Media

University of Austin founder Bari Weiss interviews Texas GOP Senator Ted Cruz at a DC inauguration-weekend event cohosted by Weiss's publication The Free Press.

How a Free-Speech University Sidles Up to Orbán’s Strongman Rule How a Free-Speech University Sidles Up to Orbán’s Strongman Rule

Bari Weiss's University of Austin, touted as a haven for free academic inquiry, has a dozen scholars and officials with ties to Hungary's speech-suppressing regime

Mar 20, 2025 / Jacqueline Sweet

Mario Savio, a leader of the University of California Free Speech Movement, center, with Jack Weinberg and Susan Goldberg and other arrested demonstrators during their trial, Berkeley, California, 1965.

America Needs a New Free Speech Movement America Needs a New Free Speech Movement

Donald Trump is showing us what an unaccountable class of corporate decision-makers looks like—and it looks like a lot of fear, and a terrible loss of freedom.

Mar 19, 2025 / Zephyr Teachout

When They Came for Columbia University

When They Came for Columbia University When They Came for Columbia University

The university has become the Trump administration’s test case for the largest assault on higher education since the McCarthy era. Sadly, it has notably failed to defend itself.

Mar 19, 2025 / Column / David Klion

President Donald Trump and White House senior adviser, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk sit in a Tesla Model S on the South Lawn of the White House on March 11, 2025, in Washington, DC.

Trump’s Economics—and America’s Economy Trump’s Economics—and America’s Economy

You can’t make America great again by wrecking the government.

Mar 19, 2025 / James K. Galbraith

Sherrod Brown: Three decades of talking about the dignity of work wasn’t enough to save him.

How the American Left Became Conservative How the American Left Became Conservative

Against the radical, if reactionary, experiment run from the White House, everyone from Democratic leaders in Congress to MSNBC hosts have turned to the defense of institutions.

Mar 18, 2025 / Michael Kazin

Trump Took Over the Kennedy Center, but Silencing the Arts Will Not Be So Easy

Trump Took Over the Kennedy Center, but Silencing the Arts Will Not Be So Easy Trump Took Over the Kennedy Center, but Silencing the Arts Will Not Be So Easy

Our last best hope for sharing, shaping, and wrangling over independent ideas may turn out to be America’s scrappy and disparate arts spaces—if they can hang on financially.

Mar 18, 2025 / Alisa Solomon

President-elect Donald Trump rings the opening bell on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on December 12, 2024, in New York City.

Donald Trump Is Crashing the Economy, but Wall Street Is Afraid to Speak Out Donald Trump Is Crashing the Economy, but Wall Street Is Afraid to Speak Out

Everyone knows Trump is messing up, but fear and greed prevent resistance.

Mar 14, 2025 / Jeet Heer

Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, speaks during the New York Times’s annual DealBook summit at Jazz at Lincoln Center on December 4, 2024, in New York City.

Can the Free Press Be Saved? Can the Free Press Be Saved?

It will take a new movement of responsible readers and benefactors to protect independent media.

Mar 14, 2025 / Katrina vanden Heuvel

The Trans Cult Who Believes AI Will Either Save Us—or Kill Us All

The Trans Cult Who Believes AI Will Either Save Us—or Kill Us All The Trans Cult Who Believes AI Will Either Save Us—or Kill Us All

What the Zizians, a trans vegan cult allegedly behind multiple murders, can teach us about radicalization and our tech-addled politics.

Mar 13, 2025 / Grace Byron

The Washington Post’s Dark Turn

The Washington Post’s Dark Turn The Washington Post’s Dark Turn

Columnist and editor Ruth Marcus has become one of many journalists to resign from the newspaper following increasing interference by its owner Jeff Bezos.

Mar 11, 2025 / Chris Lehmann

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