HTTP 200 OK
Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET,OPTIONS,HEAD
Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Allow: GET, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Link:
<http://pressfreedomtracker.us/api/edge/incidents/?format=api>; rel="first",
<http://pressfreedomtracker.us/api/edge/incidents/?cursor=cj0xJnA9MjAyNS0wNi0wNi0xMWRiMDAxMi01ODJmLTExZjAtYmFiOS02NjE2Zjg2NDIzYjM%3D&format=api>; rel="prev",
<http://pressfreedomtracker.us/api/edge/incidents/?cursor=cD0yMDI1LTAzLTExLWUyYWUxOWUwLTA0MzMtMTFmMC04ZTJhLWNhYjY0M2RhMmMyZQ%3D%3D&format=api>; rel="next"
Vary: Accept
[
{
"title": "Journalist hit with pepper balls, tear gas while covering LA protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-with-pepper-balls-tear-gas-while-covering-la-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-03T17:10:20.540898Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-16T13:44:58.176012Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-16T13:44:58.089145Z",
"date": "2025-06-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"c01vf\">Jeremy Lindenfeld, a journalist reporting for news nonprofit Capital & Main, was struck by multiple pepper balls and exposed to tear gas while covering a protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"4vqur\">The protest was part of a wave of demonstrations that <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> that day, following federal immigration raids across the LA area amid a larger immigration crackdown by the Trump administration. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump deployed the California National Guard and U.S. Marines, despite objections from state and local officials.</p><p data-block-key=\"6epqg\">Lindenfeld, who was wearing press identifiers at the time, said the air was thick with tear gas as Department of Homeland Security police advanced on demonstrators.</p><p data-block-key=\"4cauo\">“It was an incredibly chaotic scene,” Lindenfeld told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. “The law enforcement agencies that have been out there interfacing with protesters and press have done very little in the way of discerning proper use of force.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5ugt0\">Lindenfeld said he was reporting on the protest near the Metropolitan Detention Center when federal law enforcement deployed the pepper balls indiscriminately into the crowd, striking him and others.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">DHS in downtown Los Angeles is deploying flash bangs, tear-gas and pepper balls against anti-ICE protesters and anyone else in the crowd including press. <a href=\"https://t.co/wPK7MuIBfP\">https://t.co/wPK7MuIBfP</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/83Yyyas6KD\">pic.twitter.com/83Yyyas6KD</a></p>— Jeremy Lindenfeld (@jeremotographs) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/jeremotographs/status/1931177602104066365?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 7, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"c01vf\">He continued reporting at multiple protests in the days that followed, getting hit by a canister <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-struck-by-projectile-while-covering-la-area-protest/\">on June 7</a> and struck in the abdomen by a foam baton round <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-hit-by-foam-round-while-covering-la-immigration-protest/\">on June 9.</a></p><p data-block-key=\"a2jau\">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></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Lindenfeld.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880_nOVTgiX.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"l05mf\">Department of Homeland Security police clash with protesters during an anti-ICE protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2025. Journalist Jeremy Lindenfeld was hit with pepper balls and tear gas while covering the protest that day.</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": 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": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"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": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"chemical irritant",
"immigration",
"protest",
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jeremy Lindenfeld (Capital & Main)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Egyptian former journalist jailed in Ohio after U.S. revokes asylum",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/egyptian-former-journalist-jailed-in-ohio-after-us-revokes-asylum/",
"first_published_at": "2025-07-30T20:16:02.936289Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-09-19T19:24:28.383298Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-09-19T19:24:28.290928Z",
"date": "2025-06-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Hamilton",
"longitude": -84.56134,
"latitude": 39.3995,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8cwhi\">Former journalist Ayman Soliman, who was granted asylum in the United States after being persecuted in Egypt for his work as a field producer during the Arab Spring uprising there, was jailed in Hamilton, Ohio, weeks after his asylum was revoked on June 3, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"643uu\">Soliman began his journalism career documenting student protests in Egypt and was jailed, beaten and tortured by the Egyptian authorities as a result, according to Marium Uddin, legal director at the Muslim Legal Fund of America, who is part of his legal team. He fled to the United States in 2014 and applied for asylum, which was granted in 2018.</p><p data-block-key=\"9up89\">In early 2021, Soliman was hired as a prison chaplain in Oregon, but a background check revealed that the FBI had flagged his profile without explanation, The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/cincinnati-protest-arrests-soliman-chaplain-861006bcd5f723f02d024809363927e0\">reported</a>. The job offer was then rescinded.</p><p data-block-key=\"3fp5q\">In response, Soliman <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/62331173/1/soliman-v-mayorkas/\">sued</a> the heads of the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the Terrorist Screening Center, as well as then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, for violations of due process and the Privacy Act, arguing that an FBI flag and various designations on his boarding passes when traveling indicated that he had been included in the Terrorist Screening Database.</p><p data-block-key=\"4uiph\">A November 2024 court ruling dismissed most of his suit but allowed a due process violation claim to proceed. The next month, Soliman received a letter from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services <a href=\"https://mlfa.org/local-chaplain-detained-by-ice-after-asylum-revoked-amid-decade-long-immigration-battle/\">notifying</a> him that the agency was considering revoking his asylum status.</p><p data-block-key=\"enhrj\">In June 2025, Soliman’s asylum was <a href=\"https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/hamilton-county/cincinnati/cincinnati-childrens-chaplain-previously-granted-asylum-detained-by-ice-local-organization-says\">officially revoked</a> and, on July 9, at the first Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in he was required to attend, his lawyers said he was <a href=\"https://mlfa.org/local-chaplain-detained-by-ice-after-asylum-revoked-amid-decade-long-immigration-battle/\">detained</a> and put in Butler County jail.</p><p data-block-key=\"chfm1\">The government claims that Soliman served on the board of a nongovernmental organization that provides support to the Muslim Brotherhood, WCPO-TV <a href=\"https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/why-was-ayman-solimans-asylum-status-revoked-attorneys-for-cincinnati-chaplain-provide-more-details\">reported</a>. Soliman’s lawyers told the outlet that the government knew about the board membership when it granted asylum but that last year, an asylum officer newly labeled both the NGO and the Muslim Brotherhood as <a href=\"https://www.uscis.gov/laws-and-policy/other-resources/terrorism-related-inadmissibility-grounds-trig\">terrorist organizations</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"amd6e\">The lawyers claim the government did so to retaliate against Soliman for his lawsuit, relying only on the asylum officer’s new interpretations rather than the persecution he experienced in Egypt, another of Soliman’s attorneys, Robert Ratliff, told WCPO-TV.</p><p data-block-key=\"csfb3\">Those interpretations, the Ohio Immigrant Alliance <a href=\"https://ohioimmigrant.org/2025/07/25/new-soliman-files-new-lawsuit/\">said</a>, are based on academic reports whose authors have since refuted the asylum officer’s conclusions.</p><p data-block-key=\"3e9k5\">On July 11, Soliman filed an emergency habeas corpus petition, requesting a temporary restraining order to keep DHS from transferring him outside the jurisdiction of Cleveland Immigration Court. The order was <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70764545/5/soliman-v-lyons/\">granted</a> on July 15 and <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70764545/10/soliman-v-lyons/\">extended</a> to July 30.</p><p data-block-key=\"1kl0f\">On July 24, Soliman filed an <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70905499/1/soliman-v-edlow/\">additional request</a> for a restraining order and preliminary injunction in a separate case against the heads of USCIS, its Chicago Asylum Office and the DHS. That case seeks to reinstate his asylum status and calls the revocation a violation of federal law, including the Fifth Amendment.</p><p data-block-key=\"146rf\">Multiple protests in Cincinnati, where Soliman had worked as a chaplain at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital <a href=\"https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ayman-soliman-detained-muslim-chaplain-supporters-arrested-123870405\">since 2021</a>, have called for Soliman’s release, including one on a bridge into Kentucky, where <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2025-07-17&date_upper=2025-07-17&city=Covington&state=Kentucky\">two journalists were arrested</a> and charged with an array of felonies and misdemeanors.</p><p data-block-key=\"f3b2d\">“Going back to Egypt for me is a death sentence,” Soliman said. “I didn't come to America seeking a better life. It was escaping death.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8ira1\"><i>Editor’s note: This article has been updated with information from Ayman Soliman’s legal team.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Soliman_screenshot.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"15jta\">Butler County Correctional Center in Hamilton, Ohio, where Egyptian former journalist Ayman Soliman was jailed after his asylum was revoked on June 3, 2025.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": "1:25-cv-00510",
"case_type": "CIVIL",
"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": "Ohio",
"abbreviation": "OH"
},
"updates": [
"(2025-09-19 19:23:00+00:00) Egyptian former journalist released from Ohio jail"
],
"case_statuses": [
"ongoing"
],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"ICE"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ayman Soliman (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Pete Hegseth targets news outlets, leakers as defense secretary",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers-as-defense-secretary/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-03T16:34:25.156292Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-09T19:43:46.106389Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-09T19:43:46.009663Z",
"date": "2025-05-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yzj9y\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joined Trump in taking steps to intimidate leakers and news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting Hegseth’s efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ommm\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9v0ko\"><i>This article was first published on March 21, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"9vs77\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 26\">May 26, 2025 | Defense Department attempts to bar CNN reporter from foreign trip</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#March 21\">March 21, 2025 | Defense Department announces investigation into media leaks</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yzj9y\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"d7qmh\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"May 26\" name=\"May 26\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"2y7xj\">May 26, 2025 | Defense Department attempts to bar CNN reporter from foreign trip</h4><p data-block-key=\"3ccj7\">The Pentagon attempted to bar CNN national security reporter Haley Britzky from traveling as the designated television pool journalist during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s trip to Singapore, Status <a href=\"https://www.status.news/p/pete-hegseth-pentagon-press-access?utm_source=www.status.news&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=hegseth-s-safe-space&_bhlid=8583a82fd7bcd379f720c4d09a22a59a6348c18a\">reported</a> on May 26, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"91gov\">“Pentagon officials—apparently irked by some of her tweets, despite their innocuous nature—relayed to CNN brass that she was not welcome,” Oliver Darcy wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"fh3o\">On May 24, Britzky highlighted her Signal username in a post on the social platform X amid the Department of Defense’s efforts to crack down on leaks, including by <a href=\"/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-restricts-journalists-access-inside-pentagon/\">limiting press access</a> to areas of the Pentagon.</p><p data-block-key=\"6vnlm\">Arthur Schwartz, one of Hegseth’s closest advisers, <a href=\"https://x.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1926304038817013807\">reposted</a> Britzky, adding, “Any reporters that are encouraging DoD employees to bypass DoD Public Affairs and violate the terms of their employment with the government should be permanently banned from the Pentagon. Start with this one.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Any reporters that are encouraging DoD employees to bypass DoD Public Affairs and violate their terms of their employment with the government should be permanently banned from the Pentagon. Start with this one. <a href=\"https://t.co/aFvzPcufyw\">https://t.co/aFvzPcufyw</a></p>— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1926304038817013807?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 24, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2y7xj\">Status reported that the move to exclude Britzky from Hegseth’s Singapore trip triggered an immediate backlash: Multiple other outlets indicated that if she was excluded they would boycott the trip.</p><p data-block-key=\"6qect\">“They don’t get to decide who covers them,” one correspondent told Status.</p><p data-block-key=\"7839n\">The Pentagon relented, and Britzky <a href=\"https://x.com/halbritz/status/1928406436192620655\">traveled</a> with Hegseth as originally planned.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 21\" name=\"March 21\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"yzj9y\">March 21, 2025 | Defense Department announces investigation into media leaks</h4><p data-block-key=\"bnd2m\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office sent a <a href=\"https://media.defense.gov/2025/Mar/21/2003674265/-1/-1/0/EFFORTS-TO-COMBAT-UNAUTHORIZED-DISCLOSURES-OSD002809-25-RES-FINAL.PDF\">memo</a> on March 21, 2025, initiating an investigation into “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6s70m\">“This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense,” wrote Joe Kasper, Hegseth’s chief of staff. “I expect to be informed immediately if this effort results in information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure, and that such information will be referred to the appropriate criminal law enforcement entity for criminal prosecution.”</p><p data-block-key=\"76lla\">The memo also noted that department employees will be subject to polygraph exams “in accordance with applicable law and policy.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ebe2s\">The memo came hours after Elon Musk, head of the new Department of Government Efficiency, <a href=\"https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1902977556329931052\">posted on social media</a> calling The New York Times’ reporting on the planned content of his briefing at the Pentagon “pure propaganda.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cjh0\">“I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT,” Musk wrote. “They will be found.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e5n7v\">Musk’s meeting with members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ultimately did not take place, Reuters <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/elon-musk-calls-prosecutions-pentagon-staff-who-leaked-new-york-times-2025-03-21/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ceird\">A Times spokesperson told Reuters that leak investigations are “meant to chill communications between journalists and their sources and undermine the ability of a free press to bring out vital information that may otherwise be hidden.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-03-21T163635Z_985503578_RC2S.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"of4rh\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth looks on as President Donald Trump (not pictured) delivers remarks in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. on March 21, 2025.</p>",
