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{
"title": "Sheriff’s deputy searches journalist’s bag during LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sheriffs-deputy-searches-journalists-bag-during-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-10T20:43:52.603461Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-10T21:40:05.228651Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-10T21:40:05.127348Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"271ck\">A sheriff’s deputy searched L.A. Taco investigative journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray’s bag while he was reporting on an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"19bod\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"3l1hp\">Ray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporters-bag-searched-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/\">another reporter, Joey Scott,</a> were trying to leave the protest and because of the excessive tear gas being deployed nearby, determined that the best course of action was to cross the law enforcement skirmish line.</p><p data-block-key=\"3b1ki\">“I saw two other journalists pass through just by showing their press passes,” Ray said.</p><p data-block-key=\"600lf\">But despite seeing their press badges, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy, who identified himself as a sergeant in a <a href=\"https://x.com/joeyneverjoe/status/1931921864504590699\">video Scott posted</a> to the social platform X, insisted the pair stop to have their bags searched.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In order for us to leave the tear gas we had to move pass the LASD skirmish line. LASD told us to they had to search our bags in order for us to leave. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ShotOn35mm</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/xY4YLwUKF5\">pic.twitter.com/xY4YLwUKF5</a></p>— Joey (@joeyneverjoe) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/joeyneverjoe/status/1931921864504590699?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"271ck\">“If you’d like to go this way, I want to inspect your backpack,” the deputy said. “If not, you can go that way. It’s up to you.”</p><p data-block-key=\"92kbc\">Shining his flashlight into Ray’s bag, the deputy directed him to continue opening the pockets of his backpack, according to <a href=\"https://x.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1931924134356984146\">another video of the incident,</a> posted by Ray. At one point, the deputy acknowledged that the pair were journalists, but said the request was reasonable and for the sake of other law enforcement officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"e7036\">“I’ve never been searched,” Ray is heard telling the deputy in the video.</p><p data-block-key=\"7lqhl\">“Nobody is asking to search you. I’m asking you to open your backpack to make sure you don’t have a bomb in there. Do you have a bomb in there?” the deputy asked.</p><p data-block-key=\"4nm6f\">Ray told the officer that he had no weapons.</p><p data-block-key=\"5u8h9\">“Journalists cross police lines all the time, they don’t get searched. It’s not practical to,” Ray told the deputy in the video Scott posted.</p><p data-block-key=\"bftp3\">“It is in this instance,” the deputy replied.</p><p data-block-key=\"dn5a9\">Ray told the Tracker that police don’t have the capability to search every journalist that goes through a skirmish line, and expressed concern that this could have a chilling effect on reporters.</p><p data-block-key=\"ado2\">“I could see law enforcement agencies potentially using these bag searches as a way to gain information about journalists or just to intimidate them or discourage them from crossing their lines,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"44n7u\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9qb45\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer wrote. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"13f6u\">Ray was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-with-pepper-balls-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/\">struck by pepper balls fired by federal law enforcement</a> while covering another protest in downtown Los Angeles the previous day.</p><p data-block-key=\"c96mb\">The Tracker has documented other incidents in which Ray was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-repeatedly-shoved-while-covering-la-reproductive-rights-protests/\">shoved,</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-taco-reporter-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\">detained,</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-tackled-equipment-damaged-while-covering-dodgers-celebrations/\">tackled</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-covering-protests-los-angeles-assaulted/\">struck with a baton</a> while covering protests in Los Angeles since 2020.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"q5t30\">People console a man suffering from the effects of tear gas during an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025. Lexis-Olivier Ray, who took the photo, had his bag searched while covering the protest.</p>",
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{
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"state": {
"name": "California",
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},
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"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Lexis-Olivier Ray (L.A. Taco)"
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{
"title": "TV news vehicle vandalized during LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tv-news-vehicle-vandalized-during-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-11T20:34:01.150422Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-12T18:37:18.920285Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-12T18:37:18.821506Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0bm3z\">At least one news van belonging to KTLA was seen being tagged with graffiti live on air during a news broadcast of an immigration enforcement protest on June 8, 2025, in downtown Los Angeles, California, the outlet <a href=\"https://ktla.com/news/local-news/waymos-lit-on-fire-ktla-van-defaced-as-los-angeles-protests-spin-out-of-control/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"e7mcr\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"5b99c\">During the live broadcast, reporter Rachel Menitoff addresses viewers while someone spray paints the KTLA news van behind her.</p><p data-block-key=\"b3jss\">“Discouraging to see this, people painting over our van,” Menitoff said. She then detailed the fear and anger felt by protesters over the immigration raids that sparked the public demonstrations.</p><p data-block-key=\"4aihv\">“This is the reason for these protests, but over the last couple of hours it’s kind of devolved into violence and chaos, and people have shared with us that their message is kind of getting lost as a result,” she said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">As KTLA 5 reporter <a href=\"https://twitter.com/RachelMenitoff?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@RachelMenitoff</a> reported on the unrest near the federal building amid the ICE raids, our cameras caught a vandal spray painting our news van. This is among the many vehicles and property being damaged: <a href=\"https://t.co/PS0jAlUPdC\">https://t.co/PS0jAlUPdC</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/nCdCSUt0jK\">pic.twitter.com/nCdCSUt0jK</a></p>— KTLA (@KTLA) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KTLA/status/1931902521423036803?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0bm3z\">Neither Menitoff nor KTLA immediately responded to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/KTLA_equip_damage2x.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qhrco\">In this image montage, KTLA reporter Rachel Menitoff delivers a live broadcast as the station’s van is vandalized behind her during an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025.</p>",
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"Equipment Damage"
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{
"title": "Reporter pushed, mic lost while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-pushed-mic-lost-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-24T16:23:12.151599Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-24T16:23:12.151599Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-24T16:23:12.048399Z",
"date": "2025-06-08",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"82szv\">Michelle Zacarias, a reporter for Caló News, was pushed by a Los Angeles Police Department officer and her microphone knocked off and lost while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1dq5c\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and later the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"1gatf\">Zacarias told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that around 3 p.m. on June 8, she was following a protest march that started near the City Hall and was moving toward the nearby Federal Building. She was near the front of the march, wearing a press pass around her neck, and holding her camera and cellphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"di3fp\">As the crowd approached the Federal Building, Zacarias said she could see and smell tear gas.</p><p data-block-key=\"armli\">The LAPD created a line of scrimmage to meet the marchers on the sidewalk and started to push them back with their batons, yelling at them to clear the area. Zacarias, who said she is an amputee and visibly wears a prosthetic right leg, identified herself as media but the police continued to push her and others.</p><p data-block-key=\"8qr1c\">“I was pushed back by a police officer and kettled into a large crowd,” said Zacarias, “despite being both a reporter and disabled.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6bs6i\">As she was pushed back, the marchers became squashed together. At that point, she had to push her way out of the crowd to escape the confrontation. She said she sustained a minor lip injury from being pushed by an officer’s baton but felt well enough to continue reporting the rest of the day.</p><p data-block-key=\"5l00t\">Zacarias added that when she was pushed by police, an officer hit the microphone that was clipped to her chest, knocking it off. She said the microphone was lost and she had to buy a replacement.</p><p data-block-key=\"dk49s\">The incident was captured in footage filmed by Zacarias and <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKqGqKoSdXS/\">posted</a> on Instagram by Caló News. She <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DKqEo8shkjh/\">described the incident</a> in a separate Instagram post.</p><p data-block-key=\"fq6vr\">“I can say with certainty there was a clear disregard for media personnel and our rights to document,” she told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"b555c\">When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the Tracker to the department’s social media accounts, where statements and comments would be posted. The account does not appear to have posted any comment concerning Zacarias’ assault.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zfcmh\">In this image montage, Caló News reporter Michelle Zacarias, left, describes being pushed by Los Angeles Police Department officers, right, while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown LA on June 8, 2025.</p>",
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"immigration",
"protest"
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"categories": [
"Assault",
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{
"title": "Reporter hit by crowd-control munition while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-hit-by-crowd-control-munition-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-25T18:36:18.514385Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-25T18:36:18.514385Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-25T18:36:18.392663Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jaisp\">Sergio Olmos, an investigative reporter for CalMatters, was struck in the chest by a crowd-control munition fired by police officers while covering an immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"dkqk9\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"a2dqt\">Olmos told <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2025/06/09/journalists-injured-la-protests/\">The Washington Post</a> that he was wearing a press pass and <a href=\"https://x.com/MrOlmos/status/1931816889992573095\">shooting</a> video of a protest a few blocks from a complex of federal buildings when Los Angeles Police Department officers shot crowd-control munitions at demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"4e60f\">In a video of the incident <a href=\"https://x.com/mrolmos/status/1931881207073264118\">posted</a> by the reporter on the social platform X, police can be seen firing into the crowd, and then the camera angle moves to the ground.</p><p data-block-key=\"55qh3\">Olmos told the Post that he was hit with what he believed was a 40 mm sponge grenade. “I got hit in the chest and it’s a moment of, ‘What the f---?’” He said he put his camera down momentarily to check that he was OK.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A less lethal round hits this reporter in the chest <a href=\"https://t.co/7fQWGOcihp\">pic.twitter.com/7fQWGOcihp</a></p>— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1931881207073264118?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"jaisp\">In an <a href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletter/california-legislature-news-roundup-2025-newsletter/\">interview</a> in CalMatters, Olmos said that on the day he was hit, police fired more less-lethal rounds in a single day of protests than he’d ever seen.</p><p data-block-key=\"ekm9t\">“California law enforcements are trained not to shoot these less-lethal rounds at the head and neck area because they can cause severe injuries. And you’re not supposed to use them to disperse people. But the LAPD is using them to move crowds back, which goes against their training,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"6l1ns\">Olmos did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"3s0ra\">When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to the department’s social media accounts, where statements and comments would be posted. The account does not appear to have posted any comment concerning Olmos’ assault.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"dmu6q\">A Los Angeles Police Department officer fires a crowd-control munition near the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA on June 8, 2025. CalMatters reporter Sergio Olmos was struck with a round while covering an immigration protest that day.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist struck by pepper pellets, tear-gassed while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-by-pepper-pellets-tear-gassed-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-13T21:26:51.738360Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-13T21:26:51.738360Z",
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"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1ue4w\">An unidentified photojournalist was part of the KNBC television crew struck with pepper balls and caught in tear gas while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025, the outlet reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"793p6\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"c64hr\">In a <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKp4fugB0Am/?igsh=aGxzbmFzbXo2Zm5p\">video</a> posted by KNBC TV’s Mekahlo Medina on social media, the reporter said that at about 8:30 p.m. on June 7, a mix of Los Angeles Police Department officers and federal agents pushed through crowds of protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants were being held. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-by-pepper-pellets-and-tear-gas-while-covering-la-protest/\">Medina said he and his crew were shot by pepper pellets</a> and affected by tear gas, and later took cover behind a news truck.</p><p data-block-key=\"bbi1k\">“A rough night in downtown LA as journalists, along with protesters, shot at with pepper pellets and tear gas,” Medina said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ddg6t\">In <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKoDXJguulB/?igsh=ejdmeG80eHZiMnd6\">another video</a>, he said that one of the station’s photographers was also hit by the projectiles, which he said were deployed by the LAPD. Medina did not return the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"brv5o\">When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the Tracker to the department’s social media accounts. In a statement posted to X, the department said it was responding to “significant acts of violence, vandalism, and looting” and worked through the night to restore public safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"fls9a\">“Multiple deployments of less-lethal munitions were necessary to manage the crowds and prevent further harm to people or property,” the statement read, before adding that its professional standards bureau would be investigating allegations of excessive force used during the protests.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"085sb\">Police outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025. At a protest the night before, an unidentified KNBC photographer was struck with pepper balls.</p>",
