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If I recall correctly, the original news peg for a live Kicker recording about threats to the free press was a raid on the home of Hannah Natanson, a Washington Post reporter. By the time Amanda Darrach, The Kicker’s producer, and I were finalizing logistics for the event, which took place in CJR’s office, two independent journalists—Don Lemon and Georgia Fort—had been arrested for covering a protest in Minneapolis. A few days before we recorded, the Post eliminated three hundred–plus jobs. Suffice it to say, I had plenty to talk about. 

I also had dream guests with whom to talk about it all. David Enrich, a deputy investigations editor at the New York Times, wrote the excellent 2025 book Murder the Truth about efforts to overturn the media law precedent set by New York Times v. Sullivan in 1964. Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of Columbia’s Knight First Amendment Institute, has been involved in litigating dozens of crucial cases on press freedom. In wrapping up the interview, I said I had about seven hundred more questions for them; in retrospect, that may have been an undercount.

Recording live also meant the rare chance to take questions from other smart people, including Fabio Bertoni, the general counsel for The New Yorker, and Tsehai Alfred, the editor in chief of the Columbia Daily Spectator. Listen below—or at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts—to hear Enrich and Jaffer discuss whether this moment is truly unprecedented, what they’re most worried about, their advice for student journalists, and so much more.

Show notes

• Q&A: David Enrich on the Right-Wing Plot to ‘Murder’ Libel Protections, Jon Allsop, CJR
  
• Barnard suspends WKCR and Spectator reporters who covered Butler Library protest, Isha Banerjee, Columbia Spectator
  
• Can the Media’s Right to Pursue the Powerful Survive Trump’s Second Term? David Enrich, the New York Times Magazine

Megan Greenwell, host
Amanda Darrach, producer
Jim Bittel, assistant dean of broadcast and multimedia technology, adjunct professor, and multimedia facility consultant
A.J. Mangone, assistant director, broadcast and multimedia technology
Pedro Florentin, videographer
Jamal Jones, videographer
Katie Kosma, art director

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