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THREAD => Here’s a short story about journalism and freedom of expression./1
This morning for the first time in my life I withdrew from an event I was supposed to be speaking at: pcievents.cvent.com/events/2017-pc… /2
A group of insurance lobbyists had asked me to talk about our article on higher rates in minority neighborhoods. /3 propublica.org/article/minori…
They didn’t tell me they named the panel “ProPublica and the New Media Advocacy” – which isn't correct. We are journalists not advocates. /4
Then they demanded that I remove references to Geico from my slides. Geico’s disparate pricing in Chicago was the lead of our article. /5 
1st they said they didn’t want to make Geico mad. Then that I had too many slides. Then they made me new slides removing Geico mentions! /6
Finally, their general counsel said I could not use my slides because they do not allow discussions of pricing at industry events. /7
I refused to alter my slides, and withdrew from the event. /8
I was surprised they thought a journalist would be willing to censor her own work. That cannot and should not ever be the norm. /END