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"chemical irritant",
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"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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{
"title": "Reporter struck by pepper pellets and tear gas while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-by-pepper-pellets-and-tear-gas-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-13T18:07:05.550562Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-13T21:27:50.630858Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-13T21:27:50.546176Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"267cz\">Reporter Mekahlo Medina and his KNBC television crew were struck with pepper balls and tear gas while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025, the outlet reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"bq3bq\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"9hg9i\">In a <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKp4fugB0Am/?igsh=aGxzbmFzbXo2Zm5p\">video</a> posted on social media by Medina, the reporter said that at about 8:30 p.m. on June 7, a mix of Los Angeles Police Department officers and federal agents pushed through crowds of protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants were being held.</p><p data-block-key=\"dedfo\">Medina — who was wearing a press vest — said approximately 20 minutes later he and his crew were shot by pepper pellets and affected by tear gas, and later took cover behind a news truck.</p><p data-block-key=\"eo3ni\">“A rough night in downtown LA as journalists, along with protesters, shot at with pepper pellets and tear gas,” Medina said, showing white powder on his press vest, as well as on the back of a man he identified as his security guard.</p><p data-block-key=\"9todd\">In <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKoDXJguulB/?igsh=ejdmeG80eHZiMnd6\">another video</a>, Medina said that one of his photographers was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-struck-by-pepper-pellets-tear-gassed-while-covering-la-protest/\">also hit by the projectiles</a>, which he said were deployed by the LAPD.</p><p data-block-key=\"d1o5b\">When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to the department’s social media accounts. In a statement posted to X, the department said it was responding to “significant acts of violence, vandalism, and looting” and worked through the night to restore public safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"crslm\">“Multiple deployments of less-lethal munitions were necessary to manage the crowds and prevent further harm to people or property,” the statement read, before adding that its professional standards bureau would be investigating allegations of excessive force used during the protests.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">LAPD Releases Information Related to Recent Protests <a href=\"https://t.co/XDNnngM5ty\">pic.twitter.com/XDNnngM5ty</a></p>— LAPD PIO (@LAPDPIO) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/LAPDPIO/status/1932838116722982997?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 11, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"267cz\">Also on June 7, Medina was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/officer-pushes-reporter-in-press-vest-at-la-immigration-protest/\">pushed by a federal agent</a> with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He did not immediately return a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"sqwdo\">KNBC TV reporter Mekahlo Medina was struck with pepper balls and tear gas during a protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025.</p>",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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"Mekahlo Medina (KNBC)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Munition strikes photojournalist at LA protest, shrapnel surgically removed",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/munition-strikes-photojournalist-at-la-protest-shrapnel-surgically-removed/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-12T20:52:23.427380Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-12T20:52:23.427380Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-12T20:52:15.369716Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Compton",
"longitude": -118.22007,
"latitude": 33.89585,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ymu58\">Independent photojournalist Nick Stern required surgery after he was struck in the leg with a crowd-control munition while documenting protests in the California cities of Compton and Paramount on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1439m\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"3sf9v\">Demonstrations the following day were centered around a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles, after Border Patrol agents were spotted nearby, the Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/what-actually-happened-at-the-paramount-home-depot\">reported</a>. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies formed a police line blocking the bridge that led to the Home Depot and connected Paramount to the adjacent city of Compton.</p><p data-block-key=\"aqj53\">Stern told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he and his colleague Tina-Desiree Berg arrived to document the mounting protest at around 3 p.m., and found a standoff along the skirmish line.</p><p data-block-key=\"ato9p\">“Things went backward and forward,” Stern said. “The Sheriff’s Department firing projectiles, throwing these kinds of stun grenades, firing pepper pellets at people. People responding by throwing things like bottles of water and small bits of concrete.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9r6sn\">He said it continued until night fell, at which point the deputies moved their line back. Meanwhile, some demonstrators had assembled a makeshift barricade to protect themselves from the crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"faeo0\">Shortly before 9 p.m., Stern said, he was documenting protesters holding Mexican flags illuminated by the shining headlights of the deputies’ vehicles in the distance when he felt a sudden, immense pain.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ddpr\">“I felt this incredible, painful impact into my right side. I immediately put my hand down there and in the dark I saw this kind of solid object that appeared to be part of my leg,” Stern told the Tracker. “I hobbled away shouting, ‘I’ve been hit! I’ve been hit!’”</p><p data-block-key=\"dfgaj\">He said a group of protesters carried him to safety and a medic <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DKov0doxoEH/?hl=en&img_index=1\">worked to stabilize him</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"6trej\">“A medic came over, cut my pants off with some scissors, put a pad onto the wound — which was about a two-inch diameter, circular hole in my leg — and then tightly wrapped a bandage around it,” Stern said. “I was sitting on the pavement and I actually passed out, and the medics brought me back round, which is fucking terrifying, if I’m honest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cmjts\">Berg was then able to transport Stern to the emergency room with him lying in the back seat while his wound continued to gush blood. At the hospital, Stern said, the doctors thoroughly examined him.</p><p data-block-key=\"fs8e\">“They looked over my entire body — from the soles of my feet to the top of my head and under my arms — to see if they could find an exit wound for a bullet, because they figured it may well have been a live round,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ntq5\">In a <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/tinadesireeberg.com/post/3lr7gxv4fsc25\">post</a> on the social platform Bluesky, Berg later confirmed that doctors surgically removed what appears to be a portion of a stun grenade that was embedded deep in Stern’s leg.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Stern_CA_assult_67.width-828.jpg\" width=\"828\" height=\"512\" alt=\"COURTESY NICK STERN\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"j6ury\">Independent photojournalist Nick Stern was struck in the leg with a crowd-control munition while covering protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025. A nearly three-inch piece of a stun grenade was surgically removed from his thigh.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — COURTESY NICK STERN\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ymu58\">Stern, who has documented protests in Los Angeles for at least five years, said that what he witnessed at these demonstrations was different.</p><p data-block-key=\"arhnp\">“I was covering the George Floyd protests in 2020, and law enforcement in Los Angeles was heavily criticized for their use of these devices because they weren’t trained on them,” he said. “But to see what they were doing out on the streets the past few days, last week is absolutely horrific. Effectively — if what we assume is correct, about this device that hit me — they’re firing explosive munitions toward people.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ab9jo\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it was still reviewing footage of Stern’s assault and that “it is not clear at this time whether our department was involved in this incident.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dj8ja\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer added. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"59cqa\">Stern said that while he has been released from the hospital, he has a long road to recovery — including extensive physical therapy — ahead of him.</p><p data-block-key=\"7h2c2\">After police shot Stern with multiple munitions and struck him with batons <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-hit-with-multiple-projectiles-while-covering-la-protest/\">amid the 2020 protests</a>, the photojournalist filed a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department and reached a $150,000 settlement in 2024. He told the Tracker he thinks he has no choice but to pursue that same recourse.</p><p data-block-key=\"4inn3\">“This whole kind of lawsuit culture in the U.S. is quite alien for me, as a British person, and is one that I don’t necessarily, deep down, agree with, but there seems to be no other accountability,” Stern said. “I think, as a member of the public, as a citizen, as a journalist, whatever: It has to be a multipronged approach. It has to be done by official complaints, it has to be done by lobbying politicians, it has to be done by lawsuits.</p><p data-block-key=\"272dk\">“The system needs to change by whatever means we can change it.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"701n8\">Protesters help independent photographer Nick Stern after he was struck in the leg with a crowd-control munition while documenting a protest in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025. A portion of a stun grenade was later surgically removed from his thigh.</p>",
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{
"title": "Reporter struck with pepper balls while covering LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-with-pepper-balls-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-10T21:37:27.667375Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-10T21:37:27.667375Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-10T21:37:27.581035Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8eeh9\">Lexis-Olivier Ray, an investigative reporter for L.A. Taco, was struck with multiple pepper balls while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1rt2n\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"64coj\">On the evening of June 7, protesters <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/08/us/la-immigration-protests-photos-map.html\">gathered</a> <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-aide-calls-los-angeles-anti-ice-protests-an-insurrection-2025-06-07/\">outside</a> the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where immigrants were being held. The Los Angeles Police Department declared an unlawful assembly, ordering demonstrators to disperse. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was also present, as well as officers from multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security.</p><p data-block-key=\"1j6lu\">Ray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building, where detainees were <a href=\"https://abc7.com/post/immigrant-advocates-demand-investigation-reports-ice-holding-families-downtown-la/16678054/\">allegedly being held,</a> when federal law enforcement began dispersing the crowd using pepper balls. He said he was unsure which agency the officers belonged to.</p><p data-block-key=\"9fol7\">Ray then relocated to a nearby sidewalk on Alameda Street, where reporters had set up tripods and several TV news trucks were parked.</p><p data-block-key=\"dejt1\">Eventually, the federal officers moved up their skirmish line toward Alameda Street, continuing to fire volleys of the projectiles in the direction of the press. Ray was struck multiple times, once in the middle finger and at least once on his back, he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"ueo4\">“It seemed so blatant, we weren’t around any protesters, we were clearly media,” Ray said. “They didn’t seem to care that we were media. They treated us like we were protesters and didn’t respect our First Amendment rights as journalists.”</p><p data-block-key=\"hbam\">The gaggle of press continued to back away as officers followed them, eventually establishing another skirmish at Alameda Street and Temple Street, according to Ray, who said his backpack, which was covered in pepper ball residue, served as a shield.</p><p data-block-key=\"3i15l\">“I definitely am worried about the implications of covering other protests like that,” Ray said. “If the media wasn’t there, the public wouldn’t have an understanding of what happened that night.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3odn0\">The Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to the Tracker’s request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"740o2\"><a href=\"https://x.com/ICEgov/status/1931472857554645294\">In a June 7 post on X,</a> ICE said: “Our officers and agents continued to enforce immigration law in LA, despite the violent protesters.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cg7b4\">On June 8, a sheriff’s deputy searched the bags of <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/sheriffs-deputy-searches-journalists-bag-during-la-immigration-protest/\">Ray</a> and freelance journalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporters-bag-searched-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/\">Joey Scott</a> while they were reporting on another immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles.</p><p data-block-key=\"6su1a\">The Tracker has documented other incidents in which Ray was <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-repeatedly-shoved-while-covering-la-reproductive-rights-protests/\">shoved,</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-taco-reporter-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\">detained,</a> <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-tackled-equipment-damaged-while-covering-dodgers-celebrations/\">tackled</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multiple-journalists-covering-protests-los-angeles-assaulted/\">struck with a baton</a> while covering protests in Los Angeles since 2020.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"v5ira\">Law enforcement officers stand on a freeway in downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025, following an immigration protest the previous night. L.A. Taco investigative journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray was struck with pepper balls while reporting on the protest.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Lexis-Olivier Ray (L.A. Taco)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Journalist shot with crowd-control munitions at immigration protest near LA",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shot-with-crowd-control-munitions-at-immigration-protest-near-la/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-10T17:35:47.250407Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-26T15:03:38.820222Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-26T15:03:38.630290Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Compton",
