Maddi O’Neill
@maddioneill.bsky.social
820 followers 490 following 400 posts
Freelance criminal justice reporter in Baltimore. Yes, I can find that court record for you. Hire me: madeleineoneill.com
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maddioneill.bsky.social
Please tell me who to add to this turns out I’m terrible at it go.bsky.app/RGHzbse
Reposted by Maddi O’Neill
dinfontay.com
this is a key point that i'm seeing a lot of casual observers miss as they call for boycotting paramount (sure, fine) & note that weiss lacks the skill to run cbs (correct.) the project is to dismantle the news media. traditional business metrics don't really apply when the goal is destruction.
kattenbarge.bsky.social
Installing someone like Bari Weiss as the head of a major news organization isn’t even about profit or longevity. In effect it’s about continuing to shrink the traditional news industry smaller and smaller and weaker and weaker and less and less journalism based until it ceases to exist
Reposted by Maddi O’Neill
albertburneko.bsky.social
Bari Weiss signs huge deal to usher CBS News into its Vichy era: defector.com/bari-weiss-s...
The Ellisons and the rest of the billionaire class don't need the aerodynamic drag of association with fringier right-wing stuff; they want the prestige and lubricity of affiliation with important, elite institutions. That's the value proposition of the Ivy-incubated, Wall Street Journal and New York Times veteran Weiss: obsequiousness to power and capital without any of the wacky stuff, the imprimatur of elite consensus unburdened by any inconvenient commitment to reporting on the business of powerful people. What does this look like in practical terms?
maddioneill.bsky.social
Giant mainstream news outlets weren't happy with a slow march into obscurity and just mediocre newsroom leaders so they're self-destructing at warp speed
Reposted by Maddi O’Neill
dlknowles.bsky.social
I visited the apartment building ICE raided on Tuesday today. Story to come, but you can walk right in. Half of the apartments have no doors on them. Children's stuff abandoned in some flats. *Citizen* residents told me they were arrested and held for hours in zipties. This is America
Reposted by Maddi O’Neill
henryhenryhenry.com
the government should not be able to smash into your home and drag you into the street for no reason. it's kind of a core civil right, perhaps THE core civil right.
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
What DHS pulled in Chicago on Tuesday is wildly unconstitutional. They smashed down almost every door in the building, dragged entire families into the street, and detained people for hours ("Kavanaugh stops").

Ms. Fisher was held for five hours and another senior citizen was held for three hours.
Rodrick Johnson, 67, is one of many residents who were detained by federal agents during the South Shore raid. A U.S. citizen, he said agents broke through his door and dragged him out in zip ties.

Johnson said he was left tied up outside the building for nearly three hours before agents finally let him go.

“I asked [agents] why they were holding me if I was an American citizen, and they said I had to wait until they looked me up,” Jones said. “I asked if they had a warrant, and I asked for a lawyer. They never brought one.”
Reposted by Maddi O’Neill
baltsunguild.bsky.social
#TBT Remember when Sun co-owner Armstrong Williams responded to our concerns with a column about how a “free marketplace of ideas is indispensable?”

His and David Smith’s management tried to make us sign a gag rule, then walked away from contract negotiations because we wouldn’t muzzle ourselves.
A column in The Baltimore Sun by the newspaper’s co-owner, conservative commentator Armstrong Williams, responding to the Baltimore Sun Guild’s criticism of his rhetoric toward trans people. It is titled “Censorship atrophies critical thinking.”
Reposted by Maddi O’Neill
seung.bsky.social
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER was my first “Steely Dan will start speaking to you at a certain age” moment, despite my best efforts resisting it for years
maddioneill.bsky.social
The Baltimore Sun’s managing editor is personally writing articles citing Laura Loomer and naming an academic that Loomer has accused of creating an ICE tracking app (a practice that experts widely agree is legal)
maddioneill.bsky.social
Some interesting context: the law firm at the center of this story has a well-documented history of using aggressive and misleading litigation tactics against exonerees, which I wrote about in this 2022 article thedailyrecord.com/2022/06/23/w...
Reposted by Maddi O’Neill
brendelbored.bsky.social
Isaac Chotiner has invited me to sample some delicious Amontillado wine and I don’t know guys but I think I’m going to come out of this interview seeming like *quite* the wine expert
maddioneill.bsky.social
A fun story today: Denise Greeley, a paralegal at Murphy, Falcon & Murphy, got a rare shout-out from the 4th Circuit last month. Her work helped secure a victory for Woodberry residents who saw lead paint flakes rain down on their property from the the TV Hill transmission tower in 2022.
‘Genius paralegal’ gets shoutout from 4th Circuit in lead paint case
The 4th Circuit credited a Murphy, Falcon & Murphy paralegal for work that sent a Baltimore lead paint class action back to state court.
thedailyrecord.com
maddioneill.bsky.social
I'm filling in at @mddailyrecord.bsky.social for a few days! Here's my latest: Maryland's attorney general got new powers to investigate and enforce civil rights violations in 2023. A property management company that received a subpoena is suing over it. Story: thedailyrecord.com/2025/09/19/m...
Company sues MD AG over authority on civil rights violations
Bay Management Group sued Maryland’s attorney general, claiming new civil rights enforcement powers are unconstitutional and overreach.
thedailyrecord.com
maddioneill.bsky.social
I have been welcomed into the featherhood (a.k.a. invited to a pigeon club cookout)
Reposted by Maddi O’Neill
oliviamesser.bsky.social
every day asking myself “is it okay as a journalist to admit i’m against child sex crimes? wait yes, of course. ....right?”
maddioneill.bsky.social
There's so much material!!!
maddioneill.bsky.social
Someone PLEASE let me be a Baltimore media critic
Tonight, Sinclair will continue to air ABC network programming as scheduled in the late-night time period. The Charlie Kirk special will instead be available on The National News Desk's Youtube channel, ensuring viewers can continue to enjoy ABC programming while also providing full access to the special online
maddioneill.bsky.social
I mean
twseal.bsky.social
Headlines on the Bloomberg Terminal from Air Force One:

*TRUMP: TV LICENSES SHOULD BE TAKEN AWAY IF BAD PUBLICITY FOR ME
*TRUMP: IF TV SHOWS 'HIT TRUMP' SHOULD BE DISCUSSED ON LICENSES
*TRUMP ON TV SHOWS CRITICIZING HIM: THEY'RE NOT ALLOWED TO
Reposted by Maddi O’Neill
shannonbond.bsky.social
we wrote about this WH tactic recently. they’re asking journalists for expert source names and then using them to look up political donations in FEC records to try to discredit those sources as biased.

www.npr.org/2025/08/18/n...
amykristinsanders.bsky.social
I had this exact same experience this morning. Same reporter as Heidi.

This is *not* normal.

I have spoken to the press on these issues for two decades. No government official has ever demanded to know my identity in order to give a comment on a story.
heidikitrosser.bsky.social
I find this extremely chilling:
I spoke w a reporter this morning about Kimmel. (Reporter was / is great) They got back to me a short while ago to say they sought White House comment & WH demands to know first which experts they spoke with. I told reporter I'm happy to be quoted IN THE STORY but 1/x
maddioneill.bsky.social
Will watching True Detective S1 again make me feel better or worse about things? Only one way to find out
maddioneill.bsky.social
My senior thesis in undergrad was about how well-meaning limitations on offensive speech could be appropriated by the government to silence critics 😭
maddioneill.bsky.social
(This was a five-alarm fire too by the way)
maddioneill.bsky.social
Where were all these free speech warriors when Rumeysa Ozturk was getting snatched off the street by masked men *for writing an op-ed*