy Center in his image.

The opera company is seeking to sever its ties with the Kennedy Center after a tumultuous year in which both groups have faced cancellations by artists, empty seats and the retrenchment of donors protesting Mr. Trump’s intervention. Within weeks of beginning his second term, the president named himself chairmanof the center and installed a political ally, Richard Grenell, as its executive director, while filling its board with supporters.

A resolution to leave was approved by the Washington National Opera’s board of trustees on Friday, according to a statement the opera provided to The New York Times...

Officials with the Washington National Opera noted that operas often advance strong political and moral points of views — whether they were written two centuries or two years ago — and that they were worried they would be blocked from performing operas that did not follow Mr. Grenell’s edicts. Among its programming this season is Robert Ward’s “The Crucible,” based on the Arthur Miller play that explored the waves of paranoia overtaking a small town during the Salem witch trials of the 17th century."

With Pittsburgh set to lose legacy paper, experts talk impact of Post-Gazette closure announcement; WESA, January 7, 2026

Julia Maruca , 90.5 WESA; With Pittsburgh set to lose legacy paper, experts talk impact of Post-Gazette closure announcement

"Wednesday’s announced closure of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has left media experts reeling and wondering about what the future holds for the city’s news environment...

The Blocks’ announced intention to shut down the Post-Gazette — following a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to deny the company’s application for a stay in reinstating health care for the workers — means Pittsburgh and its surrounding areas will lose their oldest newspaper.

The legacy publication, first started in 1786 by John Scull and Joseph Hall as the Pittsburgh Gazette, has long touted itself as the “the first newspaper west of the Allegheny Mountains.” And after the paper publishes its last issue this May, the Pittsburgh metropolitan area of 1.2 million people will be without a daily newspaper specifically dedicated to covering the city...

“ One would imagine any number of other parties may be interested in talking with the Blocks about possibly purchasing some or all of the assets of the paper. There are still a lot of open questions,” Davidson said. “I don't think we've seen the end of this story yet.”"

Trumpy Owners Close Major City’s Pulitzer-Winning Newspaper: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is the region’s largest newspaper.; The Daily Beast, January 7, 2026

Laura Esposito , The Daily Beast; Trumpy Owners Close Major City’s Pulitzer-Winning Newspaper: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is the region’s largest newspaper.

"Billionaire twins John and Allan Block suddenly told dozens of workers for the 125-year-old Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that it will cease publication on May 3. The paper had won a Pulitzer Prize in 2019 for its coverage of the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre. But at 1:15 p.m., with just 45 minutes notice, they played a pre-taped Zoom announcement that the newspaper would close completely...

The twins are third generation owners of the paper through the family company Block Communications which also owns the Toledo Blade...

The twins, 71, have heavily backed President Donald Trump and have donated thousands of dollars to Republican causes...

Two years later, the Post-Gazette made national headlines for “shifting right” after John Block fired the Post-Gazette’s veteran cartoonist, Rob Rogers, over cartoons critical of Trump.

During the president’s 2020 campaign, John Block ordered the editorial board to endorse Trump—despite previously granting its request not to endorse a candidate—an insider at the publication told the Daily Beast. The board was forced to scrap its planned editorial just an hour before the print deadline and hastily write a new piece backing Trump, much to the staffers’ dismay.

On Wednesday, the brothers delivered the stunning news to staff via a brief, pre-recorded video, Post-Gazette reporters told the Daily Beast—despite owning multiple properties within short driving distance of the newsroom, including John Block’s sprawling Squirrel Hill mansion worth over $1.5 million.

Instead, staffers received an email at 12:34 p.m. informing them of a mandatory online meeting scheduled for 1:15 p.m. The meeting turned out to be a pre-recorded message that reporters described as “dehumanizing.”"...

Tensions between ownership and union journalists reached a boiling point in 2019, when John Block reportedly stormed into the newsroom and threatened to “burn the place down.”

Several staffers believe the Blocks are shutting down the outlet as punishment after a federal appeals court upheld a November ruling finding that the Post-Gazette illegally declared an impasse in union negotiations to impose its own terms."

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Announces It Will Cease Operations; The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 7, 2026

 Mark Walker, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Announces It Will Cease Operations

[Kip Currier: As someone who loves and depends on the vital access to information that newspapers singularly provide, my heart sunk when I saw this breaking news New York Times story about the Block family's decision to shutter The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, as of May 3, 2026. It's a shocking and yet not surprising development, given the appalling manner in which the Block family has managed this storied newspaper for more than a decade:

• Read about the Block family's firing of celebrated cartoonist Rob Rogers in 2018 for his depictions of Donald Trump.
• Read about the Block family's tirades against newspaper staff in 2019.
• Read about an appellate court ruling against the Block family on labor union grounds in a November 2025 decision.

