Media 2070 featured in Seattle Times Editorial on Charlie Kirk
- isabelpapp2028
- Oct 1
- 2 min read
In a feature about Charlie Kirk’s assassination’s effect on free speech, Media 2070’s co-creator, Joseph Torres, offered his thoughts.
By: Isabel Papp
Last Monday, Joseph Torres, Media 2070 co-creator, was featured in a Seattle Times op-ed by senior staffer Naomi Ishikaya regarding Charlie Kirk’s assassination earlier this month, highlighting the struggle for free speech in an increasingly polarized nation.
The death of Charlie Kirk on a Utah college campus was, like many of his comments, controversial. His opinions about women’s role in society, people of color, and abortion made him the subject of admiration and hate—and both were fueled by his assassination.
As Ishisaka notes, Kirk’s supporters have created a surveillance environment following his killing that polices commentary surrounding his death and his opinions. His supporters rushed to report those who made unsympathetic comments, contacting their professional supervisors and, in some cases, getting them fired. “It became no longer enough to say you condemn the killing,” she wrote. “No, you also had to praise and valorize Kirk.”
Joseph Torres reinforced this view, highlighting the control that government workers and media giants have exerted on the assassination’s coverage.
The most blatant example of this is Jimmy Kimmel, whose late night show was briefly suspended by ABC and Disney, the parent company, following his comment on the situation, which many found inflammatory. Kimmel was also called out directly by FCC Chair Brendan Carr.
Torres said, “If we are ever going to get out of this, we have to contend with the concentration of power of these massive media owners, who have always played a role in undermining the realization of a multiracial democracy.”
As directed media efforts with his analysis of culture and politics, making him uniquely relevant to this issue. According to Free Press, he also writes frequently on media and internet issues and is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the American Media with Juan González.
Both Torres’ and Media 2070’s mission reflect an ongoing effort to shed light on underlying issues and narratives pervading news and further media. Commitments to democratize the media and ensure that equitable perspectives are heard are now more important than ever.
“It’s very scary that the government will come after you for describing what someone says accurately and what he stood for, what he’s fighting for, what he was advocating for,” Torres said, “and all the racist comments about Black women and other folks, it’s like that didn’t happen.”
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