One prestigious journal for doctors who work in pulmonary health is now confirming the receipt of a letter sent by Ed Martin, who is the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia in President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice.
NBC News reported Friday that the CHEST journal — which is published by the 22,000-member American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) — got a letter from Martin asking various questions about its editorial practices. This reportedly included whether it was influenced by advertisers, allowed for “viewpoint diversity” and if it protects readers from misinformation.
““It has been brought to my attention that more and more journals and publications like CHEST Journal are conceding that they are partisans in various scientific debates,” the letter read, which also warned editors: “You have certain responsibilities.”
Eric Reinhart, who is a Chicago-based clinician, political anthropologist and social psychiatrist, obtained a copy of the letter and posted it to his X account. He called on editors of journals like CHEST to form a unified opposition to the administration.
“The Trump regime is now using US Attorneys to intimidate academic journals by sending them letters demanding they explain how they ensure ‘viewpoint diversity,'” Reinhart tweeted. “Journal editors should be public about this and coordinate to refuse to comply with these fascist tactics.”
JT Morris, who is a senior supervising attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), expressed a similar sentiment regarding Martin’s letter to the CHEST journal.
“It’s really unusual when you see a U.S. Attorney from the Distinct of Columbia sending a letter to a publication based in Illinois inquiring about their editorial practices, in particular, a journal from a medical organization,” Morris said. “That screams of a government official going after a publication because it disagrees with what the publication is saying.”
Source: Alternet / Digpu NewsTex