The Kyiv Independent is working hard to show the world the truth about Russia’s brutal war — and we’re keeping our reporting free for everyone. Because reliable information should be available to all, not just those who can afford it.

We’ve set an ambitious goal: to grow our community to 20,000 members and prove that independent journalism can survive — without paywalls, without billionaires, and without compromise.

But we need your support. Just $5 a month can help us keep going.

Join us here. (https://kyivindependent.com/membership/?utm_source=memb-tg-campaign14&utm_medium=tg)

#TheKyivIndependent #RussiasWarAgainstUkraine #RussiaUkraineWar #RussiaIsATerroristState #freepress #freejournalism #supportUkraine #Ukraine #slavaUkraini 🇺🇦​

The #Trump admin fired ~600 employees at #VoiceOfAmerica [#VOA], a federally funded #news network that provides #independent reporting to countries w/limited #FreePress.

The #layoffs targeted contractors, mostly #journalists but also administrative employees, & amounted to >⅓ of VOA’s staff. It signaled the Trump admin plans to continue to dismantle the broadcaster despite a COURT RULING that ORDERED the fed govt to maintain robust news programming at the network.

#law
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/us/politics/trump-voice-of-america-firings.html?smid=url-share

In 1998, the founders of Google famously wrote that any search engine powered by advertising revenues would be “inherently biased” and contrary to the interests of the user. Twenty-seven years and ~$1.9 trillion dollars in advertising revenue later...

https://www.northsouthnotes.org/p/nostalgia-for-2021

#google #tech #advertising #marketing #tiktok #information #censorship #freepress #media #cdnpoli #socialism #democracy #usa #canada #eu #african

I guess we could keep posting a picture to @PressSec @WhiteHouse, @Potus on all social media platforms until they leave legacy media alone & change it back to #GulfOfMexico

#freepress #Apple #Googlemaps #associatedpress #news #Trump #karolineleavitt #JDVance #MAGA #LegacyMedia

Journalists Exposed Bukele's Ties to Gangs. Then They Had to Flee El Salvador to Avoid Arrest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yIztE1BWe0

#Bukele #ElSalvador #Gangs #Corruption #MS13 #Journalism #FreePress

The role of a free & indep press in a healthy #democracy is under direct attack -increasingly aggressive efforts to curtail & punish indep journalism. Threatens: special formula -made: American model so successful for ~250 yrs.

A free ppl need a #FreePress.

Across the world -democracy in retreat -for aspiring strongmen seeking to undermine: laws & norms & insts that underpin a healthy democracy -free press is usually one of the 1st targets.
Journalists: killed...
#USPol
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/opinion/ag-sulzberger-free-press.html?unlocked_article_code=1.G08.d8ZF.a55CNz8vBOl-#:~:text=The%20role%20of,those%20in%20power

US Court cuts $18 million defamation payout to Ghanaian journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas http://newsfeed.facilit8.network/TKlxjk #Defamation #Journalism #AnasAremeyawAnas #FreePress #Justice

I call for an initiative where journalists wear the Palestinian keffiyeh instead of the press helmet.
In a time when words and images are hunted, journalists have nothing left to protect them but the need to hide their identity.

Today, the keffiyeh is the only shield of truth.
A shield for those with no other protection.

#Palestine #FreePress #ShieldOfTruth #Gaza #PalestineIsTheCauseOfTheHonorable

Trump’s administration barred all wire service news reporters from traveling with the president on Air Force One to the Middle East.

(AP) #Trump #freepress #accountability

https://apnews.com/article/white-house-wire-reporters-trump-administration-press-cc81e76d7d8b7a54848cc9f1117cb02a

Margaret Atwood says she cannot remember another time ‘when words themselves have felt under such threat’
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/may/12/margaret-atwood-words-under-threat-freedom-to-publish-british-book-awards
The Handmaid’s Tale author spoke out as she accepted the freedom to publish prize at the British Book awards. #books #freespeech #freepress

The #PressDemocrat, a prominent newspaper in #SantRosa and #SonomaCounty, has been sold to #MediaNewsGroup, a subsidiary of #AldenGlobalCapital. The sale raises concerns among local #journalists and SF #BayArea residents due to Alden’s reputation for cost-cutting measures, including staff reductions and "shared" resources, which could impact the quality and depth of local news coverage. The sale was a surprise to the newsroom staff, who are now uncertain about their future under new ownership.

