I often quip that I’m the last of the bison when it comes to American journalists—a description Ring Lardner applied to Gene Fowler in the 1930s. It’s a nice line, but it’s not quite right. There are more of us remaining in the news business than you might guess – reporters, editors, and producers who still adhere to the time-tested standards of fairness, accuracy, and nonpartisanship.

Yet I’m worried about the state of journalism in our country. This very week I heard two cable television talking heads – men whose salaries are paid by media organizations – bemoaning the recent pushback against government and Big Tech censorship. Their attitude is precisely backwards. Freedom of expression is an essential component of the American Identity. Put simply: The United States of America didn’t create the idea of a free press; a free press helped create the United States of America.

I believe that the continued existence of this nation as we’ve known it depends on having an open, healthy, independent Fourth Estate – and one that is not allergic to viewpoint diversity. If you want to know what this looks like, visit RealClearPolitics.com and look at our front page. Each day, we present news stories, columns, videos, and clips from our podcasts – including our own daily radio show – that reflect views spanning the nation’s partisan and ideological spectrum. That’s the RealClear way.

But what does the RealClear way get you today? It gets you quietly targeted for censorship through advertising blacklisting. Ghosted on Wikipedia. Having the New York Times smear your polling reputation within a week of Election Day – an election in which RealClearPolitics’ vaunted polling averages were demonstrably more accurate than the Times’ own data.

And it turns out that you can get out of this Orwellian detention by bending the knee and playing ball with the censors. Overtures have been made to RealClear, which we have refused.  

Readers, friends, and RCP fans have asked what they can do to help RealClearPolitics. The newsrooms I’ve inhabited – and I was practically born and raised in the news business – left me under-prepared to answer that question. Call it a product of my old-school training. The division between editorial and business was like separation of church and state. Buy some advertising, I’d say, or send a check to our Foundation.

Little came of that. I’m not much of a salesman.

But now, I have a good answer: Support RealClear’s Samizdat Prize. As we did last year at the first such ceremony, we are giving three prizes, worth $25,000 each. That is $75,000 we have to raise. And half of the folks attending this year’s gala awards ceremony can't afford a ticket but are coming based on their merits as courageous practitioners of the free press. 

Would you support this effort? Would you help underwrite this celebration of much-needed courage and a coordinated pushback against censorship by attending our Feb. 5 Samizdat Prize Gala in Palm Beach, Florida?

 This year’s award winners are: 

  • Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, the “open global public square formerly known as Twitter.” Linda signed up for this job knowing full well of the gathering storm looking to take X down.
  • Abigail Shrier, Manhattan Institute senior fellow and author of “Irreversible Damage,” Shrier was among the first to raise questions about transgenderism and children. Her critics called her “transphobic,” which isn’t true, and tried to ban her book. Those critics, which included the ACLU (!), used that accusation to shut off debate. But whether or not one agrees with Shrier, we all ought to be able to agree that open discussion of public policy is every American’s birthright.
  • Jonathan Turley, George Washington University law professor and an indefatigable champion of the First Amendment. Last year he wrote “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” an essential book that compellingly lays out the challenge for anyone who values the right to think, write, and speak freely. 

I hope to see you there, rallying behind this vital effort. To sponsor a table or purchase tickets, please click here: Event – The Samizdat Prize

If you can't make it, please still think about supporting our mission.