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{
"title": "Brendan Carr targets news outlets as chair of the FCC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/brendan-carr-targets-news-outlets-as-chair-of-the-fcc/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-03T15:59:35.542582Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-05T14:51:55.897581Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-05T14:51:55.790821Z",
"date": "2025-07-29",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"96x0e\">From the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, Brendan Carr, chair and senior Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, has joined Trump in taking steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting Carr’s efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"1fmn2\">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=\"6sksi\"><i>This article was first published on Jan. 22, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"f2d5p\"></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=\"#July 29\">July 29, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into NBC over relationship with local affiliates</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#April 16\">April 16, 2025 | FCC chair threatens Comcast licenses for alleged ‘news distortion’</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#March 27\">March 27, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into ABC, Disney over DEI policy</a> \r\n<p><a href=\"#Feb 11\">Feb. 11, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into NBC parent over DEI program</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#Feb 5\">Feb. 5, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into California radio station</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#Jan 29\">Jan. 29, 2025 | FCC opens investigations into NPR, PBS; calls on CBS to turn over interview transcript</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#Jan 22\">Jan. 22, 2025 | FCC chair reinstates complaints against three news outlets</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"96x0e\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"9mg5b\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"July 29\" name=\"July 29\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"2s7l8\">July 29, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into NBC over relationship with local affiliates</h4><p data-block-key=\"74vd5\">Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr informed NBC’s parent company on July 29, 2025, that the agency had opened an investigation into NBCUniversal and its relationship with its local broadcast affiliates.</p><p data-block-key=\"aj4m2\">In a <a href=\"https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Chairman-Carr-Letter-to-Comcast-FINAL-7.29.25.pdf\">letter</a> to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Carr said he is investigating “numerous” reports that NBC and other similarly situated networks are attempting to “extract onerous financial and operational concessions from local broadcast TV stations” during affiliate negotiations.</p><p data-block-key=\"doeko\">“The FCC has an interest in and the authority to promote the public interest and to ensure that local broadcast TV stations retain the economic and operational independence necessary to meet their public interest obligations,” he wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"3iosd\">Comcast <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/fcc-opens-probe-into-comcast-relationships-with-local-tv-affiliates-2025-07-30/\">told Reuters</a> that it had received the letter and plans to cooperate with the investigation.</p><p data-block-key=\"99lu\">“We are proud that for many decades we have supported local broadcast TV stations with world-class sports and entertainment,” the statement said. “We will continue to invest heavily in this partnership to keep the broadcast business strong.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2560r\">The investigation is the latest in a series launched by Carr since he took over as chair in January under the Trump administration, including a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/brendan-carr-targets-news-outlets-as-chair-of-the-fcc/#Feb%2011\">separate probe</a> into Comcast’s promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.</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 16\" name=\"April 16\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"w1k1x\">April 16, 2025 | FCC chair threatens Comcast licenses for alleged ‘news distortion’</h4><p data-block-key=\"a2hc7\">Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr accused Comcast — the parent company of MSNBC and NBC News — of violating its broadcast licenses in a <a href=\"https://x.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1912641900558893377\">post</a> on the social platform X on April 16, 2025, citing the outlets’ reporting on the wrongful deportation of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia.</p><p data-block-key=\"dhm7c\">“Comcast outlets spent days misleading the American public—implying that Abrego Garcia was merely a law abiding U.S. citizen, just a regular ‘Maryland man.’ When the truth comes out, they ignore it,” Carr wrote. “Comcast knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest. News distortion doesn’t cut it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5pgs9\">According to the <a href=\"https://www.fcc.gov/broadcast-news-distortion\">FCC</a>, while broadcast stations like NBC News are subject to the agency’s jurisdiction, cable networks like MSNBC are not.</p><p data-block-key=\"e3d2h\">On April 21, the Center for American Rights filed a <a href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/14eP0vSwkhKjGetg9yw-PybuL7_aNL005/view\">complaint</a> with the FCC against NBC, ABC and CBS alleging the outlets provided “false or misleading information” during their coverage about Abrego Garcia. The outlets were already the subjects of investigations <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/brendan-carr-targets-news-outlets-as-chair-of-the-fcc/#Jan%2022\">reopened</a> by Carr in February following complaints filed by the conservative group.</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 27\" name=\"March 27\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"96x0e\">March 27, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into ABC, Disney over DEI policy</h4><p data-block-key=\"2phhf\">Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, in a March 27, 2025, <a href=\"https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/Carr-Letter-to-Disney-DEI-03252027.pdf\">letter</a> to ABC and its parent Disney, said the agency had launched an investigation into the company’s promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.</p><p data-block-key=\"1r95j\">“Numerous reports indicate that Disney’s leadership went all in on invidious forms of DEI discrimination a few years ago and apparently did so in a manner that infected many aspects of your company’s decisions,” Carr wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"5u0v6\">While Disney <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/02/07/nx-s1-5288947/trump-dei-disney-pepsi-diversity\">scaled back its diversity efforts</a> in November 2024, Carr indicated that the changes may not have gone far enough. “I want to ensure that Disney ends any and all discriminatory initiatives in substance, not just name,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"4l21q\">Carr specified that the probe will apply to both past and current policies.</p><p data-block-key=\"a78he\">President Donald Trump has made eliminating DEI programs a pillar of his second term, signing a Jan. 22 <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-protects-civil-rights-and-merit-based-opportunity-by-ending-illegal-dei/\">executive order</a> eliminating them in the federal government and pressuring private companies to follow suit.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ne57\">A Disney spokesperson told Reuters, “We are reviewing the Federal Communications Commission’s letter, and we look forward to engaging with the commission to answer its questions.”</p><p data-block-key=\"17erv\">In an interview with Fox News on March 31, Carr suggested that the broadcaster’s license could be at risk, <a href=\"https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5224716-fcc-chair-abc-broadcast-license-disney-dei/\">The Hill reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"1nbq6\">“If the evidence does in fact play out and shows that they were engaged in race- and gender-based discrimination, that’s a very serious issue at the FCC, that could fundamentally go to their character qualifications to even hold a license,” Carr said.</p><p data-block-key=\"e6hgg\">ABC News is also facing an FCC investigation into how the broadcaster moderated the debate between Trump and former President Joe Biden, which Carr <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/brendan-carr-targets-news-outlets-as-chair-of-the-fcc/#Jan%2022\">reopened in January</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>\r\n<a id=\"Feb 11\" name=\"Feb 11\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"96x0e\">Feb. 11, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into NBC parent over DEI program</h4><p data-block-key=\"45d71\">Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, in a Feb. 11, 2025, <a href=\"https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/Chairman-Carr-Letter%20to-Comcast-02112025.pdf\">letter</a> to NBC News parent Comcast, said the agency would launch an investigation into the company’s promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.</p><p data-block-key=\"eeugk\">“The FCC will be taking fresh action to ensure that every entity the FCC regulates complies with the civil rights protections enshrined in the Communications Act,” Carr’s letter read, “including by shutting down any programs that promote invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2vs7s\">President Donald Trump has made eliminating DEI programs a pillar of his second term, signing an <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-protects-civil-rights-and-merit-based-opportunity-by-ending-illegal-dei/\">executive order</a> eliminating such programs in the federal government on Jan. 22 and pressuring private companies to follow suit. PBS News <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/benmullin.bsky.social/post/3lhu6bpgyb22s\">told employees</a> on Feb. 11 that it was eliminating its DEI office to be in compliance with the administration’s policy.</p><p data-block-key=\"9id98\">Tom Wheeler, a former chair of the FCC, <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/business/media/fcc-comcast-nbc-dei-discrimination.html\">told The New York Times</a> that this latest investigation fits a pattern of Carr using the commission’s authority to advance Trump’s political aims.</p><p data-block-key=\"7l42\">“It’s clear that what is going on here is — whether it be Comcast and DEI or NPR and PBS, or CBS and the ‘60 Minutes’ interview — is how can you use the coercive authority of regulation to accomplish the goals of your master and mentor, Donald Trump?” Wheeler said.</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=\"Feb 5\" name=\"Feb 5\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"96x0e\">Feb. 5, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into California radio station</h4><p data-block-key=\"fp4mb\">Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr launched an investigation into San Francisco, California, radio station KCBS on Feb. 5, 2025, after the station broadcast the locations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during operations in the San Jose area, Fox News <a href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/media/fcc-launches-probe-soros-backed-radio-station-revealed-live-locations-undercover-ice-agents\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"cvks\">Carr told Fox that he believes KCBS may have violated licensing rules requiring broadcasters to operate in the “public interest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aq9a2\">Carr had <a href=\"https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/company-news/2024/09/30/soros-backed-group-wins-fcc-approval-for-us-radio-stations/\">previously opposed</a> the transfer of the station’s license, following Republican scrutiny of the ownership role of billionaire investor George Soros, a Democratic megadonor whose nonprofit now controls the broadcasting outlet.</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=\"Jan 29\" name=\"Jan 29\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"96x0e\">Jan. 29, 2025 | FCC opens investigations into NPR, PBS; calls on CBS to turn over interview transcript</h4><p data-block-key=\"8fo81\">Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr informed public broadcasters NPR and PBS on Jan. 29, 2025, that he had initiated an investigation into the news outlets, <a href=\"https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/340343f285781674/6da3eb69-full.pdf\">suggesting</a> that they may have violated federal law by airing commercial advertisements. A copy of the letter was also shared with members of Congress, Carr wrote, because of its potential relevance to ongoing debates.</p><p data-block-key=\"4h3fp\">“In particular, Congress is actively considering whether to stop requiring taxpayers to subsidize NPR and PBS programming,” the letter read. “For my own part, I do not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS given the changes in the media marketplace since the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.”</p><p data-block-key=\"433k7\">That same day, the FCC sent a letter of inquiry to CBS News demanding that the outlet turn over the “full, unedited transcript and camera feeds” from a Kamala Harris interview on “60 Minutes” in October 2024, according to a <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-fcc-60-minutes/?intcid=CNR-02-0623\">statement</a> published by the broadcaster.</p><p data-block-key=\"ff5g4\">CBS said that it was working to comply with the inquiry, “as we are legally compelled to do.” The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker was unable to obtain a copy of the inquiry as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"749v8\">A spokesperson for CBS <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/cbs-turns-over-documents-fcc-probe-into-then-vp-harris-60-minutes-interview-2025-02-04/\">told Reuters</a> that the news organization submitted the documents to the FCC on Feb. 3. In an <a href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/video/6368206882112\">interview with Fox News</a>, Carr said he was “open minded as to potential consequences” and that he would consider releasing the transcript in the interest of transparency.</p><p data-block-key=\"avh2v\">CBS <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-publishes-transcripts-video-requested-by-fcc/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7d&linkId=738794635\">published</a> the transcripts and video that it turned over to Carr on Feb. 5. “They show — consistent with 60 Minutes’ repeated assurances to the public — that the 60 Minutes broadcast was not doctored or deceitful,” the outlet wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"2kjf3\">The Harris interview was the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-filed-or-threatened-multiple-lawsuits-against-outlets-ahead-of-election/\">focus of a federal lawsuit</a> filed against CBS on behalf of President Donald Trump, which alleged the network had “doctored” the broadcast in an attempt to influence the presidential election. Trump had demanded the network release unedited tapes and transcripts. CBS has maintained the claims are false and the suit without merit.</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=\"Jan 22\" name=\"Jan 22\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"96x0e\">Jan. 22, 2025 | FCC chair reinstates complaints against three news outlets</h4><p data-block-key=\"61dl2\">Brendan Carr, a Donald Trump appointee and the new chair of the Federal Communications Commission, reinstated complaints against multiple outlets that Trump targeted <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/all-the-presidents-invective/\">leading up to</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/media-in-the-courthouse/\">in the wake of</a> the election, alleging their reporting was biased and aimed at swaying favor toward his opponent.</p><p data-block-key=\"7c0di\">NPR <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/01/16/nx-s1-5262424/fcc-trump-tv-licenses-rosenworcel\">reported</a> that, shortly before leaving office, then-FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel dismissed complaints about appearances by Kamala Harris on CBS’ “60 Minutes” and NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” and about how ABC News moderated the debate between Trump and former President Joe Biden.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ae69\">“We don’t have the luxury of doing anything other than making very, very clear that this agency and its licensing authority should not be weaponized in a way that is fundamentally at odds with the First Amendment,” Rosenworcel said. “This agency should not be the president’s speech police and this agency shouldn’t be journalism’s censor-in-chief.”</p><p data-block-key=\"efm03\">Rosenworcel also <a href=\"https://www.phillyvoice.com/fcc-dismisses-petition-fox-29-license-renewal-complaint-6abc/\">dismissed</a> a complaint against a Philadelphia Fox station for allegedly promoting lies about election fraud in the 2020 election.</p><p data-block-key=\"f55g8\">Carr took over as FCC chair on Jan. 20, and reinstated the complaints against ABC, CBS and NBC two days later. In a statement, the agency said that the complaints had been dismissed “prematurely based on an insufficient investigatory record,” <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/22/fcc-reinstates-complaints-abc-cbs-nbc\">according to The Guardian</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7sdj0\">Carr had <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fcc-commissioner-accuses-media-ratings-provider-of-censorship/\">previously demonstrated</a> his willingness to target news outlets based on alleged bias, and he has supported Trump’s calls for NBC, CBS and ABC to lose their broadcast licenses over their alleged mistreatment of him, NPR<a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/11/17/nx-s1-5193064/fcc-chair-brendan-carr-trump\"> reported</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>",