Nearly 20 years ago, a federal judge extended an order barring #Hearst Corp. and MediaNews Group Inc. from collaborating on local distribution and national advertising sales. It was part of an antitrust lawsuit alleging monopolistic practices in MediaNews’ acquisitions of Bay Area #newspapers. Then, as now, we should remain concerned about both companies, and the potential effect of #monopoly, or #oligopoly.

#SFBA #California #FreePress

https://www.kqed.org/news/12039596/press-democrat-alden-sale-thebay

"WHCA Statement on the Unprecedented Exclusion of Wires on International Trip."

"Trump is visiting 3 countries on his Middle East trip. The Trump Organization recently made business deals with all of them."

Democracy Dies in Darkness.

#FreePress #TrumpRegime #UAE #SaudiArabia #Qatar #Democracy #Emoluments #USPol
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/trump-is-visiting-3-countries-on-his-middle-east-trip-the-trump-organization-recently-made-business-deals-with-all-of-them/ar-AA1EDRMD

Pope Leo XIV calls for the release of imprisoned journalists http://newsfeed.facilit8.network/TKjr2r #FreePress #JournalismMatters #PressFreedom #FreeSpeech #PopeLeoXIV

ICYMI - 'Only an unfettered and independent media can provide the transparency and accountability needed to hold government officials accountable to their deeds and rhetoric'

https://buff.ly/nNaeIWR

#1A #FreePress #COpolitics

ICYMI - 'Only an unfettered and independent media can provide the transparency and accountability needed to hold government officials accountable to their deeds and rhetoric'

https://buff.ly/nNaeIWR

#1A #FreePress #COpolitics

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance – The Democracy Index – May 10, 2025

The Democracy Index by Joyce Vance

Read on Substack

Related: https://open.substack.com/pub/contrarian/p/the-democracy-index-563

#2025 #CivilDiscourse #FreePress #JoyceVance #RuleOfLaw #Substack #TheContrarian #TheDemocracyIndex

#Columbia #FreePress #OcupiedPalestine

"In an email to alumni Wednesday, Acting President Claire Shipman touted a commitment to free speech while admitting that the university had called the police on its own students. Shipman also made the disturbing move of blaming the protesters for the targeting of its international students.

“I am deeply disturbed at the idea that, at a moment when our international community feels particularly vulnerable, a small group of students would choose to make our institution a target,” Shipman wrote.

But it’s the institution, not the students, that has refused to shield its own community from the Trump administration’s immigration and free speech crackdown. After Donald Trump rescinded $400 million in federal funding, the university administration agreed to the president’s outrageous demands for a complete overhaul of the school’s protest policies, as well as the adoption of a new definition of antisemitism, among several other concessions that severely undermined academic independence from the federal government."

https://newrepublic.com/post/195081/columbia-student-journalists-pro-palestine-protest

@OpenForum If you have not read "The Chain Gang" it is a must read. #Wisconsin had their independent press chopped down by Al Neuharth, in the run up to the 80s like an old growth forest under the blade of neo-liberal killers.
#Wisconsin is making a comeback. This will not last without a Free Press.

This is a war that must be fought and won. #FreePress #Wisconsin

Burn USA Today to the ground.
Liberate the Press, free the people.

Here is Reuters run down of today’s hearing for #RumeysaOzturk.

#Tufts student detained by #US #immigration authorities must be released, judge rules

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tufts-student-detained-by-us-immigration-authorities-must-be-released-judge-2025-05-09/

#law #Trump #StudentVisas #Universities #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreePress #StateSponsoredAbduction

If you want to read Anna Bower’s notes from the entire proceeding in #RumeysaOzturk’s case, here’s the thread unrolled:

https://skywriter.blue/pages/did:plc:t4x2ruk2qmob2b2cx55h4v7r/post/3loqnq26d7c2a

#immigration #law #Trump #StudentVisas #Universities #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #FreePress