"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": 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": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media",
"The New York Times"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Haley Britzky (CNN)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Pete Hegseth restricts journalists’ access inside Pentagon",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-restricts-journalists-access-inside-pentagon/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-09T18:26:52.644672Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-09T18:26:52.644672Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-09T18:26:52.568897Z",
"date": "2025-05-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Arlington",
"longitude": -77.10428,
"latitude": 38.88101,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"y20kh\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced new restrictions on journalists’ access while inside the Pentagon complex in Arlington, Virginia, on May 23, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"1b34s\">In a <a href=\"https://media.defense.gov/2025/May/23/2003721693/-1/-1/1/UPDATED-PHYSICAL-CONTROL-MEASURES-FOR-PRESS-MEDIA-ACCESS-WITHIN-THE-PENTAGON.PDF\">memo</a>, Hegseth said journalists would now be required to have official approval and escorts from the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs to enter certain areas, including the offices of the secretary, his top aides and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Those areas had previously been freely accessible to credentialed reporters.</p><p data-block-key=\"c3ru7\">Hegseth cited the protection of national security and classified national intelligence information as the justification for the changes. “While the Department remains committed to transparency, the Department is equally obligated to protect CNSI and sensitive information — the unauthorized disclosure of which could put the lives of U.S. Service members in danger.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1hthd\">The Pentagon Press Association in a <a href=\"https://x.com/idreesali114/status/1926070207333740620\">statement</a> condemned the changes, saying it “is extremely concerned by the decision to restrict movement of accredited journalists within the Pentagon through non-secured, unclassified hallways.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8edfd\">It noted that its members have “had access to non-secured, unclassified spaces in the Pentagon for decades, under Republican and Democratic administrations, including in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks,” without any security issues arising.</p><p data-block-key=\"7s3q6\">“This decision eliminates the media’s freedom to freely access press officers for the military services who are specifically hired to respond to press queries,” the association added.</p><p data-block-key=\"87ci2\">On January 31, the Defense Department had <a href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/31/media/pentagon-press-rotation-defense-department\">announced</a> a new media “rotation” policy that removed major news outlets — including The New York Times and Politico — from their dedicated office space in the Pentagon and replaced them with primarily conservative outlets, such as One America News Network and Breitbart.</p><p data-block-key=\"9v68t\">The White House has also sought to restrict press access by <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/white-house-wrests-control-of-presidential-press-pool-from-correspondents/\">taking over</a> the presidential press pool and attempting to <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/ap-reporters-barred-from-white-house-events-over-editorial-style-policy/\">ban the Associated Press</a> from covering the president in retaliation for its editorial policy.</p><p data-block-key=\"7p3ci\">Since taking office, Hegseth has <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers-as-defense-secretary/\">joined</a> President Donald Trump and other members of his administration in taking steps to intimidate leakers and news outlets that have produced critical coverage.</p><p data-block-key=\"28da5\">The Defense Department did not respond to an emailed request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP17268664061269.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"ufyd9\">The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, is seen from above. On May 23, 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth restricted journalists’ access while inside the building.</p>",
"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": 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": "Virginia",
"abbreviation": "VA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Federal government: Agency"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": [
"Change in policy or practice"
]
},
{
"title": "Multimedia journalist held for an hour by US border officers at LA airport",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multimedia-journalist-held-for-an-hour-by-us-border-officers-at-la-airport/",
"first_published_at": "2025-09-12T16:00:40.267359Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-09-15T13:50:07.655017Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-09-15T13:50:07.566294Z",
"date": "2025-05-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"8s1qi\">A freelance multimedia journalist was held in secondary screening for an hour and told that officers couldn’t find them in “the system,” while passing through U.S. customs in Los Angeles, California, on May 11, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"68n6g\">The journalist, who asked to remain anonymous out of concern for further issues while traversing the border for ongoing reporting, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they have been traveling extensively between Mexico City and LA for work on “a lot of immigration stories.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fj2cr\">Two months prior, they were <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/multimedia-journalist-questioned-at-lax-about-immigration-reporting\">questioned</a> about their immigration reporting when arriving at LA International Airport. Following that experience, they said they took precautionary steps ahead of their next flight to the U.S.</p><p data-block-key=\"68is2\">“I had deleted a lot of sensitive apps and contacts off my phone, powered off my phone, powered off my computer. I’d written down the Reporters hotline on a piece of paper,” they said, referring to the <a href=\"https://www.rcfp.org/legal-hotline/\">legal hotline</a> of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.</p><p data-block-key=\"b4gc0\">When they arrived and passed through U.S. customs at LAX, the newly implemented facial recognition cameras failed to confirm their identity. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer asked them a standard array of questions and then directed them to a secondary screening room.</p><p data-block-key=\"33m9c\">“At that point, I just thought, I don’t really know what’s going on, but it just all felt a little uncomfortable because I am a U.S. citizen. I do have a passport, it’s up to date, no expiration,” they told the Tracker. “But then again, since the situation was kind of intimidating, I didn’t want to question them too much. When you’re in those screening rooms, that’s it. You’re in a different area, and what you say or what you do, it’s not going to have much power there.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6tjch\">After approximately an hour waiting, a CBP officer returned their passport and told them, “We couldn’t find you in the system for a while. You have a very common last name, but don’t worry, you’re an American citizen, so you can go ahead and leave.”</p><p data-block-key=\"31kt6\">The journalist said they had never had an issue before, with years of international travel, and it was particularly concerning that it happened on the heels of being questioned about their reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"8asqm\">“It just seems odd that in this year there’s been that slight escalation of asking these questions initially and then the second time around, they kind of just stopped me for no good reason,” they said. “The whole thing just put me a little on edge, because I don’t know what sort of internal documentation or tabs that they keep on people.</p><p data-block-key=\"a6s8n\">“My main takeaway was just that none of this really adds up. And I just want to be prepared for the next time I go across the border."</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP25157725077719.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"xb3r6\">A freelance multimedia journalist was taken into secondary screening and held for an hour on May 11, 2025, while passing through customs at California’s Los Angeles International Airport, pictured above.</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": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "Los Angeles International Airport",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": true,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "no",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "no",
"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": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"Mexico",
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"immigration"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Anonymous reporter 8 (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist subpoenaed by reporters arrested at 2021 California protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-subpoenaed-by-reporters-arrested-at-2021-california-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-04T19:58:38.140365Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-07-29T17:53:24.646696Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-07-29T17:53:24.377219Z",
"date": "2025-05-09",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0xy36\">Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally was subpoenaed on May 9, 2025, by two Knock LA journalists for testimony at the trial of their civil case against the city of Los Angeles, California, and multiple police officers.</p><p data-block-key=\"cao3n\"><a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/la-times-reporter-among-multiple-journalists-detained-while-covering-echo-park-protest/\">Queally</a> and the two reporters were among the nearly <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_lower=2021-03-25&date_upper=2021-03-25&state=California&categories=Arrest%2FCriminal+Charge\">20 journalists detained</a> while documenting protests near LA’s Echo Park Lake on March 25, 2021, after police surrounded and arrested everyone using a tactic called “kettling.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9at4g\">Queally was released after approximately 30 minutes, with help from attorneys and a managing editor for the Times. Other journalists, including the two reporters for nonprofit community journalism outlet Knock LA, were charged with failure to disperse. The charges were quickly dropped.</p><p data-block-key=\"ddf8v\">The Knock LA reporters, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/knock-la-reporter-arrested-while-covering-echo-park-protest-charged-with-failure-to-disperse/\">Jonathan Peltz</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-for-knock-la-arrested-with-colleague-while-covering-echo-park-protest-in-la/\">Kate Gallagher</a>, then <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.851533/gov.uscourts.cacd.851533.1.0.pdf\">filed a lawsuit</a> against the city, as well as then-Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore and 10 police officers. The reporters alleged that their arrests violated both their constitutional rights and California’s <a href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=52.1.&lawCode=CIV\">Tom Bane Civil Rights Act</a>, which protects journalists.</p><p data-block-key=\"96ik8\">“This is a civil rights action challenging the Los Angeles Police Department’s longstanding policy, custom and practice of obstructing, targeting, and retaliating against members of the press for exercising their First Amendment rights to gather news regarding police officer activity in public places,” the lawsuit states.</p><p data-block-key=\"eme7o\">Three weeks before the case was set to go to trial on May 27, attorneys for Peltz and Gallagher subpoenaed Queally, ordering him to appear as a witness and to testify about “the protest, his coverage of it, and being detained, but ultimately released when the officers identified him as a journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ei402\">In a motion to quash the subpoena filed May 23, attorneys representing Queally argued that, in a rush to vindicate their own interests, the Knock LA journalists had infringed on the rights of a fellow reporter.</p><p data-block-key=\"agdq\">“The free flow of information to the public is jeopardized when litigants use the coercive power of the Court to force journalists to testify in support of parties’ private aims, which undermines reporters’ credibility and hampers their ability to do their job,” the motion said.</p><p data-block-key=\"bvkol\">Dan Laidman, one of the attorneys representing Queally, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the decision to challenge the subpoena doesn’t reflect any position on the merits of the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"vl1g\">“James Queally and the Los Angeles Times have demonstrated histories of supporting press freedom and fellow journalists,” Laidman wrote, but added, “Forcing reporters to testify in court about matters that they cover compromises their ability to gather the news, and under the First Amendment it’s only allowed as a last resort in exceptional circumstances.”</p><p data-block-key=\"46uu6\">A hearing on the motion is scheduled for June 26, and the trial date has been moved to Aug. 5.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Queally_CA_subpoena.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"onhid\">A portion of a subpoena issued to Los Angeles Times reporter James Queally on May 9, 2025, ordering him to testify in a California civil case filed against police by two Knock LA reporters.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"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": "Federal",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2025-07-23 16:53:00+00:00) Subpoena for LA journalist’s testimony quashed"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"encampment"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"James Queally (Los Angeles Times)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "CNN journalist deposed in Nexstar lawsuit, questioned about emails",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/cnn-journalist-deposed-in-nexstar-lawsuit-questioned-about-emails/",
"first_published_at": "2025-09-09T22:27:04.568263Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-09-09T22:27:04.568263Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-09-09T21:52:20.885235Z",
"date": "2025-05-01",
"exact_date_unknown": true,
"city": "Grand Rapids",
"longitude": -85.66809,