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{
"title": "Kari Lake targets press as senior adviser for U.S. Agency for Global Media",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kari-lake-targets-press-as-senior-adviser-for-us-agency-for-global-media/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-01T21:23:37.153234Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-09-04T20:18:50.120862Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-09-04T19:09:52.647761Z",
"date": "2025-07-22",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uwxu3\">After President Donald Trump began his second term, senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media Kari Lake 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=\"44h40\">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=\"end4j\"><i>This article was first published on July 1, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"91i6j\"></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=\"#July 22\">July 22, 2025 | Lake ends visa program for VOA journalists, criticizes editorial independence</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#June 25\">June 25, 2025 | Kari Lake urges Congress to eliminate Voice of America, gut oversight agency</a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"uwxu3\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"ethfe\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"July 22\" name=\"July 22\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"hrh4j\">July 22, 2025 | Lake ends visa program for VOA journalists, criticizes editorial independence</h4><p data-block-key=\"d4aa6\">Kari Lake, senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, announced during an <a href=\"https://americasvoice.news/video/FlcmdsLXRHSZhcc/?related=playlist\">interview</a> with the conservative channel Real America’s Voice on July 22, 2025, that she was ending the visa program used to hire foreign journalists employed by Voice of America.</p><p data-block-key=\"6s9gb\">“Over the past couple of decades, especially the past 15 years, this agency has turned into telling anti-American story,” Lake said. “This agency started hiring non-Americans — people from foreign countries — many people, hundreds upon hundreds, from countries that are hostile to America.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f090a\">Lake went on to say that she was ending the J-1 visa program and cutting the workforce of the agency by 85%. “Our goal is to shut the entire agency down, as per the instructions of President Trump.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b6fbn\">She <a href=\"https://x.com/KariLake/status/1948152474856276266\">asserted</a> on the social platform X that “foreign influence has infiltrated the Voice of America,” baselessly claiming that some staffers pose a security risk. But VOA has recruited journalists from all over the world for decades, The Atlantic <a href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/08/kari-lake-deports-voice-of-america-journalists/683832/\">reported</a>, who may now face persecution, imprisonment or worse in their home nations as a result of their work in the U.S.</p><p data-block-key=\"edm7p\">Lake also <a href=\"https://x.com/KariLake/status/1948385289841316350\">lamented</a> the news outlet’s editorial independence from the administration.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ru8g\">“With the editorial firewall at Voice of America, they could go completely rogue, and the President couldn’t pick up the phone and stop them. There are no guardrails. There’s no editorial control,” Lake wrote. “This is a rogue, taxpayer funded agency, and we need to ensure that it’s no longer doing damage to America.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bu3ab\">During an Aug. 25 hearing over litigation concerning her efforts to dismantle the federally funded broadcaster, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/08/26/nx-s1-5506283/judge-order-kari-lake-sworn-deposition-voice-of-america-oath-usagm\">ordered</a> Lake to submit to questioning under oath by Sept. 15, saying that her repeated failure to provide requested information was “verging on contempt of court.”</p><p data-block-key=\"65tej\">Lake has persisted in her multipronged efforts to dismantle the international broadcaster, most recently by attempting to fire its director, Mike Abramowitz. Lamberth <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.278809/gov.uscourts.dcd.278809.76.0.pdf\">ruled</a> Aug. 28 that the action was unlawful, citing statutes that require a majority vote from the bipartisan board tasked with limiting political influence on federally funded newsrooms.</p><p data-block-key=\"67r8\">“This dispute arises from yet another twist in the saga of the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s efforts to dial back the operations of Voice of America contrary to statutory requirements,” Lamberth wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"ba1di\">He also granted an injunction barring Abramowitz’s removal without approval from the International Broadcasting Advisory Board, which has not had a quorum since President Donald Trump removed six of its members in January.</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=\"June 25\" name=\"June 25\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"uwxu3\">June 25, 2025 | Kari Lake urges Congress to eliminate Voice of America, gut oversight agency</h4><p data-block-key=\"bsdgt\">Kari Lake, senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on June 25, 2025, and urged Congress to gut Voice of America and the other federally-funded news organizations that she oversees.</p><p data-block-key=\"32g8o\">During the <a href=\"https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/hearing/spies-lies-and-mismanagement-examining-the-u-s-agency-for-global-medias-downfall/\">hearing</a>, which was titled “Spies, Lies, and Mismanagement: Examining the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s Downfall,” Lake said in her opening statement that USAGM was unsalvageable, later referring to it as “a rotten piece of fish.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5l6bt\">“Within days in my role as senior adviser, it became increasingly clear that reform was nearly impossible,” Lake said. “The agency was incompetent and mismanaged and deeply corrupt, politically biased and, frankly, a serious threat to our national security.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3oclg\">Lake went on to defend proposed cuts to the agency and the global news organizations it funds, including Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Radio y Televisión Martí. She also called on members of Congress to amend the laws mandating VOA’s existence.</p><p data-block-key=\"e26rv\">“What is going out on VOA airwaves — it’s outrageous, and it has to stop,” she said, adding that much of the reporting being published by VOA and other USAGM-funded outlets is “biased” and “corrupt.”</p><p data-block-key=\"322dn\">Lake’s statements mirrored <a href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114746687764542304\">those</a> <a href=\"https://taps.pressfreedomtracker.us/post/c61b2e99f685/\">made</a> <a href=\"https://taps.pressfreedomtracker.us/post/58c3a55600e1/\">by</a> President Donald Trump since at least 2023. In a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-administration-allies-move-to-punish-outlets-during-first-weeks-in-office/#March%2014-2\">late-night executive order</a> on March 14, 2025, Trump eliminated all USAGM functions not required by law. The following day, the White House posted a news release that railed against “the Voice of Radical America” and the director of VOA confirmed that nearly the entire staff of the news organization had been suspended.</p><p data-block-key=\"4uduq\">A federal judge <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/voice-of-america-trump-a1ed0ad37917055a1565da5325bd4fd8\">ordered</a> the administration to halt efforts to fire or furlough employees at the news agency at the end of March, and another judge <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/us/politics/judge-trump-voice-of-america.html\">reversed</a> VOA’s closure April 22, calling it “arbitrary and capricious.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3m0g0\">Lake <a href=\"https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2025/04/25/kari-lakes-agency-appeals-voa-restart-ruling/83257698007/\">appealed</a> the ruling two days later, blocking operations at the outlet from restarting and, days before the June Congressional hearing, <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/us/politics/voice-america-layoffs.html\">issued hundreds of termination notices</a> to VOA and USAGM staff.</p><p data-block-key=\"6pf2e\">The layoffs were rescinded June 27 after errors were discovered that could have derailed efforts to dismantle the organization, <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/27/us/politics/trump-voa-layoffs-errors.html\">according to The New York Times</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"cocac\">No news has been published on <a href=\"https://www.voanews.com/\">VOA’s website</a> since March.</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": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"lf2ic\">Kari Lake, senior adviser for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on Feb. 21, 2025.</p>",
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{
"title": "Illinois community journalist says fee for library meeting space is retaliatory",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/illinois-community-journalist-says-fee-for-library-meeting-space-is-retaliatory/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-12T20:27:43.743088Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-12T20:27:43.743088Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-12T20:18:54.796114Z",
"date": "2025-07-22",
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"city": "Elmwood Park",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6sv5g\">In a move a community news editor called retaliation for his reporting, journalist Kevin Gosztola was notified on July 22, 2025, that he must now pay for previously free community meeting space at a public library in Elmwood Park, Illinois.</p><p data-block-key=\"9r9co\">Gosztola runs the <a href=\"https://www.elmwoodparkadvocate.org/\">Elmwood Park Advocate</a>, a Substack newsletter that covers local news in the Chicago suburb. (Full disclosure: Gosztola has also previously worked as a contractor for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project.)</p><p data-block-key=\"fcu7i\">In June and July, Gosztola hosted meetings with community members at the Elmwood Park Public Library to discuss local issues, he told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"4idbl\">When he first reserved the room to host the meeting, he said he filled out a form that asked him to check whether his organization was a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Gosztola described the Advocate as a nonprofit, but conceded it is not officially registered as such, and so he checked “no” on the form.</p><p data-block-key=\"29p03\">For the first two meetings, Gosztola said he was not asked to pay a fee to reserve the library rooms to host his meetings.</p><p data-block-key=\"8evcr\">But when Gosztola tried to reserve the same room for an August meeting, he said the library director, Michael Consiglio, notified him via email July 22 that he would need to pay $100.</p><p data-block-key=\"5g1ju\">“I would like to inform you that I am waiving any previous charges that may have been incurred during past reservations but were not invoiced. This gesture is being extended as a courtesy,” Consiglio said in the email, which was reviewed by the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"atk42\">Gosztola said he believes the change is in retaliation for the newsletter’s perceived alignment with local opposition political candidates and the mistaken belief that it will focus on electing them in the future.</p><p data-block-key=\"clpu5\">“They’re infringing upon my access to the meeting room as a journalist, which I’ve been using to further my newsgathering activities,” Gosztola told the Tracker. “They think that this newsletter is some kind of a threat to them politically, that it will be used to help furnish and support opposition candidates when elections come around in the town.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8lnka\">Consiglio disputed Gosztola’s characterization. “I want to state unequivocally that these claims are entirely unfounded and without merit,” he wrote the Tracker. “The decision to enforce the policy had nothing to do with the content of Mr. Gosztola’s reporting or his political views. It was prompted solely by community concerns and my duty to apply Library policies fairly and without exception.”</p><p data-block-key=\"oj5b\">Gosztola said he met on July 28 with Consiglio, who told him that a group of people, including library board President Chris Pesko, had pressured Consiglio to begin charging Gosztola for using the room. Pesko did not reply to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"2h7u6\">Consiglio acknowledged to the Tracker that “several concerned residents” contacted him in mid-July, questioning why Gosztola and the Advocate were allowed to use the library’s meeting space without paying a fee.</p><p data-block-key=\"uief\">“After reviewing the Library’s publicly posted Meeting Room Policy, I concluded that the standard fee must be applied consistently to all individuals and organizations that do not meet the definition of a community-based nonprofit,” Consiglio said.</p><p data-block-key=\"93mgi\">Gosztola was asked to pay the fee, Consiglio said, because the Advocate is not a recognized nonprofit.</p><p data-block-key=\"c9qgn\">The library policy, last updated in 2024, <a href=\"https://elmwoodparklibrary.org/sitemedia/documents/about-eppl/library-policies/operating/EPPL_Meeting_Room_Policy_2024.pdf\">says</a> that while Elmwood Park government agencies and nonprofit community groups do not have to pay to reserve rooms, “for-profit organizations” must pay $100 per hour to use the space.</p><p data-block-key=\"dqatf\">Gosztola said that although the Advocate is not an officially registered nonprofit, it also isn’t accurate to call it a for-profit organization. The newsletter is free to subscribers, he said, and it has received less than $100 in donations. “I don’t make a lot as a journalist,” he added.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"sr8jt\">The Elmwood Park Advocate, a Substack newsletter for the Chicago suburb of Elmwood Park, Illinois, was notified on July 22, 2025, that it will be charged for use of the local library’s meeting space, a move it believes is retaliatory.</p>",
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{
"title": "WSJ reporter pulled from press pool in retaliation for Epstein article",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/wsj-reporter-pulled-from-press-pool-in-retaliation-for-epstein-article/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-23T15:48:54.623220Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-23T15:48:54.623220Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-23T15:30:53.528801Z",
"date": "2025-07-21",