The most unfortunate victims of the Block family's actions are the newspaper staff, the residents of the Greater Pittsburgh area, and all those who are interested in news involving this region.]

[Excerpt]

"The family-owned company that operates The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said on Wednesday that the newspaper would cease publication on Sunday, May 3, signaling the end of a newspaper whose origins date to 1786.

The company, Block Communications Inc., said it had lost more than $350 million over the past 20 years while publishing the newspaper. In a statement, it said the financial pressures facing local journalism had made “continued cash losses at this scale no longer sustainable.”

The company cited recent court decisions that would require The Post-Gazette to operate under the terms of a 2014 labor contract, which it described as imposing “outdated and inflexible operational practices.” 

The Post-Gazette’s closure will not affect The Toledo Blade in Ohio, which is also owned by Block Communications. The company is based in Toledo.

The Post-Gazette’s closure will not affect The Toledo Blade in Ohio, which is also owned by Block Communications. The company is based in Toledo.

In a statement, the Block family said it regretted how the loss of the newspaper would affect the communities it has served. The family said it was “proud of the service The Post-Gazette has provided to Pittsburgh for nearly a century.”"

Weber State cracks down on censorship conference; KSL.com, October 2, 2025

Par Kermani, KSL.com ; Weber State cracks down on censorship conference

• Weber State University canceled its Unity Conference due to diversity initiative shifts.
• The 2024 Utah law requires eliminating diversity programs at public institutions.
• The Wildcat Collective, which operates outside of official university programming, organized an uncensored version of the conference for Friday."

The USTA’s censorship of Trump dissent at the US Open is cowardly, hypocritical and un-American; The Guardian, September 7, 2025

Bryan Armen Graham , The Guardian ; The USTA’s censorship of Trump dissent at the US Open is cowardly, hypocritical and un-American

"When the dust finally settles in the days after Sunday’s eagerly awaited US Open men’s final, the United States Tennis Association will issue its annual victory-lap press release. It will tout another record-setting Open: more than a million fans through the gates, unprecedented social-media engagement, double-digit growth in food and beverage sales, and hundreds of celebrities packed into suites from Rolex to Ralph Lauren. It will beam about growing the game, championing diversity and turning Flushing Meadows into a pop-culture destination.

But for all the milestones the USTA is preparing to celebrate, this year’s tournament will be remembered for a different kind of first: the governing body’s lamentable decision to ask broadcasters not to show dissent against Donald Trump. In making that pre-emptive concession, the USTA has committed an unforced error that can’t be undone: sacrificing authenticity and credibility in order to shield a politician – any politician, regardless of party, ideology or affiliation – from the sound of public disapproval.

According to internal emails obtained by outlets including PA and Bounces, the USTA instructed its television partners to “refrain from showcasing any disruptions or reactions” when Trump appears on screen during Sunday’s final. A separate note reminded staff he would be seated in Rolex’s suite as a client guest. The 11-word statement to the Guardian on Saturday night from a USTA spokesperson – “We regularly ask our broadcasters to refrain from showcasing off-court disruptions” – is so weak it could buckle under the weight of its own hypocrisy. (Rolex did not respond to a request for comment.)"

We are witnessing the silencing of American media; The Guardian, July 30, 2025

Robert Reich, The Guardian; We are witnessing the silencing of American media

"It’s the same with American universities, whose professors have often criticized Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional actions and whose research has often yielded conclusions that contradict Trump’s lies (such as that climate change is a “hoax”).

Columbia University and a handful of others have gone out of their way to “cooperate” with the Trump regime in order to avoid Trump’s wrath.

What does “cooperation” entail? Silencing Trump’s potential critics.

Columbia has just agreed to allow the regime to review its admissions and hiring practices in order to receive the federal research grants that the regime had held back.

Friends, this is how democracy dies.

The silencing is happening across America because Trump cannot stand criticism, because he’s vindictive as hell, and because he’s willing and able to use every department and agency of the federal government to punish any media corporations or universities that allow criticism of him.

Shame on any media outlet or university that allows Trump to silence it.

Trump is a dangerous despot. America needs its Eduardo Porters, Stephen Colberts, and all others in the media and in academia who have helped the nation understand just how truly dangerous Trump is."