"longitude": -118.22007,
"latitude": 33.89585,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1ajt6\">Ben Camacho, co-founder of and journalist for The Southlander, was shot twice with crowd-control munitions by law enforcement while covering protests in the California cities of Compton and Paramount on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"6l681\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"n50m\">Demonstrations the following day were centered around a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles, after Border Patrol agents were spotted nearby, the Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-08/what-actually-happened-at-the-paramount-home-depot\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ubk2\">Camacho told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that by the time he and a colleague arrived at around 4:30 p.m., Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies had formed a police line blocking the bridge that led to the Home Depot and connected Paramount to the adjacent city of Compton.</p><p data-block-key=\"9fgrg\">“Folks were doing a street takeover at the intersection nearby, which is nothing out of the ordinary for Compton,” Camacho said. “Closer to the police line, people were definitely organizing, protesting. There were people that were kind of ducked behind a semi-truck and throwing things — whether it’s cement, bricks or rocks — toward the cops.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6ji9u\">He said he documented the back-and-forth between deputies and demonstrators for nearly four hours, and was carrying his professional camera as well as wearing an official press credential, gas mask and ballistic goggles. Throughout that time, deputies would throw flash bangs and tear gas toward the crowd, Camacho said, and sporadically shoot pepper balls.</p><p data-block-key=\"5n6cl\">“When 9 p.m. hit, there was a flash bang that was thrown into a small group of people that was a bit closer to the police line,” he told the Tracker. “I was keeping an eye on those people because my colleague was there, and I wanted to make sure he was OK.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5gpkn\">While Camacho said his colleague was uninjured, independent photojournalist Nick Stern — who had also been documenting near the group — was struck in the leg with a munition which caused a two-inch gash and embedded in his leg. The Tracker has documented that incident <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/munition-strikes-photojournalist-at-la-protest-shrapnel-surgically-removed/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dqbtg\">After helping Stern to a nearby sidewalk, Camacho walked back toward the demonstration and began posting an update to his live reporting on social media.</p><p data-block-key=\"89kre\">“I’m on my phone standing there when I hear the rubber bullet launcher go off, and suddenly I’m just in pain,” Camacho recounted. “Something just hit my leg really hard, right on my kneecap, and I bent over and just started screaming.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3p6ca\">He said he flagged down a passerby to help him move to safety, but less than 30 seconds after he was first struck he was hit again, directly on his elbow.</p><p data-block-key=\"79vv1\">“It felt like my brain was on fire. I was screaming like I’ve never screamed before,” Camacho said. “And now the crowd was running — there was a full on stampede. So I’m now shot twice, I’m in some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt and I have to keep moving because otherwise I’m going to get trampled and possibly killed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ahk1l\">Camacho said he was eventually able to catch his breath and make his way back to the street takeover at the intersection. He then reached his colleague, who helped him back to his car and the pair left the protest.</p><p data-block-key=\"8qfhr\">“The next day, I went to urgent care nearby where they took x-rays just to make sure I didn’t have any shrapnel. They patched me up and they said I was going to be OK, and I’ve been resting since then,” he said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Was shot twice by LASD at the Paramount/Compton protest this evening while reporting/photographing (with a press pass around my neck). Unsure what hit me both times but they hit like a sledgehammer and without immediate warning. Elbow is all wrapped with gauze and knee is weak.</p>— bencamach0.bsky.social (@bencamach0) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bencamach0/status/1931591257257636008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 8, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1ajt6\">He told the Tracker that the fact he was directly struck twice in such quick succession is “eerie.”</p><p data-block-key=\"72udv\">“That, to me, just feels really off. Because there were many, many other people around me,” Camacho said. “And to shoot the same person twice within the span of 30 seconds at the most, that feels targeted.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d39se\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”</p><p data-block-key=\"826v4\">“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer wrote. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3iers\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP25158769084163.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"peuz5\">Law enforcement stand during a protest in Paramount, California, on June 7, 2025, after federal immigration authorities conducted operations. Southlander journalist Ben Camacho was shot with crowd-control munitions twice while covering protests that day.</p>",
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"name": "California",
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"(2025-06-18 13:31:00+00:00) LA journalist sues sheriff’s department after immigration protest assault"
],
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"ongoing"
],
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"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
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{
"title": "Officer pushes reporter in press vest at LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/officer-pushes-reporter-in-press-vest-at-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-12T20:32:40.594582Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-13T18:09:10.535257Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-13T18:09:10.450096Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4t5wi\">Mekahlo Medina, a reporter for KNBC, was pushed by a federal agent while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025, according to videos posted by the <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKoMRBzSay1/\">outlet</a> and the <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKp4fugB0Am/?igsh=aGxzbmFzbXo2Zm5p\">journalist</a> on social media.</p><p data-block-key=\"fi7k7\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/article/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"2sir0\">In the <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKp4fugB0Am/?igsh=aGxzbmFzbXo2Zm5p\">video</a> posted by Medina, the reporter said that at 8:30 p.m. on June 7, a mix of Los Angeles Police Department officers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents pushed through crowds of protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants were being held. Medina — who was wearing a press vest — and his crew were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-by-pepper-pellets-and-tear-gas-while-covering-la-protest/\">shot by pepper pellets and tear gas</a>, and later took cover behind a news truck, he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"et2ku\">The video shows police officers and federal agents in tactical gear moving forward, shouting “Move!” and “Get out!”</p><p data-block-key=\"h0pc\">Medina can be heard shouting “We’re all press. Press, press!” as one CBP agent aggressively pushes him.</p><p data-block-key=\"djo1l\">In the video, Medina told his audience that local journalism organizations have met with the LAPD in the past on how to cover protests and allow the media to exercise its First Amendment right for freedom of the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"fo17r\">“But as we rewatched the video of officers pushing journalists through, you can see this wasn’t LAPD, those were federal agents,” Medina said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8r36i\">In an emailed statement to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, wrote: “We remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots. We have seen rioters throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, setting fires, and other violent acts. President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles."</p><p data-block-key=\"jh0\">Medina did not immediately return a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Medina_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"wduo9\">Mekahlo Medina, while wearing a press vest and identifying himself as a member of the media, was shoved by a federal agent during a protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"name": "California",
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},
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"immigration",
"protest"
],
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"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mekahlo Medina (KNBC)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Photographer injured as federal agents use tear gas at LA-area protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-injured-as-federal-agents-use-tear-gas-at-la-area-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-27T20:42:26.675534Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-27T20:42:26.675534Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-27T20:42:26.567287Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Paramount",
"longitude": -118.15979,
"latitude": 33.88946,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vdfmg\">Photojournalist Jonathan Alcorn was struck with a tear gas canister after federal agents fired the crowd-control munition during an anti-deportation protest in Paramount, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ul7e\"><a href=\"https://jalcornphoto.photoshelter.com/index\">Alcorn</a>, on assignment for Zuma Press, was covering one of the Los Angeles-area protests that <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around the city at workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"bmnjg\">According to <a href=\"https://www.aclusocal.org/sites/default/files/lapressclubvnoem_complaint.pdf\">a complaint</a> filed in a federal court by the LA Press Club, the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America and others, Alcorn was wearing a press pass and carrying his camera gear while covering the suspected Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid of a Home Depot in Paramount on June 7.</p><p data-block-key=\"7q4cs\">Alcorn, who has been a photojournalist for nearly 40 years, immediately heard and saw Customs and Border Protection agents firing a large number of crowd-control munitions, including tear gas canisters, at protesters, the court document stated.</p><p data-block-key=\"ethgk\">Soon after, he was barraged by the munitions and took cover behind an SUV.</p><p data-block-key=\"8bm59\">“When he peeked above the SUV, Mr. Alcorn was targeted by CBP officers, who fired tear gas canisters that rolled under the vehicle,” according to the complaint. “Officers were targeting him because he was the only person behind the vehicle.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aolar\">While fleeing the area due to the intensity of the gas, a federal agent shot Alcorn near his elbow. He was later diagnosed with a hematoma and burn on his arm, added the complaint.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2025-06-27_at_1.32.44PM.width-828.png\" width=\"318\" height=\"239\" alt=\"SCREENSHOT\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"rxlhx\">An image from court records shows injuries suffered by photographer Jonathan Alcorn. He was struck by a tear gas canister shot at the car he was taking shelter behind while covering a protest in Paramount, California.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — SCREENSHOT\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vdfmg\">“Despite his injury, Alcorn continued taking pictures because he believed it was important to cover the unfolding events,” the document stated, before alleging he was targeted by an agent because he was a clearly identifiable photojournalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"420vt\">“Even though he posed no threat to officers, they nonetheless shot multiple tear gas canisters at him,” the complaint said. “Although he is afraid of again being targeted and injured by federal officials, Mr. Alcorn will continue to cover what is happening in Los Angeles.”</p><p data-block-key=\"20bdi\">In an emailed statement to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, wrote: “We remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots. We have seen rioters throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, setting fires, and other violent acts. President Trump and Secretary (Kristi) Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles."</p><p data-block-key=\"eefv8\">When contacted by the Tracker, Alcorn declined to comment about his experience. But in a comment posted to the social platform Facebook, he confirmed he was struck in the arm while fleeing federal agents firing off crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"ego6s\">“I’m a little sore but fine otherwise. Numerous other journalists have been struck as well,” he wrote. “Be safe my fellow journalists and everybody else out on the streets. Times have changed out in the field for journalists in the states.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/504284613_10231491800612739_90637.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6cuqu\">Law enforcement personnel fire crowd-control munitions during an immigration protest on June 7, 2025, in Paramount, California. Photojournalist Jonathan Alcorn was struck and injured by a tear gas canister while covering the demonstration.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"name": "California",
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},
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
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"Jonathan Alcorn (Zuma Press)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Flash bang strikes TV crew at LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/flash-bang-strikes-tv-crew-at-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-16T20:16:14.959328Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-16T20:16:14.959328Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-16T20:16:14.866059Z",