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"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i1434\">The Wall Street Journal was removed from the White House press pool on July 21, 2025, in retaliation for the paper’s exclusive reporting on a letter allegedly written in 2003 by President Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein, a disgraced financier charged with sex trafficking of minors.</p><p data-block-key=\"8ssnp\">A July 17 Journal <a href=\"https://www.wsj.com/politics/trump-jeffrey-epstein-birthday-letter-we-have-certain-things-in-common-f918d796?mod=hp_lead_pos7\">article</a> described entries in a leatherbound book compiled for Epstein’s 50th birthday in 2003, including a letter allegedly from Trump that was typed within the drawn outline of a woman and included the sign-off, “may every day be another wonderful secret.” No copy of the letter was included in the article.</p><p data-block-key=\"fptlm\">Trump immediately took to his social platform, Truth Social, to <a href=\"https://taps.pressfreedomtracker.us/post/e47d09a0c23b/\">refute</a> the reporting and condemn the newspaper and the editor behind the article. On July 18, the president followed through on threats to <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/media-in-the-courthouse/#July-18-2025-WSJ\">sue the Journal</a> and News Corp — the paper’s parent company — as well as its founder Rupert Murdoch and its CEO Robert Thomson.</p><p data-block-key=\"d34i8\">A spokesperson for the paper’s publisher, Dow Jones, <a href=\"https://www.wsj.com/business/media/trump-sues-wall-street-journal-publisher-dow-jones-over-jeffrey-epstein-article-0257afee\">told the Journal</a>, “We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2aju6\">The Wall Street Journal’s White House correspondent, Tarini Parti, was then booted from the press pool for Trump’s planned trip to Scotland from July 25-29. Politico <a href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/21/journal-removed-white-house-pool-epstein-00465548?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR5jfP1b7JBtBEvtH0zaLtR0UiZRzdtR3VySq3zh-lj6QTGGKKtgqrumM4n1yA_aem_jXROFLRL1lzfwtwGlhXZ4w\">reported</a> that Parti was set to serve as the print pooler for the final two days of the trip and was removed even though she was not an author on the Epstein article.</p><p data-block-key=\"efnjr\">The White House had previously <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-wrests-control-of-presidential-press-pool-from-correspondents/\">wrested control</a> of the presidential press pool from the White House Correspondents’ Association in February, breaking with more than a century of practice.</p><p data-block-key=\"9tvfn\">In a statement to Politico, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that no news outlets are guaranteed special access to the president in his private workspaces.</p><p data-block-key=\"9cu7c\">“Due to the Wall Street Journal’s fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the thirteen outlets on board,” Leavitt said. “Every news organization in the entire world wishes to cover President Trump, and the White House has taken significant steps to include as many voices as possible.”</p><p data-block-key=\"eriih\">A White House spokesperson declined to comment to Politico concerning whether the Journal would be barred from further press pools as well.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ro1q\">Dow Jones declined to comment when reached by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Parti did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"au28p\">The WHCA criticized the move in a statement, saying it is a clear attempt to punish a news outlet for coverage it doesn’t like.</p><p data-block-key=\"25rlj\">“Government retaliation against news outlets based on the content of their reporting should concern all who value free speech and an independent media,” wrote Weijia Jiang, CBS News correspondent and the association’s president. “We strongly urge the White House to restore the Wall Street Journal to its previous position in the pool and aboard Air Force One for the President’s upcoming trip to Scotland.”</p><p data-block-key=\"45d5j\">Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project, also condemned the decision. “It’s highly disturbing that a U.S. president has so little respect for the First Amendment that he’s willing to punish news outlets that don’t toe the line,” Seth Stern, FPF’s advocacy director, said.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"djcwu\">White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks with reporters at the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 21, 2025. She announced that day that The Wall Street Journal had been pulled from the press pool for the president’s trip to Scotland.</p>",
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{
"title": "Celebrity commentator subpoenaed by Blake Lively for communications",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/celebrity-commentator-subpoenaed-by-blake-lively-for-communications/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-08T15:25:44.799231Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-09-18T15:51:12.073953Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-09-18T15:51:11.969034Z",
"date": "2025-07-19",
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"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"irb89\">Commentator and gossip columnist Perez Hilton was subpoenaed on July 19, 2025, in a federal district court in New York, New York, by actor Blake Lively for communications with actor Justin Baldoni and his production company.</p><p data-block-key=\"bevb1\">In December 2024, Lively <a href=\"https://lawandcrime.com/analysis/off-screen-legal-drama-continues-for-it-ends-with-us-stars-despite-judge-dismissing-justin-baldonis-case-against-blake-lively/\">sued</a> Baldoni, his company Wayfarer Studios and various associates for sexual harassment, retaliation and breach of contract. She alleges that the defendants launched a retaliatory publicity campaign during the release of the movie “It Ends With Us,” in which the two actors costarred and which Baldoni directed.</p><p data-block-key=\"h96d\">The campaign’s goal, according to the <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/1/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">complaint</a>, was to prevent Lively from speaking out about harassment and other misconduct by Baldoni and the CEO of Wayfarer on the set of the film.</p><p data-block-key=\"8mkfg\">In January, Baldoni filed his own claims against Lively, <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69550325/1/wayfarer-studios-llc-v-lively/\">accusing her</a> of extortion and defamation. Those claims were <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/296/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">dismissed</a> in June.</p><p data-block-key=\"d16i1\">Hilton has posted extensive coverage, on both his site PerezHilton.com and <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@PerezHilton\">on YouTube</a>, about the legal fight between Lively and Baldoni.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ta1q\">On July 19, Lively <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/565/1/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">subpoenaed</a> Hilton under his legal name Mario Lavandeira, demanding any communications with Baldoni and his associates about Lively and the film and any evidence of an agreement with the defendants about related coverage on his social media channels.</p><p data-block-key=\"flp4g\">Lively <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/521/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">argues</a> that the defendants coordinated with content creators to distribute “negative and derogatory content about Ms. Lively and her family.”</p><p data-block-key=\"af06\">Hilton filed a <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70982970/1/in-re-mario-lavandeira-jr/\">motion to quash</a> the subpoena on July 28, arguing that he is protected by both the First Amendment and, as a Nevada resident, the state’s reporter’s shield law.</p><p data-block-key=\"1u5rc\">In his filing, Hilton called the subpoena “a fishing expedition that chills journalistic freedom.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dsgpl\">“I anticipate that the subpoenaing party may attempt to characterize me as merely a ‘content creator’ or social media personality,” Hilton wrote. “That framing is inaccurate and misleading. I am a journalist — a globally recognized one — with a decades-long track record of reporting on matters of public interest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"c7ecl\">“For the record, I have not been paid by Justin Baldoni. I have not been paid by any of the Wayfarer defendants. I have not been paid by anyone to cover this litigation,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"ch9jd\">Hilton also <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/510/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">requested</a> that the court enter a protective order requiring Lively to request permission before issuing any more subpoenas to third parties. Lively has also subpoenaed at least one other <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/youtuber-subpoenaed-by-blake-lively-for-communications-with-justin-baldoni/\">online commentator</a> directly, and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/blake-lively-subpoenas-google-for-journalists-account-information\">subpoenaed Google</a> for 16 content creators’ account information.</p><p data-block-key=\"8rh9l\">“I will not be deterred from doing my job by her harassment,” Hilton told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker via email.</p><p data-block-key=\"ekasb\">Lively’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment from the Tracker.</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"amg30\">A portion of a July 19, 2025, subpoena to commentator Perez Hilton under his legal name, Mario Lavandeira, from actor Blake Lively for communications with actor Justin Baldoni and his production company.</p>",
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"(2025-09-12 16:01:00+00:00) Blake Lively drops subpoena of celebrity commentator"
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{
"title": "Cincinnati photojournalist arrested as protest spills across bridge to Kentucky",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cincinnati-photojournalist-arrested-as-protest-spills-across-bridge-to-kentucky/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-25T14:24:36.477289Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-10-07T16:18:12.697730Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-10-07T16:18:12.519502Z",
"date": "2025-07-17",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Covington",
"longitude": -84.50855,
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"x51dd\">Two journalists for the Cincinnati alternative newsweekly CityBeat were arrested while documenting a protest across the bridge connecting the Ohio city with Covington, Kentucky, on July 17, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"db2vr\">Demonstrators had gathered at a vigil in Cincinnati in support of <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/egyptian-former-journalist-jailed-in-ohio-after-us-revokes-asylum/\">Ayman Soliman</a>, an Egyptian immigrant and imam who was detained by immigration authorities July 9, <a href=\"https://www.wvxu.org/local-news/2025-07-18/covington-police-arrest-at-anti-ice-march-across-roebling-bridge\">according to local NPR affiliate WVXU</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"b9eq\">After the rally, dozens of protesters marched to the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge, crossing from Ohio to Kentucky. Within minutes, they were confronted by Covington police officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"4iumc\">CityBeat photo intern Lucas Griffith and investigative reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cincinnati-reporter-arrested-as-protest-spills-across-bridge-to-kentucky\">Madeline Fening</a> were documenting the protest and were among the first individuals detained.</p><p data-block-key=\"5is84\">In <a href=\"https://x.com/nswartsell/status/1945998758619058303\">footage</a> captured by WVXU reporter Nick Swartsell, multiple Covington Police Department vehicles can be seen driving toward the advancing line of protesters. In <a href=\"https://youtu.be/bmLyJOvYNBQ?t=958\">body-camera footage</a> released by the department, officers are heard ordering protesters to move off the roadway and onto the sidewalk multiple times over approximately 90 seconds.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://t.co/3kQfsAt8Jx\">https://t.co/3kQfsAt8Jx</a></p>— Nick Swartsell (@nswartsell) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/nswartsell/status/1945998758619058303?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 18, 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=\"x51dd\">In Swartsell’s footage, protesters are seen beginning to comply while officers advance toward the crowd. After one individual is seen being led away in handcuffs, an officer moves toward a woman in a white shirt who is filming on her cellphone, confirmed to be Fening. As an officer pulls her hands behind her back, she can be heard identifying herself as a reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"efu2r\">“Hey! She’s press! She’s press! She’s a reporter!” Swartsell calls out to the officer as he moves toward them. A second officer tells him to get back while Fening is seen being pulled backward toward the police vehicles with her arms behind her back.</p><p data-block-key=\"eg8nk\">Moments later, a man carrying multiple professional cameras — believed to be Griffith — is seen being led down the bridge with his arms held behind his back by a third officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"40dkn\">Fening and Griffith were each charged with misdemeanor failure to disperse, obstructing a highway, obstructing emergency responders, disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly, as well as rioting, a felony. Griffith was additionally charged with resisting arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"b1ep9\">Both journalists were arraigned July 18 and released on a $2,500 bond, the Cincinnati Enquirer <a href=\"https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2025/07/18/reporters-at-roebling-bridge-protest-should-get-no-charges-experts-say/85279815007/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"a1ka5\">NBC television affiliate WLWT <a href=\"https://www.wlwt.com/article/journalists-facing-charges-after-covering-roebling-protests/65454195\">reported</a> that, when pressed by the station, Kenton County prosecutor Rob Sanders said he views Fening and Griffith’s role as journalists as irrelevant to the charges against them.</p><p data-block-key=\"2i6vu\">“We’ll be evaluating it like we would any other civilian, no matter what their line of work, or what profession they are engaged in, it doesn’t matter to us when we evaluate the evidence,” Sanders said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4o28s\">During a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=bmLyJOvYNBQ\">news conference</a> about the Covington Police Department’s response to the protest, Mayor Ron Washington described it as a “high-tension and chaotic environment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"37ull\">“We fully support the right to peacefully assemble. At the same time, we support our police officers who are often placed in incredible, difficult, fast-moving situations,” Washington said. “But any use of force must be lawful and measured.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bu2n\">When asked during the conference about the arrests of the CityBeat journalists, Police Chief Brian Valenti alleged that Fening did not have press credentials or an ID on her when she was taken into custody. He added that he didn’t have any additional information on Griffith’s arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"f8f4u\">CityBeat defended its journalists in a <a href=\"https://x.com/CityBeatCincy/status/1946328445954265330\">statement</a> posted to the social platform X on July 18.</p><p data-block-key=\"7d8aa\">“CityBeat is fully supportive of its two staff members who were arrested in the course of their reporting on the Roebling Bridge protest,” the statement read. “Their commitment to journalistic integrity and professionalism is emblematic of the press freedoms the First Amendment is designed to protect, and we fully anticipate a complete vindication of their rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4vu90\">Editor-in-chief Ashley Moor declined to comment when reached by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, stating that she — along with Fening and Griffith — was advised not to speak further about the incident while the charges against them are pending.</p><p data-block-key=\"bjjl4\">During a July 23 hearing, the Enquirer <a href=\"https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2025/07/23/prosecutors-drop-felonies-against-journalists-arrested-at-ice-protest/85337197007/\">reported</a>, prosecutors withdrew the felony rioting charges against Fening and Griffith. The journalists, who <a href=\"https://x.com/madeline_fening/status/1947772894517264650/photo/1\">are being represented</a> by attorneys with the ACLU of Kentucky, are next due in court Aug. 14.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ir59j\">Anti-deportation protesters marched across the Roebling Suspension Bridge connecting Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, on July 17, 2025. Two CityBeat journalists were arrested by Covington police while covering the demonstration.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Covington Police Department",
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"(2025-10-02 20:34:00+00:00) Cincinnati photojournalist convicted of misdemeanor after arrest at protest"
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],
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},
{
"title": "Cincinnati reporter arrested as protest spills across bridge to Kentucky",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cincinnati-reporter-arrested-as-protest-spills-across-bridge-to-kentucky/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-25T14:19:28.537209Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-10-07T21:24:36.521034Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-10-07T21:24:36.387123Z",
"date": "2025-07-17",
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"city": "Covington",
"longitude": -84.50855,