Progressive parents in Oklahoma offer blueprint to mess with MAGA censorship; Salon, July 2, 2025

AMANDA MARCOTTE , Salon; Progressive parents in Oklahoma offer blueprint to mess with MAGA censorship

"Alito, who is as intellectually dishonest as he is self-pitying, tried to pretend the decision was a “compromise.” He repeatedly misrepresented the content of the books with hysterical language. As legal analyst Mark Joseph Stern explained at Slate, Alito “reframes these utterly innocent children’s books as insidious propaganda designed to brainwash children.” The goal here is not only to reinscribe blatant homophobia into the law, but also to minimize the impact of the decision by implying it only impacts “gay” books. But it’s far broader than that, as Vox legal journalist Ian Millhiser notes. The ruling empowers “parents who object to any form of classroom instruction on religious grounds” to demand opt-out rights — or the school to censor the material entirely. Stern continues:

The problem with this request is that schools cannot possibly know, in advance, which religious views are held by which parents, and which books or lessons those parents might find objectionable. In the past, parents have sued school districts objecting, on religious grounds, to lessons that touch on topics as diverse as divorce, interfaith couples and “immodest dress.” They’ve objected to books which expose readers to evolution, pacifism, magic, women achieving things outside of the home and “false views of death.”"

A White Nationalist Wrote a Law School Paper Promoting Racist Views. It Won Him an Award.; The New York Times, June 21, 2025

Richard Fausset , The New York Times; A White Nationalist Wrote a Law School Paper Promoting Racist Views. It Won Him an Award.

"Preston Damsky is a law student at the University of Florida. He is also a white nationalist and antisemite. Last fall, he took a seminar taught by a federal judge on “originalism,” the legal theory favored by many conservatives that seeks to interpret the Constitution based on its meaning when it was adopted.

In his capstone paper for the class, Mr. Damsky argued that the framers had intended for the phrase “We the People,” in the Constitution’s preamble, to refer exclusively to white people. From there, he argued for the removal of voting rights protections for nonwhites, and for the issuance of shoot-to-kill orders against “criminal infiltrators at the border.”

Turning over the country to “a nonwhite majority,” Mr. Damsky wrote, would constitute a “terrible crime.” White people, he warned, “cannot be expected to meekly swallow this demographic assault on their sovereignty.”

At the end of the semester, Mr. Damsky, 29, was given the “book award,” which designated him as the best student in the class. According to the syllabus, the capstone counted the most toward final grades.

The Trump-nominated judge who taught the class, John L. Badalamenti, declined to comment for this article, and does not appear to have publicly discussed why he chose Mr. Damsky for the award."

How to Assess the New Legal Risks of Your DEI Policies; Harvard Business Review (HBR), February 27, 2025

Joan C. Williams, Laura J. Maechtlen and Jamie Dolkas, Harvard Business Review (HBR); How to Assess the New Legal Risks of Your DEI Policies

"With a series of executive orders, the Trump administration has put a target on corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. As of this writing, key portions have been enjoined by a federal court. Yet the administration has signaled its intention to make noncompliance so punitive that many companies still are scrambling to review their DEI programs and practices for EO compliance.

In the rush, two key facts are getting lost in the shuffle. The first is that core federal and state equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws have not changed. Trump’s executive orders did end federal contractor affirmative action programs, and Trump can direct federal employees to take certain actions against “illegal” DEI policies and programs. But what is “illegal” under core EEO laws today hasn’t changed from before President Trump took office. This highlights that what companies are concerned about is not entirely legal risk, but regulatory and litigation risk.

The second core fact is that companies have a First Amendment right to express their views on DEI. This right was affirmed in the spring of 2024 by a conservative-leaning panel of judges of the Eleventh Circuit, which struck down Florida’s prohibiting companies from expressing certain ideas in DEI trainings.

But with Attorney General Pam Bondi’s February 5th memo directing the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division “to investigate, eliminate, and penalize illegal DEI and DEIA preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities in the private sector,” leaders are understandably and urgently looking for guidance on how to pursue their lawful, fair, and business-driven DEI initiatives."

Jeff Bezos’s Hypocritical Assertion of Power; The Atlantic, February 26, 2025

Joshua Benton, The Atlantic; 

Jeff Bezos’s Hypocritical Assertion of Power

His decision will only make The Washington Post a weaker institution. 

"But the scale of the hypocrisy on display here is eye-watering, and this decision can only make the Post a weaker institution.