"latitude": 42.96336,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e94zx\">CNN journalist Liam Reilly was <a href=\"https://thedesk.net/2025/05/liam-reilly-cnn-nexstar-deposition-lawsuit/\">subpoenaed in May 2025</a> to testify as part of a defamation lawsuit filed against Nexstar Media Group by two former news directors at WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He sat for a deposition on July 14.</p><p data-block-key=\"9doa\">Reilly’s deposition was limited to questioning about 2023 emails he exchanged with Nexstar’s chief communications officer, Gary Weitman, after internal fallout from a newsroom memo about Pride Month coverage.</p><p data-block-key=\"bnh35\">Reilly confirmed under oath that he recognized the emails bearing his signature and that he sent them as part of his reporting duties at CNN, according to a deposition transcript filed in federal court in Michigan. Neither Reilly nor CNN is a party to the lawsuit.</p><p data-block-key=\"42pp7\">Last year, the Nexstar news executives, Stanton Tang and Amy Fox, filed related lawsuits after being fired over an internal memo — written by Fox at Tang’s direction — that urged reporters to limit Pride Month coverage and present “both sides” on LGBTQ+ issues, citing the station’s conservative audience.</p><p data-block-key=\"2mtgr\">Tang and Fox allege they were scapegoated by Nexstar, which <a href=\"https://kesq.com/money/cnn-business-consumer/2023/06/16/nexstar-investigates-after-michigan-news-station-told-to-get-both-sides-of-pride-event/\">later issued a public apology</a> for the memo and said it did not reflect the company’s values.</p><p data-block-key=\"8rlnd\">Attorneys for Nexstar filed a motion for a summary judgment on Aug. 22, asking the court to dismiss Tang and Fox’s claims without proceeding to trial.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ov5v\">Neither Reilly nor his attorney, Katherine Bolger, responded to a U.S. Press Freedom Tracker request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2025-09-07_at_9.22.15P.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"wqano\">A portion of the deposition transcript of CNN reporter Liam Reilly, who was ordered to testify on July 14, 2025, in connection with a Grand Rapids, Michigan, defamation lawsuit against Nexstar Media Group.</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": 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": "Federal",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "Michigan",
"abbreviation": "MI"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Liam Reilly (CNN)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Town officials in Arizona remove press table from council chamber",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/town-officials-in-arizona-remove-press-table-from-council-chamber/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-24T19:40:57.535745Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-24T19:40:57.535745Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-24T19:40:57.427299Z",
"date": "2025-04-30",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Fountain Hills",
"longitude": -111.71736,
"latitude": 33.61171,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hwmss\">A press table in the council chamber for the town of Fountain Hills, Arizona, was removed in April 2025 in apparent retaliation for reporting by a local newspaper.</p><p data-block-key=\"9g09g\">Councilmember Rick Watts requested the removal of the designated press table from the chambers, citing what he described as “partisan” reporting by the Fountain Hills Times Independent.</p><p data-block-key=\"5i35e\">Following a public council meeting about the town’s fire department budget, the Times Independent <a href=\"https://www.fhtimes.com/stories/fountain-hills-town-council-defers-fire-department-budget-plan,575108\">published a story</a> April 9 with a headline that Watts told <a href=\"https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/scottsdale/2025/06/02/town-council-retaliates-against-fountain-hills-times-independent-newspaper/83924427007/\">the Arizona Republic</a> was oversimplified.</p><p data-block-key=\"dbcad\">Vice Mayor Hannah Larrabee, who the Republic reported has expressed ongoing concerns about the outlet’s reporting since taking office, also supported the removal of the press table.</p><p data-block-key=\"d4h70\">“Frankly, I am fed up with the Times’ partisan reporting and think it is time to remove the corner ‘reporters’ table,” Watts wrote in an <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25957353-rickwatts05132025/#document/p1\">email</a> to Town Manager Rachael Goodwin.</p><p data-block-key=\"b8nld\">“If the Times personnel cannot act and report in a factual, nonpartisan manner, without resorting to sensational headlines, reporting on the council and various commissions without obvious bias,” she added, “then I see no reason for providing any special seating accommodation.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ekjos\">While reporters are not banned from council meetings entirely, the press table commonly reserved for the Times Independent is no longer there, and its reporters are now expected to sit with the audience.</p><p data-block-key=\"2boj2\">Larrabee also <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25957352-hannahtoth05132025/\">wrote</a> to Goodwin, “I do not wish to further encourage unbalanced reporting, and I believe it is best if the Times Independent sits with the audience to allow for more chairs in that corner, making more room for the public.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5gafl\">But Councilmember Brenda Kalivianakis asked about the missing press table at the <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/live/yAVs0M5uxZE?feature=shared&t=10744\">May 6 council meeting</a>, requesting a discussion about the change be held at a future meeting and added, “We’ve had a media table for as long as I could remember.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bd6le\">Kalivianakis later argued in a May 28 <a href=\"https://www.fhtimes.com/stories/press-table-removed-from-fountain-hills-council-chambers,587238\">op-ed</a> published in the Times Independent, that the decision to remove the press table was a deliberate attempt to retaliate against the paper for what some councilmembers perceived as unfavorable reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"cn2e1\">“Retaliation inherently has a chilling effect, making journalists and citizens hesitant to investigate controversial topics or criticize those in power,” Kalivianakis wrote. “If journalists are reluctant to report on sensitive topics, the people regrettably pay the price.”</p><p data-block-key=\"8e1ve\">Free press advocates and experts also weighed in on the press table removal.</p><p data-block-key=\"d9fg5\">“Local governments don’t have to roll out the red carpet for reporters. A physically designated space also isn’t required for Arizona local journalists to do their jobs,” Chris Kline, president and CEO of the Arizona Media Association and Arizona Local News Foundation, told the <a href=\"https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/scottsdale/2025/06/02/town-council-retaliates-against-fountain-hills-times-independent-newspaper/83924427007/\">Arizona Republic</a>. “But small actions like this can send a big message, and when that message is frustration with coverage, it risks eroding openness in government.”</p><p data-block-key=\"af129\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker reached out to Watts and Larrabee for comment but did not receive a response. The Times Independent did not respond to requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2025-06-23_at_11.23.25.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"zztge\">Members of the Fountain Hills, Arizona, Town Council shown meeting on May 6, 2025, shortly after council members had removed the press table from the chamber.</p>",
"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": 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": "Arizona",
"abbreviation": "AZ"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Local government: Legislature"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": [
"Change in policy or practice"
]
},
{
"title": "Kash Patel targets press, leakers as FBI director",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kash-patel-targets-press-leakers-as-fbi-director/",
"first_published_at": "2025-05-23T15:42:44.489120Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-23T15:42:44.489120Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-23T15:38:11.340158Z",
"date": "2025-04-28",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3bvvd\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, FBI Director Kash Patel joined Trump in taking steps to intimidate leakers and news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting Patel’s efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"4sad0\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"f44a6\"><i>This article was first published on May 23, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"fvkg2\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#April 28\">April 28, 2025 | FBI director announces use of polygraphs in identifying leaks</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3bvvd\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"lhbv\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"April 28\" name=\"April 28\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"3bvvd\">April 28, 2025 | FBI director announces use of polygraphs in identifying leaks</h4><p data-block-key=\"doqf2\">FBI Director Kash Patel directed the bureau in April 2025 to begin administering polygraph exams to employees to identify the sources behind leaks to the media, The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/04/28/leak-polygraph-fbi-justice-odni-dhs/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"b189o\">A spokesperson told the Post that, “The seriousness of the specific leaks in question precipitated the polygraphs, as they involved potential damage to security protocols at the bureau.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5305a\">The investigations have been bolstered by Attorney General <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pam-bondi-targets-journalists-leakers-as-us-attorney-general/\">Pam Bondi’</a>s reversal of Biden-era policies that protected journalists from having their records seized or being forced to testify amid leak investigations.</p><p data-block-key=\"5am4a\">The new guidelines broadened the scope to not only leaks of classified material, but also “privileged and other sensitive information,” which could include details that are embarrassing to the administration or undermine its perspectives.</p><p data-block-key=\"1agct\">An official with top-secret clearance told the Post it’s a “toxic environment.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7el38\">“First, you’ve got the insecurity of not knowing whether you’re going to get fired or not,” the official said. “Then there’s the witch hunt to find the whistleblowers who are exposing the ineptitude and bad management of agencies. They’re trying to silence those who do not follow the party line.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f5rt\">Similar efforts to root out suspected leakers and disloyal “deep state” employees have also been announced by National Intelligence Director <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tulsi-gabbard-targets-press-leakers-as-national-intelligence-director/#March%2014\">Tulsi Gabbard</a>, Defense Secretary <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers-as-defense-secretary/\">Pete Hegseth</a> and Homeland Security Secretary <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kristi-noem-targets-press-leakers-as-homeland-security-secretary/\">Kristi Noem</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-02-21T220425Z_1699304300_RC2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"jystg\">Kash Patel after being sworn in as FBI director by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 21, 2025.</p>",
"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": 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": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Pam Bondi targets journalists, leakers as U.S. attorney general",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pam-bondi-targets-journalists-leakers-as-us-attorney-general/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-28T20:35:40.152281Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-02T16:18:30.343378Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-02T16:18:30.194041Z",
"date": "2025-04-25",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mfti3\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi joined Trump in taking steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting her efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"14u4v\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"bh0ov\"><i>This article was first published on April 28, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"13h14\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#April 25\">April 25, 2025 | U.S. attorney general rescinds journalists’ protection from federal subpoenas</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"mfti3\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"eab54\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"April 25\" name=\"April 25\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"mfti3\">April 25, 2025 | U.S. attorney general rescinds journalists’ protection from federal subpoenas</h4><p data-block-key=\"f570p\">U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a memo released on April 25, 2025, directed the reversal of Biden-era policies that protected journalists from having their records seized or being forced to testify amid leak investigations.</p><p data-block-key=\"2eaqj\">Under President Donald Trump’s first administration, the Department of Justice secretly obtained or attempted to obtain records from <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/?date_upper=2021-01-13&tags=Department+of+Justice&legal_order_target=THIRD_PARTY&categories=Subpoena%2FLegal+Order\">at least nine journalists</a> in connection with leak investigations. Such subpoenas endanger both the targeted journalists and the foundation of investigative journalism, which relies on source protection.</p><p data-block-key=\"64fs8\">After these subpoenas were made public, Biden administration Attorney General Merrick Garland announced in July 2021 that he was <a href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/doj-formally-adopts-new-policy-restricting-use-compulsory-process-obtain-reporter-information\">changing the department’s policies</a> to prevent such seizures of journalists’ records.</p><p data-block-key=\"bl514\">Less than four years later, Bondi <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25919680-bondi-memo/?mode=document\">justified</a> the revocation of that policy as necessary to thwart leaks that she said jeopardize the DOJ’s ability to “uphold the rule of law, protect civil rights, and keep America safe.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6pdt8\">“I have concluded that it is necessary to rescind Merrick Garland’s policies precluding the Department of Justice from seeking records and compelling testimony from members of the news media in order to identify and punish the source of improper leaks,” Bondi <a href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25919680-bondi-memo/?mode=document\">wrote in her April 25 memo</a>. “This Justice Department will not tolerate unauthorized disclosures that undermine President Trump’s policies, victimize government agencies, and cause harm to the American people.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dsfm6\">Bondi noted, however, that there will still be procedures in place to ensure such measures are only used when “essential” to successfully investigating or prosecuting the source of sensitive leaks. The language of the new policy had not been made public as of publication.</p><p data-block-key=\"5afkl\">Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project, condemned Bondi’s decision and criticized members of Congress who did not prioritize passing a federal shield law in 2024 that would have protected journalists from such subpoenas.</p><p data-block-key=\"7u74d\">“Every Democrat who put the PRESS Act on the back burner when they had the opportunity to pass a bipartisan bill codifying journalist-source confidentiality should be ashamed,” FPF Advocacy Director Seth Stern wrote in a statement. “Everyone predicted this would happen in a second Trump administration, yet politicians in a position to prevent it prioritized empty rhetoric over putting up a meaningful fight.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-04-16T130007Z_355032037_RC2V.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"m7s1z\">U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks at a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., on April 16, 2025.</p>",