"latitude": 39.08367,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0uzww\">Two journalists for the Cincinnati alternative newsweekly CityBeat were arrested while documenting a protest across the bridge connecting the Ohio city with Covington, Kentucky, on July 17, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"g57b\">Demonstrators had gathered at a vigil in Cincinnati in support of <a href=\"/all-incidents/egyptian-former-journalist-jailed-in-ohio-after-us-revokes-asylum/\">Ayman Soliman</a>, an Egyptian immigrant and imam who was detained by immigration authorities July 9, <a href=\"https://www.wvxu.org/local-news/2025-07-18/covington-police-arrest-at-anti-ice-march-across-roebling-bridge\">according to local NPR affiliate WVXU</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"3vlkb\">After the rally, dozens of protesters marched to the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge, crossing from Ohio to Kentucky. Within minutes, they were confronted by Covington police officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"cpgsr\">CityBeat investigative reporter Madeline Fening and photo intern <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cincinnati-photojournalist-arrested-as-protest-spills-across-bridge-to-kentucky\">Lucas Griffith</a> were documenting the protest and were among the first individuals detained.</p><p data-block-key=\"tnq5\">In <a href=\"https://x.com/nswartsell/status/1945998758619058303\">footage</a> captured by WVXU reporter Nick Swartsell, multiple Covington Police Department vehicles can be seen driving toward the advancing line of protesters. In <a href=\"https://youtu.be/bmLyJOvYNBQ?t=958\">body-camera footage</a> released by the department, officers are heard ordering protesters to move off the roadway and onto the sidewalk multiple times over approximately 90 seconds.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"zxx\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://t.co/3kQfsAt8Jx\">https://t.co/3kQfsAt8Jx</a></p>— Nick Swartsell (@nswartsell) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/nswartsell/status/1945998758619058303?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 18, 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=\"0uzww\">In Swartsell’s footage, protesters are seen beginning to comply while officers advance toward the crowd. After one individual is seen being led away in handcuffs, an officer moves toward a woman in a white shirt who is filming on her cellphone, confirmed to be Fening. As an officer pulls her hands behind her back, she can be heard identifying herself as a reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"p16v\">“Hey! She’s press! She’s press! She’s a reporter!” Swartsell calls out to the officer as he moves toward them. A second officer tells him to get back while Fening is seen being pulled backward toward the police vehicles with her arms behind her back.</p><p data-block-key=\"9tlfn\">Moments later, a man carrying multiple professional cameras — believed to be Griffith — is seen being led down the bridge with his arms held behind his back by a third officer.</p><p data-block-key=\"63g78\">Fening and Griffith were each charged with misdemeanor failure to disperse, obstructing a highway, obstructing emergency responders, disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly, as well as rioting, a felony. Griffith was additionally charged with resisting arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"34kmc\">Both journalists were arraigned July 18 and released on a $2,500 bond, the Cincinnati Enquirer <a href=\"https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2025/07/18/reporters-at-roebling-bridge-protest-should-get-no-charges-experts-say/85279815007/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fj89q\">NBC television affiliate WLWT <a href=\"https://www.wlwt.com/article/journalists-facing-charges-after-covering-roebling-protests/65454195\">reported</a> that, when pressed by the station, Kenton County prosecutor Rob Sanders said he views Fening and Griffith’s role as journalists as irrelevant to the charges against them.</p><p data-block-key=\"79df3\">“We’ll be evaluating it like we would any other civilian, no matter what their line of work, or what profession they are engaged in, it doesn’t matter to us when we evaluate the evidence,” Sanders said.</p><p data-block-key=\"80cpc\">During a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=bmLyJOvYNBQ\">news conference</a> about the Covington Police Department’s response to the protest, Mayor Ron Washington described it as a “high-tension and chaotic environment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2nsos\">“We fully support the right to peacefully assemble. At the same time, we support our police officers who are often placed in incredible, difficult, fast-moving situations,” Washington said. “But any use of force must be lawful and measured.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bv8hu\">When asked during the conference about the arrests of the CityBeat journalists, Police Chief Brian Valenti alleged that Fening did not have press credentials or an ID on her when she was taken into custody. He added that he didn’t have any additional information on Griffith’s arrest.</p><p data-block-key=\"1rc1c\">CityBeat defended its journalists in a <a href=\"https://x.com/CityBeatCincy/status/1946328445954265330\">statement</a> posted to the social platform X on July 18.</p><p data-block-key=\"beun0\">“CityBeat is fully supportive of its two staff members who were arrested in the course of their reporting on the Roebling Bridge protest,” the statement read. “Their commitment to journalistic integrity and professionalism is emblematic of the press freedoms the First Amendment is designed to protect, and we fully anticipate a complete vindication of their rights.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3gqlo\">Editor-in-chief Ashley Moor declined to comment when reached by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, stating that she — along with Fening and Griffith — was advised not to speak further about the incident while the charges against them are pending.</p><p data-block-key=\"1q61l\">During a July 23 hearing, the Enquirer <a href=\"https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2025/07/23/prosecutors-drop-felonies-against-journalists-arrested-at-ice-protest/85337197007/\">reported</a>, prosecutors withdrew the felony rioting charges against Fening and Griffith. The journalists, who <a href=\"https://x.com/madeline_fening/status/1947772894517264650/photo/1\">are being represented</a> by attorneys with the ACLU of Kentucky, are next due in court Aug. 14.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"feh01\">Anti-deportation protesters marched across the Roebling Suspension Bridge connecting Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, on July 17, 2025. Two CityBeat journalists were arrested by Covington police while covering the demonstration.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Covington Police Department",
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"(2025-09-24 21:22:00+00:00) Charge dropped against Cincinnati journalist, but four remain from protest arrest"
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{
"title": "Reporter attacked, microphone damaged by restaurant employee",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-attacked-microphone-damaged-by-restaurant-employee/",
"first_published_at": "2025-10-22T20:47:32.177415Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-10-22T20:47:32.177415Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"dih4t\">A news crew with television station WPLG was confronted by an employee at a restaurant in Hialeah, Florida, on July 17, 2025, while attempting to ask questions about its latest shutdown by state health inspectors.</p><p data-block-key=\"duoml\">Jeff Weinsier — WPLG investigative reporter behind the segment “Dirty Dining” — recounted in an <a href=\"https://www.local10.com/news/local/2025/07/17/restaurant-employee-attacks-local-10s-jeff-weinsier-photographer-amid-inspection-questions/\">article</a> for the station that he and photojournalist Frank Debesa went to the South Florida restaurant China Buffet after it was shut down by inspectors for the seventh time since 2014.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0e8t\">In footage captured by Debesa, Weinsier is heard asking through an open door to the kitchen whether someone would be able to speak with them about the inspection. Seconds later, a man storms out, first <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/florida-broadcast-photographer-attacked-by-restaurant-employee\">shoving Debesa’s camera</a> and then grabbing at Weinsier’s microphone.</p><p data-block-key=\"31a2d\">After a brief scuffle in which Weinsier defends himself, the man darts back into the restaurant, grabs a metal tray and starts to go back outside, but another individual appears to pull him back inside.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ol2h\">Weinsier is then seen retrieving the microphone and its sponge cover, which was ripped off.</p><p data-block-key=\"b80aj\">The same man also aggressively approached Weinsier during an investigation at the same restaurant in 2017, he reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"frlqt\">Weinsier, who did not respond to a request for comment, wrote that neither he nor Debesa filed charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"b4j31\">“We were attacked for simply trying to hold them accountable,” he said. “Instead of answers, we were met with aggression from a restaurant that should be answering to the public.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"lt2zl\">WPLG investigative reporter Jeff Weinsier retrieves parts of the microphone ripped from his hands by a restaurant employee in Hialeah, Florida, while reporting on health violations there on July 17, 2025.</p>",
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{
"title": "Congressman accuses Fox of deceptively editing Trump’s Epstein remarks",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/congressman-accuses-fox-of-deceptively-editing-trumps-epstein-remarks/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-12T16:56:42.764611Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-12T16:56:42.764611Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"eiuav\">The leading Democrat on the House Oversight Committee accused Fox News on July 17, 2025, of deceptively editing a June 2024 interview with then-presidential candidate Donald Trump to make him appear more supportive of releasing Jeffrey Epstein-related documents than he actually was, according to CNN.</p><p data-block-key=\"3vnq9\">In <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/17/media/trump-epstein-fox-news-edits-house-democrats-oversight\">a letter</a> obtained by CNN, Rep. Robert Garcia accused Fox News of omitting key qualifiers in Trump’s response about releasing Epstein-related records and demanded answers from Fox Corp. Chairman Lachlan Murdoch and Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott about the <a href=\"https://archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20240602_130000_FOX_and_Friends_Sunday/start/409/end/469?q=epstein+files+declassify\">edited version</a> aired on “Fox & Friends Weekend.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2r6v3\">The interview has attracted more attention recently as the Trump administration faces pressure to release more information related to the investigation into the politically connected financier and convicted sex offender, who was accused before his death of trafficking underage girls.</p><p data-block-key=\"74dk\">“Considering President Trump’s well-documented past social ties with Jeffrey Epstein, Fox News’s selective omission raises serious concerns that the network may have deliberately sought to shield then-candidate Trump from any further association with Epstein,” Garcia wrote in the letter.</p><p data-block-key=\"581c6\">The version of the interview that first aired showed Trump, when asked if he’d declassify Epstein files, answering “Yeah, yeah, I would.” In the full, <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/17/media/trump-epstein-fox-news-edits-house-democrats-oversight\">unedited version</a> that aired later, Trump followed with concerns about “phony stuff” and the risk of harming lives and reputations.</p><p data-block-key=\"6s1nq\">Garcia’s letter, which questioned whether political motives influenced the network to present Trump’s stance in a more definitive light, requested internal records and communications with the Trump campaign.</p><p data-block-key=\"77hrs\">In a statement to CNN, Fox News rejected the allegation. “There was no selective or deceptive editing whatsoever,” a spokesperson said, adding that the aired TV segment “had standard editorial cuts for time and the full answer to the question aired on the following day’s show.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"2yvpg\">A screenshot from a Fox & Friends Weekend interview with Donald Trump in 2024. A top Democrat in the House Oversight Committee accused the network in July 2025 of deceptively editing the interview.</p>",
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"Fox News"
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{
"title": "Florida broadcast photographer attacked by restaurant employee",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/florida-broadcast-photographer-attacked-by-restaurant-employee/",
"first_published_at": "2025-10-22T20:48:46.841595Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-10-22T20:48:46.841595Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"gznny\">A news crew with television station WPLG was confronted by an employee at a restaurant in Hialeah, Florida, on July 17, 2025, while attempting to ask questions about its latest shutdown by state health inspectors.</p><p data-block-key=\"ekr44\">Photojournalist Frank Debesa and investigative reporter Jeff Weinsier were reporting a “Dirty Dining” segment at the South Florida restaurant China Buffet after it was shut down by inspectors for the seventh time since 2014, Weinsier recounted in an <a href=\"https://www.local10.com/news/local/2025/07/17/restaurant-employee-attacks-local-10s-jeff-weinsier-photographer-amid-inspection-questions/\">article</a> for the station.</p><p data-block-key=\"d09bf\">In footage captured by Debesa, Weinsier is heard asking through an open door to the kitchen whether someone would be able to speak with them about the inspection. Seconds later, a man storms out.</p><p data-block-key=\"b3dfc\">The restaurant employee repeatedly shoves Debesa’s camera as the photojournalist says, “You can’t touch the camera. That’s assault. That’s assault!”</p><p data-block-key=\"838n1\">The man then <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-attacked-microphone-damaged-by-restaurant-employee\">grabs at Weinsier’s microphone</a>, resulting in a brief scuffle in which Weinsier defends himself. The man darts back into the restaurant, grabs a metal tray and starts to go back outside, but another individual appears to pull him back inside.</p><p data-block-key=\"em10l\">Weinsier is then seen retrieving the microphone and its sponge cover, which was ripped off.</p><p data-block-key=\"b5q19\">The same man also aggressively approached Weinsier during an investigation at the same restaurant in 2017, he reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"5pvis\">Neither Debesa nor Weinsier responded to requests for comment. Weinsier reported that neither filed charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"stgd\">“We were attacked for simply trying to hold them accountable,” he said. “Instead of answers, we were met with aggression from a restaurant that should be answering to the public.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ljend\">A restaurant employee in Hialeah, Florida, repeatedly grabbed and pushed WPLG photographer Frank Debesa on July 17, 2025, while he and reporter Jeff Weinsier reported on health violations there.</p>",
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{
"title": "Boston Globe reporter threatened while covering public drug use in Boston",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/boston-globe-reporter-threatened-while-covering-public-drug-use-in-boston/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-05T19:27:48.164245Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-05T19:27:48.164245Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-05T19:27:48.083219Z",
"date": "2025-07-16",
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"city": "Boston",
"longitude": -71.05977,
