At Politico and the New York Times, journalists recount their experiences inside the Capitol building when a pro-Trump mob forced entry on Wednesday.
At Indian Country Today, Dalton Walker contrasts the meager use of force by Capitol police on the mob with the aggressive tactics used by the National Guard on pipeline opponents at Standing Rock in 2016.
At Poynter, Katy Byron previews the year in misinformation for 2021. Needless to say, it’s not looking good, with Byron’s big three predictions being “it’s going to get uglier,” “pandemic and political disinformation will dominate,” and, on a brighter note, the hope that “media literacy will gain traction.”
Simon & Schuster has canceled plans to publish Missouri Senator Josh Hawley’s book on big tech. Hawley, one several Republican lawmakers who attempted to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential election and who incited insurrection at the Capitol, took to Twitter to call the cancellation “Orwellian,” and a violation of his First Amendment rights. Other users promptly pointed out what’s really Orwellian here.
Neil Sheehan, the Pulitzer-winning author and Vietnam War correspondent who obtained the Pentagon Papers for the Times, died yesterday at age eighty-four. In a 2015 interview, Sheehan spoke to the paper about how exactly he got the classified documents, on the condition that the story not be published until after his death.
Time has a review of the new TV series by Martin Scorsese and Fran Lebowitz, Pretend It’s A City, which debuts today on Netflix. The show treats viewers to Lebowitz quips such as “most people who love to write are terrible writers,” “nothing is better for a city than a dense population of angry homosexuals,” and “we live in a world where they applaud the price, not the Picasso,” as she and Scorsese pal around in New York City.
On Monday, Politics & Prose and the New Republic will host former Jezebel editor in chief Koa Beck for a discussion her new book, White Feminism, with Melissa Gira Grant and Ruby Hamad.