"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": 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": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Former journalist subpoenaed to testify at ex-mayor’s criminal trial",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/former-journalist-subpoenaed-to-testify-at-ex-mayors-criminal-trial/",
"first_published_at": "2025-05-16T16:56:59.294777Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-16T16:56:59.294777Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-16T16:56:01.029002Z",
"date": "2025-04-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Indio",
"longitude": -116.21677,
"latitude": 33.7207,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"g0tpy\">Barrett Newkirk, a former reporter for The Desert Sun, was subpoenaed on April 24, 2025, in connection with the Indio, California, trial of an ex-mayor accused of taking bribes. A judge ruled in May that the state’s shield law doesn’t protect Newkirk from being questioned about his coverage.</p><p data-block-key=\"f2h4e\">According to court filings reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Newkirk worked on two articles in April 2015 concerning Stephen Pougnet, then mayor of Palm Springs, and his dealings with two real estate developers.</p><p data-block-key=\"ackq1\">Pougnet was indicted in 2019 alongside developers John Wessman and Richard Meaney on felony counts of bribery, perjury and conflict of interest, The Desert Sun <a href=\"https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2020/03/04/palm-springs-corruption-case-mayor-needed-make-money-developers-found-him-employment-transcripts-sho/4942051002/\">reported</a>. Less than a month before the case was finally set to go to trial, prosecutors subpoenaed Newkirk, ordering him to appear to testify before the jury on May 1.</p><p data-block-key=\"9nv4q\">Attorneys representing Newkirk and The Desert Sun asked a judge to strike down the subpoena in an April 30 filing, arguing that the former reporter’s testimony was not needed to verify Pougnet’s quotes in the articles and that, given more than a decade had passed, he was unable to recall details to authenticate the quotes.</p><p data-block-key=\"85ik2\">They added that anything else that Newkirk might be asked about at trial — such as his newsgathering and reporting techniques — is squarely protected by the state’s shield law, particularly as it is the prosecution that seeks his testimony.</p><p data-block-key=\"1jshm\">Were the subpoena to be enforced, they argued, it would “convert Newkirk and <i>The Desert Sun</i> into a ‘research tool’ or ‘investigative arm’ of the prosecution, called to testify whenever they may have obtained news or an interview that the government might find useful.”</p><p data-block-key=\"d8rpo\">The prosecution argued in its response that reporter’s privilege only extends to information about sources and unpublished materials, not the standards and practices behind attributing quotes in articles.</p><p data-block-key=\"9586v\">“Indeed, some might say that the public is entitled to know what standards apply to quoting and attributing statements in the press, and in fact many journalistic organizations post their standards on these issues online,” Deputy District Attorney Natasha Sorace wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"5hhbv\">Superior Court Judge Samuel Diaz Jr. sided with the prosecution on May 7, but ruled that he would hear additional arguments on whether the evidence would be admissible before compelling Newkirk to testify, <a href=\"https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2025/05/07/reporter-may-have-to-testify-in-ex-palm-springs-mayors-bribery-trial/83500546007/\">according to The Desert Sun</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dlr37\">Before a hearing could be scheduled, Pougnet <a href=\"https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/crime_courts/2025/05/14/ex-palm-springs-mayor-pougnet-pleads-guilty-in-bribery-case/83632290007/\">pleaded guilty</a> May 14 to more than a dozen counts — including bribery, conspiracy and holding prohibited financial interests in public contracts — and entered no contest pleas to three perjury charges.</p><p data-block-key=\"5qlrs\">The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker was unable to confirm whether the prosecution still intends to pursue Newkirk’s testimony at the trial of Pougnet’s co-defendant, Wessman, which is scheduled to begin May 19 or 20.</p><p data-block-key=\"8tbqu\">Newkirk, his attorney and Gannett — The Desert Sun’s parent company — did not respond to requests for comment. The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the pending case.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Newkirk_subpoena.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"28nn6\">A portion of an April 24, 2025, subpoena ordering former journalist Barrett Newkirk to appear to testify at the Indio, California, bribery trial of a former mayor about whom Newkirk had reported for The Desert Sun a decade prior.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"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": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Barrett Newkirk (The Desert Sun)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Tulsi Gabbard targets press, leakers as national intelligence director",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tulsi-gabbard-targets-press-leakers-as-national-intelligence-director/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-03T16:11:56.617031Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-02T16:20:42.800166Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-02T16:20:42.689041Z",
"date": "2025-04-23",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i6tw2\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, joined Trump in taking steps to intimidate leakers and news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting her efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"20bip\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"dg89\"><i>This article was first published on March 14, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"2jlqg\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#April 23\">April 23, 2025 | Intelligence director announces referral of leakers to Justice Department</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#March 14\">March 14, 2025 | Investigation opened into media leaks from U.S. spy agencies</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"i6tw2\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"erfo7\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"April 23\" name=\"April 23\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"466w0\">April 23, 2025 | Intelligence director announces referral of leakers to Justice Department</h4><p data-block-key=\"blvja\">National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard announced on April 23, 2025, that she had referred two individuals to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution for allegedly leaking to the press.</p><p data-block-key=\"4vnd4\">“These deep-state criminals leaked classified information for partisan political purposes to undermine POTUS’ agenda,” Gabbard <a href=\"https://x.com/DNIGabbard/status/1915150870255210774\">wrote</a>. “I look forward to working with @TheJusticeDept and @FBI to investigate, terminate and prosecute these criminals.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Politicization of our intelligence and leaking classified information puts our nation’s security at risk and must end. Those who leak classified information will be found and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. <br> <br>Today, I referred two intelligence community LEAKS…</p>— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DNIGabbard/status/1915150870255210774?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 23, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"466w0\">Gabbard and her <a href=\"https://x.com/alexahenning/status/1915149991934407053\">deputy chief of staff</a> also noted that a third criminal referral was imminent.</p><p data-block-key=\"ffbp\">The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/04/24/tulsi-gabbard-leaks-leakers-justice-department/\">reported</a> that such referrals are common when classified information is published by the press, and the DOJ then decides whether to investigate or pursue criminal charges.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 14\" name=\"March 14\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"i6tw2\">March 14, 2025 | Investigation opened into media leaks from U.S. spy agencies</h4><p data-block-key=\"9rin\">Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, <a href=\"https://www.odni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2025/4053-pr-02-25\">announced</a> on March 14, 2025, that the Trump administration will aggressively investigate the source of leaks from U.S. intelligence agencies to members of the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"63nn\">In <a href=\"https://x.com/DNIGabbard/status/1900525554039939309\">posts</a> on the social platform X, Gabbard cited recent reports by HuffPost, The Washington Post, NBC News and The Record as examples of such “politically motivated leaks.” She added that the leaks “undermine our national security and the trust of the American people, and will not be tolerated.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b2408\">The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/trump-administration-leak-investigations.html\">reported</a> that, while Gabbard promised action against the leakers and not the newsrooms that publish it, it signals an effort to chill national security reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"du0gi\">“Leak investigations threaten the free flow of information that the public needs to hold the government accountable, especially in the national security context,” Bruce Brown, the president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, told the Times. “This is true from administration to administration.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-03-08T024534Z_549153628_RC29.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"lqk4u\">Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas, on March 5, 2025.</p>",
"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": 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": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"HuffPost",
"Media",
"NBC News",
"The Record",
"The Washington Post"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Freelance journalist barred from New York school board meeting",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/freelance-journalist-barred-from-new-york-school-board-meeting/",
"first_published_at": "2025-05-22T17:22:47.265752Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-22T17:22:47.265752Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-22T17:22:47.103070Z",
"date": "2025-04-22",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Mastic Beach",
"longitude": -72.85205,
"latitude": 40.76677,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"v9xs1\">Freelance reporter Jennifer Holloway was barred from attending a William Floyd School Board meeting in Mastic Beach, New York, on April 22, 2025, after she filmed the arrest of an attendee and was removed from the building.</p><p data-block-key=\"b15r3\">Holloway told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker she was on assignment for <a href=\"https://protest.one/about/\">PRO_NYC</a>, a New York-based digital news outlet that focuses on protests, events, demonstrations and rallies in the tristate area. The meeting’s public comment portion was expected to include comments on the inclusion of a transgender student-athlete on the William Floyd High School track team, and Holloway said there had been rumors that anti-trans counterprotesters were planning to attend.</p><p data-block-key=\"1n3b0\">She said that the school board meeting followed a normal routine and, when she learned that it would be at least half an hour before the public comment section would begin, she left temporarily to go to her car.</p><p data-block-key=\"8t5op\">“As I was walking back, lo and behold, what did I see? Two policemen literally running inside the school building,” Holloway said. “I had my phone in my hand and I turned on the video. Very shortly after, I was literally pushed out of the school.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4vqb9\">In a clip of the interaction reviewed by the Tracker, a school security officer is seen approaching Holloway while she stands a reasonable distance from the ongoing arrest. The officer then tells her to take her phone outside while directing her toward the door.</p><p data-block-key=\"bf45k\">“I’m press,” Holloway responds. “I know. Turn around, go outside,” the officer replies. When Holloway asserts that she has a right to be there, as it’s a public area, the officer replies, “No you don’t” and “No it’s not.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6cut6\">She told the Tracker that in addition to identifying herself verbally as a member of the press, she was wearing a media credential issued by the New York City mayor’s office.</p><p data-block-key=\"7i81\">Holloway said that being barred from reentering prevented her from observing the entirety of the public comment section, which was her primary reporting objective.</p><p data-block-key=\"5cu5e\">“We did get a tweet out, and I did manage to take some photographs that we put out, but the part that I really wanted to get was some of the speeches and public comment,” she added.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dozens gathered outside William Floyd High School in Mastic prior to a Board of Education meeting, where Moms for Liberty were rumored to be appearing in protest of the presence of a trans athlete on the track team. <br><br>Much public comment is expected during the packed meeting. <a href=\"https://t.co/XRUaMvssNJ\">pic.twitter.com/XRUaMvssNJ</a></p>— PRO_NYC (@protest_nyc) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/protest_nyc/status/1914823377040134574?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 22, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7uk8z\">While Holloway noted an argument could be made that her removal violated not only the First Amendment but also the state’s open meeting laws, she said she is unlikely to pursue any legal recourse.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ig5p\">“I never caused any disturbance at all, as witnessed in the video. And it was just really unfair,” Holloway said. “I don’t expect any compensation. Probably the best I can hope for is an apology.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fjm76\">School Board President April Coppola did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Holloway_NY_denial.cc30ef05.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"vvb7w\">Freelance reporter Jennifer Holloway was prevented from observing the public comment section of the April 22, 2025, William Floyd School Board meeting in Mastic Beach, New York, after she filmed the arrest of an attendee and was removed from the building.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"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 York",
"abbreviation": "NY"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"LGBTQ+ rights"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Local government: Public school district"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jennifer Holloway (PRO_NYC)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": [
"Government event"
]
},
{
"title": "News crew caught in gunfire outside South Carolina park",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/news-crew-caught-in-gunfire-outside-south-carolina-park/",
"first_published_at": "2025-05-01T19:22:53.603411Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-16T14:49:58.598390Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-16T14:49:58.501797Z",
"date": "2025-04-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chester",
