Standing Up to Corporate Media Bullying

Here's what I told Politico, Part II

Usually, on this Sunday in April, the morning after the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, I would be getting ready to join my media colleagues at the annual Politico brunch at a mansion in Georgetown.

Not this year.

Things have become a little testy between me and the German-owned company after it absurdly demanded that I delete a 1800-word article critical of the Trump administration. I declined. They escalated. By the end of the week, they demanded the deletion of two more articles and the removal of an important interview I conducted last year about Trump’s threat to democracy.

Oh, and they threatened to sue me if I didn’t listen to them.

I responded to Politico privately last night, and I wanted Telos readers this morning to be the first to know what I told them.

But first, a quick reminder of what this fight is about.

Politico is run by Mathias Döpfner, a conservative German billionaire and the CEO of Axel Springer. Döpfner has used his Berlin-based media empire to influence politics back home, and he appears set on doing the same in the U.S.

The NY Post recently noted that there was a curious gap between Trump’s assault on Politico and how Döpfner has responded.

On the one hand:

Recently, President Trump branded Politico a “leftwing rag” and instructed officials to terminate government subscriptions. The media outlet was also removed from Pentagon offices and was replaced by more right-leaning publications.

Further complicating matters, Trump falsely accused Politico of receiving $8 million from the US Agency for International Development.

Those attacks from Trump have made it harder for Politico’s excellent reporters to do their jobs. They are looking for unwavering support from their leadership to defend them against these bad-faith assaults from MAGA.

Are they getting it? The NY Post notes:

Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner, who is known for his critiques of “woke” culture and his ties to Trump-affiliated figures, recently praised a contentious speech by Vice President JD Vance as “inspiring” yet labeled Trump’s criticism of Politico a “misunderstanding.”

Many of Politico’s reporters are my friends, and many are now paying Telos subscribers. (You know who you are, and I thank you!)

Quite a few have told me they are embarrassed that Politico has launched a censorship campaign against me. They realize this is not a good look for a news organization, especially in the current environment in Washington.

I hope these cooler heads prevail inside Politico, where I spent six years reporting alongside some of the best reporters in Washington.

Many readers have asked how they can help. If you want to reach out to Politico’s editor in chief, John Harris, and express your concern about what Politico is doing, his publicly available email address is jharris@politico.com, and his handle on X is @harrispolitico

This could escalate into a much bigger conflict if Politico tries to shut us down by using Mathias Döpfner’s billions of dollars to sue Telos.

Thanks to all of you for supporting me this week. I can’t emphasize enough how much it means to me. This isn’t what I wanted to spend the first week of this new venture writing about, and I hope it’s all behind me very soon because there are many more urgent matters on which to focus my reporting.

If you haven’t already done so, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription to keep Telos going.

And now here’s some of what I told Politico last night in response to their latest round of threats:

Dear Meredith,

I’m disappointed that on the eve of the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, and during a period of unprecedented attacks on the free press, John Harris and Politico have devoted themselves to a campaign of censorship, intimidation, and defamation against me and Telos News.

I’m disappointed, but I’m not surprised.

You should be aware that your April 24, 2025, letter is riddled with errors, falsehoods, and conclusory statements made without reference to any evidence.

You falsely claim that ”we are not asking you – and have never asked you – to censor criticism of the Trump Administration.”

This is false.

On Monday, April 21, at 7:13 PM, you left a voice message saying, “I need you to take it down—immediately.” The ”it” that you referred to was a 1800-word article that reported on the Trump administration’s targeting of law firms, critiqued media coverage of the administration, and announced the creation of Telos News.

At 7:32 PM, you followed up with an email in which you unequivocally ordered Telos News to erase the entire 1800-word article, which would have included all of the article’s original reporting about the Trump administration’s attack on Paul Weiss.

“You are required,” you wrote, to “take down your blog post immediately.” You did not cite any specific lines in the article that you believed were disparaging. You did not offer any evidence whatsoever that Politico was disparaged. You made a blanket demand of erasure for the entire piece, which was overwhelmingly about Paul Weiss, the Trump administration, and Telos News, not Politico.

Nonetheless, I allowed you to clarify the nature of your extreme demand. On April 23, I wrote you a letter noting,

it is my understanding that editorial leaders at Politico now regret that this demand letter was sent and are embarrassed that the company, which is owned by a media conglomerate professing that "freedom is not just a value; it is our guiding principle," tried to have Telos's reporting about the Trump administration deleted.

I asked you whether Politico’s position remained that the entire article should be erased. “If I do not receive a response by 4:00 PM today,” I wrote, “I will assume that Politico's demand to delete the entire 1800-word Telos News article remains Politico's position.”

The deadline came and went with no response.

This extraordinary demand for censorship by a foreign-owned conglomerate would have crippled Telos News. No self-respecting journalist ever would have acceded to such an Orwellian pressure campaign — and that’s why Politico was widely condemned for its actions.

It did not have to go this way. You could have reached out to Telos News in a spirit of cooperation. You could have offered to work together towards an amicable resolution. You could have cited specific lines in the article and presented a reasoned argument for why you believed they were disparaging. In an open society in which we journalists hold up free speech as sacrosanct, that’s how disagreements like this get resolved.

Instead, you immediately chose a course of censorship, intimidation, threats, and bullying.

At Telos News, we don’t back down from bullies, whether they’re the Trump administration or a billion-dollar German company doing the Trump administration’s bidding.

And now you have tripled down on your bullying. Instead of learning your lesson, Politico is back with additional censorship demands. You now want Telos News to delete two new articles, in their entirety:

• “Politico and Free Speech: The foreign-owned media company is demanding that I delete an 1,800-word article criticizing press coverage of Trump.”

• “My Formal Response to Politico: Here's what I just told the media conglomerate trying to censor me.”

Furthermore, you are demanding the deletion of an enormously consequential interview about Trump’s attack on democracy:

• ”The Podcast About Trump's Threat to Democracy That Was Never Published: An insider's account of how the media botched the 2024 election”

Every last word in these articles is constitutionally protected speech, and Politico should be embarrassed and ashamed over its crusade to have this material suppressed and deleted from the internet.

…

Tonight, at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, when John [Harris] and other Politico leaders raise their glasses to toast the First Amendment, I hope they think hard about the reckless censorship campaign they are pursuing against Telos News.

You write, "[y]ou are giving Politico no choice but to pursue legal action against you.” I disagree. You always have the choice to do the right thing. It’s not too late to admit your mistake and live up to the values of free speech that Politico claims to uphold.

If you proceed with a frivolous lawsuit meant to harass and censor Telos News, I assure you that we will defend ourselves vigorously and successfully. …

Sincerely,

Ryan Lizza

Founder and Editor

Telos News