"date": "2025-06-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0miss\">KTLA photographer Ken Koller was struck with a flash-bang grenade while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"cj631\">It was the start of numerous protests in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"218nu\">In a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ken.koller.3/posts/pfbid0mC5iDDg81t4eyLSBN2VurjDY3vCirGVPr7N6R17K4r4ASFJ3XuZwedW3AWPuSJ57l\">Facebook post</a>, Koller shared that he was in urgent care, watching footage on TV of the moment he was struck by a flash bang. In comments under the post, he wrote that following the federal raids, a convoy of officers was surrounded by protesters, prompting them to throw flash bangs into the crowd. He also posted a video showing officers tossing the devices out of a vehicle and into the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"2c7dc\">“No damage to my eardrum. Still hurts, basically the shockwave from the explosion basically hit me like a punch, so the area around my ear is inflamed,” he wrote. “Dr says a couple days and it should be OK.”</p><p data-block-key=\"631tp\">Neither Koller nor KTLA could immediately be reached for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP25158058663145.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"4iqjc\">Department of Homeland Security police after a federal immigration operation on June 6, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. KTLA photographer Ken Koller said he got hit by a flash bang that day while covering a protest over the operation.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"immigration",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ken Koller (KTLA)"
],
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"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist shot in the face with pepper balls by federal officers",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shot-in-the-face-with-pepper-balls-by-federal-officers/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-24T19:54:53.053788Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-24T19:54:53.053788Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-24T19:50:52.883218Z",
"date": "2025-06-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6zusf\">Independent journalist Anthony Cabassa was shot twice in the face with pepper balls by federal law enforcement agents while documenting anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"bac8t\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> that day in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. Demonstrators clashed with both local law enforcement officers and federal agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"9vjab\">Cabassa <a href=\"https://x.com/AnthonyCabassa_/status/1931159815947985222\">posted</a> at around 6:30 p.m. on the social platform X that he had been struck near his left eye with a crowd-control munition containing a chemical irritant. “I’m also bleeding,” he added. “Things got violent.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I just got a police tear gas pellet straight into my left eye . I’m also bleeding. Things got violent. Video to come <a href=\"https://t.co/qIWKhIoOpi\">pic.twitter.com/qIWKhIoOpi</a></p>— Anthony (@AnthonyCabassa_) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AnthonyCabassa_/status/1931159815947985222?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 7, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6zusf\">The following morning, Cabassa <a href=\"https://x.com/AnthonyCabassa_/status/1931354604429771209\">posted the footage</a> he captured before he was shot by Department of Homeland Security officers. He wrote that he was caught in the crossfire after something was thrown at the agents, noting that two pepper balls struck him in the face.</p><p data-block-key=\"346er\">Cabassa, who did not respond to requests for comment, emphasized in a <a href=\"https://x.com/AnthonyCabassa_/status/1931398124687552660\">later post</a> that he was only present to cover the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"ml1\">“I am a journalist, I have been documenting protests in LA since 2017. I had a tripod with one camera in my left hand, and another camera recording on my right,” he wrote. “All I was doing was filming. Journalism is not a crime.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1rus9\">In an emailed statement to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker on June 11, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, wrote: “We remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots. We have seen rioters throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, setting fires, and other violent acts. President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"uazpx\">Protesters gather at the Federal Building in LA on June 6, 2025, after immigration raids at workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gather. Federal officers shot journalist Anthony Cabassa in the face with pepper balls amid the demonstrations.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
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"Assault"
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},
{
"title": "Trump, his administration move to punish outlets during second term",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-administration-allies-move-to-punish-outlets-during-first-weeks-in-office/",
"first_published_at": "2025-01-30T20:43:36.335430Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-05T16:31:05.585375Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-05T16:27:39.818468Z",
"date": "2025-06-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"63pix\">From the first weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term, he and his administration have taken steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered them unfavorably. We’re documenting Trump’s direct actions in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"coqi2\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"cv9ql\"><i>This article was first published on March 14, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"aq2uo\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#June 3\">June 3, 2025 | White House asks Congress to repeal $1.1 billion in funding to public media</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 1\">May 1, 2025 | Trump signs executive order eliminating funding to NPR, PBS</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#April 14\">April 14, 2025 | White House plans to formally ask Congress to cut PBS, NPR funding</a> \r\n<p><a href=\"#March 14-2\">March 14, 2025 | Trump signs executive order gutting government-funded news outlets</a> \r\n<p><a href=\"#March 14-1\">March 14, 2025 | Trump says negative press coverage ‘illegal’ during speech at DOJ</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3ocum\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"a5gu5\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"June 3\" name=\"June 3\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"mev26\">June 3, 2025 | White House asks Congress to repeal $1.1 billion in funding to public media</h4><p data-block-key=\"1a7qc\">The Trump White House budget office asked Congress on June 3, 2025, to cancel $1.1 billion in funding already approved for public broadcasting, multiple media outlets reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"cmc15\">The request, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-administration-allies-move-to-punish-outlets-during-first-weeks-in-office/#April%2014\">drafted in April</a>, calls for the elimination of two years’ worth of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which in turn partially funds NPR and PBS. Only a simple majority vote is needed to approve the request.</p><p data-block-key=\"7tu6a\">The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/06/03/trump-asks-congress-repeal-9-billion-npr-pbs-global-aid/\">reported</a> that Russell Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget, proposed the cuts in a letter to Trump, writing, “federal spending on CPB subsidizes a public media system that is politically biased and is an unnecessary expense to the taxpayer.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fvecm\">Trump, individuals in his administration and allies in Congress have repeatedly targeted public broadcasters since his return to office in January.</p><p data-block-key=\"3j4la\">Trump <a href=\"https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1904610620659687944\">said</a> during a March 25 meeting with U.S. ambassadors that he would “love” to eliminate funding for the public broadcasters. In April, he <a href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114264549657133828\">called on Republicans in Congress</a> to defund and disassociate themselves from “THE RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY,” and the White House <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/04/the-npr-pbs-grift-has-ripped-us-off-for-too-long/\">asserted in an official statement</a> that NPR and PBS are publishing “trash” and have engaged in a “grift.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e3e7g\">In May, Trump attempted to illegally fire three CPB board members and just days later signed an executive order instructing the private nonprofit corporation to cease federal funding for the outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"dve0t\">NPR <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2025/05/27/npr-lawsuit-trump-executive-order-funding-cuts/\">sued</a> to halt the order, calling it “textbook retaliation.” NPR CEO Katherine Maher <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/05/27/g-s1-69017/npr-and-katherine-maher-ceo-of-npr-statement\">wrote</a>, “The intent could not be more clear — the Executive Order aims to punish NPR for the content of news and other programming the President dislikes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"43olm\">Within Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-targets-press-as-doge-subcommittee-chair/\">has led a campaign</a> against the broadcasters and Rep. Ronny Jackson <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-ronny-jackson-targets-press-as-member-of-congress/#March%2027\">introduced a bill</a> to eliminate all direct and indirect government funding for NPR and PBS.</p><p data-block-key=\"6dfi1\">In a <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5352827/npr-pbs-public-media-trump-rescission-funding\">statement</a> published when the draft recision request became public, NPR said eliminating funding for CPB would have a devastating impact on communities that rely on public broadcasting each day.</p><p data-block-key=\"7hho\">“We serve the public interest,” the outlet wrote. “It’s not just in our name — it’s our mission.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"May 1\" name=\"May 1\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"8udpj\">May 1, 2025 | Trump signs executive order eliminating funding to NPR, PBS</h4><p data-block-key=\"4s8m1\">President Donald Trump signed an <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/ending-taxpayer-subsidization-of-biased-media/\">executive order</a> on May 1, 2025, instructing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to cease federal funding for NPR and PBS, citing their alleged “biased and partisan news coverage.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3limi\">In a <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/05/president-trump-finally-ends-the-madness-of-npr-pbs/\">news release</a> the following day, the White House accused the news outlets of using “millions of dollars in taxpayer funds each year to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"a70ca\">Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB, issued a <a href=\"https://cpb.org/pressroom/Corporation-Public-Broadcasting-Statement-Regarding-Executive-Order-Public-Media\">statement</a> pushing back against the executive order, citing provisions expressly forbidding government actors from attempting to direct the corporation’s work.</p><p data-block-key=\"d2077\">“CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President’s authority,” Harrison wrote. “Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government.”</p><p data-block-key=\"eoev4\">Trump’s executive order came just days after he directed a staff member to email three of CPB’s five board members to alert them that they had been removed from their positions. The board as a whole and the targeted members — Diane Kaplan, Laura Ross and Thomas Rothman — <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.279991/gov.uscourts.dcd.279991.1.0.pdf\">sued</a> Trump on April 29, seeking a judicial declaration that the order is unenforceable, as the president has no power to remove them.</p><p data-block-key=\"edl4d\">“Put simply, Congress conceived CPB as a vehicle for infusing federal money into public broadcasting without the introduction of government direction or control,” the suit states. “Moreover, Congress protected the CPB from the executive branch by withholding from CPB any form, pure or quasi, of legislative, judicial, or regulatory power.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9mfat\">White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers dismissed CPB’s assertions in a <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/04/29/nx-s1-5381045/cpb-board-members-trump-lawsuit-npr-pbs\">statement to NPR</a>. “As numerous courts have repeatedly affirmed, the Constitution gives President Trump the power to remove personnel who exercise his executive authority,” Rogers said. “The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”</p><p data-block-key=\"73dcs\">District Judge Randolph Moss has <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69966304/corporation-for-public-broadcasting-v-trump/\">ordered</a> both sides to file arguments on CPB’s motion, which seeks a temporary restraining order to prevent Trump’s order from taking effect.</p><p data-block-key=\"aqc9u\">Trump’s executive order and attempt to remove CPB board members were the latest attacks on public broadcasting by his administration or allies in Congress. Earlier, the White House <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-administration-allies-move-to-punish-outlets-during-first-weeks-in-office/#April%2014\">drafted a recision request</a> to revoke $1.1 billion in approved funding for the corporation, FCC Chair Brendan Carr <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/brendan-carr-targets-news-outlets-as-chair-of-the-fcc/#Jan%2029\">launched investigations</a> into PBS and NPR over their advertising and sponsorship practices, and Reps. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-ronny-jackson-targets-press-as-member-of-congress/#March%2027\">Ronny Jackson</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-targets-press-as-doge-subcommittee-chair/\">Marjorie Taylor Greene</a> have demeaned the outlets and threatened their funding.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"April 14\" name=\"April 14\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"qezxr\">April 14, 2025 | White House plans to formally ask Congress to cut PBS, NPR funding</h4><p data-block-key=\"bfp4o\">The Trump White House plans to formally ask Congress to cancel $1.1 billion in funding already approved for public broadcasting, multiple news outlets reported on April 14, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"94l7i\"><a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5352827/npr-pbs-public-media-trump-rescission-funding\">According to NPR</a>, the White House has drafted a rescission request that calls for the elimination of two years’ worth of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which in turn partially funds NPR and PBS.</p><p data-block-key=\"fnilc\">The administration intends to send it to Congress when lawmakers return from a two-week recess on April 28. Only a simple majority vote is needed to approve the request.</p><p data-block-key=\"2oum8\">In a <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/04/the-npr-pbs-grift-has-ripped-us-off-for-too-long/\">statement</a> published April 14, which did not mention the draft request, the White House asserted that NPR and PBS are publishing “trash” and have engaged in a “grift.”</p><p data-block-key=\"79mab\">“For years, American taxpayers have been on the hook for subsidizing National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news,’” the statement said. “As President Trump has stated, taxpayer funding of NPR’s and PBS’s biased content is a waste.”</p><p data-block-key=\"di1s6\">Trump <a href=\"https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1904610620659687944\">said</a> during a March 25 meeting with U.S. ambassadors that he would “love” to eliminate funding for the public broadcasters, and in an April 1 <a href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114264549657133828\">social media post</a> called on Republicans in Congress to “DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY.”</p><p data-block-key=\"a2fle\">In a statement published by NPR, the outlet said, “Eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would have a devastating impact on American communities across the nation that rely on public radio for trusted local and national news, culture, lifesaving emergency alerts, and public safety information.