"latitude": 42.35843,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9og72\">Boston Globe reporter Niki Griswold was confronted by at least three men on July 16, 2025, while reporting on public drug use in the South End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, according to local media <a href=\"https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/07/27/pols-politics-2-boston-globe-reporters-attacked-in-mass-and-cass-spillover-hot-spot/\">reports</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"1cdjl\">Griswold was reporting near Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard — an area known as Mass. and Cass where drug use is common — alongside her colleague, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-threatened-while-covering-public-drug-use-in-boston\">photojournalist Barry Chin</a>. The journalists were also accompanied by two South End residents.</p><p data-block-key=\"3cen2\">In an <a href=\"https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/29/metro/mass-and-cass-south-end-resident-frustration-drug-use/\">article for the Globe</a>, Griswold reported that at least three men approached and began threatening the group after seeing Chin take pictures of the area. Two of the men were holding hammer-like tools and pursued the journalists and residents until they were able to find shelter in a nearby building, Griswold wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"1b8k4\">The Boston Guardian, citing the two residents who were accompanying the journalists, also <a href=\"https://read.thebostonguardian.com/the-boston-guardian/2025/07/25/#?article=4326802\">reported</a> that the situation had escalated when Chin began to take photos. One man approached the group while swinging a metal rod with nails sticking out of it.</p><p data-block-key=\"ecv7j\">While they were able to deter the first man, the group was then approached by two others who demanded that the photojournalist delete the photos and turn over the camera, according to the Guardian.</p><p data-block-key=\"ft4bm\">In an effort to protect Chin, one of the residents tried to direct the group out of the area, drawing the attention of one of the men.</p><p data-block-key=\"3lcs9\">“He starts going toe-to-toe with me, saying, ‘I’m going to ruin your life,’” the resident told the Guardian. “Then he reaches for his pocket, and I think he’s going for a knife or a gun or something, and I’ve got one second here.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4qe6b\">The resident managed to flip the assailant to the ground, stunning him, and the group was able to run to safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"7fahm\">Griswold and a Globe spokesperson declined to comment on the incident. But Globe editor Nancy Barnes addressed the incident in an internal memo, which Northeastern Professor Dan Kennedy <a href=\"https://dankennedy.net/2025/07/24/globe-editor-nancy-barnes-addresses-security-following-an-assault-on-two-of-her-journalists/\">republished</a> in his Media Nation newsletter.</p><p data-block-key=\"4dkgk\">“The incident at Mass. and Cass involving our journalists, Niki Griswold and Barry Chin, is understandably concerning to everyone who goes out on assignment in places that might be dangerous,” Barnes said in the letter. Barnes added that going forward the Globe would require anyone reporting from Mass. and Cass to have security.</p><p data-block-key=\"9dus2\">“The work of a journalist, serving as a witness, is a challenging job on many days. We never want our journalists to put themselves in danger, or to lack the security and training they need to stay safe,” Barnes wrote.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"4piy7\">News outlets in Boston, Massachusetts — including WBTS-CD — reported in July 2025 about a rise in safety concerns over drug use in the neighborhood of South End. Two Boston Globe journalists were confronted and chased while reporting in the area.</p>",
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{
"title": "Photojournalist threatened while covering public drug use in Boston",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-threatened-while-covering-public-drug-use-in-boston/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-05T19:27:44.220619Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-05T19:27:44.220619Z",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9wle4\">Boston Globe photojournalist Barry Chin was confronted by at least three men on July 16, 2025, while reporting on public drug use in the South End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, according to local media <a href=\"https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/07/27/pols-politics-2-boston-globe-reporters-attacked-in-mass-and-cass-spillover-hot-spot/\">reports</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"gpjs\">Chin was reporting near Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard — an area known as Mass. and Cass where drug use is common — alongside his colleague, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/boston-globe-reporter-threatened-while-covering-public-drug-use-in-boston\">reporter Niki Griswold</a>. The journalists were also accompanied by two South End residents.</p><p data-block-key=\"bhhpr\">In an <a href=\"https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/29/metro/mass-and-cass-south-end-resident-frustration-drug-use/\">article for the Globe</a>, Griswold reported that at least three men approached and began threatening the group after seeing Chin take pictures of the area. Two of the men were holding hammer-like tools and pursued the journalists and residents until they were able to find shelter in a nearby building, Griswold wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"mk7p\">The Boston Guardian, citing the two residents who were accompanying the journalists, also <a href=\"https://read.thebostonguardian.com/the-boston-guardian/2025/07/25/#?article=4326802\">reported</a> that the situation had escalated when Chin began to take photos. One man approached the group while swinging a metal rod with nails sticking out of it.</p><p data-block-key=\"3vt22\">While they were able to deter the first man, the group was then approached by two others who demanded that the photojournalist delete the photos and turn over the camera, according to the Guardian.</p><p data-block-key=\"o0v0\">In an effort to protect Chin, one of the residents tried to direct the group out of the area, drawing the attention of one of the men.</p><p data-block-key=\"43j09\">“He starts going toe-to-toe with me, saying, ‘I’m going to ruin your life,’” the resident told the Guardian. “Then he reaches for his pocket, and I think he’s going for a knife or a gun or something, and I’ve got one second here.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3h81m\">The resident managed to flip the assailant to the ground, stunning him, and the group was able to run to safety.</p><p data-block-key=\"bni96\">“I am well and grateful that no one was injured in the incident,” Chin said in an email to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. He declined to comment further. A Globe spokesperson also declined to comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ocvf\">But Globe editor Nancy Barnes addressed the incident in an internal memo, which Northeastern Professor Dan Kennedy <a href=\"https://dankennedy.net/2025/07/24/globe-editor-nancy-barnes-addresses-security-following-an-assault-on-two-of-her-journalists/\">republished</a> in his Media Nation newsletter.</p><p data-block-key=\"a4dp0\">“The incident at Mass. and Cass involving our journalists, Niki Griswold and Barry Chin, is understandably concerning to everyone who goes out on assignment in places that might be dangerous,” Barnes said in the letter. Barnes added that going forward the Globe would require anyone reporting from Mass. and Cass to have security.</p><p data-block-key=\"ccn36\">“The work of a journalist, serving as a witness, is a challenging job on many days. We never want our journalists to put themselves in danger, or to lack the security and training they need to stay safe,” Barnes wrote.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"y4ubn\">News outlets in Boston, Massachusetts — including WBTS-CD — reported in July 2025 about a rise in safety concerns over drug use in the neighborhood of South End. Two Boston Globe journalists were confronted and chased while reporting in the area.</p>",
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"assailant": "private individual",
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},
{
"title": "Photographer shot with crowd-control munitions at Southern California protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-shot-with-crowd-control-munitions-at-southern-california-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-09-02T18:42:01.101262Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-10-29T19:26:46.366290Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-10-29T19:26:46.271324Z",
"date": "2025-07-10",
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"city": "Camarillo",
"longitude": -119.0376,
"latitude": 34.21639,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"aqlcz\">A photographer with Los Angeles-based broadcaster KABC-TV was struck with multiple crowd-control munitions by federal agents while covering an anti-deportation protest near Camarillo, California, on July 10, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"85k3j\">Protests in California <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> in early June in response to federal raids in and around workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with law enforcement officers and federal agents in Los Angeles, 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=\"74l5l\">KABC-TV <a href=\"https://abc7.com/post/federal-agents-conduct-immigration-raid-camarillo-farm/17056098/\">reported</a> that federal agents conducted an immigration raid on a cannabis farm near Camarillo in Southern California, which was met with demonstrations.</p><p data-block-key=\"3muln\">The situation developed into a tense standoff between protesters, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and National Guard members. At one point, the agents threw smoke canisters and stun grenades toward the crowd and began shooting crowd-control munitions at the demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ndjl\">KABC-TV reporter Leo Stallworth <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3uQ36s9sB0\">said</a> he and his photographer were reporting on the demonstration when his photographer was hit twice by federal agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"99qf9\">“He’s got blood on one of his arms,” Stallworth said in his live report. He did not identify the photographer by name.</p><p data-block-key=\"certo\">“We just took off running with the entire crowd. It was absolutely chaotic,” Stallworth added.</p><p data-block-key=\"e6d90\">Neither Stallworth nor KABC-TV replied to requests for comment. ICE also did not respond as of press time.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/KABC_photoj_assault.f27b96e2.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6lq96\">Leo Stallworth reporting live for KABC-TV following an immigration raid in Camarillo, California, on July 10, 2025. The photojournalist with him was shot twice with crowd-control munitions amid a standoff between demonstrators and federal officers.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
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"tags": [
"Department of Homeland Security",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Unidentified photojournalist 40 (KABC-TV)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Man charged with vandalizing weather radar at Oklahoma TV station",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-charged-with-vandalizing-weather-radar-at-oklahoma-tv-station/",
"first_published_at": "2025-09-03T16:44:21.386825Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-09-03T16:44:21.386825Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-09-03T16:44:21.191888Z",
"date": "2025-07-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Oklahoma City",
"longitude": -97.51643,
"latitude": 35.46756,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yii1n\">The weather radar system at KWTV-DT in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was intentionally disabled in an act of vandalism on July 6, 2025, damaging a key piece of equipment used to track severe storms and communicate emergency alerts.</p><p data-block-key=\"64bq9\">Surveillance footage shows the suspect climbing a fence to the secured radar site, <a href=\"https://www.news9.com/story/686c1415dfc52927077f9d5c/vandal-disables-power-to-lifesaving-news-9-weather-radar?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_KWTV_-_NEWS_9&fbclid=IwY2xjawMkW5dleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETF4Q3FFcFBYYkU4aEtZYWl1AR7xB2s3n7d4KCr9VjiWzZlEwVSJTJTn1vz2LqRAXWrhqHz0yi2dLu-KtHU44g_aem_kyakziJVop1nJgCurcA92A\">the station reported.</a> Within minutes, he allegedly disabled a key power disconnect, smashed the power meter and broke into the generator’s transfer switch control panel before destroying it.</p><p data-block-key=\"9hj0a\">The suspect, Anthony Tyler Mitchell, 39, has been charged with two felonies in connection with the crime — malicious destruction of property and damage to critical infrastructure — and a misdemeanor for entering with intent to commit a felony.</p><p data-block-key=\"857m2\">In a <a href=\"https://oklahoma.gov/oag/news/newsroom/2025/july/drummond-charges-oklahoma-city-man-for-damaging-tv-stations-weather-radar.html#:~:text=In%20addition%2C%20Mitchell%20faces%20a,of%20countless%20Oklahomans%20every%20yea\">July 19 press release</a>, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced the charges and said the act “imperiled public safety.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f2ehv\">“Radar technology is vitally important and saves the lives of countless Oklahomans every year,” Drummond said.</p><p data-block-key=\"beojn\">An anti-government militia group, Veterans On Patrol, claimed responsibility for the crime in <a href=\"https://www.news9.com/story/686f05493c7e238539083cd0/anti-government-miltia-group-claims-responsibility-for-vandalism-to-news-9-radar\">an interview with the station</a>, but authorities have not confirmed any connection between Mitchell and the group. Its founder, Michael Lewis Arthur Meyer, has publicly encouraged attacks on radar systems, which he falsely claims are used by the military to control the weather.</p><p data-block-key=\"emghr\">David Payne, KWTV-DT’s chief meteorologist, said in a news broadcast that the station operates one of the most powerful live radars in Oklahoma.</p><p data-block-key=\"1pbno\">“All of the weather radars in the U.S. are built strictly to inform and warn the public and keep the public safe, and that’s exactly why we have our live radar,” Payne said.</p><p data-block-key=\"1utd7\">Mitchell is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 17.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2025-09-02_at_4.31.38P.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"tbz4q\">KWTV-DT Chief Meteorologist David Payne speaks during a news broadcast about the station’s weather radar in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The system was intentionally disabled on July 6, 2025.</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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"denial_of_entry": false,
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{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "weather radar"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "Oklahoma",
"abbreviation": "OK"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"KWTV-DT"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
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},
{
"title": "Videographer struck with projectiles by federal officers at Oregon ICE protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/videographer-struck-with-projectiles-by-federal-officers-at-oregon-ice-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-14T19:31:29.570725Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-10-29T19:27:18.551994Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-10-29T19:27:18.453507Z",
"date": "2025-07-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Portland",
"longitude": -122.67621,
"latitude": 45.52345,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"raqlr\">Independent journalist Mason Lake said federal agents targeted him with crowd-control projectiles while covering an immigration enforcement protest in Portland, Oregon, on July 4, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"7hvnf\">Lake, a Portland-based videographer and founder of independent outlet Channel Heed, was documenting a protest at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility at the time.</p><p data-block-key=\"1njpe\">In one <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iKNfFZM14w\">video</a> from the scene posted to YouTube, an officer on the roof of the facility appears to take aim at Lake, whose camera visibly jolts. Lake told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the round went right by his head.</p><p data-block-key=\"dkrm9\">Later, the federal officers aggressively advanced on the crowd, with tear gas deployed for nearly an hour in 15-to-20-minute waves, according to Lake. He described a chaotic scene where officers used tear gas and flash-bang grenades indiscriminately, the hot munition canisters starting fires.</p><p data-block-key=\"21u2f\">Close to midnight, while the gas thickened and concealed officers’ movements, Lake said he was shot twice — with one projectile hitting his camera monopod and another striking the region between his lower gut and groin, which he also captured on <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgsHnagOxv4\">video</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"c1ajo\">“They did shoot me, but thankfully I had armor on,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bs5jm\">Lake said the projectiles likely came from ICE’s special response team, based on uniform patches he captured on video. Despite the risk of injury or damage to his gear, he emphasized his commitment to preserve history by documenting these events with high-quality footage.</p><p data-block-key=\"fju30\">“It’s very disconcerting to see how free press has been trampled,” he said. “The best we can do is push back and make sure the truth isn’t run over.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7htm\">In a statement emailed to the Tracker, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added that President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem “are committed to restoring law and order.”</p><p data-block-key=\"lgbl\">The Tracker has documented <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?targeted_journalists=Mason+Lake\">15 other incidents since 2020</a> in which Lake has been assaulted while covering Portland protests.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Lake.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"lfxv0\">Federal officers deploy tear gas during a protest outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Oregon, on July 4, 2025. Independent journalist Mason Lake said federal agents targeted him with projectiles while he covered the event.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
