Let Us Now Praise Bigger and Better Twitter

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Autocratic forces are ascendant.

Truth-telling independent media is one remaining bulwark against an autocrat’s unrestrained exercise of power. At a time when billionaire owners of corporate media are making accommodations to political leaders, our nonprofit newsroom cannot be bought, bent, or broken. Depend on it, and please stand with us.

Autocratic forces are ascendant in America. But truth-telling independent media is one remaining bulwark against the unrestrained exercise of power. At a time when billionaire owners of corporate media are making accommodations to political leaders, our nonprofit newsroom cannot be bought or broken. Please stand with us.

I feel like I should take a public position on any topic that gets sufficiently contentious, so here it is with no hemming and hawing: I think it’s a good idea to increase the Twitter limit to 280 characters.

There. I said it. And I’ll bet everyone will agree before long. Tweets will retain their character as very brief public communications, but the character increase will allow a little more breathing room. Even short thoughts can’t always be easily condensed to 140 characters.