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ri6t\">“We serve the public interest. It’s not just in our name — it’s our mission.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 14-2\" name=\"March 14-2\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"3ocum\">March 14, 2025 | Trump signs executive order gutting government-funded news outlets</h4><p data-block-key=\"8bsve\">In a late-night executive order, President Donald Trump eliminated all functions not required by law for the United States Agency for Global Media, along with a half-dozen other federal agencies, referring to them as “unnecessary governmental entities.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1cbav\">The USAGM oversees Voice of America and the office that manages Radio and TV Martí, as well as provides funding for private international broadcasters Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.</p><p data-block-key=\"2frfm\">Michael Abramowitz, director of Voice of America, confirmed in a March 15 <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/abramowitzmj/posts/pfbid02ocNQehfifbHeAAv5qDWW55BSkwEhB9L91UyxfsJBApKw38j2fzY4DdLkc7SorUJUl\">statement</a> on his personal Facebook page that he and nearly the entire staff of the news organization — more than 1,300 journalists, producers and support staff — had been suspended.</p><p data-block-key=\"fn0a6\">“I am deeply saddened that for the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced,” Abramowitz wrote. “VOA needs thoughtful reform, and we have made progress in that regard. But today’s action will leave Voice of America unable to carry out its vital mission.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9ji7j\">No articles have been published on the VOA website since around 2 p.m. on March 15. The Independent <a href=\"https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-media-voice-america-bloody-saturday-b2716583.html\">reported</a> that by the following night, many of the employees placed on leave had been fired, including <a href=\"https://x.com/liamjscott/status/1901416015352811693\">press freedom reporter Liam Scott</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"e5i1s\">NPR <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/03/15/nx-s1-5329244/bloody-saturday-voiceofamerica-radio-free-asia-europe-trump-kari-lake\">reported</a> that USAGM also severed its contracts with the private international broadcasters it funds.</p><p data-block-key=\"8n9hf\">In a March 15 <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/03/the-voice-of-radical-america/\">news release</a>, the White House railed against “The Voice of Radical America,” and said Trump’s executive order “will ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4pou4\">Elon Musk, head of the new Department of Government Efficiency, had <a href=\"https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1888574212316582230?lang=en\">called</a> for the USAGM news outlets to be shut down in early February, writing, “It’s just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1B/year of US taxpayer money.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5f0g7\">Grant Turner, a former senior executive at USAGM, called the cuts “Bloody Saturday” and told NPR, “It took decades to build this goodwill and an audience of hundreds of millions every week. Seeing arsonists just set fire to it all is awful.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cmu5k\">Steve Capus, the president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said in a statement shared with NPR, “The cancellation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s grant agreement would be a massive gift to America’s enemies.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 14-1\" name=\"March 14-1\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"3ocum\">March 14, 2025 | Trump says negative press coverage ‘illegal’ during speech at DOJ</h4><p data-block-key=\"5mqt4\">President Donald Trump called the critical news coverage of his administration “illegal” and “corrupt” during a speech at the Department of Justice on March 14, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"5d8fd\">Amid his <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i41Av4eYO8\">nearly hourlong remarks</a>, Trump said that many judges, including those on the Supreme Court, “take tremendous abuse” from news outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and broadcast networks, likening the coverage to judicial interference. “It’s truly interference in my opinion and it should be illegal and it probably is illegal in some form,” Trump said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ecl8u\">He went on to claim that CNN and MSNBC are “political arms of the Democrat Party.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vpnv\">“These networks and these newspapers are really no different than a highly paid political operative and it has to stop, it has to be illegal,” Trump said.</p><p data-block-key=\"d5tm7\">As Trump decried his perceived enemies in the media, justice system and nonprofit sector, he advanced the DOJ as a tool to exact his personal vengeance. He asserted that he is the chief law enforcement officer — which The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/trump-bondi-patel-justice-fbi-retribution-ec275e730c6e75f2d6ee29eeec30fa07\">reported</a> is technically Attorney General Pam Bondi — and as such will demand “full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-03-15T003457Z_176944555_RC29.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7bspe\">President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One as he departs from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on March 14, 2025.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Media",
"Middle East Broadcasting Networks",
"National Public Radio",
"PBS News",
"Radio Free Asia",
"Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty",
"Radio y Televisión Martí",
"Voice of America"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Pete Hegseth targets news outlets, leakers as defense secretary",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers-as-defense-secretary/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-03T16:34:25.156292Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-09T19:43:46.106389Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-09T19:43:46.009663Z",
"date": "2025-05-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yzj9y\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joined Trump in taking steps to intimidate leakers and news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting Hegseth’s efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ommm\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9v0ko\"><i>This article was first published on March 21, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"9vs77\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 26\">May 26, 2025 | Defense Department attempts to bar CNN reporter from foreign trip</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#March 21\">March 21, 2025 | Defense Department announces investigation into media leaks</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yzj9y\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"d7qmh\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"May 26\" name=\"May 26\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"2y7xj\">May 26, 2025 | Defense Department attempts to bar CNN reporter from foreign trip</h4><p data-block-key=\"3ccj7\">The Pentagon attempted to bar CNN national security reporter Haley Britzky from traveling as the designated television pool journalist during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s trip to Singapore, Status <a href=\"https://www.status.news/p/pete-hegseth-pentagon-press-access?utm_source=www.status.news&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=hegseth-s-safe-space&_bhlid=8583a82fd7bcd379f720c4d09a22a59a6348c18a\">reported</a> on May 26, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"91gov\">“Pentagon officials—apparently irked by some of her tweets, despite their innocuous nature—relayed to CNN brass that she was not welcome,” Oliver Darcy wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"fh3o\">On May 24, Britzky highlighted her Signal username in a post on the social platform X amid the Department of Defense’s efforts to crack down on leaks, including by <a href=\"/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-restricts-journalists-access-inside-pentagon/\">limiting press access</a> to areas of the Pentagon.</p><p data-block-key=\"6vnlm\">Arthur Schwartz, one of Hegseth’s closest advisers, <a href=\"https://x.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1926304038817013807\">reposted</a> Britzky, adding, “Any reporters that are encouraging DoD employees to bypass DoD Public Affairs and violate the terms of their employment with the government should be permanently banned from the Pentagon. Start with this one.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Any reporters that are encouraging DoD employees to bypass DoD Public Affairs and violate their terms of their employment with the government should be permanently banned from the Pentagon. Start with this one. <a href=\"https://t.co/aFvzPcufyw\">https://t.co/aFvzPcufyw</a></p>— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1926304038817013807?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 24, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2y7xj\">Status reported that the move to exclude Britzky from Hegseth’s Singapore trip triggered an immediate backlash: Multiple other outlets indicated that if she was excluded they would boycott the trip.</p><p data-block-key=\"6qect\">“They don’t get to decide who covers them,” one correspondent told Status.</p><p data-block-key=\"7839n\">The Pentagon relented, and Britzky <a href=\"https://x.com/halbritz/status/1928406436192620655\">traveled</a> with Hegseth as originally planned.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 21\" name=\"March 21\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"yzj9y\">March 21, 2025 | Defense Department announces investigation into media leaks</h4><p data-block-key=\"bnd2m\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office sent a <a href=\"https://media.defense.gov/2025/Mar/21/2003674265/-1/-1/0/EFFORTS-TO-COMBAT-UNAUTHORIZED-DISCLOSURES-OSD002809-25-RES-FINAL.PDF\">memo</a> on March 21, 2025, initiating an investigation into “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6s70m\">“This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense,” wrote Joe Kasper, Hegseth’s chief of staff. “I expect to be informed immediately if this effort results in information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure, and that such information will be referred to the appropriate criminal law enforcement entity for criminal prosecution.”</p><p data-block-key=\"76lla\">The memo also noted that department employees will be subject to polygraph exams “in accordance with applicable law and policy.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ebe2s\">The memo came hours after Elon Musk, head of the new Department of Government Efficiency, <a href=\"https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1902977556329931052\">posted on social media</a> calling The New York Times’ reporting on the planned content of his briefing at the Pentagon “pure propaganda.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cjh0\">“I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT,” Musk wrote. “They will be found.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e5n7v\">Musk’s meeting with members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ultimately did not take place, Reuters <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/elon-musk-calls-prosecutions-pentagon-staff-who-leaked-new-york-times-2025-03-21/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ceird\">A Times spokesperson told Reuters that leak investigations are “meant to chill communications between journalists and their sources and undermine the ability of a free press to bring out vital information that may otherwise be hidden.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-03-21T163635Z_985503578_RC2S.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"of4rh\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth looks on as President Donald Trump (not pictured) delivers remarks in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. on March 21, 2025.</p>",
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Media",
"The New York Times"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
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"Haley Britzky (CNN)"
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{
"title": "Pete Hegseth restricts journalists’ access inside Pentagon",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-restricts-journalists-access-inside-pentagon/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-09T18:26:52.644672Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-09T18:26:52.644672Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-09T18:26:52.568897Z",
"date": "2025-05-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Arlington",
"longitude": -77.10428,
"latitude": 38.88101,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"y20kh\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced new restrictions on journalists’ access while inside the Pentagon complex in Arlington, Virginia, on May 23, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1b34s\">In a <a href=\"https://media.defense.gov/2025/May/23/2003721693/-1/-1/1/UPDATED-PHYSICAL-CONTROL-MEASURES-FOR-PRESS-MEDIA-ACCESS-WITHIN-THE-PENTAGON.PDF\">memo</a>, Hegseth said journalists would now be required to have official approval and escorts from the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs to enter certain areas, including the offices of the secretary, his top aides and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Those areas had previously been freely accessible to credentialed reporters.</p><p data-block-key=\"c3ru7\">Hegseth cited the protection of national security and classified national intelligence information as the justification for the changes. “While the Department remains committed to transparency, the Department is equally obligated to protect CNSI and sensitive information — the unauthorized disclosure of which could put the lives of U.S. Service members in danger.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1hthd\">The Pentagon Press Association in a <a href=\"https://x.com/idreesali114/status/1926070207333740620\">statement</a> condemned the changes, saying it “is extremely concerned by the decision to restrict movement of accredited journalists within the Pentagon through non-secured, unclassified hallways.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8edfd\">It noted that its members have “had access to non-secured, unclassified spaces in the Pentagon for decades, under Republican and Democratic administrations, including in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks,” without any security issues arising.</p><p data-block-key=\"7s3q6\">“This decision eliminates the media’s freedom to freely access press officers for the military services who are specifically hired to respond to press queries,” the association added.</p><p data-block-key=\"87ci2\">On January 31, the Defense Department had <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/31/media/pentagon-press-rotation-defense-department\">announced</a> a new media “rotation” policy that removed major news outlets — including The New York Times and Politico — from their dedicated office space in the Pentagon and replaced them with primarily conservative outlets, such as One America News Network and Breitbart.</p><p data-block-key=\"9v68t\">The White House has also sought to restrict press access by <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-wrests-control-of-presidential-press-pool-from-correspondents/\">taking over</a> the presidential press pool and attempting to <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ap-reporters-barred-from-white-house-events-over-editorial-style-policy/\">ban the Associated Press</a> from covering the president in retaliation for its editorial policy.</p><p data-block-key=\"7p3ci\">Since taking office, Hegseth has <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers-as-defense-secretary/\">joined</a> President Donald Trump and other members of his administration in taking steps to intimidate leakers and news outlets that have produced critical coverage.</p><p data-block-key=\"28da5\">The Defense Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ufyd9\">The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, is seen from above. On May 23, 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth restricted journalists’ access while inside the building.</p>",
