Dan Froomkin

Press Watch (https://t.co/DyC5q3subU) and Heads Up news (https://t.co/6IOK9p8A5Y). Ex-Washington Post, HuffPost, Intercept. I afflict comfortable journalists.

Articles

‘How many people were arrested?’ is a lousy way to cover protests - Editor and Publisher

2 weeks ago | editorandpublisher.com | Dan Froomkin

Posted Friday, June 13, 2025 10:01 am As anti-ICE and anti-Trump protests are becoming increasingly frequent and newsworthy, our major news organizations need to reconsider how to cover them.
‘How many people were arrested?’ is a lousy way to cover protests

2 weeks ago | presswatchers.org | Dan Froomkin

As anti-ICE and anti-Trump protests are becoming increasingly frequent and newsworthy, our major news organizations need to rethink how to cover them. Right now, the emphasis in news reports is almost exclusively on how many people were arrested, and whether any of the protesters were violent. Even crowd estimates are oddly verboten. See, for instance, this Washington Post report on Wednesday’s protests around the nation, which focuses almost exclusively on arrests and what the police said.
‘No Kings’ protests suddenly take on a greater urgency

2 weeks ago | headsupnews.org | Dan Froomkin

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Journalists are aiding and abetting Trump’s incitement in LA

2 weeks ago | presswatchers.org | Dan Froomkin

The mainstream media has become a key partner in Donald Trump’s quest to cast the small-scale rioting in Los Angeles as an existential threat to the country. This is happening in two ways. The media is focusing on the visually dramatic rioting and property damage rather than the overwhelmingly peaceful expressions of support for friends and neighbors and a widespread backlash against over-militarized and cruel immigration raids.
ICE’s police-state tactics spark public rebellions

3 weeks ago | headsupnews.org | Dan Froomkin

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ICE’s police-state tactics spark public rebellions

3 weeks ago | open.substack.com | Dan Froomkin

When federal agents in full combat gear and long guns descended on their local Italian restaurant, San Diego residents got in their way. When people in plainclothes grabbed immigrants showing up for their court appearances, New York residents tried to block their vans. When federal agents raided a Mexican restaurant in Minneapolis, an angry crowd surrounded them. When ICE agents tried to gain access to a home posing as electrical workers, a suspicious Tucson neighbor yelled out warnings.
Everything you care about is under attack but you still need to function

1 month ago | headsupnews.org | Dan Froomkin

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Mainstream media inches closer to addressing Trump’s racism

1 month ago | presswatchers.org | Dan Froomkin

Donald Trump’s racism and derangement were on full display during his Oval Office meeting on Wednesday with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. And while news headlines fell well short of proclaiming the lunacy and hatefulness of his remarks, reporters at our top media outlets at least came closer than they have before to openly addressing Trump’s vehemently racist views.
A call for civic institutions to defend the First Amendment

1 month ago | headsupnews.org | Dan Froomkin

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The truth about Donald Trump rarely makes it into the news

1 month ago | presswatchers.org | Dan Froomkin

Donald Trump has no coherent plan, other than self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment. He is making this stuff up as he goes along. He is impulsive and changes his mind constantly. He lies pathologically and is often incoherent. He promotes actions that are overtly illegal. He is hostile to every form of expertise. Others, most notably Elon Musk and Stephen Miller, are making decisions in his name that he doesn’t seem to know or care about.