Press

The Washington Post is digging its own grave

It takes a master to untangle the web of drama being spun at the Washington Post these days. Fortunately, Cockburn knows a thing or two.  The recent drama concerns Sir William Lewis’s appointment as CEO, handpicked by owner Jeff Bezos, and the subsequent attempt by Lewis to dissuade journalists from covering his role in a long-running British phone hacking scandal (he denies any involvement), which supposedly contributed to the recent and abrupt departure of former editor Sally Buzbee. Add that to the earlier stories of Cameron Barr stepping down in 2023 as managing editor after nineteen years and the lawsuit filed by former Post journalist Felicia Sonmez in 2021, who went ham on her colleagues on Twitter and was subsequently fired.

washington post

Where are Uri Berliner’s defenders in the press?

Uri Berliner, an economics and business reporter for NPR, resigned his position on Wednesday morning. His resignation comes after he was handed a suspension by NPR, five days without pay, for a piece he wrote last week citing how the publicly-funded radio and publishing news organization has become a vessel for ideologically driven progressive activism. He cited people he hears from who have abandoned NPR’s traditional programming, which has found itself consumed by gender and race theory, with a splash of climate panic. Yet what was eerily noticeable was how silent Berliner’s colleagues in the media have been, clearly retaliating against him for speaking his mind, independently. Neither the NPR union nor SAG-AFTRA released statements.

Liz Truss’s American book tour

National Harbor, Maryland I’ve been visiting the United States for many years, but 2024 was my first time at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, where I spoke on the main stage, complete with American-style big hair. Compared to political events in the United Kingdom, people at CPAC take things to a whole new level: where else could you have a debate about the Constitution with a woman in a Statue of Liberty costume? Or meet a family of five in matching sweaters that each bear a letter to spell out “TRUMP?” The enthusiasm for the cause was infectious. And few speakers were more dazzling than the newly installed Argentinean president Javier Milei. I confess to bagging a front-row seat for his address.

CPAC