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"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
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"state": {
"name": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Federal government: Agency"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": [
"Change in policy or practice"
]
},
{
"title": "Andrew Ferguson targets news media as FTC chair",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/andrew-ferguson-targets-news-media-as-ftc-chair/",
"first_published_at": "2025-05-23T16:48:42.006809Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-23T16:48:42.006809Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-23T16:46:03.259173Z",
"date": "2025-05-21",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hxo03\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson joined Trump in taking steps to intimidate news media that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting Ferguson’s efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"cucrp\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"be50\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"c6jfn\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 21\">May 21, 2025 | FTC chair announces investigation into Media Matters for America</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hxo03\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"64jt0\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"May 21\" name=\"May 21\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"hxo03\">May 21, 2025 | FTC chair announces investigation into Media Matters for America</h4><p data-block-key=\"e184p\">Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson opened an investigation on May 21, 2025, into Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Media Matters for America concerning its alleged illegal collusion with advertisers, The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/technology/ftc-investigates-media-matters.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"arjhq\">In November 2023, the media watchdog published a <a href=\"https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/musk-endorses-antisemitic-conspiracy-theory-x-has-been-placing-ads-apple-bravo-ibm-oracle\">report</a> written by its investigative reporter Eric Hananoki that found advertisements for major brands appeared next to pro-Nazi posts on the social platform X. <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/technology/elon-musk-twitter-x-advertisers.html\">Several</a> major companies subsequently <a href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/17/23965928/apple-x-ads-elon-musk-antisemitic-posts\">paused</a> their advertising on the platform.</p><p data-block-key=\"7icj1\">Elon Musk, the owner of X, promptly <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.383454/gov.uscourts.txnd.383454.1.0_1.pdf\">sued</a> Media Matters and Hananoki in federal court, alleging they had manipulated the platform’s algorithms to harm X’s relationship with advertisers. The suit is ongoing, and in 2025, Musk became a senior adviser to Trump and the de facto head of the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency.</p><p data-block-key=\"53g6j\">In late 2023 and early 2024, Republican attorneys general in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/texas-attorney-general-subpoenas-media-matters-after-report-on-x/\">Texas</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/missouri-attorney-general-subpoenas-media-matters-after-report-on-x/\">Missouri</a> issued civil investigative demands — a form of subpoena — to the nonprofit for documents related to its reporting. Media Matters ultimately won preliminary injunctions blocking the requests.</p><p data-block-key=\"7hk06\"><a href=\"https://www.status.news/p/ftc-investigates-media-matters-elon-musk\">According to Status</a>, Musk’s targeting of the outlet has contributed to budgetary strain that forced Media Matters to lay off employees and scale back its work in 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"5l3pc\">The FTC investigation marks an escalation in the targeting of the nonprofit, and the agency has ordered Media Matters to turn over scores of internal records, including communications, budget documents and any evidence of coordination with other advocacy groups, Status reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"ehi5f\">Ferguson has previously detailed his concern over “colluding” in advertising, the Times reported, in which coordinated advertising boycotts could threaten the “free exchange of ideas.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7osul\">In a statement to Status, a spokesperson for Media Matters described the FTC probe as a political hit job.</p><p data-block-key=\"ad2nu\">“The Trump administration has been defined by naming right-wing media figures to key posts and abusing the power of the federal government to bully political opponents and silence critics,” the representative said. “It’s clear that’s exactly what’s happening here, given Media Matters’ history of holding those same media figures to account. These threats won’t work; we remain steadfast to our mission.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-02-08T195338Z_960488062_RC2I.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1cd2d\">Andrew Ferguson, commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, speaks at a conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Feb. 8, 2025.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Media Matters for America"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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},
{
"title": "Kristi Noem targets press, leakers as homeland security secretary",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kristi-noem-targets-press-leakers-as-homeland-security-secretary/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-03T16:42:15.375266Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-23T15:52:07.235774Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-23T15:52:07.126580Z",
"date": "2025-05-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7xkxf\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined Trump in taking steps to intimidate leakers and news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting her efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"46hnn\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9spoe\"><i>This article was first published on March 14, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"3aacq\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 20\">May 20, 2025 | DHS secretary oversees ‘unprecedented’ use of polygraphs to identify leakers</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#March 9\">March 9, 2025 | DHS secretary pledges to use lie detectors to identify leakers</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#March 7\">March 7, 2025 | DHS secretary threatens to sue South Dakota newspaper over coverage</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7xkxf\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"87b1q\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"May 20\" name=\"May 20\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"vkbuz\">May 20, 2025 | DHS secretary oversees ‘unprecedented’ use of polygraphs to identify leakers</h4><p data-block-key=\"8o3a\">Under the leadership of Secretary Kristi Noem, Department of Homeland Security employees are being subjected to polygraph exams, The Wall Street Journal <a href=\"https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/dhs-kristi-noem-employee-polygraph-tests-7249fc38\">reported</a> on May 20, 2025. Noem had announced her intention to use such tests as part of her efforts to clamp down on leaks.</p><p data-block-key=\"anunu\">According to the Journal, employees — ranging from agency leadership to designated media liaisons — are being specifically questioned about whether they’ve been sharing unapproved information with the media, even if it isn’t classified.</p><p data-block-key=\"9qlo\">DHS employees told the newspaper that the scale of polygraphing is unprecedented, and that the seeming randomness of who is selected for an exam and why has had a chilling effect.</p><p data-block-key=\"f7cpb\">“Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS is unapologetic about its efforts to root out leakers that undermine national security,” said Tricia McLaughlin, spokeswoman for DHS. “We are agnostic about your standing, tenure, political appointment, or status as a career civil servant—we will track down leakers and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ddcl3\">Both Noem and Madison Sheahan, deputy director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have reportedly threatened employees with polygraphs and Noem has personally requested that certain employees be examined.</p><p data-block-key=\"3hb7f\">National Intelligence Director <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tulsi-gabbard-targets-press-leakers-as-national-intelligence-director/#March%2014\">Tulsi Gabbard</a>, Defense Secretary <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers-as-defense-secretary/\">Pete Hegseth</a> and FBI Director <a href=\"/all-incidents/kash-patel-targets-press-leakers-as-fbi-director/\">Kash Patel</a> have also announced the use of polygraphs to identify leakers in their agencies.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 9\" name=\"March 9\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"7xkxf\">March 9, 2025 | DHS secretary pledges to use lie detectors to identify leakers</h4><p data-block-key=\"819t1\">Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem vowed during an <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kristi-noem-homeland-security-secretary-face-the-nation-transcript-03-09-2025/\">appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation”</a> on March 9, 2025, that the department would subject employees to polygraph exams as part of its investigation into the source of leaks to the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"155vd\">Noem <a href=\"https://x.com/KristiNoem/status/1898099666245333409\">announced on March 7</a> that two individuals who allegedly leaked details about immigration enforcement operations have been identified and will face felony prosecution. She told CBS two days later that the leak investigations are ongoing and that she plans on using the full power of her office to ensure “that we’re following the law, that we are following the procedures in place to keep people safe.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4fdfm\">“Anyone who is leaking information outside of how something is planned for the safety of those law enforcement officers needs to be held accountable for that,” Noem added.</p><p data-block-key=\"frng9\">The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ice-deportation-immigration-dhs-kristi-noem-leak-cf09189abaa6147a0c990225c2d27bad\">reported</a> that while polygraphs are not typically admissible in court, they are often used by federal law enforcement, including for national security clearances.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ti0m\">“The Department of Homeland Security is a national security agency,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to the news agency. “We can, should, and will polygraph personnel.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 7\" name=\"March 7\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"7xkxf\">March 7, 2025 | DHS secretary threatens to sue South Dakota newspaper over coverage</h4><p data-block-key=\"2mvq\">A personal attorney for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem threatened on March 7, 2025, to sue The Dakota Scout, an independent newspaper based in Sioux City, South Dakota, after the outlet <a href=\"https://www.thedakotascout.com/p/sec-kristi-noems-use-of-taxpayer\">reported</a> on Noem’s use of two taxpayer-backed credit cards.</p><p data-block-key=\"alrhi\">The Scout and KSFL-TV reviewed thousands of pages of credit card receipts totaling approximately $650,000 from Noem’s tenure as the state’s governor. The bulk of the expenses were on airfare, rental cars and hotel accommodations for Noem’s security detail, in connection with her appearances at campaign rallies and as a speaker at conservative events, according to the Scout.</p><p data-block-key=\"qsrs\">In a cease and desist letter emailed to the Scout in the early hours of March 7, Noem’s personal lawyer Trevor Stanley alleged that the outlet had published “false, misleading, and inaccurate statements” concerning the spending, KSFL-TV <a href=\"https://www.siouxfallslive.com/news/sioux-falls/kristi-noem-threatens-to-sue-the-dakota-scout-over-credit-card-records\">reported</a>. Stanley specifically asserted that Noem had only personally charged $2,000, and demanded that the outlet stop reporting differently.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ig77\">“Otherwise, we will consider all legal remedies, including a lawsuit seeking maximum compensatory and punitive damages, that we estimate at millions of dollars,” Stanley wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"57k52\">According to a <a href=\"https://www.thedakotascout.com/p/prisons-pipelines-and-pragmatism\">podcast</a> with Scout co-founders and reporters Joe Sneve and Jonathan Ellis, they only obtained the receipts after filing a lawsuit to obtain the public records. They were also threatened with a restraining order to claw back the files after they were released.</p><p data-block-key=\"4qful\">Sneve said that Noem’s cease and desist letter is a blatant attempt to chill their reporting, and that he wouldn’t stand idle when individuals attempt to “saber rattle” in order to “intimidate good, honest reporters who are just trying to provide a service that shouldn’t even be hard to provide.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7d8ec\">The newsroom, he added, remains undaunted. “I would highly doubt they even file a lawsuit,” Sneve said. “And if they did, I’m not losing any sleep over that.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-01-28T213415Z_1536812639_RC2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7ydzv\">Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks to employees at department headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 28, 2025.</p>",
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{
"title": "Journalist subpoenaed by reporters arrested at 2021 California protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-subpoenaed-by-reporters-arrested-at-2021-california-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-04T19:58:38.140365Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-04T19:58:38.140365Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-04T19:51:19.761182Z",
"date": "2025-05-09",
