The day after Donald Trump returned to power, I gathered my staff to talk about how we would cover him. We were already seeing institutions and individuals with far more power and resources than we had kowtowing to him, I noted. We weren’t going to do that. Instead, we’d cover him as journalists should: be fair, give him credit where due but also call him out when called for.
I was the editor of Governing, a small but well-regarded magazine with a four-decade history of covering state and local governments. One of my colleagues presciently asked: “Does upper management share this point of view?” It turned out that they did not.
Governing was founded by editors at Congressional Quarterly, a longtime policy publication in Washington, but was purchased in 2009 by e.Republic, a California-based company that links government officials and vendors largely through live and online events. Not long before Trump took office, e.Republic hired a new chief content officer who bluntly stated this year that we should not run any negative articles that could draw the attention of the White House and have them shut us down.
I told my staff, as long as I was the editor of Governing, our policy was to do journalism without worrying about such consequences.
Since our writ was states, cities and counties, Trump was primarily not our story. In fact, I spent much of the year turning down Trump-related stories, noting to my reporters that while he was getting outsized attention, there was a whole country that needed ours.
Still, what the president does affects other governments. Given cuts to Medicaid and disaster assistance, arguments over food stamp distribution and Trump’s use of military force in some of our major cities, this presidency has reshaped relations between Washington and other governments in key ways already.
Editorial director kills free speech story
Trump is the dominant political figure of our era, and his various efforts at silencing his critics could not be ignored. When his ally Charlie Kirk was assassinated, I wrote an article decrying political violence. But when Republicans used Kirk’s death to muzzle criticism and dissent, that was wrong, too.
Back in September, things came to a head when ABC temporarily removed its late night host Jimmy Kimmel from the air after the chair of the Federal Communications Commission complained about a Charlie Kirk comment he’d made. That prompted a backlash, with Hollywood stars rushing to Kimmel’s defense in concert with the American Civil Liberties Union and customers of Disney, ABC’s parent companies, canceling subscriptions and theme park visits.
With the administration attacking free speech on campus, in the media and among the populace, I felt it was time for us to weigh in also. The First Amendment is called that for a reason. It is primary and must be defended.
I’d gotten some blowback from stories we’d published this year, so I ran my free speech column by my boss, the company’s editorial director. She said we should not run it, directly quoting the chief content officer’s stated restriction against material that might run afoul of the administration.
I quit on the spot. I said we could not as journalists fear being critical of people in power. Our duty was to our readers, to convey information about the world that was in their interest. Self-censoring a piece about free speech ran counter to our whole purpose.
The company’s top managers tried to talk me into staying, but they would not offer me the assurances about basic editorial independence that were essential for me to stay in the role.
I’ve written about all this, spoken to college classes and appeared on podcasts. I’ve received a lot of support for defending an important principle. And I haven’t been alone, with other journalists resigning rather than knuckling into pressure to suppress articles critical of Trump and other figures. Just after my time at Governing ended, essentially the entire Pentagon press corps walked out of the building rather than agreeing to print or broadcast only material spoon-fed by the administration.
Many people have asked to see the free speech article that cost me my job. I’m grateful to Gateway Journalism Review for printing it.
Alan Greenblatt is a former editor of the Governing Magazine, formerly reporter with NPR and Congressional Quarterly.
