Ep. 243: Heather Mac Donald on Trump and free speech

Growing up, most of us learned one simple rule: don't talk to strangers. But American Dialogues is betting on the opposite. In New York City parks, the group's organizers set out folding chairs and invite anybody passing by to sit down and talk about politics, culture, and everyday life. The goal is to get strangers to speak honestly and keep listening when the conversation becomes difficult. Joining us to discuss how American Dialogues began, what happens when strangers disagree, and whether these conversations can help bridge America's divides are: Fin Colleton, student fellow at Columbia University's Trust Collaboratory and the creator of the public conversation tables that grew into American Dialogues

For more than half a century, Radio Caracas Televisión, or RCTV, broadcast news, sports, comedies, and telenovelas in Venezuela. Its news coverage was also fiercely critical of President Hugo Chávez. When RCTV's broadcast license expired, the government refused to renew it. Minutes later, a state-funded channel took its place. RCTV was one target in a broader campaign to silence dissent. Under Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, the government gradually tightened its grip on the media, punished political dissent, and weakened institutions that had protected democratic freedoms. A new documentary, Escaping Venezuela, traces the erosion of free speech and press freedom through the story of Carlos Mora, who was imprisoned and tortured after helping Venezuelan dissidents escape to Colombia. Joining us are director Jim Epstein and narrator Germania Rodríguez Poleo to discuss the film and how Venezuela's democratic institutions broke down. Read more about Escaping Venezuela here. Read Germania's Reason article here.

FIRE staff responds to President Trump's decision to ban CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, with President Trump citing their "constant 'reporting'" of "FAKE NEWS!" Barring journalists from the White House because of their coverage raises serious First Amendment concerns and strikes at the heart of a free and independent press. FIRE experts break down what happened and answer your questions about the ban.

The free speech culture wars look different than they did a decade ago. Reason senior editor and Rising host Robby Soave joins us to discuss the White House's restrictions on media access, Macklemore getting dropped from Ed Sheeran's tour, and why efforts to suppress controversial speech so often backfire. We also look back at how the free speech debate has changed since Robby and Nico began covering it — from campus censorship and cancel culture to social media moderation and the changing politics of free speech.

Harvard, institutional neutrality, how we determine the rankings, partisan censorship, how schools can improve their ranking, and more! Timestamps: 00:00 Intro 03:18 Learn about our inaugural Soapbox conference 04:02 Preorder Nico's book Free Speech Generation 5:00 Check out FIRE's 2027 College Free Speech rankings 06:05 Who are the top- and bottom-ranked schools? 09:27 What's new with the Harvard evaluation? 13:08 How does FIRE choose which schools to rank? 13:46 What can universities do to improve their ranking? 15:54 What is institutional neutrality? 18:05 What exactly are students being asked about campus speech? 21:25 How does FIRE make sure defending free speech doesn't inadvertently protect censorship in the classroom? 25:19 Is campus censorship coming more from the "right" or the "left"? 26:53 Did the University of Washington settlement involving Professor Stuart Reges affect its ranking? 30:45 What does it mean to pre-register our methodology? 31:35 Why did Claremont McKenna drop in the rankings? 33:07 What advice does FIRE have for students at low-ranked schools facing censorship? 36:47 Do politically homogeneous campuses make students more comfortable speaking freely? 40:26 Do low-ranked colleges tell FIRE how they are improving? 42:56 What can administrators do now to improve next year's ranking? 43:50 Does FIRE account for turnover in university leadership? 45:47 What do the rankings reveal about different student demographic groups? 49:41 Does FIRE account for differences between types of institutions? 52:00 What's up with MIT? 56:02 Should attacks on tenured professors carry more weight than actions against other faculty? 57:02 Who does FIRE contact when evaluating a university? 58:09 Are there regional patterns in the rankings? 58:57 Were there bigger ranking swings than usual this year? 01:00:44 Outro