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"city": "Los Angeles",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0xy36\">Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally was subpoenaed on May 9, 2025, by two Knock LA journalists for testimony at the trial of their civil case against the city of Los Angeles, California, and multiple police officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"cao3n\"><a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-times-reporter-among-multiple-journalists-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\">Queally</a> and the two reporters were among the nearly <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&state=California&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">20 journalists detained</a> while documenting protests near LA’s Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, after police surrounded and arrested everyone using a tactic called “kettling.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9at4g\">Queally was released after approximately 30 minutes, with help from attorneys and a managing editor for the Times. Other journalists, including the two reporters for nonprofit community journalism outlet Knock LA, were charged with failure to disperse. The charges were quickly dropped.</p><p data-block-key=\"ddf8v\">The Knock LA reporters, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/knock-la-reporter-arrested-while-covering-echo-park-protest-charged-with-failure-to-disperse/\">Jonathan Peltz</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-for-knock-la-arrested-with-colleague-while-covering-echo-park-protest-in-la/\">Kate Gallagher</a>, then <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.851533/gov.uscourts.cacd.851533.1.0.pdf\">filed a lawsuit</a> against the city, as well as then-Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore and 10 police officers. The reporters alleged that their arrests violated both their constitutional rights and California’s <a href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=52.1.&lawCode=CIV\">Tom Bane Civil Rights Act</a>, which protects journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"96ik8\">“This is a civil rights action challenging the Los Angeles Police Department’s longstanding policy, custom and practice of obstructing, targeting, and retaliating against members of the press for exercising their First Amendment rights to gather news regarding police officer activity in public places,” the lawsuit states.</p><p data-block-key=\"eme7o\">Three weeks before the case was set to go to trial on May 27, attorneys for Peltz and Gallagher subpoenaed Queally, ordering him to appear as a witness and to testify about “the protest, his coverage of it, and being detained, but ultimately released when the officers identified him as a journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ei402\">In a motion to quash the subpoena filed May 23, attorneys representing Queally argued that, in a rush to vindicate their own interests, the Knock LA journalists had infringed on the rights of a fellow reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"agdq\">“The free flow of information to the public is jeopardized when litigants use the coercive power of the Court to force journalists to testify in support of parties’ private aims, which undermines reporters’ credibility and hampers their ability to do their job,” the motion said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bvkol\">Dan Laidman, one of the attorneys representing Queally, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the decision to challenge the subpoena doesn’t reflect any position on the merits of the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"vl1g\">“James Queally and the Los Angeles Times have demonstrated histories of supporting press freedom and fellow journalists,” Laidman wrote, but added, “Forcing reporters to testify in court about matters that they cover compromises their ability to gather the news, and under the First Amendment it’s only allowed as a last resort in exceptional circumstances.”</p><p data-block-key=\"46uu6\">A hearing on the motion is scheduled for June 26, and the trial date has been moved to Aug. 5.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"onhid\">A portion of a subpoena issued to Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally on May 9, 2025, ordering him to testify in a California civil case filed against police by two Knock LA reporters.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"encampment"
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"categories": [
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"subpoena_statuses": null,
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{
"title": "Town officials in Arizona remove press table from council chamber",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/town-officials-in-arizona-remove-press-table-from-council-chamber/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-24T19:40:57.535745Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-24T19:40:57.535745Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-24T19:40:57.427299Z",
"date": "2025-04-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Fountain Hills",
"longitude": -111.71736,
"latitude": 33.61171,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hwmss\">A press table in the council chamber for the town of Fountain Hills, Arizona, was removed in April 2025 in apparent retaliation for reporting by a local newspaper.</p><p data-block-key=\"9g09g\">Councilmember Rick Watts requested the removal of the designated press table from the chambers, citing what he described as “partisan” reporting by the Fountain Hills Times Independent.</p><p data-block-key=\"5i35e\">Following a public council meeting about the town’s fire department budget, the Times Independent <a href=\"https://www.fhtimes.com/stories/fountain-hills-town-council-defers-fire-department-budget-plan,575108\">published a story</a> April 9 with a headline that Watts told <a href=\"https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/scottsdale/2025/06/02/town-council-retaliates-against-fountain-hills-times-independent-newspaper/83924427007/\">the Arizona Republic</a> was oversimplified.</p><p data-block-key=\"dbcad\">Vice Mayor Hannah Larrabee, who the Republic reported has expressed ongoing concerns about the outlet’s reporting since taking office, also supported the removal of the press table.</p><p data-block-key=\"d4h70\">“Frankly, I am fed up with the Times’ partisan reporting and think it is time to remove the corner ‘reporters’ table,” Watts wrote in an <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25957353-rickwatts05132025/#document/p1\">email</a> to Town Manager Rachael Goodwin.</p><p data-block-key=\"b8nld\">“If the Times personnel cannot act and report in a factual, nonpartisan manner, without resorting to sensational headlines, reporting on the council and various commissions without obvious bias,” she added, “then I see no reason for providing any special seating accommodation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ekjos\">While reporters are not banned from council meetings entirely, the press table commonly reserved for the Times Independent is no longer there, and its reporters are now expected to sit with the audience.</p><p data-block-key=\"2boj2\">Larrabee also <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25957352-hannahtoth05132025/\">wrote</a> to Goodwin, “I do not wish to further encourage unbalanced reporting, and I believe it is best if the Times Independent sits with the audience to allow for more chairs in that corner, making more room for the public.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5gafl\">But Councilmember Brenda Kalivianakis asked about the missing press table at the <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/live/yAVs0M5uxZE?feature=shared&t=10744\">May 6 council meeting</a>, requesting a discussion about the change be held at a future meeting and added, “We’ve had a media table for as long as I could remember.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bd6le\">Kalivianakis later argued in a May 28 <a href=\"https://www.fhtimes.com/stories/press-table-removed-from-fountain-hills-council-chambers,587238\">op-ed</a> published in the Times Independent, that the decision to remove the press table was a deliberate attempt to retaliate against the paper for what some councilmembers perceived as unfavorable reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"cn2e1\">“Retaliation inherently has a chilling effect, making journalists and citizens hesitant to investigate controversial topics or criticize those in power,” Kalivianakis wrote. “If journalists are reluctant to report on sensitive topics, the people regrettably pay the price.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8e1ve\">Free press advocates and experts also weighed in on the press table removal.</p><p data-block-key=\"d9fg5\">“Local governments don’t have to roll out the red carpet for reporters. A physically designated space also isn’t required for Arizona local journalists to do their jobs,” Chris Kline, president and CEO of the Arizona Media Association and Arizona Local News Foundation, told the <a href=\"https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/scottsdale/2025/06/02/town-council-retaliates-against-fountain-hills-times-independent-newspaper/83924427007/\">Arizona Republic</a>. “But small actions like this can send a big message, and when that message is frustration with coverage, it risks eroding openness in government.”</p><p data-block-key=\"af129\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker reached out to Watts and Larrabee for comment but did not receive a response. The Times Independent did not respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zztge\">Members of the Fountain Hills, Arizona, Town Council shown meeting on May 6, 2025, shortly after council members had removed the press table from the chamber.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "Arizona",
"abbreviation": "AZ"
},
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"Media"
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"Local government: Legislature"
],
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},
{
"title": "Kash Patel targets press, leakers as FBI director",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kash-patel-targets-press-leakers-as-fbi-director/",
"first_published_at": "2025-05-23T15:42:44.489120Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-23T15:42:44.489120Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-23T15:38:11.340158Z",
"date": "2025-04-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3bvvd\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, FBI Director Kash Patel joined Trump in taking steps to intimidate leakers and news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting Patel’s efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"4sad0\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"f44a6\"><i>This article was first published on May 23, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"fvkg2\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#April 28\">April 28, 2025 | FBI director announces use of polygraphs in identifying leaks</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3bvvd\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"lhbv\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"April 28\" name=\"April 28\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"3bvvd\">April 28, 2025 | FBI director announces use of polygraphs in identifying leaks</h4><p data-block-key=\"doqf2\">FBI Director Kash Patel directed the bureau in April 2025 to begin administering polygraph exams to employees to identify the sources behind leaks to the media, The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/04/28/leak-polygraph-fbi-justice-odni-dhs/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"b189o\">A spokesperson told the Post that, “The seriousness of the specific leaks in question precipitated the polygraphs, as they involved potential damage to security protocols at the bureau.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5305a\">The investigations have been bolstered by Attorney General <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pam-bondi-targets-journalists-leakers-as-us-attorney-general/\">Pam Bondi’</a>s reversal of Biden-era policies that protected journalists from having their records seized or being forced to testify amid leak investigations.</p><p data-block-key=\"5am4a\">The new guidelines broadened the scope to not only leaks of classified material, but also “privileged and other sensitive information,” which could include details that are embarrassing to the administration or undermine its perspectives.</p><p data-block-key=\"1agct\">An official with top-secret clearance told the Post it’s a “toxic environment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7el38\">“First, you’ve got the insecurity of not knowing whether you’re going to get fired or not,” the official said. “Then there’s the witch hunt to find the whistleblowers who are exposing the ineptitude and bad management of agencies. They’re trying to silence those who do not follow the party line.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f5rt\">Similar efforts to root out suspected leakers and disloyal “deep state” employees have also been announced by National Intelligence Director <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tulsi-gabbard-targets-press-leakers-as-national-intelligence-director/#March%2014\">Tulsi Gabbard</a>, Defense Secretary <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers-as-defense-secretary/\">Pete Hegseth</a> and Homeland Security Secretary <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kristi-noem-targets-press-leakers-as-homeland-security-secretary/\">Kristi Noem</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-02-21T220425Z_1699304300_RC2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"jystg\">Kash Patel after being sworn in as FBI director by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 21, 2025.</p>",
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"Media"
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{
"title": "Pam Bondi targets journalists, leakers as U.S. attorney general",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pam-bondi-targets-journalists-leakers-as-us-attorney-general/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-28T20:35:40.152281Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-02T16:18:30.343378Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-02T16:18:30.194041Z",
"date": "2025-04-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mfti3\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi joined Trump in taking steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting her efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"14u4v\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"bh0ov\"><i>This article was first published on April 28, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"13h14\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#April 25\">April 25, 2025 | U.S. attorney general rescinds journalists’ protection from federal subpoenas</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mfti3\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"eab54\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"April 25\" name=\"April 25\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"mfti3\">April 25, 2025 | U.S. attorney general rescinds journalists’ protection from federal subpoenas</h4><p data-block-key=\"f570p\">U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a memo released on April 25, 2025, directed the reversal of Biden-era policies that protected journalists from having their records seized or being forced to testify amid leak investigations.</p><p data-block-key=\"2eaqj\">Under President Donald Trump’s first administration, the Department of Justice secretly obtained or attempted to obtain records from <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_upper=2021-01-13&tags=Department+of+Justice&legal_order_target=THIRD_PARTY&categories=Subpoena%2FLegal+Order\">at least nine journalists</a> in connection with leak investigations. Such subpoenas endanger both the targeted journalists and the foundation of investigative journalism, which relies on source protection.</p><p data-block-key=\"64fs8\">After these subpoenas were made public, Biden administration Attorney General Merrick Garland announced in July 2021 that he was <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/doj-formally-adopts-new-policy-restricting-use-compulsory-process-obtain-reporter-information\">changing the department’s policies</a> to prevent such seizures of journalists’ records.</p><p data-block-key=\"bl514\">Less than four years later, Bondi <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25919680-bondi-memo/?mode=document\">justified</a> the revocation of that policy as necessary to thwart leaks that she said jeopardize the DOJ’s ability to “uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6pdt8\">“I have concluded that it is necessary to rescind Merrick Garland’s policies precluding the Department of Justice from seeking records and compelling testimony from members of the news media in order to identify and punish the source of improper leaks,” Bondi <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25919680-bondi-memo/?mode=document\">wrote in her April 25 memo</a>. “This Justice Department will not tolerate unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump’s policies, victimize government agencies, and cause harm to the American people.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dsfm6\">Bondi noted, however, that there will still be procedures in place to ensure such measures are only used when “essential” to successfully investigating or prosecuting the source of sensitive leaks. The language of the new policy had not been made public as of publication.</p><p data-block-key=\"5afkl\">Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project, condemned Bondi’s decision and criticized members of Congress who did not prioritize passing a federal shield law in 2024 that would have protected journalists from such subpoenas.</p><p data-block-key=\"7u74d\">“Every Democrat who put the PRESS Act on the back burner when they had the opportunity to pass a bipartisan bill codifying journalist-source confidentiality should be ashamed,” FPF Advocacy Director Seth Stern wrote in a statement. “Everyone predicted this would happen in a second Trump administration, yet politicians in a position to prevent it prioritized empty rhetoric over putting up a meaningful fight.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-04-16T130007Z_355032037_RC2V.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"m7s1z\">U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks at a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., on April 16, 2025.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
