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froomkin.bsky.social
Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News
@froomkin.bsky.social
77K followers 1.4K following 2.3K posts
Editor of Press Watch (https://presswatchers.org) and Heads Up News (http://headsupnews.org). Ex-Washington Post, HuffPost, Intercept. Freelancer. I afflict comfortable journalists.
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froomkin.bsky.social
Thank you to CNN anchor Kate Bolduan for this: transcripts.cnn.com/show/cnc/dat....
But to be clear, the release of the files does not require a vote by Congress. DOJ could release them, as Pam Bondi said months ago that she was starting to do. The only reason the House is set to vote tomorrow to force this release is because the president and the Justice Department have refused to act.
November 17, 2025 at 3:48 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
I am so impressed with the Chicago journalists covering the invasion of their city, and this interview with @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social is inspiring. A must read. Brava! pressingissues.org/when-the-gov...
JRV: I’ve noticed that your reporting has been criticized by the federal government on social media, particularly from DHS accounts. As a reporter, how do you respond to them? How is that impacting your work? LRP: It’s disturbing, honestly. When a government agency publicly targets your reporting, it’s not just about disagreeing with your work, it’s about trying to intimidate you and send a message to others. But my job isn’t to make the government comfortable. My job is to tell the truth and to give voice to the people who are being silenced or dehumanized. I’m careful, I fact check everything twice and I keep doing my work. If anything, their response just shows that our reporting is exposing something real. JRV: Do you think your readers still trust the work you are doing? What drives you to do the work each day? LRP: I do think readers trust us, maybe more than ever. They see that we’re on the ground, that we’re not chasing clickbait or repeating official statements. They see us standing in the cold outside a detention center, talking to families who are scared and waiting for answers. What drives me is knowing that, for many of these families, our reporting is the only record of what’s happening to them. Journalism, for me, is a form of witness — and when power goes unchecked, we have a duty to document that.
November 14, 2025 at 4:07 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
Could the @nytimes possibly come up with a more weasely headline than this?
G.O.P. Lawmakers Release Thousands of Files
November 12, 2025 at 6:01 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
Meanwhile, on Fox News website, not ONE WORD about Epstein. Wow.
November 12, 2025 at 5:29 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
HSAs don't work the way Trump says they work. Worth mentioning in the news articles... www.cbpp.org/blog/expandi...
HSAs are accounts in which people enrolled in high-deductible health plans can elect to transfer pre-tax dollars into an account that they can withdraw from tax-free to pay for certain out-of-pocket health expenses. Enrollees cannot pay premiums using HSA funds.
November 11, 2025 at 5:58 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
It's not a "rift", NYT, it's a collapse. presswatchers.org/2025/11/the-...
NYT headline: "Senate Passes Bill to Reopen Government Amid Democratic Rift"
November 11, 2025 at 5:45 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
Completely missing the point — on purpose?
NYT headline “Senate Deal Puts Government Closer to Reopening Hopes rose for an end to the government shutdown after eight senators backed a G.O.P. deal to provide funds through January. It would still need to pass Congress.”
November 10, 2025 at 2:06 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
Substack AI tech support:
Message reads: "You're absolutely right, and I apologize for the confusion. I made an error in my previous message when I said a specialist would be with you shortly - I don't actually have the ability to connect you with a human specialist. I'm an AI support agent and I should have been clearer about that from the start."
November 5, 2025 at 7:24 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
To Donald Trump https://act.citizen.org/page/89808/petition/1?locale=en-US via @publiccitizen.bsky.social
October 25, 2025 at 7:47 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
Gone. Along with all sense of propriety and proportionality.
October 23, 2025 at 6:38 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
Washington Post editorial board: Right-wing idiots who also cannot spell.
October 23, 2025 at 4:18 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
I’m confused
NYT: Appeals court lifts block on Trump‘s Oregon troop deployment AP: US appeals court says Trump can take command of Oregon troops though deployment blocked for now
October 21, 2025 at 1:21 AM
froomkin.bsky.social
They buried the lede. Here’s paragraph 6: https://wapo.st/4nbNiM4
The deal would give Bukele possession of individuals who threatened to expose the alleged deals his government made with MS-13 to help achieve El Salvador's historic drop in violence, officials said. For the Salvadoran president, a return of the informants was viewed as critical to preserving his tough-on-crime reputation. It was also a key step in hindering an ongoing U.S. investigation into his government's relationship with MS-13, a gang famous for displays of excessive violence in the United States and elsewhere.
October 19, 2025 at 2:00 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
#nokings
October 18, 2025 at 4:21 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
A tiny swatch of the enthusiastic crowd in Northampton MA. #nokings
October 18, 2025 at 4:02 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
CNN does it right.
