As the Trump administration continues its attack on foreign scholars who have supported Palestine, many — like Columbia Journalism School — have contextualized this targeting as part of a broader assault on press freedom and free speech.

But with Israel breaking its ceasefire on Gaza, I’ve been thinking about what needs to be different about journalists’ role in this new phase of violence under Israeli apartheid. Among that: Journalists must specifically identify the administration’s choices not just as attacks on the First Amendment, but as an escalation of nonpartisan U.S. push-back against Palestinian human rights and those who support them.

In this issue:

And also: WIRED drops paywalls for FOIA reporting, Chicago Public Media buyouts, more details about the Title IX complaints against Wesley Lowery, and ONA’s new leadership invests in more AI-focused programming. And the resource of the week is tipsheets from the recent NICAR conference.

—James Salanga

Overnight on Tuesday, Israel broke its ceasefire on Gaza, killing over 400 people through airstrikes on heavily populated residential areas. Israeli leaders, according to Al Jazeera, reportedly consulted U.S. leadership before the resumption of airstrikes.

The Trump administration is visibly committed to deportation and carrying a massive effort to suppress support for human rights in Palestine. The Trump administration has targeted scholars who have spoken in support of those rights, like Palestinian and Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil. Newsrooms must urgently contextualize the Trump administration’s animosity toward speech supporting Palestine as not just an attack on the First Amendment, but as part of the U.S.’s long history of suppressing solidarity for Palestinians’ rights.

While Columbia Journalism School’s press release affirming its commitment to press freedom is a strong statement for “all who believe in these freedoms should steadfastly oppose the intimidation, harassment, and detention of individuals on the basis of their speech or their journalism,” it requires more specificity.

This is known as the “Palestine exception”, a documented, decades-long pushback to supporting Palestinians that has settled across all fields of work, from education to journalism.

The Trump administration is escalating and orchestrating attacks on free speech and press freedom. That’s been well-covered over the past few months. But it’s a disservice to Palestinians, Palestinian journalists, and journalism at large — and a mischaracterization of the U.S. government’s history of upholding the First Amendment — to chronicle the administration’s latest push to silence and punish supporters of Palestinian rights as a uniquely partisan surprise rather than an escalation of a consistent, quiet de facto policy.

Writer and journalist Mosab Abu Toha said Wednesday that he doubts his and other Palestinian journalists’ documentation of “our beautiful families getting crushed under the rubble in their sleep” will change anything.

That is, “unless you all, especially in the United States, do something different from last time.”

Read the full story on The Objective.

—James Salanga

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Conservative dominance of digital platforms is driven by billionaire backing that the left hasn’t matched. Read more.

WIRED drops its paywall for reporting primarily based on public records: WIRED’s global editorial director Katie Drummond said the decision comes at a “pivotal moment for our country.” “Access to journalism based on public records is more important than ever at this moment — and public records are public for a reason,” she said. The dropped paywall is in partnership with the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which calls for other outlets to follow.

🧱 Read more in Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Thirty-five Chicago Public Media employees take buyouts: Members of the Chicago News Guild have critiqued leadership’s pressing for buyouts to close financial deficits without addressing the top-heavy managerial structure. Thirty of those resigning were Sun-Times employees, including most of the editorial board. The other five worked at WBEZ.

💸 Read more in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Records show six Title IX allegations against Wesley Lowery: While the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist was at American University, records showed two professors filing five complaints against Lowery on behalf of six women, including to the university’s Office of Equity and Title IX. One student filed her own complaint. Last week, Lowery also resigned from co-chairing this year’s National Association of Black Journalists convention and the Allbritton Journalism Institute.

🔎 Read more in the Washington Post.

With new executive director, ONA deepens pivot toward AI-oriented programming: Long-time journalist and six-year Online News Association board member Niketa Patel will be ONA’s new CEO/Executive starting March 31. Under her tenure, the organization will expand its slate of offerings related to artificial intelligence: it plans to convene a leadership summit focused on AI and culture change in newsrooms and deliver training for all levels of experience with AI, among other goals.

🖥️ Read more at ONA’s website.

This week’s resource is … a database of resources from this year’s NICAR.

Presenters at NICAR, the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting, amass an array of digital resources for the annual conference year after year. 2025 is no exception.

For the past six years, (newly retired!) journalist and author Sharon Machlis has compiled tipsheets, presentations, and repos across each year’s NICAR.

The 2025 batch is now available, and ready to peruse for anyone interested in deepening their understanding of how computers can help bolster reporting tasks, from map-making to improving PDFs and investigating one’s local transit system.

Thanks for reading. We run thanks to you, and we’ll have more for you next week.

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