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"state": {
"name": "Oregon",
"abbreviation": "OR"
},
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"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"Department of Homeland Security",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Mason Lake (Independent)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Blake Lively subpoenas Google for journalists’ account information",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/blake-lively-subpoenas-google-for-journalists-account-information/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-08T16:27:42.535295Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-08T16:27:42.535295Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-08T16:26:02.242996Z",
"date": "2025-07-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"zkmye\">Actor Blake Lively subpoenaed Google on July 3, 2025, in federal district court in New York, New York, for account information of three journalists who publish content on YouTube.</p><p data-block-key=\"58nml\">In December 2024, Lively <a href=\"https://lawandcrime.com/analysis/off-screen-legal-drama-continues-for-it-ends-with-us-stars-despite-judge-dismissing-justin-baldonis-case-against-blake-lively/\">sued</a> actor Justin Baldoni, his company Wayfarer Studios and various associates for sexual harassment, retaliation and breach of contract. She alleges that the defendants launched a retaliatory publicity campaign during the release of the movie “It Ends With Us,” in which the two actors costarred and which Baldoni directed.</p><p data-block-key=\"1o0jn\">The campaign’s goal, according to the <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/1/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">complaint</a>, was to prevent Lively from speaking out about harassment and other misconduct by Baldoni and the CEO of Wayfarer on the set of the film.</p><p data-block-key=\"2mqj3\">In January, Baldoni filed his own claims against Lively, <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69550325/1/wayfarer-studios-llc-v-lively/\">accusing her</a> of extortion and defamation. Those claims were <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/296/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">dismissed</a> in June.</p><p data-block-key=\"6edo5\">In July 2025, Lively demanded that Google produce YouTube and GooglePay account information for Andy Signore of the channel Popcorned Planet, Katie Paulson of Without A Crystal Ball and Kjersti Flaa of FlaawsomeTalk, who identify as journalists and cover entertainment and pop culture.</p><p data-block-key=\"a40nk\">Lively requested contact and payment information and IP addresses — numeric designations that identify computers’ locations on the internet — used from May 1, 2024, to the present, for 16 content creators in total.</p><p data-block-key=\"cof87\">Signore, Paulson and Flaa have extensively covered the legal fight between Lively and Baldoni on their social media channels.</p><p data-block-key=\"9oj9b\">Lively <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/521/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">argues</a> that the defendants coordinated with content creators to distribute “negative and derogatory content” about her, and that the content creators whom she targeted through the Google subpoena <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/449/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">appeared</a> on a list produced by one of the defendants — a public relations firm that worked with Baldoni.</p><p data-block-key=\"2835a\">The list was compiled in response to a request from Lively that the firm identify content creators with whom it had communicated about her.</p><p data-block-key=\"fggh6\">But on July 26, Lively began to withdraw the Google subpoena as to specific creators, <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/496/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">telling the court</a> that after conferring with some of them and reading their public statements and various motions to quash the subpoena, “there is no further information required from the Subpoenas as to these specific Third-Parties at this time.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ejmlk\">The accounts for which the subpoena was withdrawn included Paulson, per an email <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/510/2/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">she posted to Instagram</a>, and Flaa, per a <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/504/3/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">notice</a> she filed with the court.</p><p data-block-key=\"190ie\">On July 31, Signore filed a motion to quash the subpoena, <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70954195/3/popcorned-planet-inc-v-lively/\">arguing</a> that the information sought was irrelevant, and its disclosure might subject him to online harassment.</p><p data-block-key=\"f65eq\">On Aug. 4, the Google subpoena was <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/550/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">withdrawn</a> as to Signore.</p><p data-block-key=\"90rss\">Signore has also been <a href=\"/all-incidents/youtuber-subpoenaed-by-blake-lively-for-communications-with-justin-baldoni/\">subpoenaed directly</a> for communications with the defendants; that subpoena is still pending.</p><p data-block-key=\"ctuj1\">Lively’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment from the Tracker.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Google_subpoena_screenshot.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"hsndk\">A portion of a subpoena issued by actor Blake Lively on July 3, 2025, to Google for account information of a group of content creators — including three journalists — who have covered the legal fight between her and actor Justin Baldoni.</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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"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
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"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
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"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": "Google",
"third_party_business": "tech company",
"legal_order_venue": "Federal",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
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"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Andy Signore (Popcorned Planet)",
"Katie Paulson (Without A Crystal Ball)",
"Kjersti Flaa (FlaawsomeTalk)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Photojournalist arrested while covering scene of Northern California fire",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photojournalist-arrested-while-covering-scene-of-northern-california-fire/",
"first_published_at": "2025-09-03T17:20:34.102164Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-10-08T19:07:50.587104Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-10-08T19:07:50.373419Z",
"date": "2025-07-02",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Esparto",
"longitude": -122.01719,
"latitude": 38.69213,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i0ofc\">Photojournalist Richard Grant was arrested while taking photos of the aftermath of a fireworks warehouse explosion in Esparto, California, on July 2, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1b7o7\">Grant, a <a href=\"https://rhgphotos.com/\">freelance photographer</a> and intern at <a href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/about/newsroomnews/article/meet-sf-chronicle-2025-summer-20365264.php\">the San Francisco Chronicle</a>, was detained by California Highway Patrol after an officer said he found him walking the property affected by the fire, according to a Yolo County Sheriff’s Office report.</p><p data-block-key=\"drvui\">A sheriff’s deputy later arrested him on one misdemeanor count of unauthorized entry into a closed emergency area. He was taken to the Yolo County jail for booking and held until early the next morning.</p><p data-block-key=\"f9n3g\">Grant declined to comment on the case, and Editor-in-Chief Emilio Garcia-Ruiz did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"3mf00\">A KCRA-TV news helicopter <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKePfR8jzOk&t=4s\">captured him photographing debris</a> and later talking with an officer at the site, which the station said authorities had designated as an active crime scene after a series of explosions on July 1.</p><p data-block-key=\"co748\">While <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-pen/part-1/title-11/section-409-5/\">California law</a> permits journalists access to emergency areas closed to the public, the statute does not extend that access to designated crime scenes.</p><p data-block-key=\"1b89b\">Shortly after Grant’s arrest, sheriff’s deputies warned a news crew from Sacramento TV station KXTV that it was filming too close to the crime scene, and threatened a crew member with arrest if they returned, <a href=\"https://solanonews.substack.com/p/san-francisco-chronicle-photographer\">according to media outlet Solano NewsNet.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"3e7jb\">Upon Grant’s jail release, he was issued a notice to appear in court, Yolo County Chief Assistant Counsel Kimberly Hood told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"3vgli\">As of publication, no charges had been formally filed.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2025-08-28_at_10.45.21.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"rtm1s\">Richard Grant, at left, talks to a California Highway Patrol officer after taking photos at a fireworks warehouse explosion in Esparto, California, on July 2, 2025. He was later arrested for trespassing.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": "arrested and released",
"release_date": "2025-07-03",
"detention_date": "2025-07-02",
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
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"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2025-10-02 10:17:00+00:00) Misdemeanor charge dropped against photojournalist arrested at scene of California fire"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Richard Grant (San Francisco Chronicle)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "YouTuber subpoenaed by Blake Lively for communications with Justin Baldoni",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/youtuber-subpoenaed-by-blake-lively-for-communications-with-justin-baldoni/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-08T15:12:29.030331Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-08T15:12:29.030331Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-08T15:12:28.819022Z",
"date": "2025-07-02",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "New York",
"longitude": -74.00597,
"latitude": 40.71427,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vkiqv\">Popcorned Planet, a YouTube channel run by Florida-based commentator Andy Signore, was subpoenaed on July 2, 2025, in a federal district court in New York, New York, by actor Blake Lively for its communications with actor Justin Baldoni and his production company.</p><p data-block-key=\"fbf26\">In December 2024, Lively <a href=\"https://lawandcrime.com/analysis/off-screen-legal-drama-continues-for-it-ends-with-us-stars-despite-judge-dismissing-justin-baldonis-case-against-blake-lively/\">sued</a> Baldoni, his company Wayfarer Studios and various associates for sexual harassment, retaliation and breach of contract. She alleges that the defendants launched a retaliatory publicity campaign during the release of the movie “It Ends With Us,” in which the two actors costarred and which Baldoni directed.</p><p data-block-key=\"992q9\">The campaign’s goal, according to the <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/1/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">complaint</a>, was to prevent Lively from speaking out about harassment and other misconduct by Baldoni and the CEO of Wayfarer on the set of the film.</p><p data-block-key=\"59ch0\">In January, Baldoni filed his own claims against Lively, <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69550325/1/wayfarer-studios-llc-v-lively/\">accusing her</a> of extortion and defamation. Those claims were <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/296/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">dismissed</a> in June.</p><p data-block-key=\"2od2p\">Signore has made multiple videos for Popcorned Planet, which covers entertainment and pop culture news, about the legal fight between Lively and Baldoni and in support of Baldoni, and is <a href=\"https://popcorned-shop.fourthwall.com/supporters/videos/series/3951\">directing a documentary series</a> on the making of “It Ends With Us.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3ihr8\">On July 2, Lively <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70954195/2/1/popcorned-planet-inc-v-lively/\">subpoenaed</a> Popcorned Planet, demanding any communications with the defendants about Lively and the film and any evidence of an agreement with the defendants about related coverage on the channel.</p><p data-block-key=\"ant2t\">Lively <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/521/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">argues</a> that the defendants coordinated with content creators to distribute “negative and derogatory content” about her.</p><p data-block-key=\"e79di\">Signore filed a motion to quash the subpoena on July 25, arguing that the documents requested are protected by Florida’s reporter’s privilege and the First Amendment. “This subpoena is an attack on press freedom,” he wrote on a <a href=\"https://www.givesendgo.com/popcorned\">fundraising page</a> for his legal fees.</p><p data-block-key=\"31miu\">“I’m a journalist, I’m press, I don’t give up ANY sources,” Signore said in a <a href=\"https://www.instagram.com/p/DLqh6x7MphV/\">video posted on Instagram</a>. “This is only going to empower me even more so, to get to the truth and to fight back and to stand up.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4697n\">Jack Gordon, Signore’s attorney, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that fighting the subpoena was essential to prevent “an erosion of the First Amendment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"960f6\">“The only thing that prevents democracy and freedom of the press from being overrun are the people willing to stand and defend it,” Gordon said. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Hollywood scandal or a matter of national security.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7mat1\">Lively also issued a <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/blake-lively-subpoenas-google-for-journalists-account-information\">subpoena to Google</a> for Signore’s YouTube and GooglePay account information, but later <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/550/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/\">withdrew</a> it.</p><p data-block-key=\"1hjc3\">Lively’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment from the Tracker.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Popcorned_subpoena_screenshot.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"8ulzg\">A portion of a subpoena issued by actor Blake Lively on July 2, 2025, to the YouTube channel Popcorned Planet in Lively’s legal suit against actor Justin Baldoni.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Popcorned Planet"
],
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"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
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"Subpoena/Legal Order"
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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": "2025-10-29T21:39:49.388155Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-10-29T21:39:49.286192Z",
"date": "2025-07-01",
