Media workers’ unions, including the National Writers Union (NWU), The News Guild (TNG), and the Writers Guild of America (WGA), are sounding the alarm about new forms of repression that are making it difficult to offer a critical perspective, or even to discover and publish the truth.

Of course, we understand that freedom of speech was already limited under bourgeois democracy. But we are starting to see a different level and style of repression. Some would say it signals the rise of fascism. In fact, this curtailment of the free press doesn’t just signal: it enables fascism to rise by suppressing the information and perspectives people need to fight it.

Part of the repression is connected to the MAGA war on DEI. We’re seeing the cancellation of DEI policies in newsrooms and hiring, and a new hesitation on the part of corporate publishers about certain types of material.

When it comes to book publishing, we don’t always know what we’re missing. Censorship can happen at the submission stage preventing the book from being printed. However, we do know about the wave of right-wing demands to exclude DEI and trans-friendly books from school libraries. In recent years, challenged books get banned in an estimated 43% of cases, a big jump from previous years.

Another example is the heartbreaking dissolution of Teen Vogue, announced in early November. Teen Vogue was the best place to find left-labor journalism in the mainstream press. It’s where Kim Kelly got her start. It nurtured a new generation of young women activists who understood the importance of both anti-racism and the labor movement. Now it has been dismantled. At least 6 staffers have been fired, mostly people of color and trans writers, including the political editor.

As one Tik Tok post said: “[T]his should be a huge concern for everybody that cares about free press in media. Teen Vogue is a magazine that taught a generation of us how to think critically.”

It’s not only our work and our jobs but also our bodies that have come under attack. Dozens of media workers have been shot with “less lethal” ammunition at protests or ICE deployments this year. In Los Angeles, there were over 30 reported incidents of police violence against the press. At an ICE facility in Illinois, federal agents were accused of using “extreme force” against the media, including shooting reporters in the face and head. One reporter was shot 33 times with pepper balls. A press credential is supposed to protect you, not serve as a target.

In another curtailment, the Trump administration has dramatically restricted press access to the White House and the Pentagon, meaning that even major news outlets now lack access. Trump has also retaliated against individual journalists by revoking credentials and calling for their firing or resignation, which often works. The list of firings and resignations is much longer than the ones that make headlines.

These calls have also happened with academics. After the shooting of Charlie Kirk, at least 40 faculty, staff, and students were fired or suspended for remarks that were “insufficiently respectful.” In general, universities have not been any braver about standing up for their supposed values on free speech than have media corporations. For example, the University of Alabama recently suspended its student-run women’s and Black student magazines.

Trump has also attacked individual journalists and media outlets through high-dollar defamation lawsuits. ABC and Paramount have already paid out settlements. This kind of thing has a chilling effect on journalists and their would-be sources. It has become more difficult to get sources to speak on the record, or at all. The demeaning insults Trump hurls, especially at women, clearly have the same intent.

At least 5 major news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Washington Post, have changed their editorial policies in response to Trump’s criticism and lawsuits. The Los Angeles Times has repeatedly suppressed editorials that are critical of Trump, leading some journalists to resign in protest and others to be laid off.

In closing, we should note that all of this is happening alongside media workers’ existential fight to get a handle on AI. Media workers’ unions are bargaining to stop news outlets from allowing mistake-prone Generative AI to write the news. They are also bargaining to stop the corporations from mandating the use of AI filters that are supposed to check for “bias.”

Since the world is currently so mad, the filter disallows statements that are simply true. Meanwhile, the real biases inherent to Generative AI, which tends to amplify all of the bias in its training texts, are allowed to replicate freely.

What can we do?

First, visit newsnotslop.org and sign the petition.

Second, register and attend the National Town Hall on Authoritarianism and the Press, which will take place on Tuesday, January 6, 7-9 pm Eastern.

Third, help safeguard our free press by donating to People’s World.

The opinions of the author do not necessarily reflect the positions of the CPUSA.

Images: Free Speech by Josh Edelson (Creative Commons).