Journalist arrests spike in 2024

Arrests of U.S. journalists surge in 2024

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a project of Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), just published a new report analyzing data it collected about U.S. press freedom violations this year, and the results are disturbing.

In 2024, journalists in the U.S. were arrested or detained by police at least 48 times, more than the previous two years combined. Nearly 90% of those arrests took place in connection with Israel-Gaza war protests.

To reach these numbers, police and other officials must be blatantly ignoring guidance from courts and the Department of Justice making clear that journalists have a First Amendment right to cover protests, including officers’ conduct after they issue dispersal orders. 

As stated by Kirstin McCudden, the Tracker’s managing editor and FPF’s vice president of editorial, each of these arrests “has serious consequences for our free press,” and the public’s right to know, since journalists arrested at protests are “often unable to freely cover stories deemed important by the public.” Read the full report here and check out yesterday’s Reddit AMA with Tracker Senior Reporter Stephanie Sugars.

New report shows need for PRESS Act

A new report from the Department of Justice’s Inspector General detailed how the DOJ spied on journalists during President Donald Trump’s first term and didn’t even bother to follow its own policies when it did.

Of course, Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden spied on journalists too, no matter what the toothless internal DOJ policies said. Our Director of Advocacy Seth Stern told The Intercept, “We don’t need to waste ink on years-late 100-page reports to confirm that the DOJ disregards these policies at its whim. We already know that.”  Instead, as Stern said, “We need to pass the PRESS Act.” 

Earlier this week, Sen. Tom Cotton blocked passage of the bill to protect journalist-source confidentiality in the Senate through unanimous consent, by objecting to it on totally spurious grounds.  But we told The Washington Post that it’s not over yet. “Leader Schumer needs to get the PRESS Act into law — whether by attaching it to a year-end legislative package or bringing it to the floor on its own — even if it means shortening lawmakers’ holiday break,” said Stern. Contact your Senator today to ask them to support the PRESS Act.

X goes ‘thermonuclear’ on media donors

Elon Musk — the world’s biggest free speech hypocrite — is at it again. This time, he isn’t just bringing a “thermonuclear” lawsuit against a media outlet that criticized social platform X. He’s going after all of its donors as well.

Last year, Musk’s X Corp. filed a “gloriously stupid” lawsuit against nonprofit journalism watchdog Media Matters for publishing a research report that found that advertisements for major brands appeared next to antisemitic and white nationalist posts on X. As part of discovery in its lawsuit, X has sought virtually every record Media Matters has about its donors.

Unfortunately, a lower court ordered Media Matters to turn over its donor information. The publication appealed, and this week FPF, represented pro bono by attorneys from Selendy Gay, filed an amicus brief in support of Media Matters. It pointed out how the lower court’s order would create a troubling way for future deep-pocketed litigants to target their perceived ideological enemies in the press by going after their donors. Read more (including the brief) here.

Bipartisan bill SLAPPs back against harassing lawsuits

Speaking of frivolous lawsuits, a new bipartisan bill could fix a big gap in federal law that leaves journalists and everyone else vulnerable to harassing lawsuits targeting their speech.

Reps. Jamie Raskin and Kevin Kiley and Sen. Ron Wyden introduced the Free Speech Protection Act last week. The bill gives victims of baseless lawsuits targeting their free speech, known as strategic lawsuits against public participation, a way to fight back in federal court.

SLAPPs use the time, expense — and stress — of lawsuits to punish free speech. Wealthy and powerful people and corporations have money to burn on lawyers to sue the journalists, activists, and regular people who criticize them. Those who have to defend themselves from these lawsuits often don’t. Even if they do defend themselves and win, they still lose. Read more about the much-needed legislation here.

Declassify records on Colombian Supreme Court attack

Colombian President Gustavo Petro is asking President Joe Biden to declassify U.S. records on one of Colombia’s most infamous human rights cases — its army’s 1985 siege of the Colombian Supreme Court.

Biden should agree to start the declassification process immediately. The U.S. has the unique ability to perform declassification diplomacy because of the quality of its archives, and it should engage in it regularly and proactively. There is no danger in releasing these 40-year-old records, and they would help bring closure to families still searching for answers about what happened to their loved ones.

Read more here about the need for more declassification diplomacy.

Israeli sanctions against the media should not be tolerated

We joined a statement led by Distributed Denial of Secrets objecting to Israel’s sanctions against its oldest newspaper, Haaretz, as well as its targeting of Palestinian journalists and refusal to allow international journalists into the Gaza strip. 

By ignoring assaults on press freedom by its close ally, the U.S. normalizes similar tactics at home. That's dangerous, especially with a president-elect who wants to punish journalists who won't kiss the ring. Columbia Journalism Review has more on the sanctions against Haaretz.

What we’re reading

The Supreme Court must intervene in the TikTok case (New York Times). In upholding the TikTok ban, the appellate court ignored long-standing Supreme Court precedent on the First Amendment and the stated intent of many lawmakers to censor U.S. TikTok users for their viewpoints. 

Should a student reporter face prosecution for embedding with protesters? (Columbia Journalism Review). The obvious answer is no. Stanford has plenty of classrooms for academic debates over whether Dilan Gohill went too far to get the news. That’s the only place where this case should be adjudicated. A university urging prosecution of a 19-year-old student journalist is bonkers. 

FAC leads press coalition in Stockton after sheriff threatens to investigate journalists (First Amendment Coalition). What's going on in California with government officials coming after journalists who report on public records? Ben Camacho, Jack Poulson, Maya Lau, and now this? Stop it already. All you're going to get is sued and publicly shamed. 

There's new hope for Austin Tice 12 years after he was kidnapped in Syria (NPR). In light of the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, President Biden must do everything he can to find and free Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in 2012 while reporting in Syria.

404 Media objects to a Texas subpoena for our reporting (404 Media). Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s subpoena “seeks to turn 404 Media into an arm of law enforcement, which is not our role and which we have no interest in doing or becoming.”

Trump taps immigration hard-liner Kari Lake as head of Voice of America (TVNewsCheck).  You don't have to be a fan of state media to see the danger of appointing an anti-press extremist known for spreading falsehoods to lead VOA. With Lake in charge, the government can use VOA as a guinea pig for anti-press tactics and pro-Trump propaganda.