Free Speech Files

In the Free Speech Files, Gateway Journalism Review publisher and host William Freivogel takes listeners on a deep dive into the most pressing challenges and debates facing the First Amendment today. Over a limited-run series, we examine how free speech, press freedom, assembly and petition rights are tested across the United States — from social media moderation to book bans, from journalistic whistleblowers to campus speech controversies. Each episode features interviews with legal scholars, frontline reporters and thinkers defending or critiquing the boundaries of expression. Supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the Free Speech Files seeks to illuminate both the timeless underpinnings and urgent tensions of the First Amendment, especially in an age of polarization, misinformation and evolving media. Whether you’re a journalist, student, lawyer, or citizen curious about the contours of free expression in America, the Files offers clarity and context into what it means to speak freely — and what those freedoms cost.