What can journalism during the Red Scare teach us about journalism during the Trans Scare?

Quite a bit, I think. A thread 🧵

Reporters who covered Joseph McCarthy during his initial rise to power later regretted that they had taken a middle-of-the-road, both-sides approach. 1/ Those reporters worked for the wire services and provided the nation’s newspapers with 85% of the content about McCarthy.

Larger newspapers, who had their own columnists covering DC politics, knew exactly what McCarthy represented very early on. 2/

Elon Musk’s views on free speech remind me of a story from a few decades back. Holocaust deniers began targeting college newspapers, asking the editors to publish their articles. If the editors refused, the deniers argued, they would be complicit in suppressing free speech 1/x The strategy worked. Some college newspapers published the articles, often accompanied by a statement that although they didn’t agree with the content, Holocaust deniers had a "constitutional right" to express their views. 2/x

"They close churches but open liquor stores!" has become the default battle cry against public health measures on Fox News.

So, I can't begin to describe how infuriated I am that this bumper-sticker mentality found it's way onto the Supreme Court. 1/4 "It may be unsafe to go to church, but it is always fine to pick up another bottle of wine...Who knew public health would so perfectly align with secular convenience?" Gorsuch sarcastically writes in his concurrence with the majority opinion in Roman Catholic Diocese v Cuomo 2/4