Let’s get the motivation out of the way. This is the same Jeff Bezos who decided to cancel the Post’s endorsement of Kamala Harris just before the election—a move that led more than 250,000 paying Post readers to cancel their subscriptions within days. The same Bezos who flew to Mar-a-Lago to cozy up to Donald Trump after the election. The same Bezos whose Amazon donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund and paid $40 million for a Melania Trump documentary—the most it had ever paid for a doc, nearly three times what any other studio offered, and more than 70 percent of whichwill go directly into Trump’s pockets. All of that cash seems to have served as a sort of personal seat license for Bezos, earning him a spot right behind the president at the inauguration. The tech aristocracy’s rightward turn is by now a familiar theme of the postelection period, and it doesn’t take much brain power to see today’s announcement as part of the same shift."

Dying in Darkness: Jeff Bezos Turns Out the Lights in the Washington Post’s Opinion Section; Politico, February 26, 2025

MICHAEL SCHAFFER , Politico; Dying in Darkness: Jeff Bezos Turns Out the Lights in the Washington Post’s Opinion Section

"In personally announcing that he was dramatically re-orienting the editorial line, and in fact wouldn’t even run dissenting views, Bezos added another sharp example to a narrative that represents a grave threat to the Post’s image: The idea that its owner is messing around with the product in order to curry favor with his new pal Donald Trump, who has the power to withhold contracts from Amazon and other Bezos companies.

The paper’s image is not some abstract question for journalism-school professors. It’s a matter of dollars and cents. If readers don’t trust a publication’s name, no amount of Pulitzer-worthy scoops will fix it. For Bezos, a guy who believes that the Post needs to gain a broad-based audience, it’s a baffling blind spot...

Owners may get the final say at publications they own, but the wisest among them have let their newsrooms and editorial boards make their own decisions without fear or favor. That’s to prevent the very impression that Bezos is making — that of a mogul trying to disguise his own predilections as independent thought...

Yet even as leadership talked about amping up readership, the owner personally alienated real and potential readers: first by spiking the endorsement, then by showing up in the line of moguls at Trump’s inauguration and now by declaring that the publication would have one editorial line for all of its contributors. It all made his publication look wimpy, or possibly corrupt.

Instead of being an occasionally fussy repository of mostly mainstream points of view, the venerable publication’s opinion pages now risk looking like a vessel for a very rich owner to curry favor with the man who runs the government. It’s going to be hard to keep that image from sticking to the whole organization — including the non-wimpy, non-corrupt reporting corps that keep digging up scoops on the administration.

Bezos, of all people, should know this: He’s the branding whiz who came up with “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”

Among many journalists, Wednesday’s bombshell announcement is being debated as a matter of media ethics: Was Bezos within his rights as an owner to call the tune on opinion matters? Or was this type of process meddling a violation of norms that go back at least to the 1950s?...

“I am of America and for America, and proud to be so,” he added. “Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America’s success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical — it minimizes coercion — and practical; it drives creativity, invention and prosperity.”

Sounds good late at night in the dorm room. But does said freedom include, say, the freedom to start a union at an Amazon warehouse? Or run a business without worrying that some monopolistic e-commerce behemoth is going to drive you under? Come to think of it, these sound like great subjects for energetic debate on a pluralistic op-ed page somewhere. Too bad Bezos, instead of embracing the great American history of arguing about freedom, announced that he’s not so keen on debate."

It's Copyright Week 2025: Join Us in the Fight for Better Copyright Law and Policy; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), January 27, 2025

 KATHARINE TRENDACOSTA, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); It's Copyright Week 2025: Join Us in the Fight for Better Copyright Law and Policy

"We're taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy. Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of copyright law and policy, and addressing what's at stake, and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation 

We continue to fight for a version of copyright that does what it is supposed to. And so, every year, EFF and a number of diverse organizations participate in Copyright Week. Each year, we pick five copyright issues to highlight and advocate a set of principles of copyright law. This year’s issues are: 

• Monday: Copyright Policy Should Be Made in the Open With Input From Everyone: Copyright is not a niche concern. It affects everyone’s experience online, therefore laws and policy should be made in the open and with users’ concerns represented and taken into account. 

• Tuesday: Copyright Enforcement as a Tool of Censorship: Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right essential to a functioning democracy. Copyright should encourage more speech, not act as a legal cudgel to silence it.  

• Wednesday: Device and Digital Ownership: As the things we buy increasingly exist either in digital form or as devices with software, we also find ourselves subject to onerous licensing agreements and technological restrictions. If you buy something, you should be able to truly own it – meaning you can learn how it works, repair it, remove unwanted features, or tinker with it to make it work in a new way.  