"longitude": -81.21426,
"latitude": 34.70486,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"e1toc\">A WJZY news vehicle was struck with a stray bullet while two television journalists sat inside working on an unrelated story in Chester, South Carolina, on April 16, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"49erl\">Photojournalist Donald Fountain and reporter <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/news-crew-caught-in-gunfire-near-south-carolina-park-vehicle-damaged\">Jen Cardone</a> <a href=\"https://www.qcnews.com/news/u-s/chester-county/queen-city-news-reporter-photojournalist-shot-at-inside-vehicle-as-gunfire-erupts-at-chester-county-fairgrounds/\">reported</a> that they were finishing a piece on water runoff issues near the Chester County Fairgrounds at around 3:30 p.m. when gunfire erupted.</p><p data-block-key=\"41jkd\">“Bullets just started going off,” Fountain said.</p><p data-block-key=\"7i03m\">Chester County dispatchers reported multiple armed individuals were seen and that approximately 14 shots were fired, one of which struck the news vehicle, hitting just above the passenger window where Cardone was sitting.</p><p data-block-key=\"7hcau\">“I just froze,” Fountain said. “Then I saw one of the other guys come behind our car, and it was like, ‘Call 911.’ So I’m calling 911, and so many things are just going through my mind at that point. I’m just thinking, ‘Please don’t turn that gun on us because we were the only ones who saw it.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"ekkja\">Neither of the journalists was injured, though one individual was struck in the leg and was released following treatment.</p><p data-block-key=\"53epl\">WJZY reported that the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division has taken over the shooting investigation, which is ongoing.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Fountain_SC_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"uhlt1\">WJZY television photojournalist Donald Fountain recounts how a bullet struck the news vehicle in which he and reporter Jen Cardone were finishing a report near the county fairgrounds in Chester, South Carolina, on April 16, 2025.</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": 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": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"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": "South Carolina",
"abbreviation": "SC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Donald Fountain (WJZY)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "News crew caught in gunfire near South Carolina park, vehicle damaged",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/news-crew-caught-in-gunfire-near-south-carolina-park-vehicle-damaged/",
"first_published_at": "2025-05-01T19:21:18.876979Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-16T14:50:12.222823Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-16T14:50:12.130126Z",
"date": "2025-04-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Chester",
"longitude": -81.21426,
"latitude": 34.70486,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"wan8n\">A WJZY news vehicle was struck with a stray bullet while two television journalists sat inside working on an unrelated story in Chester, South Carolina, on April 16, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"d5n7l\">Reporter Jen Cardone and photojournalist <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/news-crew-caught-in-gunfire-outside-south-carolina-park\">Donald Fountain</a> <a href=\"https://www.qcnews.com/news/u-s/chester-county/queen-city-news-reporter-photojournalist-shot-at-inside-vehicle-as-gunfire-erupts-at-chester-county-fairgrounds/\">reported</a> that they were finishing a piece on water runoff issues near the Chester County Fairgrounds at around 3:30 p.m. when gunfire erupted.</p><p data-block-key=\"8u5rf\">Cardone told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that before the incident, she had been working in the vehicle for two hours and wearing noise canceling headphones to review her interviews.</p><p data-block-key=\"7k54o\">“We had just gotten our script approved and I tracked for my package, and Donald was starting to edit everything together,” she said. “I was working on the web story, and all of a sudden there were firecrackers in the parking lot.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1bof6\">Moments later, Cardone said they heard a man scream and saw him run to hide behind the news vehicle, telling them to call 911 because he had been shot.</p><p data-block-key=\"f8g0l\">“I was like, ‘Oh, OK. These are not firecrackers, these are bullets,’” she told the Tracker. “It was about 12 shots, but it was kind of rapid fire, and one of them hit what felt like the roof of the car.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cu4rl\">Chester County dispatchers reported multiple armed individuals were seen and that approximately 14 shots were fired, one of which struck the news vehicle, hitting just above the passenger window where Cardone was sitting.</p><p data-block-key=\"9rfnk\">“If I had been leaning forward and not sitting back to edit and work on the story or if that bullet just came down a few inches, I’d probably be dead right now, not talking to you,” Cardone said in her report.</p><p data-block-key=\"4lsd8\">Neither of the journalists was injured, though one individual was struck in the leg and was released following treatment. In a post on social media, Cardone wrote that in 10 years of reporting the experience was a first, adding, “Thankful to be alive and okay but still shaken up.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I’ve been a reporter for 10 years now and have been close to shootings but never hit by stray bullets. Today, this one nearly hit my head in the passenger seat. Thankful to be alive and okay but still shaken up <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Queen_City_News?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Queen_City_News</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/wooyJJTYVd\">pic.twitter.com/wooyJJTYVd</a></p>— Jen Cardone (@Card1Reports) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/Card1Reports/status/1912608544270217561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 16, 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=\"wan8n\">Cardone told the Tracker she didn’t think they had been targeted, as the news vehicle was unmarked, and that they had just been “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”</p><p data-block-key=\"498ug\">“If you’ve ever seen a car that’s been shot up, those go right through both sides of the car,” she said. “So the fact that it hit at the angle that it hit, and it didn’t get any closer to me or it didn’t hit the window — we could have gotten hit by glass — and none of that happened. The fact that we were able to walk away from that unscathed is completely crazy.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2smvo\">WJZY reported that the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division has taken over the shooting investigation, which is ongoing.</p><p data-block-key=\"2dl5p\"><i>Editor’s Note: This article was updated to include comment from Jen Cardone.</i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Cardone_SC_assault.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"qoh5q\">WJZY television reporter Jen Cardone recounts how a bullet struck the news vehicle in which she and photojournalist Donald Fountain were finishing a report near the county fairgrounds in Chester, South Carolina, on April 16, 2025.</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": null,
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": "private individual",
"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": "private individual",
"was_journalist_targeted": "no",
"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": [
{
"quantity": 1,
"equipment": "vehicle"
}
],
"state": {
"name": "South Carolina",
"abbreviation": "SC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"shot / shot at"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault",
"Equipment Damage"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jen Cardone (WJZY)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "News vehicle blocked in by tow trucks, driver charged with harassment",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/news-vehicle-blocked-in-by-tow-trucks-driver-charged-with-harassment/",
"first_published_at": "2025-05-22T19:20:32.384413Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-22T19:20:32.384413Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-22T19:20:32.215750Z",
"date": "2025-04-15",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Kansas City",
"longitude": -94.57857,
"latitude": 39.09973,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"74hvo\">In an apparent attempt to intimidate a news crew reporting outside a Kansas City, Missouri, towing company on April 15, 2025, drivers used their tow trucks to surround the crew’s news vehicle. At least one of the drivers has been identified by police and charged with harassment.</p><p data-block-key=\"b2i3b\"><a href=\"https://www.kctv5.com/2025/04/18/kansas-city-tow-truck-driver-charged-with-harassing-kctv5-journalists/\">According to KCTV</a>, a reporter and photojournalist were covering recent charges of forgery, stealing and harassment filed against the owner of Metro Tow & Transport and his mother. News Director Josh Morgan asked that the journalists remain anonymous while the investigation is ongoing.</p><p data-block-key=\"3h31g\">According to court records, the news crew had attempted to interview employees of the towing company and spoke with a community member who had retrieved their vehicle from the lot.</p><p data-block-key=\"14jbf\">The journalists then parked in an empty lot across the street ahead of a live report later in the day and were clearly identifiable as press, wearing KCTV apparel and with a “Media” placard in the front windshield of their vehicle.</p><p data-block-key=\"akb0f\">After approximately 45 minutes, three tow trucks and a pickup began to block in the news vehicle from the front, left and rear, while a fence blocked them in on the right.</p><p data-block-key=\"62o16\">According to the police report, the photojournalist reportedly became nervous after the first truck backed up in front of them and began <a href=\"https://www.kctv5.com/video/2025/04/17/felony-charges-filed-after-incident-tow-lot-involving-kctv5-crew/\">filming the incident</a>. The reporter, who called 911, told officers she was “afraid of what they might do since there was no escape for them.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9nic0\">Police reported that both journalists described the interaction as a threat, and believed that the tow company was trying to send them a message.</p><p data-block-key=\"6cesl\">When officers arrived at the scene, they directed the tow-truck drivers to move their vehicles, and the news crew was able to leave without further incident.</p><p data-block-key=\"2bu1f\">One of the drivers was later identified as James Basham, who was charged on April 17 with two counts of felony harassment.</p><p data-block-key=\"6643i\">In a statement to KCTV, Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson said: “Today, our office filed criminal charges against a tow truck driver who targeted reporters who were reporting on the very same company we previously charged with forgery, stealing, and harassment. Our press should be able to report on issues in our community without fear and any attempt to intimidate or silence them will not be tolerated.”</p><p data-block-key=\"653df\">Basham was released on a $50,000 bond and is next scheduled to appear June 25.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/KCTV_other.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"3lqmm\">Three tow truck drivers deliberately blocked in a KCTV news vehicle on April 15, 2025, while the news crew was reporting on charges against the owner of the towing company and his mother. One of the drivers was later arrested on charges of harassment.</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": 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": "Missouri",
"abbreviation": "MO"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Anonymous reporter 5 (KCTV)",
"Anonymous photojournalist 6 (KCTV)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Reporter subpoenaed for trial testimony by California city",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-subpoenaed-for-trial-testimony-by-california-city/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-16T12:46:11.899993Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-16T12:46:11.899993Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-15T21:29:57.182485Z",
"date": "2025-04-08",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Fresno",
"longitude": -119.77237,
"latitude": 36.74773,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"9uwh9\">Fresno Bee reporter Thaddeus Miller was subpoenaed by prosecutors for the city of Fresno, California, on April 8, 2025, in connection with a criminal case. The subpoena was dropped as moot following the case’s dismissal on April 10.</p><p data-block-key=\"6s30c\">The case involved Wickey Twohands, a 77-year-old homeless man who was arrested in October 2024 for alleged violations of the city’s controversial <a href=\"https://librarystage.municode.com/ca/fresno/ordinances/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=1310244\">anti-camping law</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fgrld\">The ordinance — <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/12/28/nx-s1-5195453/fresno-camping-ban-california-homelessness\">among the toughest</a> in the state — went into effect in September 2024 and bans camping, sitting or lying on public property at any time. Twohands pleaded not guilty on Jan. 21, 2025, and his trial was postponed until April 10 so his attorney could file motions to dismiss the case.</p><p data-block-key=\"andu4\">Deputy City Attorney Daniel Cisneros subpoenaed Miller and a second reporter, Fresnoland’s <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-called-to-testify-by-california-city-as-part-of-criminal-trial/\">Pablo Orihuela</a>, ordering the journalists to appear to testify at the hearing, the Bee <a href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article304201836.html\">reported</a>. Both <a href=\"https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/crime/article301488669.html\">Miller</a> and <a href=\"https://fresnoland.org/2025/02/21/fresno-anti-camping-law/\">Orihuela</a> had previously interviewed Twohands and reported on the charges against him.</p><p data-block-key=\"1lhb8\">Miller told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he had been out of the office each time they attempted to serve him from April 4 to 7, but the afternoon of April 8 they succeeded. He said the subpoena did not include any indication of what prosecutors intended to ask him, just a copy of his March article.</p><p data-block-key=\"a0jjk\">“The most frustrating part for me is it’s a good story, an interesting story, and now I can’t cover it,” Miller said. “It’s frustrating to try to be doing your job, where your whole job is being impartial and staying out of it, and then they try to pull you into it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"te0e\">The subpoenas to both Miller and Orihuela were rendered moot and functionally dropped after County Judge Brian Alvarez dismissed the case against Twohands on the grounds that the city violated his right to a speedy trial.</p><p data-block-key=\"dvfmv\">Following the dismissal, Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz told a Bee editor that he had not reviewed or authorized the subpoenas and that they had not been issued according to protocol, noting that “any communication with media or journalists has to be run through the City Attorney.”</p><p data-block-key=\"diqjk\">Janz told the Bee that the journalists were subpoenaed to confirm the validity of their reporting and what the defendant had told them during his interviews, and that in the future the city will first ask journalists to voluntarily testify about published information.</p><p data-block-key=\"a3oap\">Miller said that Janz’s stance was concerning. “I kind of expected the city attorney to say that they had made a mistake and that we shouldn’t worry about it in the future, but that doesn’t seem to be the stance he’s taken,” Miller told the Tracker. “It’s worrisome that the city attorney’s office sounds like they want to be doing this more in the future.”</p><p data-block-key=\"boegm\">David Loy, legal director of the First Amendment Coalition, told the Bee that while the state’s shield law does not prohibit such subpoenas, the California Evidence Code establishes that news articles are self-authenticating.</p><p data-block-key=\"dgq5o\">“Whether they ask or send subpoenas, it’s immaterial,” Loy said. “It’s unnecessary, superfluous and compromises the independence and neutrality of the press. People aren’t going to be able to trust reporters if they see reporters on the stand testifying to the government.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP24109803021430.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"mfs4w\">A homeless encampment in Fresno, California, in 2009. The city subpoenaed Fresno Bee reporter Thaddeus Miller on April 8, 2025, to testify at the trial of a man charged with violating the city’s new, controversial anti-camping law.</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": 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": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Thaddeus Miller (The Fresno Bee)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "GOP senator implies violence would reduce ‘fake news’",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/gop-senator-implies-violence-would-reduce-fake-news/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-09T18:25:49.459540Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-09T18:25:49.459540Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-09T18:25:49.364643Z",