October 9, 2025 at 9:42 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
On the home page, NYT frames it correctly: WaPo fails.
October 9, 2025 at 9:38 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
Right. It’s the Democrats who are shattering norms. LOL NYT. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/us/politics/democrats-shutdown-trump-administration.html
Democrats employ language in describing the Trump administration that would be considered extraordinary in the past, but is becoming almost commonplace now, illustrating the depth of their apprehension about the administration and their dark view of its capabilities.
October 9, 2025 at 7:11 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
A reader does a brilliant and necessary rewrite of the NYT's credulous article headlined: "Trump ‘Determined’ the U.S. Is Now in a War With Drug Cartels, Congress Is Told"
criticalread.substack.com/p/trump-game...
Headline: should not read "Trump 'Determined'" (as if quote marks are the wink/nudge we need) but say "Trump Claims to Congress U.S. is Now at War. . . " A variation of this in the lead: instead of "Trump has decided" go with "Trump claims." After the line at the end of paragraph two - "should be seen as lawful rather than murder" (I like the boldness of that line), next paragraph should explain the Congressional connection. Very much later in the story they note the closest ruling related to this kind of killing was about Al Qaida and the Supreme Court only approved it after Bush got approval from Congress. That sounds like top-of-story material. The third graf should def say that Congress has a role, and the story should quote a Majority leader about how seriously the Rs take that role (or don't). Why no Congressional R quote here? Again, that's basic journalism. THEN they write "Mr. Trump’s move to formally deem his campaign against drug cartels as an active armed conflict means he is cementing his claim to extraordinary wartime powers. . ." Erm, he can only cement his claim if he gets buy in from Congress and courts - he may be TRYING to cement, but it isn't a done deal. The whole story is about the shaky legal ground for this and the fact Congress can/should have a role (even if it hasn't stepped up to it), so how is anything 'cemented' by his notice to congress? (I had to read through twice to make sure I didn't miss an R Congressional/Committee leader because how could they not have that voice!). One other phrase galls me: "The notice to Congress also justified the most recent publicly disclosed attack on a boat . . . " The noticed "justified"? Or was an attempt to justify? They keep using language that makes things sound inevitable, and while they bring in critics, that language used to describe his actions has power, sets the tone. The doubt about his course is the essence of the story and should infuse the language describing his actions.
October 3, 2025 at 2:45 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
Yes indeed! What do you do when you're covering a lying, bloviating politician who revels in attention, good or bad? Ignoring him or covering him neutrally or even covering him critically doesn't work. You've got to try something different! Clip and save this chart:
October 2, 2025 at 6:24 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
Blithering president tells generals that blue cities should be training grounds for the military, and WaPo is like ho hum. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Hundreds of the U.S. military’s top leaders absorbed highly partisan addresses from President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday, with each harshly criticizing their predecessors and touting their agendas in a summit that was extraordinary in nature but ultimately broke little new ground.
September 30, 2025 at 4:50 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
Good chyron. Bummer she didn’t address this directly.
Trump to Oregon governor: “Am I watching things on TV that are different from what’s happening?“
September 30, 2025 at 1:57 AM
froomkin.bsky.social
Good initial framing by NYT. Now I want them to say what it means, and what we should call it. I call it abuse of power. Tyranny. Authoritarianism. Political repression. Fascism.
Former F.B.I. Director Comey Indicted After Pressure From Trump The indictment is a culmination of President Trump’s relentless effort to exact retribution for investigating his 2016 campaign over possible ties to Russia.
September 25, 2025 at 11:14 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
ChatGPT gets it:
What do you call it when a country's leader uses the power of the state to target his political enemies? ChatGPT said: There are a few terms that describe when a leader uses the power of the state to go after political opponents. Some of the common ones are: Political repression Authoritarianism Tyranny State‐sponsored political violence Abuse of power Persecution If you want a single word, “authoritarianism” or “tyranny” are often used. If you want something more specific, like legal tools or state machinery being used, you might call it political persecution or state repression.
September 25, 2025 at 10:58 PM
froomkin.bsky.social
A master class from the Washington Post in how to normalize the bonkers.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
By Michael Birnbaum, John Hudson and Adam Taylor UNITED NATIONS — President Donald Trump on Tuesday called for fellow leaders to halt global migration and end the fight against climate change, taking aim at two of the United Nations’ core issues as he sought to elevate his domestic agenda into a playbook the whole world should follow. In an address from the highest international stage, Trump took aim at the organization’s priorities but said it had “tremendous potential.” But the message he delivered in unusually stark terms at the annual gathering of world leaders rebuked the values of the organization that seeks to reduce suffering from global conflicts, famines and persecution and address climate change by reducing emissions and the burning of fossil fuels.
September 23, 2025 at 8:40 PM