• Thursday: The Preservation and Sharing of Information and Culture:Copyright often blocks the preservation and sharing of information and culture, traditionally in the public interest. Copyright law and policy should encourage and not discourage the saving and sharing of information. 

• Friday: Free Expression and Fair Use: Copyright policy should encourage creativity, not hamper it. Fair use makes it possible for us to comment, criticize, and rework our common culture.  

Every day this week, we’ll be sharing links to blog posts on these topics at https://www.eff.org/copyrightweek." 

CSotD: Telnaes is only unemployed, not gone; The Daily Cartoonist, January 4, 2025

MIKE PETERSON, The Daily Cartoonist; CSotD: Telnaes is only unemployed, not gone

"We try to avoid duplication and stepping on each other’s toes around here, and by now you’ve likely seen DD Degg’s coverage of Ann Telnaes’ resignation from the Washington Post. And if you haven’t seen his coverage here, you’ve almost certainly seen some coverage because it is all over the Internet, with regret and praise coming from around the globe. As of seven this morning, her Substack announcement had 5,307 likes and had been shared 910 times...

Seeing these pieces on the importance of political cartooning and press freedom, it’s easy to recognize how inconsistent it would have been for her to accept the squelching of her voice by the Post’s current management.

Telnaes will no longer be on the pages of the Washington Post, but perhaps going out into the wider world will make her voice heard by a more diverse audience, particularly if the Post continues to cater to the new administration while hemorrhaging both talent and readership.

She’ll need support on her Substack, by which I mean subscriptions, not just applause, and if you haven’t been supporting small and local media outlets, this is an excellent place to start. 

The cartoon her editor refused to run, which was the final straw that induced her to walk away from a prestigious and well-paying job, offers the very reasonable suggestion that the billionaires who control major media are selling out to the administration, not just with obedience but in several cases with substantial financial contributions.

And here’s something else they’d just as soon not hear anyone say: It seems that major media may be working to gain influence with the wrong people, that they’re making friends with oligarchs but losing touch with their actual customers...

Samizdat is a term that defined underground writings — mimeographed or photocopied — that circulated in the Soviet Union as it began to totter and crash. In our country, in these times, we’re seeing the growth of Substacks and other small-scale publishing by people who, like Ann Telnaes, want to say what they think needs to be said, without being filtered and both-sidesed and required to be “fair and balanced” by management that is more interested in marketing than in journalism.

Supporting small publishers and individual writers matters. The big boys will get along with or without you, but the voices we need to hear need backing."

While the Court Fights Over AI and Copyright Continue, Congress and States Focus On Digital Replicas: 2024 in Review; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), December 27, 2024

 CORYNNE MCSHERRY, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) ; While the Court Fights Over AI and Copyright Continue, Congress and States Focus On Digital Replicas: 2024 in Review

"These state laws are a done deal, so we’ll just have to see how they play out. At the federal level, however, we still have a chance to steer policymakers in the right direction.  

We get it–everyone should be able to prevent unfair and deceptive commercial exploitation of their personas. But expanded property rights are not the way to do it. If Congress really wants to protect performers and ordinary people from deceptive or exploitative uses of their images and voice, it should take a precise, careful and practical approach that avoids potential collateral damage to free expression, competition, and innovation."

Icelandic Fishing Giant Wins Copyright Case Against Artist; artnet, November 14, 2024

Jo Lawson-Tancred , artnet; Icelandic Fishing Giant Wins Copyright Case Against Artist

"The work by the artist known as Odee had publicly impersonated Iceland’s biggest fishing company Samherji, issuing a fake apology for its role in the so-called “fishrot” corruption scandal of 2019. In his ruling, the judge described the artwork as “an instrument of fraud, copyright infringement, and malicious falsehood.”

The case never went to trial but the artist said he plans to appeal the judgement. His defenders have argued that any punitive action taken against him could result in a “chilling effect” that discourages artist’s from daring to critique big corporations for fear of legal action.

Samherji sued Odee, the moniker for 41-year-old Icelandic artist Oddur Fridriksson, over We’re Sorry (2023), for which Odee created the website samherji.co.uk, imitating the company’s brand identity. On this platform, he issued the statement: “Samherji Apologizes, Pledges Restitution and Cooperation with Authorities.”

In Samherji’s complaint filed in London’s high court, it accused Odee of trademark infringement and malicious falsehood. The company’s lawyers applied for a summary judgement to avoid a trial."