"date": "2025-04-05",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ecsk1\">Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, citing a shooting at the U.S. Capitol 135 years ago, suggested in an April 5 video that the media would write fewer “false stories” if disputes were resolved using violence.</p><p data-block-key=\"80pa7\">In the video, posted on the social platform X, Mullin stands on a stairway inside the Capitol building and recounts the story of reporter Charles Kincaid, who in 1890 shot and killed a former congressman, William Taulbee, amid a feud stemming from Kincaid’s reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"vgke\">Kincaid was later found not guilty on the grounds of self-defense, <a href=\"https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1851-1900/The-death-of-Congressman-William-Taulbee-on-the-steps-of-the-U-S--Capitol/\">according to</a> the House of Representatives historical archives.</p><p data-block-key=\"ak6ef\">Mullin, gesturing in the video to the spot where he said the incident occurred, adds: “Now, there’s a lot we could say about reporters and the stories they write, but I bet they would write a lot less false stories — as President Trump says, ‘fake news’ — if we could still handle our differences that way.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">History from the House: A Reporter-Congressman murder mystery. <a href=\"https://t.co/rPn2TC4haP\">pic.twitter.com/rPn2TC4haP</a></p>— Markwayne Mullin (@SenMullin) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/SenMullin/status/1908369627580596253?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 5, 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=\"ecsk1\">After The Oklahoman published a <a href=\"https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/2025/04/06/markwayne-mullin-fake-news-remarks-us-senator-capitol/82963694007/?taid=67f2c129175fce0001c10fd3&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter\">story</a> about Mullin’s comments, the senator <a href=\"https://x.com/SenMullin/status/1908964392344990185\">claimed</a> in an April 6 post that he was joking and accused the outlet of being “out of touch with Oklahoma.”</p><p data-block-key=\"alapt\">“Don’t forget I also JOKED about bringing back caning to settle political disputes,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"dbrjk\">Mullin did not respond to a request for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP25072578550423.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"wr0zg\">Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma speaks to reporters in the U.S. Capitol on March 13, 2025. Mullin posted a video on the social platform X on April 5 suggesting the use of violence could reduce “fake news.”</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": 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": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Reporter called to testify by California city as part of criminal trial",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/reporter-called-to-testify-by-california-city-as-part-of-criminal-trial/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-09T17:41:59.284887Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-14T15:40:15.792520Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-14T15:40:15.608388Z",
"date": "2025-04-04",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Fresno",
"longitude": -119.77237,
"latitude": 36.74773,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"y4c1v\">Pablo Orihuela, a housing reporter for the nonprofit news outlet Fresnoland, was subpoenaed by prosecutors for the city of Fresno, California, on April 4, 2025, in connection with a pending criminal case.</p><p data-block-key=\"3dk5o\">The case involves Wickey Twohands, a 77-year-old homeless man who was arrested in October 2024 and may be the first to go to trial for alleged violations of the city’s controversial <a href=\"https://librarystage.municode.com/ca/fresno/ordinances/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=1310244\">anti-camping law</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"fjiie\">The ordinance — <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/12/28/nx-s1-5195453/fresno-camping-ban-california-homelessness\">among the toughest</a> in the state — went into effect in September 2024 and bans camping, sitting or lying on public property at any time. Twohands pleaded not guilty on Jan. 21, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"79aq7\">Orihuela <a href=\"https://fresnoland.org/2025/02/21/fresno-anti-camping-law/\">reported on</a> the charges against Twohands in February after his trial was postponed so his attorney could file motions to dismiss the case. The parties are due back in court April 10 for a ruling on the motions and, if the case proceeds, the start of the jury trial.</p><p data-block-key=\"97q8\">Deputy City Attorney Daniel Cisneros ordered Orihuela to appear to testify at the hearing with less than a week’s notice, according to a copy of the subpoena reviewed by the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"a9cbl\">The request did not provide any indication of what the journalist would be questioned about, and included only a copy of Orihuela’s February article obtained April 3, according to the header.</p><p data-block-key=\"71a6r\">Orihuela declined to comment until after the hearing and Cisneros did not respond to a voicemail requesting comment.</p><p data-block-key=\"66gfc\">David Loy, legal director for the First Amendment Coalition, <a href=\"https://firstamendmentcoalition.org/2025/04/07/fac-defends-fresnoland-reporter-against-subpoena/\">wrote a letter</a> on Orihuela’s behalf objecting to the subpoena the day it was issued.</p><p data-block-key=\"4qhq\">“Even if the subpoena were timely and properly served, California’s reporter shield law absolutely protects Mr. Orihuela against a subpoena from the City compelling him to testify about any unpublished information,” Loy wrote. “Accordingly, the City should immediately cease attempting to subpoena Mr. Orihuela.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5duej\">Loy told the Tracker that the subpoena was improperly served, as it was sent via email to Orihuela and Fresnoland Executive Director and Managing Editor Danielle Bergstrom, and that without proper service a witness has no legal obligation to comply.</p><p data-block-key=\"8nnsu\">“It’s obviously highly significant for any reporter or newspaper or publication to get a subpoena, even by email,” Loy said. “One would hope that government lawyers would be better educated on reporter shield law.</p><p data-block-key=\"86pdn\">“I’m going to assume best intentions, until proven otherwise: that this is some good-faith mistake and that hopefully — now that I’ve written to the city explaining the law — they have stopped trying to subpoena a reporter.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Orihuela_subpoena.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"w84w5\">A portion of the April 4, 2025, subpoena issued to Fresnoland reporter Pablo Orihuela by a prosecutor in Fresno, California, ordering the journalist to testify April 10 as part of the criminal case against a homeless man.</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": 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": "State",
"status_of_prior_restraint": null,
"mistakenly_released_materials": false,
"links": [],
"equipment_seized": [],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "California",
"abbreviation": "CA"
},
"updates": [
"(2025-04-10 11:34:00+00:00) Subpoena for reporter’s testimony dropped after anti-camping case dismissed"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Subpoena/Legal Order"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Pablo Orihuela (Fresnoland)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "California city bans news distribution on most city property",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/california-city-bans-news-distribution-on-most-city-property/",
"first_published_at": "2025-05-02T13:48:12.180765Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-14T13:32:34.501952Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-14T13:32:34.285458Z",
"date": "2025-04-01",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Fullerton",
"longitude": -117.92534,
"latitude": 33.87029,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"equ4u\">The Fullerton City Council in California voted on April 1, 2025, to approve a policy restricting the display of news publications in city facilities, other than a single news rack in the public library.</p><p data-block-key=\"9u88r\">The Los Angeles Times <a href=\"https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/entertainment/story/2025-04-03/fullerton-news-racks-policy\">reported</a> that the council’s decision came after a new local blog, Friends For Fullerton’s Future, emailed Jan. 13 to request a news rack be installed in the lobby of the Fullerton City Hall for a planned print edition.</p><p data-block-key=\"18s6c\">A news rack in City Hall has long distributed a community newspaper, the <a href=\"https://fullertonobserver.com/2025/04/02/fullerton-city-council-enacts-news-publication-restrictions/\">Fullerton Observer</a>, and a California State University, Fullerton, student newspaper, the <a href=\"https://dailytitan.com/opinion/editorial-fullerton-threatens-press-censorship/article_490b1c49-45e7-42d7-96ee-823f0f190c34.html\">Daily Titan</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"8i4o6\">After its review, the council approved, 4-1, a policy that restricted permitted materials to only those published by the city, government agencies, public utilities and select educational institutions.</p><p data-block-key=\"2qflg\">In its <a href=\"https://fullerton.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7284343&GUID=8FD58C5E-29A0-41D5-8548-4BE5A3D30AB9&Options=&Search=\">resolution</a>, the council said that the city has an interest in ensuring that public facilities “do not transform into public forums through unmanaged distribution of private or non-governmental materials.” With the vote, the council directed its staff to draft a policy regarding the display and distribution of materials in city-owned facilities.</p><p data-block-key=\"bhrb3\">During the April 1 meeting, city officials noted that a similar ban was in place in two other Orange County cities — Irvine and Newport Beach, LAist <a href=\"https://laist.com/brief/news/politics/newspapers-fullerton-government-publications-city-hall-community-centers\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"d13qe\">After the meeting, council member Ahmad Zahra, who voted against the ban, released a <a href=\"https://fullertonobserver.com/2025/04/02/fullerton-city-council-enacts-news-publication-restrictions/\">statement</a> saying, “I believe this is an encroachment on our First Amendment right of free speech and opens our city to liability.” He noted that one city in Orange County — reported by the Times as San Juan Capistrano — rescinded a similar policy after it was sued.</p><p data-block-key=\"123j5\">“Further, this ban will remove our local newspapers from public view,” he added, “making it harder for residents—especially seniors, individuals with limited mobility, and those without internet access—to stay informed on local issues.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2qgf2\">The Daily Titan executive board, in a <a href=\"https://dailytitan.com/news/statement-the-daily-titan-condemns-recent-fullerton-policy-to-ban-distribution-of-non-governmental-publications/article_f489bd4a-6d55-4d3a-9a98-dd52c5ecc66f.html\">statement</a>, called on the council to reconsider the ban, saying, “We strongly condemn this attack on press freedom and are tremendously proud of the fair and balanced journalism we provide to the Fullerton community. As student journalists, the Daily Titan for decades has provided an invaluable learning platform for aspiring journalists to prepare themselves to hold politicians and public officials accountable.”</p><p data-block-key=\"sdn8\">In a separate <a href=\"https://dailytitan.com/opinion/editorial-fullerton-threatens-press-censorship/article_490b1c49-45e7-42d7-96ee-823f0f190c34.html\">editorial</a>, the Titan’s board noted that the outlets impacted by the ban, including the Daily Titan, had reported critically on the city government. They added that the ban was an excessive step to take to address council members’ concerns that papers containing extreme material could be distributed at City Hall.</p><p data-block-key=\"a80t4\">“To sacrifice the freedom of press to be displayed where it may best reach the populace in favor of a hypothetical is to burn the house down to kill a rat,” they wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"4vllk\">The Fullerton Observer <a href=\"https://fullertonobserver.com/2025/04/22/local-newspapers-get-a-second-chance-to-lift-the-censorship-policy-at-may-6-council-meeting/\">reported</a> April 22 that in light of discontent with the ban voiced by members of the community and some council members, the council planned to reconsider it at a May 6 meeting.</p><p data-block-key=\"deocn\">The Fullerton City Council, the Fullerton Observer and Friends For Fullerton’s Future did not respond to emailed requests for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/newspapers.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.png",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7u8vr\">The Fullerton, California, City Council during an April 1, 2025, meeting, at which it approved a policy banning news racks in most city facilities.</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": 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": [
"(2025-05-06 16:56:00+00:00) California city council preserves ban on news racks"
],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"Media"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Other Incident"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Rep. Ronny Jackson targets press as member of Congress",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-ronny-jackson-targets-press-as-member-of-congress/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-03T16:46:07.713633Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-02T16:23:12.304348Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-02T16:23:12.202014Z",