"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=\"#July 1\">July 1, 2025 | DHS secretary announces efforts to criminally charge CNN over reporting</a>\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=\"July 1\" name=\"July 1\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"p32dz\">July 1, 2025 | DHS secretary announces efforts to criminally charge CNN over reporting</h4><p data-block-key=\"e7tv7\">Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told reporters during a trip to a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Florida on July 1, 2025, that her department was looking to prosecute CNN over its reporting on an app that allows users to track ICE agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"ddmfn\">CNN <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/30/tech/iceblock-app-trump-immigration-crackdown\">reported</a> June 30 on the new platform, called ICEBlock, noting that the developer behind the controversial app created it as an “early warning system” so users can avoid interactions with ICE, not to interfere with the agency’s operations.</p><p data-block-key=\"4e1j9\">Noem <a href=\"https://x.com/KristiNoem/status/1940101932455985177\">posted a clip</a> from the CNN report on the social platform X, writing that it “sure looks like obstruction of justice.”</p><p data-block-key=\"73hea\">“Our brave ICE law enforcement face a 500% increase in assaults against them,” Noem wrote. “If you obstruct or assault our law enforcement, we will hunt you down and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">This sure looks like obstruction of justice. Our brave ICE law enforcement face a 500% increase in assaults against them. <br><br>If you obstruct or assault our law enforcement, we will hunt you down and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. <a href=\"https://t.co/9w3msUhgB0\">pic.twitter.com/9w3msUhgB0</a></p>— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/KristiNoem/status/1940101932455985177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 1, 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=\"p32dz\">While it was unclear whether the post was referencing the app or CNN’s reporting on it, Noem made her stance clear when she was directly asked by a reporter during the Florida visit whether CNN should be charged for “pushing” the app.</p><p data-block-key=\"6b2o6\">“We’re working with the Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them,” Noem <a href=\"https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1940069653268599097\">said</a>, “because what they’re doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities and operations. We’re going to actually go after them and prosecute them. What they’re doing is illegal.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5g3ir\">President Donald Trump, who was with Noem and the Florida ICE facility, agreed, saying he would support the move to prosecute the network.</p><p data-block-key=\"1tfjo\">Trump added that CNN should also be charged for what he said were “false reports on the attack on Iran.” He has <a href=\"https://taps.pressfreedomtracker.us/post/e5a7cc6b7eb2/\">repeatedly</a> <a href=\"https://taps.pressfreedomtracker.us/post/edf14355c8b0/\">alleged</a> that both CNN and The New York Times falsified reporting on the strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites and <a href=\"https://taps.pressfreedomtracker.us/post/0947da548603/\">called</a> for the journalists behind the reports to be fired.</p><p data-block-key=\"35vde\">CNN defended its reporting in a <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/01/trump-kristi-noem-cnn-threat\">statement to The Guardian</a>, noting that the app is free and publicly available. “There is nothing illegal about reporting the existence of this or any other app, nor does such reporting constitute promotion or other endorsement of the app by CNN,” the spokesperson said.</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 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",
"primary_video": null,
"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>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
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"actor": null,
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"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
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"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
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"subpoena_type": null,
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"state": {
"name": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
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"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"CNN",
"Media",
"The Dakota Scout"
],
"tags": [
"Department of Homeland Security",
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
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},
{
"title": "Acting U.S. attorney in northern NY removes Times Union from media list",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/acting-us-attorney-in-northern-ny-removes-times-union-from-media-list/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-14T14:44:02.213159Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-08-14T14:44:02.213159Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-08-14T14:44:02.135516Z",
"date": "2025-06-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Albany",
"longitude": -73.75623,
"latitude": 42.65258,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hokci\">John Sarcone III, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, ordered his staff to remove the Times Union from his office’s media distribution list after the Albany-based outlet published an investigation about him on June 27, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"8er02\">The Times Union <a href=\"https://www.timesunion.com/capitol/article/interim-u-s-attorney-removes-times-union-media-20761206.php\">reported</a> July 9 that it had not received a news release from Sarcone’s office since the publication of the June <a href=\"https://archive.is/bHWoM\">story</a>, which detailed how, in an affidavit, Sarcone had listed a boarded-up building in Albany as his primary residence.</p><p data-block-key=\"doipc\">As interim U.S. attorney at the time, Sarcone was required to live in the Northern District, which covers much of northern and central New York. He had long been a resident of Westchester County in southern New York.</p><p data-block-key=\"146fs\">In a July 7 email to his assistant U.S. attorneys, shortly before being reappointed in a special <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/16/nyregion/sarcone-albany-us-attorney.html\">“acting” capacity</a>, Sarcone asked for confirmation that the “Times Union has been deleted from our distribution list,” the outlet reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ca4j\">While Sarcone and the office’s public information officers did not respond to the Times Union’s requests for comment about the removal, the outlet wrote that “the directive that had been in place for roughly two weeks was apparently rescinded” as of July 9.</p><p data-block-key=\"cp3nf\">Casey Seiler, the Times Union’s editor, in an interview with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, noted that Sarcone’s response simply made the paper more determined to report on his actions.</p><p data-block-key=\"12lfs\">“He is probably unfamiliar with what is known as the Streisand Effect, which is, if you’re familiar with it, the idea that that sort of guns-blazing response to a negative story just tends to draw more attention to the story that you’re ticked off about.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7mrfj\">Seiler added, “Our response to getting stonewalled is to do a story about getting stonewalled.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7er47\">Sarcone’s office did not respond to a voicemail message requesting comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Sarcone.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"oo9ml\">John Sarcone III, the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, briefly removed the Times Union from his office’s media distribution list after it published a critical story on June 27, 2025.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
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"targeted_institutions": [
"Times Union"
],
"tags": [
"Department of Justice"
],
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"Law enforcement: Prosecutor"
],
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"Denial of Access"
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"Press credential or media list"
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},
{
"title": "West Texas reporter forcibly removed from public meeting",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/west-texas-reporter-forcibly-removed-from-public-meeting/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-29T15:11:34.329854Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-29T15:11:34.329854Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-29T15:11:34.234135Z",
"date": "2025-06-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Fort Davis",
"longitude": -103.89463,
"latitude": 30.58821,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"n479o\">David Flash, a reporter and publisher for the Big Bend Times, was grabbed, handcuffed and forcibly removed by sheriff’s deputies from a June 27, 2025, meeting of the Jeff Davis County Commissioners Court in Fort Davis, Texas.</p><p data-block-key=\"bsgap\">Flash was cited for disorderly conduct, but the charge was dropped in late July.</p><p data-block-key=\"7kidk\">Flash told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he went to the county building to pick up an audio recording of the meeting, only to find that the proceedings had been delayed and were in progress.</p><p data-block-key=\"5kek9\">He remained to report on the meeting — one of many he’s covered over recent years — setting up a stationary video camera at the back of the room to stream the proceedings live, as instructed by a sheriff’s deputy.</p><p data-block-key=\"917hg\">That <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1569782791022064\">video</a>, available on the Big Bend Times’ Facebook page, shows Flash sitting and observing the meeting, and occasionally moving around the room to take photos. He said he wasn’t wearing a press pass, but that “my role was widely known.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cifd4\">At one point, Flash walks toward the back of the meeting room, and has a whispered conversation with an officer — identified by the <a href=\"https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/11/west-texas-publisher-david-flash-jeff-davis-county-arrest/\">Texas Tribune</a> as Sheriff Victor Lopez — about taking his photo. After Lopez leaves the room, Sheriff’s Deputy Adriana Ruiloba confronts Flash, telling him, “Don’t come in my personal space,” and ordering him to “back off.”</p><p data-block-key=\"71k0t\">Flash left the room and continued to record, narrating what had just occurred for the livestream.</p><p data-block-key=\"cr87t\">Flash later returned to continue to report and to get a photo of Ruiloba, he said. He set up the video camera again in the corner of the room for the livestream and began taking photos of her from an empty row of chairs.</p><p data-block-key=\"27le1\">She then walked over to him, grabbed him and pushed him toward the corner of the room, saying he was disrupting the meeting. Flash was taken to the ground and can be heard on the livestream saying, “I’m not resisting.” Ruiloba orders him to put his hands behind his back, and the sound of handcuffs clicking can be heard.</p><p data-block-key=\"4rdga\">His video camera was knocked over during the encounter and stopped recording.</p><p data-block-key=\"f16sv\">In <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/@TheBigBendSentinel\">body camera video</a> obtained by another local news outlet, the Big Bend Sentinel, several officers, including the sheriff, can be seen detaining Flash and taking him out of the meeting room in handcuffs.</p><p data-block-key=\"bvkmj\">The Sentinel <a href=\"https://bigbendsentinel.com/2025/07/23/bodycam-videos-released-in-flash-detainment/\">reported</a> that his removal was requested by presiding County Judge Curtis Evans. The video shows Flash being taken to an adjacent room and questioned by Lopez and Ruiloba.</p><p data-block-key=\"8qufg\">Flash told the Tracker that he was detained for around 30 minutes and then released at the scene. He received a citation for disorderly conduct.</p><p data-block-key=\"fm2a6\">He said he believed he was targeted for taking photos of a public official during a public meeting. “I had complied with all instructions. I wasn’t saying a word, wasn’t bothering anyone, and wasn’t obstructing anything. The only ‘trigger’ was that I turned my still camera toward a deputy who apparently didn’t believe she should be photographed doing her job in a public space.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4tlup\">He added, “The force used against me appeared retaliatory, not lawful.”</p><p data-block-key=\"92kqm\">Flash said he received medical treatment after the incident. “The deputy dug her fingernails into my arm with such force that the resulting marks were clearly visible to the urgent care provider who treated me afterward. I also had a visible bruise on my bicep.”</p><p data-block-key=\"81cmo\">He added that he has experienced “lasting musculoskeletal pain in that arm and shoulder,” impacting his daily movements.</p><p data-block-key=\"de9o3\">The Big Bend Times <a href=\"https://bigbendtimes.com/2025/07/24/jeff-davis-county-drops-disorderly-charge-against-journalist-who-was-assaulted-at-meeting/\">reported</a> July 24 that the disorderly conduct charge was dropped due to insufficient evidence.</p><p data-block-key=\"aktub\">“His agenda is to be disruptive in court,” Evans <a href=\"https://www.newswest9.com/article/news/local/as-seen-on-tv/west-texas-journalist-tackled-cited-while-covering-public-meeting/513-b1918502-32ce-427f-96be-149ac93129d1\">told</a> KWES-TV. “He thinks the rules do not apply to him. We do have court decorum in Jeff Davis County that has been adopted by our Commissioners Court, and he was violating it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6hi5o\">Evans and the Jeff Davis County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to emailed requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Flash_arrest_screenshot_06272025.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"aaj05\">David Flash, reporter and publisher for the Big Bend Times, is taken to the ground by a sheriff’s deputy while covering a Jeff Davis County Commissioners Court meeting in Fort Davis, Texas, on June 27, 2025. He was handcuffed and briefly detained.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Jeff Davis County Sheriff’s Department",
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"detention_date": "2025-06-27",
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"assailant": "law enforcement",
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"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
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"state": {
"name": "Texas",
"abbreviation": "TX"
},
"updates": [],
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"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge",
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],
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"David Flash (Big Bend Times)"
],
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},
{
"title": "Publisher charged for refusing to unpublish police blotter entry on NJ news site",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/publisher-charged-for-refusing-to-unpublish-police-blotter-entry-on-nj-news-site/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-10T13:15:50.150195Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-25T20:24:12.860439Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-25T20:24:12.690762Z",
"date": "2025-06-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Red Bank",
"longitude": -74.06431,
"latitude": 40.34705,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"a84mf\">Kenny Katzgrau, publisher and co-owner of hyperlocal news website Redbankgreen, was issued a summons by a municipal court in Red Bank, New Jersey, on June 27, 2025, after he refused to unpublish details about an arrest obtained from a local police blotter.</p><p data-block-key=\"a11k5\">According to the complaint and summons, Red Bank resident Kyle Pietila was arrested in August 2024, details of which were <a href=\"https://www.redbankgreen.com/2024/09/red-bank-harassment-mishchief-assaults-on-august-police-blotter09182024/\">published by Redbankgreen</a> on Sept. 18, alongside other crime and arrest reports provided by the Red Bank Police Department.</p><p data-block-key=\"fqk0j\">The outlet updated its article after the arrest was expunged in March 2025, noting that Municipal Court Judge Frank LaRocca ordered that the arrest “shall be deemed to have not occurred.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aet5r\">In an email shared with the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Katzgrau wrote that it is a long-held Redbankgreen policy “to never erase the record of events that actually took place — but to add a note of dismissal or expungement on request (which we did for the current case).”</p><p data-block-key=\"e0ugs\">“We also request de-listing from search indexes after two years so that nobody is searchable in Google — but the archive/record of events remains intact,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"dbfoe\">The news site specifies this policy at the bottom of each police blotter report, along with the disclaimer, “An arrest is not a finding of guilt: that’s something for a court to decide. redbankgreen publishes this information in continuation of a great American newspaper tradition because we believe it has community value.”</p><p data-block-key=\"57ism\">In a complaint dated June 13, Pietila wrote that he provided Redbankgreen with his “dismissal/expungement paperwork” multiple times and that the outlet had refused to remove the content from the site.</p><p data-block-key=\"dsced\">LaRocca ruled on June 26 that there was probable cause to charge Katzgrau and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-charged-for-refusing-to-unpublish-police-blotter-entry-on-nj-news-site\">reporter Brian Donohue</a> with disclosing the existence of an arrest that has been expunged or sealed. <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/title-2c/section-2c-52-30/\">According to the criminal code</a>, both face a maximum fine of $200.</p><p data-block-key=\"comsp\">An attorney for the journalists filed a motion to dismiss and expunge the charges on July 11, arguing that the “publication of truthful information on matters of public significance cannot be punished unless it involves a state interest of the highest order.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7f306\">“Moreover, information concerning the arrest was published prior to the expungement, and there is no requirement in law that it be removed from the publisher’s website simply because an expungement had taken place,” Bruce Rosen wrote. “The issuance of probable cause in this matter is plain legal error, this prosecution is unconstitutional and in fact unfathomable, and the matter should be promptly dismissed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"an0pl\">Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project, also condemned the arrest and called it the “latest in a string of egregious press freedom violations by local police and prosecutors across the country.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8aog4\">“Prosecuting journalists for declining to censor themselves is alarming and blatantly unconstitutional, as is ordering the press to unpublish news reports,” FPF Advocacy Director Seth Stern said. “Any prosecutors who would even think to bring such charges either don’t know the first thing about the constitution they’re sworn to uphold, or don’t care.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6d29j\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include details from a motion to dismiss the charges filed on July 11, 2025.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Katzgrau_NJ_arrest.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7hgpp\">A portion of a June 27, 2025, criminal complaint against Kenny Katzgrau, publisher of hyperlocal news website Redbankgreen, charging him and reporter Brian Donohue after they refused to unpublish details of an arrest in Red Bank, New Jersey.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Red Bank Borough Municipal Court",
