The most relevant figure to Super Bowl LX is absent from it. The game will be played in his former home stadium, in the place where his protest made him a national lightning rod and a global symbol. The social issues swirling around America's largest sporting spectacle carry distinct echoes of what prompted his actions and what led to his exile. And yet he remains outside the conversation and invisible within the confines of the NFL.
The biggest mistake one could make in analyzing this corporate slaughter is to lay the blame solely on the state of journalism. That'd be wrong. Times are hard in journalism, just like they always are. The big new problem is A.I. swallowing up search traffic, which itself had already sucked up the ad revenue that used to go to newspapers and magazines.
On Wednesday morning, the FBI executed a search warrant on a Washington Post reporter's home as part of a probe into a government worker accused of illegally retaining classified information. The reporter, Hannah Natanson, has been key to the Post's coverage of the Trump administration's federal workforce overhaul. She was present when federal agents searched her home, seizing her personal laptops, phone, and Garmin watch.
In his previous role, Sontag oversaw Bon Appétit's Best New Restaurants list, which most recently included Baan Mae and La'Shukran among 18 other restaurants across the country. He also helped launch a column on restaurant etiquette and led a magazine feature on queer food culture that was nominated for multiple National Magazine Awards. He previously worked at Eater and Serious Eats and has freelanced for the Post.
The plan, named Ripple, aims to diversify The Washington Post's content by including opinion pieces from Substack contributors and nonprofessional writers, enhancing its opinion section.