"date": "2025-03-27",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"chkg0\">From the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, Ronny Jackson, a Republican member of Congress from Texas, has joined him in taking steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered Trump and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting Jackson’s efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"bap30\">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=\"7vesi\"><i>This article was first published on April 3, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"e5pv3\"></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=\"#March 27\">March 27, 2025 | Representative introduces bill to strip NPR, PBS of government funding</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"chkg0\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"o867\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"March 27\" name=\"March 27\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"chkg0\">March 27, 2025 | Representative introduces bill to strip NPR, PBS of government funding</h4><p data-block-key=\"4mp5c\">Rep. Ronny Jackson introduced a <a href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/2443/all-actions?s=1&r=1\">bill</a> to the U.S. House of Representatives on March 27, 2025, to eliminate all direct and indirect government funding for NPR and PBS, the latest Congressional move attacking the public broadcasters.</p><p data-block-key=\"cbo4n\">Executives for NPR and PBS <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-targets-press-as-doge-subcommittee-chair/#March%2026\">testified</a> March 26 before a government oversight subcommittee hearing titled “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the heads of NPR and PBS accountable.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9jv79\">In her closing remarks, Subcommittee Chair Marjorie Taylor Greene announced that the body intended to call for the dissolution of the government-backed Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides around 1% of the budget for NPR and 16% for PBS.</p><p data-block-key=\"3oo6d\">According to a previously unreported 2011 analysis <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/briefing/public-broadcasters-republicans-npr-pbs.html\">published</a> April 1 by The New York Times, the defunding of CPB would cause nearly 200 NPR member stations to close. The effect on PBS and member stations would be even more dire, the newspaper said.</p><p data-block-key=\"krvl\">The day after the hearing, Jackson — joined by Greene and others — introduced his <a href=\"https://jackson.house.gov/uploadedfiles/npract.pdf\">bill</a> to eliminate taxpayer funding for what he referred to as “the partisan broadcasting outlets” NPR and PBS.</p><p data-block-key=\"bnksm\">“For decades, radical Democrats have funneled taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS under the guise of ‘serving the public,’ despite both organizations abandoning their founding missions to provide non-biased content and instead promoting the same radical-left propaganda as any other fake news outlet,” Jackson said in a <a href=\"https://jackson.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2301\">statement</a>. “If these organizations want to push partisan agendas, they do not deserve another dime of federal support.”</p><p data-block-key=\"199jv\">Jackson sponsored similar legislation in <a href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/1632?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22partisan+broadcasting+outlets%22%7D&s=1&r=2\">2023</a> and <a href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/8091?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22broadcasting%22%7D&s=7&r=1\">2024</a> that failed to make it out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.</p><p data-block-key=\"ucfa\"><a href=\"https://cpb.org/faq#1-2\">According to CPB</a>, the majority of the approximately $500 million it is appropriated each year is distributed to local public media stations. Funding for the nonprofit corporation was <a href=\"https://cpb.org/pressroom/CPB-Statement-Congress-Approval-Continued-Funding-Public-Media\">extended</a> March 14, with the House and Senate approving $535 million for 2027.</p><p data-block-key=\"8p3u6\">“Public media in the United States is a highly efficient public-private partnership that delivers a strong return on the taxpayers’ investment,” CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison said in a statement at the time. “With the support of Congress and the American people, CPB will continue to prioritize educational content and resources for families, provide essential local reporting and public safety information, and pursue technology advancements that enhance public media’s connection with audiences across multiple platforms.”</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/2024-07-17T231716Z_1388524073_HP1.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"o4i60\">Rep. Ronny Jackson speaks during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024.</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": 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": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"National Public Radio",
"PBS News"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist pulled by shoulder while documenting protest at Tennessee Capitol",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-pulled-by-shoulder-while-documenting-protest-at-tennessee-capitol/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:16:55.755470Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-04-04T18:16:55.755470Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-04-04T18:16:55.659482Z",
"date": "2025-03-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Nashville",
"longitude": -86.78444,
"latitude": 36.16589,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"1csal\">Independent journalist Jordyn Gualdani was pulled roughly by sergeants-at-arms at the state capitol building in Nashville, Tennessee, while documenting a protest on March 26, 2025. Gualdani, a wheelchair user, said the incident was part of a pattern of discriminatory behavior from sergeants-at-arms at the Capitol.</p><p data-block-key=\"37bc8\">The protest took place at a House Education Committee meeting on <a href=\"https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB0793&ga=114\">a controversial bill</a> that would allow school boards in the state to refuse to enroll children living there without legal permission into K-12 public schools. Recent hearings on the bill, which committee members voted to advance, were met with multiple protests by community members, <a href=\"https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2025/mar/27/tennessee-bill-allowing-school-boards-to-deny/\">according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"cc16b\">Gualdani attended the March 26 hearing to report on the vote and a planned demonstration by community members in the hearing room.</p><p data-block-key=\"1o71v\">He told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that as the vote began, protesters stood and began singing and chanting, at which point almost all of the journalists in the room went to the front of the room to document them.</p><p data-block-key=\"dpv2v\">Then, Gualdani said, the sergeants-at-arms began to push journalists to get them away from the protesters and toward the back of the room, in an unusual display of force. “This is not how demonstrations are typically handled,” he said.</p><p data-block-key=\"8jlsl\">“I was behind a reporter from a local station lining up a shot of activists being confronted when I was pulled backwards by my shoulder and told I needed to ‘get back,’” Gualdani told the Tracker. “If I had been sitting all the way back in my chair I would have tipped due to how my chair is balanced. Thankfully, I was leaning forward, which put my weight to the front of the chair.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3iq16\">Gualdani added that his press pass was visible, but also that “most of the officials know I’m a journalist.”</p><p data-block-key=\"dbapl\">Because he uses a wheelchair, “They typically try to force me to move by telling me I am a ‘fire hazard’ even though I am in the areas I should be and I am not in the way,” he said. “Tripods take up more room and are harder to move than I am.”</p><p data-block-key=\"32htb\">Seth Herald, a photojournalist on assignment for Reuters that day, also witnessed the sergeants-at-arms pushing journalists around the room during the hearing. He told the Tracker he was photographing the protesters at the front of the room when a sergeant-at-arms told him to stop and move to the back.</p><p data-block-key=\"7t2e4\">The chief sergeant-at-arms then tried to force Herald into the middle of the room, where he couldn’t find the space to move. When he told the officer that he was being prevented from doing his job as a journalist, the officer responded: “Well, I’m doing my job” and pushed Herald. The photojournalist told the Tracker the shove was out of frustration and that he didn't consider it an assault.</p><p data-block-key=\"78fan\">Eventually, Gualdani and Herald said, the sergeants-at-arms stopped pushing the journalists. “They did back off once it was clear we all would continue to do our jobs,” Gualdani said.</p><p data-block-key=\"am7kv\">Gualdani and Herald told the Tracker that rules around journalists’ placement in hearing rooms at the Capitol have been erratic. “Members of the press are told, ‘Stay behind a specific point on the side walls’ one day and then told that we are limited to the back wall on other days,” Gualdani said.</p><p data-block-key=\"e0dju\">Herald said that restrictions on journalists’ movements at the Capitol have seemed to increase. “Where a year ago we used to float around the committee room, they restrict us now to the side of the walls and the very back of the room and don’t let us move anywhere,” he said. “It almost feels intentional, like they’re making it uncomfortable. It’s shoulder to shoulder. You can’t do anything.”</p><p data-block-key=\"68l4g\">Gualdani said he reported the more forceful response from law enforcement to the chief sergeant-at-arms. “He was dismissive, but agreed to talk with the sergeants under him,” Gualdani told the Tracker. “His excuse was that maybe they were trying to guide people and accidentally touched journalists.” But Gualdani and Herald both said the sergeants-at-arms seemed to be targeting the group of journalists to impede their access to the protesters.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-03-27T182948Z_442962200_RC29.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"3kc6l\">Protesters at a Tennessee House hearing in Nashville on March 26, 2025. Independent journalist Jordyn Gualdani was pulled by the shoulder by a sergeant-at-arms while documenting the demonstration.</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": 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": "law enforcement",
"was_journalist_targeted": "yes",
"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": "Tennessee",
"abbreviation": "TN"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Jordyn Gualdani (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene targets press as DOGE subcommittee chair",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-targets-press-as-doge-subcommittee-chair/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-03T15:55:52.395275Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-02T16:21:58.218495Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-02T16:21:58.104649Z",
"date": "2025-03-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"80pcs\">From the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican member of Congress from Georgia, has joined Trump in taking steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting her efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"48klo\">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=\"aaurn\"><i>This article was first published on Jan. 20, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"5ie7j\"></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=\"#March 26\">March 26, 2025 | U.S. representative leads heated subcommittee hearing attacking NPR, PBS</a> \r\n<p><a href=\"#Feb 3\">Feb. 3, 2025 | U.S. representative summons NPR, PBS to oversight hearing</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#Jan 20\">Jan. 20, 2025 | U.S. representative threatens PBS funding</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"80pcs\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"cee66\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"Mach 26\" name=\"March 26\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"80pcs\">March 26, 2025 | U.S. representative leads heated subcommittee hearing attacking NPR, PBS</h4><p data-block-key=\"dm69l\">Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene led a hearing titled “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the heads of NPR and PBS accountable” on March 26, 2025, at which she questioned the chief executives of the two news outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"ci71p\">“At the DOGE Subcommittee, we are continuing our war on waste. That means rooting out spending that is unnecessary, wasteful and — frankly — un-American,” Greene said during her <a href=\"https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/anti-american-airwaves-holding-the-heads-of-npr-and-pbs-accountable/\">opening remarks</a>. “NPR and PBS have increasingly become radical, left-wing echo chambers for a narrow audience of mostly wealthy, white, urban liberals and progressives who generally look down on and judge rural America.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9roao\">Greene went on to accuse NPR of having a “communist agenda” and PBS of being “one of the founders of the trans child abuse industry.”</p><p data-block-key=\"b4atu\">NPR CEO Katherine Maher and PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger defended their organizations’ programming and the importance of public media during the more than two-hour-long hearing, rejecting the accusation that they pander to liberal audiences.</p><p data-block-key=\"8q66b\">Rep. Stephen Lynch voiced his support for public media and castigated the hearing, saying, “For over two decades of service on this oversight committee, I’ve worked with members on both sides of the aisle to investigate issues of critical importance to the safety and security of the American people.</p><p data-block-key=\"7n705\">“So I’m sad to see that this once-proud committee — the principal investigative committee in the House of Representatives — has now stooped to the lowest levels of partisanship and political theater.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3b5k3\">In her closing statements, Greene announced that the subcommittee intends to call for the dissolution of the government-backed Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides around 1% of NPR’s budget and 16% of that of PBS.</p><p data-block-key=\"6vqum\">“I think from what we have heard here today, the American people will not continue to allow such propaganda to be funded through the federal government with their hard-earned tax dollars,” Greene said. “We believe that you all can hate us on your own dime.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6di2h\">Rep. Ronny Jackson plans to introduce a bill on March 27 to pull all government funding from NPR and PBS, Fox News <a href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/politics/exclusive-gop-moves-defund-chronically-biased-npr-pbs-after-disastrous-hearing\">reported</a>. Jackson introduced a <a href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/1632/text\">similar bill</a> in 2023, but it didn’t make it out of committee.</p><p data-block-key=\"1mtmf\"><a href=\"https://cpb.org/faq#1-2\">According to CPB</a>, the majority of the approximately $500 million it is appropriated each year is distributed to local broadcast and radio stations. Funding for the nonprofit corporation was <a href=\"https://cpb.org/pressroom/CPB-Statement-Congress-Approval-Continued-Funding-Public-Media\">extended</a> on March 14, with the House and Senate approving $535 million for 2027.</p><p data-block-key=\"712i3\">“Public media in the United States is a highly efficient public-private partnership that delivers a strong return on the taxpayers’ investment,” CPB President and CEO Patricia Harrison said in a statement at the time. “With the support of Congress and the American people, CPB will continue to prioritize educational content and resources for families, provide essential local reporting and public safety information, and pursue technology advancements that enhance public media’s connection with audiences across multiple platforms.”</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 3\" name=\"Feb 3\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"80pcs\">Feb. 3, 2025 | U.S. representative summons NPR, PBS to oversight hearing</h4><p data-block-key=\"5t813\">Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sent letters to the CEOs of public broadcasters <a href=\"https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Letter-to-Maher-NPR-020325.pdf\">NPR</a> and <a href=\"https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Letter-to-Paula-Kerger_PBS.