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"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
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"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "New Jersey",
"abbreviation": "NJ"
},
"updates": [
"(2025-07-24 19:44:00+00:00) Charge dropped against NJ publisher"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Kenny Katzgrau (Redbankgreen)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Reporter charged for refusing to unpublish police blotter entry on NJ news site",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-charged-for-refusing-to-unpublish-police-blotter-entry-on-nj-news-site/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-10T13:16:04.002975Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-25T20:23:58.946789Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-25T20:23:58.773763Z",
"date": "2025-06-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Red Bank",
"longitude": -74.06431,
"latitude": 40.34705,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8230s\">Brian Donohue, reporter and editor for hyperlocal news website Redbankgreen, was issued a summons by a municipal court in Red Bank, New Jersey, on June 27, 2025, after he refused to unpublish details about an arrest obtained from a local police blotter.</p><p data-block-key=\"82vj1\">According to the complaint and summons, Red Bank resident Kyle Pietila was arrested in August 2024, details of which were <a href=\"https://www.redbankgreen.com/2024/09/red-bank-harassment-mishchief-assaults-on-august-police-blotter09182024/\">published by Redbankgreen</a> on Sept. 18, alongside other crime and arrest reports provided by the Red Bank Police Department.</p><p data-block-key=\"bdkrd\">According to a declaration by Donohue, the arrest was expunged in March 2025, and Pietila began contacting the newspaper asking that the entry in the blotter be removed.</p><p data-block-key=\"5i7av\">Donohue cited Redbankgreen’s <a href=\"https://www.redbankgreen.com/about-redbankgreen/\">policy</a>, which specifies that factually correct information is never erased, but that updates noting dismissals or lesser pleas can be made upon request.</p><p data-block-key=\"56p4h\">“We strongly believe that once information is published, it should stay published as-is unless a correction or clarification is warranted,” the policy states.</p><p data-block-key=\"bmaq1\">The news site also specifies this policy at the bottom of each police blotter report, along with the disclaimer, “An arrest is not a finding of guilt: that’s something for a court to decide. redbankgreen publishes this information in continuation of a great American newspaper tradition because we believe it has community value.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8o869\">Donohue wrote that the police blotter entry was updated in May with an editor’s note acknowledging the expungement and an order by Municipal Court Judge Frank LaRocca that the arrest “shall be deemed to have not occurred.”</p><p data-block-key=\"etern\">However, in a complaint dated June 13, Pietila wrote that he provided Redbankgreen with his “dismissal/expungement paperwork” multiple times and that the outlet had refused to remove the content from the site.</p><p data-block-key=\"51k7b\">LaRocca ruled on June 26 that there was probable cause to charge Donohue and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/publisher-charged-for-refusing-to-unpublish-police-blotter-entry-on-nj-news-site\">Katzgrau</a> with disclosing the existence of an arrest that has been expunged or sealed. <a href=\"https://law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/title-2c/section-2c-52-30/\">According to the criminal code</a>, both face a maximum fine of $200.</p><p data-block-key=\"94sn1\">An attorney for the journalists filed a motion to dismiss and expunge the charges on July 11, arguing that the “publication of truthful information on matters of public significance cannot be punished unless it involves a state interest of the highest order.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dbelo\">“Moreover, information concerning the arrest was published prior to the expungement, and there is no requirement in law that it be removed from the publisher’s website simply because an expungement had taken place,” Bruce Rosen wrote. “The issuance of probable cause in this matter is plain legal error, this prosecution is unconstitutional and in fact unfathomable, and the matter should be promptly dismissed.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3mn0t\">Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project, also condemned the arrest and called it the “latest in a string of egregious press freedom violations by local police and prosecutors across the country.”</p><p data-block-key=\"a3iar\">“Prosecuting journalists for declining to censor themselves is alarming and blatantly unconstitutional, as is ordering the press to unpublish news reports,” FPF Advocacy Director Seth Stern said. “Any prosecutors who would even think to bring such charges either don’t know the first thing about the constitution they’re sworn to uphold, or don’t care.”</p><p data-block-key=\"s1s0\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include details from a motion to dismiss the charges filed on July 11, 2025.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Donohue_NJ_arrest.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6mici\">A portion of a June 27, 2025, criminal complaint against Brian Donohue, a reporter for hyperlocal news website Redbankgreen, charging him and publisher Kenny Katzgrau after they refused to unpublish details of an arrest in Red Bank, New Jersey.</p>",
"arresting_authority": "Red Bank Borough Municipal Court",
"arrest_status": "charged without arrest",
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "New Jersey",
"abbreviation": "NJ"
},
"updates": [
"(2025-07-24 19:45:00+00:00) Charge dropped against NJ reporter"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Arrest/Criminal Charge"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Brian Donohue (Redbankgreen)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Ohio reporter’s notebook searched by Secret Service at Vance fundraiser",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ohio-reporters-notebook-searched-by-secret-service-at-vance-fundraiser/",
"first_published_at": "2025-08-05T16:16:10.565643Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-10-29T21:44:46.497306Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-10-29T21:44:46.309953Z",
"date": "2025-06-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Lima",
"longitude": -84.10523,
"latitude": 40.74255,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ut4f3\">Erin Glynn, a reporter for The Cincinnati Enquirer, had her reporting notebook searched by Secret Service agents during a security screening ahead of an event with the vice president in Lima, Ohio, on June 24, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"47qg7\">Glynn told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was on assignment covering an Ohio Republican Party fundraising dinner for which Vice President JD Vance was the headline speaker.</p><p data-block-key=\"ehutl\">Upon her arrival at the convention center in downtown Lima, Glynn said she met an event organizer outside who led her to the normal media security line.</p><p data-block-key=\"7v2ml\">“Two secret service agents searched my bag, like they did with everybody, and they confiscated some nail clippers that were too pointy to bring in, which makes sense,” she said. “Then they pulled out my reporter’s notebook, and really spent a long time on it, flipping the pages and reading it and passing it back and forth to each other.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b8dam\">Glynn said that after approximately five minutes of reviewing her notebook, one of the agents asked what the notes were about. She replied that they were about stories she was working on from Hamilton County, her normal beat.</p><p data-block-key=\"1se6e\">“I’m a local government reporter and I didn’t know if they were reading it to see if I had written anything about Vance, but I don’t normally cover him,” she said. “I was annoyed, because it was about stories that hadn’t come out yet and I almost wanted to say, ‘You should buy a subscription.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"c1vhb\">The agent then put the notebook back in her bag. Glynn told the Tracker that, while she thought the interaction was “strange,” she still went in and covered the event. When she told her editor what had happened the following day, she said he was upset by it.</p><p data-block-key=\"3qao3\">“So I texted another reporter that I knew there and asked if he had experienced anything similar, and he said no,” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8tqtl\">Glynn said she had spoken with an attorney for the Enquirer, and they were still determining what, if any, next steps to pursue.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ufab\">“It was a fundraising dinner so it wasn’t open to the public,” she added. “Under different circumstances I might have said something to the agent, but I was concerned they’d be like, ‘Well, you can’t go in’ and I wanted to cover it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5tvhu\">Secret Service spokesperson Special Agent Matt Young told the Tracker on Aug. 4 that he was previously unaware of the incident, and he was unable to provide additional information or comment as of press time.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP25175859615615.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"jkx37\">Vice President JD Vance speaks during the Ohio Republican Party dinner in Lima, Ohio, on June 24, 2025. Secret Service agents searched the bag and reporting notes of Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Erin Glynn before allowing her into the event.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"case_type": null,
"status_of_seized_equipment": "searched without seizure",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": null,
"target_us_citizenship_status": null,
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": null,
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": null,
"assailant": null,
"was_journalist_targeted": null,
"charged_under_espionage_act": false,
"subpoena_type": null,
"name_of_business": null,
"third_party_business": null,
"legal_order_venue": null,
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "work product"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Ohio",
"abbreviation": "OH"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"Department of Homeland Security"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Erin Glynn (The Cincinnati Enquirer)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "New York Daily News reporter banned by mayor from future news conferences",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/new-york-daily-news-reporter-banned-by-mayor-from-future-news-conferences/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-18T21:25:53.905902Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-03T20:10:56.407544Z",
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"date": "2025-06-17",
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"city": "New York",
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"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"4fnvd\">New York Daily News reporter Chris Sommerfeldt was barred by Mayor Eric Adams from attending future press conferences after Sommerfeldt called out a question to the mayor during a news briefing on June 17, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"r9t4\">In a <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/live/rWCiOGH1Juo?feature=shared&t=2180\">video</a> posted by the mayor’s office of an announcement on housing, Adams is seen opening the floor and taking questions from other reporters.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ainn\">After Sommerfeldt attempts to ask a question, Adams responds in a mocking tone, “You’re calling out a lot, Chris. Stop calling out. You must have done that in school.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aps20\">The mayor then turns gruff, saying, “You’re not going to be disruptive in our conferences. You’re going to stop at the gate. You do that again, you’re going to stop at the gate. You’re not going to come into this conference off topic, be disrespectful, and call out and think you’re going to do what you want.”</p><p data-block-key=\"emu0s\">After Sommerfeldt calls out again, Adams responds, turning aside to staff and saying, “He did it again, make sure security knows he’s not allowed back into this room.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3a6a2\">Daily News Executive Editor Andrew Julien, in a statement issued via email to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, said, “Our reporters have the right to ask questions, and taxpayers aren’t funding the police to keep reporters out of City Hall press conferences.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4jovk\">The union that represents Daily News reporters and staff later <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/nydnunion.bsky.social/post/3lrt2k7wjkk2h\">wrote the mayor</a> demanding that he reverse the restriction. “To ban a reporter from future press conferences for doing the very thing a press conference is designed to facilitate—asking a question—shows a flagrant disregard for the role of the press and for our colleagues’ professionalism,” the union wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"do2k2\">The union’s letter also noted that Adams had not called on Sommerfeldt during press conferences for the past three months.</p><p data-block-key=\"25q8c\">The mayor’s press secretary, Kayla Mamelak Altus, <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/nyregion/eric-adams-reporter-ny-daily-news.html\">told The New York Times</a> that she didn’t know Sommerfeldt hadn’t been called on for that long. But Katie Honan, a reporter at The City, <a href=\"https://x.com/katie_honan/status/1935132228134048244\">said on social media</a>, “This is a blatant lie.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5btpo\">Other journalists took to social media to criticize the mayor.</p><p data-block-key=\"4jet1\">Craig McCarthy, City Hall bureau chief at the New York Post, <a href=\"https://x.com/createcraig\">said</a> that Sommerfeldt was not interrupting: “He injected a follow-up question during a pause, actually furthering the line of questioning from Politico.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7183c\">Joe Anuta, who covers City Hall for Politico NY, also <a href=\"https://x.com/joeanuta/status/1935138148582892007\">confirmed</a> that the mayor’s teams hadn’t called on Sommerfeldt for months. “Chris does not interrupt other reporters. Let him ask his Qs like the rest of us,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"bivud\">The New York Press Club <a href=\"https://x.com/NYPressClub/status/1935160888551514450\">responded to the ban</a>, saying, “We are reaching the height of absurdity when the Mayor of New York City is applying a hostile tactic seen in the White House.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5a6du\">The Tracker reached out to Adams’ press office for comment but did not receive a response.</p><p data-block-key=\"2qv3d\">“Chris was doing his job,” the union wrote the mayor. “The only person being disrespectful is you.”</p></div>",
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"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"asse9\">New York City Mayor Eric Adams, above, at a June 17 news conference, where he said he would bar New York Daily News reporter Chris Sommerfeldt from attending future briefings.</p>",
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"state": {
"name": "New York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
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"updates": [
"(2025-06-24 20:09:00+00:00) Reporter allowed back in NYC mayor’s briefings, but his questions remain ignored"
],
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"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
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"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
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"Chris Sommerfeldt ([New York] Daily News)"
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