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},
{
"title": "Former journalist subpoenaed to testify at ex-mayor’s criminal trial",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/former-journalist-subpoenaed-to-testify-at-ex-mayors-criminal-trial/",
"first_published_at": "2025-05-16T16:56:59.294777Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-16T16:56:59.294777Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-16T16:56:01.029002Z",
"date": "2025-04-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Indio",
"longitude": -116.21677,
"latitude": 33.7207,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"g0tpy\">Barrett Newkirk, a former reporter for The Desert Sun, was subpoenaed on April 24, 2025, in connection with the Indio, California, trial of an ex-mayor accused of taking bribes. A judge ruled in May that the state’s shield law doesn’t protect Newkirk from being questioned about his coverage.</p><p data-block-key=\"f2h4e\">According to court filings reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Newkirk worked on two articles in April 2015 concerning Stephen Pougnet, then mayor of Palm Springs, and his dealings with two real estate developers.</p><p data-block-key=\"ackq1\">Pougnet was indicted in 2019 alongside developers John Wessman and Richard Meaney on felony counts of bribery, perjury and conflict of interest, The Desert Sun <a href=\"https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2020/03/04/palm-springs-corruption-case-mayor-needed-make-money-developers-found-him-employment-transcripts-sho/4942051002/\">reported</a>. Less than a month before the case was finally set to go to trial, prosecutors subpoenaed Newkirk, ordering him to appear to testify before the jury on May 1.</p><p data-block-key=\"9nv4q\">Attorneys representing Newkirk and The Desert Sun asked a judge to strike down the subpoena in an April 30 filing, arguing that the former reporter’s testimony was not needed to verify Pougnet’s quotes in the articles and that, given more than a decade had passed, he was unable to recall details to authenticate the quotes.</p><p data-block-key=\"85ik2\">They added that anything else that Newkirk might be asked about at trial — such as his newsgathering and reporting techniques — is squarely protected by the state’s shield law, particularly as it is the prosecution that seeks his testimony.</p><p data-block-key=\"1jshm\">Were the subpoena to be enforced, they argued, it would “convert Newkirk and <i>The Desert Sun</i> into a ‘research tool’ or ‘investigative arm’ of the prosecution, called to testify whenever they may have obtained news or an interview that the government might find useful.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d8rpo\">The prosecution argued in its response that reporter’s privilege only extends to information about sources and unpublished materials, not the standards and practices behind attributing quotes in articles.</p><p data-block-key=\"9586v\">“Indeed, some might say that the public is entitled to know what standards apply to quoting and attributing statements in the press, and in fact many journalistic organizations post their standards on these issues online,” Deputy District Attorney Natasha Sorace wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"5hhbv\">Superior Court Judge Samuel Diaz Jr. sided with the prosecution on May 7, but ruled that he would hear additional arguments on whether the evidence would be admissible before compelling Newkirk to testify, <a href=\"https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2025/05/07/reporter-may-have-to-testify-in-ex-palm-springs-mayors-bribery-trial/83500546007/\">according to The Desert Sun</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dlr37\">Before a hearing could be scheduled, Pougnet <a href=\"https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2025/05/14/ex-palm-springs-mayor-pougnet-pleads-guilty-in-bribery-case/83632290007/\">pleaded guilty</a> May 14 to more than a dozen counts — including bribery, conspiracy and holding prohibited financial interests in public contracts — and entered no contest pleas to three perjury charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"5qlrs\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker was unable to confirm whether the prosecution still intends to pursue Newkirk’s testimony at the trial of Pougnet’s co-defendant, Wessman, which is scheduled to begin May 19 or 20.</p><p data-block-key=\"8tbqu\">Newkirk, his attorney and Gannett — The Desert Sun’s parent company — did not respond to requests for comment. The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the pending case.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Newkirk_subpoena.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"28nn6\">A portion of an April 24, 2025, subpoena ordering former journalist Barrett Newkirk to appear to testify at the Indio, California, bribery trial of a former mayor about whom Newkirk had reported for The Desert Sun a decade prior.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
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"Barrett Newkirk (The Desert Sun)"
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},
{
"title": "Tulsi Gabbard targets press, leakers as national intelligence director",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tulsi-gabbard-targets-press-leakers-as-national-intelligence-director/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-03T16:11:56.617031Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-02T16:20:42.800166Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-02T16:20:42.689041Z",
"date": "2025-04-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i6tw2\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, joined Trump in taking steps to intimidate leakers and news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting her efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"20bip\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dg89\"><i>This article was first published on March 14, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"2jlqg\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#April 23\">April 23, 2025 | Intelligence director announces referral of leakers to Justice Department</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#March 14\">March 14, 2025 | Investigation opened into media leaks from U.S. spy agencies</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i6tw2\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"erfo7\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"April 23\" name=\"April 23\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"466w0\">April 23, 2025 | Intelligence director announces referral of leakers to Justice Department</h4><p data-block-key=\"blvja\">National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard announced on April 23, 2025, that she had referred two individuals to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution for allegedly leaking to the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"4vnd4\">“These deep-state criminals leaked classified information for partisan political purposes to undermine POTUS’ agenda,” Gabbard <a href=\"https://x.com/DNIGabbard/status/1915150870255210774\">wrote</a>. “I look forward to working with @TheJusticeDept and @FBI to investigate, terminate and prosecute these criminals.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Politicization of our intelligence and leaking classified information puts our nation’s security at risk and must end. Those who leak classified information will be found and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. <br> <br>Today, I referred two intelligence community LEAKS…</p>— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DNIGabbard/status/1915150870255210774?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 23, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"466w0\">Gabbard and her <a href=\"https://x.com/alexahenning/status/1915149991934407053\">deputy chief of staff</a> also noted that a third criminal referral was imminent.</p><p data-block-key=\"ffbp\">The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/04/24/tulsi-gabbard-leaks-leakers-justice-department/\">reported</a> that such referrals are common when classified information is published by the press, and the DOJ then decides whether to investigate or pursue criminal charges.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 14\" name=\"March 14\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"i6tw2\">March 14, 2025 | Investigation opened into media leaks from U.S. spy agencies</h4><p data-block-key=\"9rin\">Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, <a href=\"https://www.odni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2025/4053-pr-02-25\">announced</a> on March 14, 2025, that the Trump administration will aggressively investigate the source of leaks from U.S. intelligence agencies to members of the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"63nn\">In <a href=\"https://x.com/DNIGabbard/status/1900525554039939309\">posts</a> on the social platform X, Gabbard cited recent reports by HuffPost, The Washington Post, NBC News and The Record as examples of such “politically motivated leaks.” She added that the leaks “undermine our national security and the trust of the American people, and will not be tolerated.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b2408\">The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/trump-administration-leak-investigations.html\">reported</a> that, while Gabbard promised action against the leakers and not the newsrooms that publish it, it signals an effort to chill national security reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"du0gi\">“Leak investigations threaten the free flow of information that the public needs to hold the government accountable, especially in the national security context,” Bruce Brown, the president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told the Times. “This is true from administration to administration.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-03-08T024534Z_549153628_RC29.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"lqk4u\">Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas, on March 5, 2025.</p>",
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},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"HuffPost",
"Media",
"NBC News",
"The Record",
"The Washington Post"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
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{
"title": "Freelance journalist barred from New York school board meeting",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-barred-from-new-york-school-board-meeting/",
"first_published_at": "2025-05-22T17:22:47.265752Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-22T17:22:47.265752Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-22T17:22:47.103070Z",
"date": "2025-04-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Mastic Beach",
"longitude": -72.85205,
"latitude": 40.76677,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"v9xs1\">Freelance reporter Jennifer Holloway was barred from attending a William Floyd School Board meeting in Mastic Beach, New York, on April 22, 2025, after she filmed the arrest of an attendee and was removed from the building.</p><p data-block-key=\"b15r3\">Holloway told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was on assignment for <a href=\"https://protest.one/about/\">PRO_NYC</a>, a New York-based digital news outlet that focuses on protests, events, demonstrations and rallies in the tristate area. The meeting’s public comment portion was expected to include comments on the inclusion of a transgender student-athlete on the William Floyd High School track team, and Holloway said there had been rumors that anti-trans counterprotesters were planning to attend.</p><p data-block-key=\"1n3b0\">She said that the school board meeting followed a normal routine and, when she learned that it would be at least half an hour before the public comment section would begin, she left temporarily to go to her car.</p><p data-block-key=\"8t5op\">“As I was walking back, lo and behold, what did I see? Two policemen literally running inside the school building,” Holloway said. “I had my phone in my hand and I turned on the video. Very shortly after, I was literally pushed out of the school.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4vqb9\">In a clip of the interaction reviewed by the Tracker, a school security officer is seen approaching Holloway while she stands a reasonable distance from the ongoing arrest. The officer then tells her to take her phone outside while directing her toward the door.</p><p data-block-key=\"bf45k\">“I’m press,” Holloway responds. “I know. Turn around, go outside,” the officer replies. When Holloway asserts that she has a right to be there, as it’s a public area, the officer replies, “No you don’t” and “No it’s not.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6cut6\">She told the Tracker that in addition to identifying herself verbally as a member of the press, she was wearing a media credential issued by the New York City mayor’s office.</p><p data-block-key=\"7i81\">Holloway said that being barred from reentering prevented her from observing the entirety of the public comment section, which was her primary reporting objective.</p><p data-block-key=\"5cu5e\">“We did get a tweet out, and I did manage to take some photographs that we put out, but the part that I really wanted to get was some of the speeches and public comment,” she added.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dozens gathered outside William Floyd High School in Mastic prior to a Board of Education meeting, where Moms for Liberty were rumored to be appearing in protest of the presence of a trans athlete on the track team. <br><br>Much public comment is expected during the packed meeting. <a href=\"https://t.co/XRUaMvssNJ\">pic.twitter.com/XRUaMvssNJ</a></p>— PRO_NYC (@protest_nyc) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/protest_nyc/status/1914823377040134574?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 22, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7uk8z\">While Holloway noted an argument could be made that her removal violated not only the First Amendment but also the state’s open meeting laws, she said she is unlikely to pursue any legal recourse.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ig5p\">“I never caused any disturbance at all, as witnessed in the video. And it was just really unfair,” Holloway said. “I don’t expect any compensation. Probably the best I can hope for is an apology.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fjm76\">School Board President April Coppola did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Holloway_NY_denial.cc30ef05.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"vvb7w\">Freelance reporter Jennifer Holloway was prevented from observing the public comment section of the April 22, 2025, William Floyd School Board meeting in Mastic Beach, New York, after she filmed the arrest of an attendee and was removed from the building.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
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"links": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
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"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"LGBTQ+ rights"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Local government: Public school district"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jennifer Holloway (PRO_NYC)"
],
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"type_of_denial": [
"Government event"
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}
]