-020325.pdf\">PBS</a> on Feb. 3, 2025, summoning them to testify in March before the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency.</p><p data-block-key=\"8esen\">The letters both said that the subcommittee is concerned about the outlets’ “blatantly ideological and partisan coverage” and seeks to better understand their “position on providing Americans with accurate information.”</p><p data-block-key=\"eoji\">Greene specifically cited <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VfYjPzj1Xw\">PBS reporting on Elon Musk</a> making “what appeared to be a fascist salute” during the official post-inauguration celebration on Jan. 20, as well as NPR’s decision not to report on Hunter Biden’s laptop in 2020.</p><p data-block-key=\"11fel\">The news outlets’ reporting, Greene wrote, “should serve the entire public, not just a narrow slice of like-minded individuals and ideological interest groups.”</p><p data-block-key=\"f81o2\">NPR said in a <a href=\"https://www.vpm.org/npr-news/npr-news/2025-02-03/npr-statement-on-letter-from-subcommittee-on-doge\">statement</a> that it strives to hold itself to the highest standards of journalism, citing its publicly available standards and ethics guidelines, and the presence of a public editor.</p><p data-block-key=\"7ev6j\">“We welcome the opportunity to discuss the critical role of public media in delivering impartial, fact-based news and reporting to the American public,” the statement said.</p><p data-block-key=\"21ml6\">PBS did not respond to a request for comment.</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 20\" name=\"Jan 20\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"80pcs\">Jan. 20, 2025 | U.S. representative threatens PBS funding</h4><p data-block-key=\"4e32m\">Just hours after Donald Trump’s swearing-in on Jan. 20, 2025, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene <a href=\"https://x.com/RepMTG/status/1881479200672215171\">took to social media</a> to attack PBS News for <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VfYjPzj1Xw\">reporting</a> that Trump appointee Elon Musk gave “what appeared to be a fascist salute” while speaking at the official <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/capital-one-arena-takes-centre-stage-trumps-inauguration-2025-01-20/\">post-inauguration celebration</a> in Washington, D.C.</p><p data-block-key=\"29kvb\">“As the Chairwoman of the Oversight Subcommittee on DOGE (Department of Government Oversight), I look forward to PBS @NewsHour coming before my committee and explaining why lying and spreading propaganda to serve the Democrat party and attack Republicans is a good use of taxpayer funds,” Greene posted. “We will be in touch soon.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7ukeq\">Congress provides indirect grant support to PBS, as well as NPR, through funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, <a href=\"https://cpb.org/aboutcpb/financials/budget\">appropriating $535 million</a> for 2025. Trump’s first administration <a href=\"https://deadline.com/2020/02/donald-trump-public-media-pbs-npr-1202856498/\">proposed</a> eliminating all federal funding for PBS, and Trump made <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/28/trump-npr-pbs-funding-cut\">similar calls</a> on social media in the lead-up to the 2024 election.</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/2021-06-14T223312Z_860724845_RC2M.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"j0f37\">Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene holds a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., in June 2021.</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": 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": "District of Columbia",
"abbreviation": "DC"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [
"National Public Radio",
"PBS News"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Palestinian American journalist questioned, phone searched at NJ airport",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/palestinian-american-journalist-questioned-phone-searched-at-nj-airport/",
"first_published_at": "2025-05-08T16:07:32.150889Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-08T16:35:30.404754Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-08T16:35:30.309788Z",
"date": "2025-03-24",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Newark",
"longitude": -74.17237,
"latitude": 40.73566,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hnl7e\">Freelance journalist Hebh Jamal was flagged for additional security screening, questioned about her work and had her cellphone searched upon arriving at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport on March 24, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"8q88l\">Jamal, a Palestinian American reporter and documentarian who holds a U.S. passport, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she also advocates for Palestinian rights in Germany, where she lives with her family. She said that while this was far from her first experience with additional screening, it was the first time it was at the hands of U.S. authorities.</p><p data-block-key=\"61aam\">“My husband and myself, we’re both advocates. We were put on a list by the border police here in Germany, so that whenever we travel at the airport, we get secondary screening automatically,” Jamal said. “But it was never Interpol, it was never communication with the Americans. So I would travel from Germany and then, in the U.S., I wouldn’t have any issues.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2rlli\">She said she was flying from Frankfurt with her husband and two children to visit family in the United States, and wasn’t surprised when they were directed to additional screening. It was unusual, however, that the German border authorities questioned whether they planned to engage in any pro-Palestinian speech.</p><p data-block-key=\"3obts\">After they arrived at their gate, they were also approached by U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents who checked her husband’s visa, took photos of each page of his German passport, and asked him about where he had lived in Gaza and about his family there.</p><p data-block-key=\"3v9mq\">Upon their arrival in Newark, Jamal said both she and her husband were flagged for secondary screening and were taken to separate rooms by border officials.</p><p data-block-key=\"a13ka\">“At first they were very nice. They were like, ‘Yeah, you know, this is just routine,” she told the Tracker. “They asked me all sorts of questions about where I traveled, asking me a whole bunch of Middle Eastern countries that I’ve been to and if I’d been there.</p><p data-block-key=\"s008\">“And then they saw the Rafah border stamp.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4he37\">Jamal said she had traveled to the southern Gaza city bordering Egypt in 2022 to visit family. The officers asked her about who she met and why, whether anyone she encountered was affiliated with Hamas, if she had felt unsafe and if anyone from her family was part of the government in Gaza.</p><p data-block-key=\"9hbin\">Afterward, Jamal said they began questioning her about her journalism and the last article she had written, which she noted was about detained pro-Palestinian activist <a href=\"https://mondoweiss.net/2025/03/mahmoud-khalil-is-a-palestinian-political-prisoner-and-he-is-not-the-first-in-the-u-s/\">Mahmoud Khalil</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"21n70\">“I know that they already knew I was a journalist because they told my husband, ‘We know your wife is a journalist and we know that you guys are, like, active,’” she said.</p><p data-block-key=\"4cns5\">Officers also asked for her phone number, email and social media handles before letting her go, Jamal said. They quickly called her back, however, and demanded that she hand over her cellphone and write down her password.</p><p data-block-key=\"2hn89\">“They said, ‘We need your phone.’ And I said, ‘What happens if I don’t give it to you?’ And they said, ‘No, you have to or we’ll take it by force,’” she told the Tracker.</p><p data-block-key=\"7orm8\">Jamal said she ultimately complied, noting that she had been aware that U.S. agents might ask for her devices so she had not traveled with a laptop and had factory reset her phone.</p><p data-block-key=\"7imhg\">The questioning lasted approximately 20 minutes, Jamal said, but the secondary screening as a whole took around an hour and a half.</p><p data-block-key=\"1r60v\">Her husband was also questioned and his cellphone searched, but she said officers subtly threatened him, warning him not to engage in any sort of political activity.</p><p data-block-key=\"7aud7\">Jamal said she waited until she left the United States to make the incident public, and has been in touch with Amnesty International to determine whether any spyware was installed on her phone. However, she told the Tracker she’s unsure whether she’ll take any further steps.</p><p data-block-key=\"eqhfo\">“I feel that if I really push about it — outside of just talking on social media — it’s just going to get sort of worse for me,” Jamal said.</p><p data-block-key=\"3ehut\">In an <a href=\"https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/5/5/fear-and-intimidation-at-newark-airport\">op-ed for Al Jazeera</a> about the experience, Jamal wrote that the screening was targeted and intended to intimidate them.</p><p data-block-key=\"fdff5\">“Whether it is in Germany, in the US, or elsewhere, the goal of these tactics is the same: to make us feel small, isolated, criminalised, and afraid,” she wrote. “They want us to doubt the worth of every word we write, to question every protest we join, to swallow every truth before it reaches our lips.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-05-07T152556Z_145687177_RC23.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"eaig9\">Palestinian American journalist Hebh Jamal was questioned about her reporting and travel, and had her cellphone searched when arriving on March 24, 2025, at Newark International Airport in New Jersey, shown above in May.</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": "returned in full",
"is_search_warrant_obtained": false,
"actor": null,
"border_point": "Newark Liberty International Airport",
"target_us_citizenship_status": "U.S. citizen",
"denial_of_entry": false,
"stopped_previously": false,
"did_authorities_ask_for_device_access": "yes",
"did_authorities_ask_about_work": "yes",
"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": "cellphone"
}
],
"equipment_broken": [],
"state": {
"name": "New Jersey",
"abbreviation": "NJ"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [
"United States"
],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Border Stop",
"Equipment Search or Seizure"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Hebh Jamal (Freelance)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Minnesota reporter blocked from entering public school board meeting",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/minnesota-reporter-blocked-from-entering-public-school-board-meeting/",
"first_published_at": "2025-03-19T13:25:40.559806Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-04T14:28:22.760360Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-04T14:28:22.605491Z",
"date": "2025-03-11",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Minneapolis",
"longitude": -93.26384,
"latitude": 44.97997,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0fqr9\">Clint Combs, a freelance reporter for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, was restricted from entering a Minneapolis Board of Education assembly room to cover a board meeting on March 11, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"diktk\">Combs told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he first arrived an hour and a half before the start of the meeting at the Davis Center in Minneapolis, where the school district’s administration is headquartered. He said there was no media sign-up sheet available when he first arrived, and he then went to cover demonstrations against school district budget cuts that were taking place outside the building.</p><p data-block-key=\"cvo1u\">When Combs returned around an hour later, he said he initially went to an overflow room to cover the meeting, because the main room was “packed” and he assumed there wasn’t space for him. A source texted him, however, and said media were being allowed into the main assembly room.</p><p data-block-key=\"5hc60\">But when Combs went to the front desk, a man he assumed was security told him there was only one press spot left and asked for his press pass, which Combs had lost the previous week.</p><p data-block-key=\"c0t5b\">“I offered to provide my driver’s license and relevant byline and also said I would call my editors for verification,” Combs said. While they were speaking, two broadcast reporters walked past and were granted access while he was still being denied entry.</p><p data-block-key=\"99pot\">“This was concerning because it seemed that my lack of a press credential badge was the only reason I was denied access, despite the fact that there were available slots for other press,” the journalist said.</p><p data-block-key=\"77s7k\">“The situation is particularly frustrating because it makes it harder for journalists like me to engage with the speakers, many of whom were addressing important workplace issues at the board meeting,” Combs added.</p><p data-block-key=\"ck4rh\">When reached by email for comment, Alicia Miller, senior human resources officer for Minneapolis Public Schools, told the Tracker that she had previously been unaware that Combs attempted to attend or was denied access to the March 11 meeting. Miller reconfirmed this in a later email.</p><p data-block-key=\"c2932\">Several weeks before the denial of access, the Spokesman-Recorder had been asked to bar Combs from reporting on Miller after he published a critical Feb. 20 article involving her. The article was <a href=\"https://spokesman-recorder.com/2025/03/28/alleged-retaliation-minneapolis-public-schools/\">subsequently retracted</a> by the Spokesman-Recorder. Miller affirmed that she had asked for a retraction and an apology for what she said were errors in Combs’ reporting.</p><p data-block-key=\"3b0lf\">Regarding the meeting, Donnie Belcher, the executive director of communications and engagement for Minneapolis Public Schools, told the Tracker in an email: “The room was filled to capacity so no one was allowed access after a certain point, but had we known that Mr. Combs (or any journalist) needed access, a staff person could have come out to escort him in.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4osas\">Belcher added that press are required to sign in at meetings, and that “we have a special seating area for press within the assembly room where our board meetings take place.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7fp8v\">Combs noted that “restricting access to the main room has a chilling effect that prevents journalists from asking public speakers follow-up questions.”</p><p data-block-key=\"bdgb0\">He added, “It would have been helpful if MPS had a designated RSVP press email or process to address these concerns ahead of time.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"ejcza\"><i>Editor's Note: This report has been updated to reflect that the Spokesman-Recorder subsequently retracted its Feb. 20 article on Alicia Miller, and to include additional comment from Miller. </i></p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Combs_denial.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"d1tz6\">Demonstrators protest budget cuts outside a meeting of the Minneapolis, Minnesota, Board of Education on March 11, 2025. Clint Combs, a reporter for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, was denied access to the meeting’s press area.</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": 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": "Minnesota",
"abbreviation": "MN"
},
"updates": [],
"case_statuses": [],
"workers_whose_communications_were_obtained": [],
"target_nationality": [],
"targeted_institutions": [],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [
"Local government: Public school district"
],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Denial of Access"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Clint Combs (Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": [
"Government event"
]
}
]
