Martin Bright
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martinbright.bsky.social
Martin Bright
@martinbright.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer in Journalism at University of Essex, Editor-at-Large at Index on Censorship, founder of Creative Society
A beautuful tribite to Rachel Cooke from @timadamswrites.bsky.social Terribly sad news

observer.co.uk/news/nationa...
Remembering Rachel Cooke | The Observer
observer.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 10:47 PM
www.instagram.com/reel/DRAa6a_... This song gets me even when it isn’t sung by Jesse Hughes from Eagles of Death Metal with the survivors of the Bataclan massacre.
France tv on Instagram: "Les frissons.🙏 Jesse Hughes, du groupe Eagles of Death Metal, chante le célèbre "You’ll never walk alone" avec le Chœur du 13, composé de survivants et de familles de victime...
120K likes, 1,630 comments - france.tv on November 13, 2025: "Les frissons.🙏 Jesse Hughes, du groupe Eagles of Death Metal, chante le célèbre "You’ll never walk alone" avec le Chœur du 13, composé de...
www.instagram.com
November 14, 2025 at 8:40 AM
I’ve been thinking about this piece by Rachele Dini all week. It’s a very depressing read, but beautifully done, which is some consolation: lareviewofbooks.org/article/lite...
Literature Is Not a Vibe: On ChatGPT and the Humanities | Los Angeles Review of Books
Rachele Dini discusses OpenAI’s “A Machine-Shaped Hand” and an academic sector in crisis.
lareviewofbooks.org
November 8, 2025 at 12:47 PM
As ever @sundersays.bsky.social sets the right tone:
October 3, 2025 at 12:19 PM
This is really rather good. I don’t know why I was sceptical. A sophisticated and mature take on a very difficult and morally complicated story. Journalist on journalist stories are never comfortable reading/viewing. Especially for journalists.
October 1, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Reposted by Martin Bright
@freepress.bsky.social joined @wgawest.bsky.social today to protest ABC/Disney’s capitulation to the Trump administration’s calls to censor Jimmy Kimmel.
September 18, 2025 at 10:40 PM
“See you in Valhalla”. Where have we heard that before?

theconversation.com/far-right-ex...
Far-right extremists keep co-opting Norse symbolism – here’s why
Norse symbols and references to Valhalla repeatedly show up the manifestos of far right terrorists. An expert explains why.
theconversation.com
September 12, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Martin Bright
The AI impersonation plot thickens...
Business Insider yanked 40 essays with suspect bylines. Are they related? www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Business Insider yanked 40 essays with suspect bylines. Are they related?
“Margaux Blanchard” appears to be one dubious element of a broader scheme to peddle bogus articles to a number of publications.
www.washingtonpost.com
September 6, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Reposted by Martin Bright
The arrest of Graham Linehan over a series of posts on X has been a stark example of overpolicing what we say online in the UK. Index's @martinbright.bsky.social writes about the episode:
www.indexoncensorship.org/2025/09/the-...
The arrest of Graham Linehan is a cop and ball story - Index on Censorship
The Father Ted writer was arrested by five armed police officers on arrival in the UK over historic tweets on trans people
www.indexoncensorship.org
September 3, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Could you get in touch please? @gregwilliams718.bsky.social
August 27, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Join us this Tuesday for Land of the Free? A magazine launch and panel on #Trump's assault on free expression. With @ericawagner.bsky.social, @anveebhutani.bsky.social, and
@charlieholt.bsky.social.
📅 Tuesday 5 August
📍 St John's Waterloo
Register: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/land-of-th...
Land of the free? Trump's war on press, protest and academic freedom
Join Index on Censorship for a magazine launch and panel discussion on the Trump administration's attack on freedom of expression
www.eventbrite.co.uk
July 31, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by Martin Bright
The term "dissident" emerged during the Cold War. Index was created at this time & worked with dissidents from the USSR.

So what can US political activists now learn from the original dissidents?

Index's editor-at-large @martinbright.bsky.social explores: www.indexoncensorship.org/2025/07/has-...
Has President Trump launched the age of the American dissident? - Index on Censorship
A new era of authoritarianism has dawned in the “land of liberty”. What can US political activists learn from those who defied Soviet repression?
www.indexoncensorship.org
July 29, 2025 at 11:23 AM
At risk of sounding like an old git, Glastonbury seems to be just a series of bland acts playing songs using the same intervals with that pop-country-Swedish vibe. It’s as predictable and predigested as the politics.
June 28, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by Martin Bright
As Health Secretary Wes Streeting announces a national inquiry into maternity care, revisit the ground-breaking investigation by Index's @martinbright.bsky.social on the culture of secrecy shrouding maternity services and women’s healthcare in #England:
www.indexoncensorship.org/2025/04/whis...
June 24, 2025 at 12:19 PM
I was delighted to hear about the release of political prisoners from Belarus, but the campaign must continue for others still detained. bjr.org.uk/handing-the-...
Handing the story to President Putin - BJR
America is pulling funding of uncensored radio stations just as Russia and China are raising their spending on state-controlled propaganda
bjr.org.uk
June 22, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Martin Bright
The floral soul of the man who created unforgettable costumes for Audrey Hepburn and Margot Fonteyn: observer.co.uk/style/fashio...
Review: Cecil Beaton’s garden party | The Observer
A new exhibition reveals how the fashion photographer's stage outfits, which mesmerised the West End for half a century, were inspired by his perennials
observer.co.uk
May 11, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Martin Bright
Pedro Pascal urges people to fight back against a scary US regime by not being fearful and so not “letting them win” #Eddington @cannesfilmfestival.bsky.social
May 17, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Reposted by Martin Bright
Harris Dickinson @cannesfilmfestival.bsky.social -ahead of acclaim today for his directorial debut #Urchin - explains his work with East London rough sleepers and addicts
May 17, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Martin Bright
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

Three Yale professors who have written extensively on authoritarianism are leaving the U.S. “We’re like people on the Titanic saying our ship can’t sink,” Marci Shore said. “And what you know as a historian is that there is no such thing as a ship that can’t sink.”
Opinion | We Study Fascism at Yale. We’re Leaving the U.S.
The decision by these three Yale professors to move to Canada is both a warning and a call to action.
www.nytimes.com
May 14, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Reposted by Martin Bright
Support local journalism! Great independent initiative in Leicester...
May 14, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Martin Bright
The same administration that issues executive orders about "restoring truth to American history" is eliminating archives of historical newspapers. It's almost like they don't mean what their performative EOs say.
Some sad confirmation from @bcgl.bsky.social while I was at UW last week—the National Digital Newspaper Program—which builds Chronicling America—has been shut down

Historical newspapers are probably the archival material most used by the general public—for genealogy, local history—it’s such a loss
About this Collection | Chronicling America | Digital Collections | Library of Congress
Search America's Historic Newspaper Pages through 1963 Please Note: The Library of Congress has transitioned the longstanding Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers website to this new digi...
www.loc.gov
May 13, 2025 at 7:34 PM