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=cj0xJnA9MjAyNS0wNi0wNy0yNTNlN2FkYy01Mzk2LTExZjAtOGY5MC1iYTFmNWExYWY5OGM%3D&format=api>; rel="prev",
<http://pressfreedomtracker.us/api/edge/incidents/?cursor=cD0yMDI1LTAzLTI2LWU1ODdhZGQ0LTExODAtMTFmMC04NDYzLTk2NmQ5ODZhNTc4NQ%3D%3D&format=api>; rel="next"
Vary: Accept
[
{
"title": "Photographer injured as federal agents use tear gas at LA-area protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/photographer-injured-as-federal-agents-use-tear-gas-at-la-area-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-27T20:42:26.675534Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-27T20:42:26.675534Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-27T20:42:26.567287Z",
"date": "2025-06-07",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Paramount",
"longitude": -118.15979,
"latitude": 33.88946,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vdfmg\">Photojournalist Jonathan Alcorn was struck with a tear gas canister after federal agents fired the crowd-control munition during an anti-deportation protest in Paramount, California, on June 7, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"5ul7e\"><a href=\"https://jalcornphoto.photoshelter.com/index\">Alcorn</a>, on assignment for Zuma Press, was covering one of the Los Angeles-area protests that <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> June 6 in response to federal raids in and around the city at workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"bmnjg\">According to <a href=\"https://www.aclusocal.org/sites/default/files/lapressclubvnoem_complaint.pdf\">a complaint</a> filed in a federal court by the LA Press Club, the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America and others, Alcorn was wearing a press pass and carrying his camera gear while covering the suspected Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid of a Home Depot in Paramount on June 7.</p><p data-block-key=\"7q4cs\">Alcorn, who has been a photojournalist for nearly 40 years, immediately heard and saw Customs and Border Protection agents firing a large number of crowd-control munitions, including tear gas canisters, at protesters, the court document stated.</p><p data-block-key=\"ethgk\">Soon after, he was barraged by the munitions and took cover behind an SUV.</p><p data-block-key=\"8bm59\">“When he peeked above the SUV, Mr. Alcorn was targeted by CBP officers, who fired tear gas canisters that rolled under the vehicle,” according to the complaint. “Officers were targeting him because he was the only person behind the vehicle.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aolar\">While fleeing the area due to the intensity of the gas, a federal agent shot Alcorn near his elbow. He was later diagnosed with a hematoma and burn on his arm, added the complaint.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-aligned_image\"><figure class=\"inline-media full-width\">\n \n\n\n<img src=\"https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/Screenshot_2025-06-27_at_1.32.44PM.width-828.png\" width=\"318\" height=\"239\" alt=\"SCREENSHOT\">\n\n \n <figcaption class=\"inline-media__caption\">\n\t\t\t<p data-block-key=\"rxlhx\">An image from court records shows injuries suffered by photographer Jonathan Alcorn. He was struck by a tear gas canister shot at the car he was taking shelter behind while covering a protest in Paramount, California.</p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<span\n\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"media-attribution\"\n\t\t\t\t> — SCREENSHOT\n\t\t\t\t</span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t</figcaption>\n \n</figure>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"vdfmg\">“Despite his injury, Alcorn continued taking pictures because he believed it was important to cover the unfolding events,” the document stated, before alleging he was targeted by an agent because he was a clearly identifiable photojournalist.</p><p data-block-key=\"420vt\">“Even though he posed no threat to officers, they nonetheless shot multiple tear gas canisters at him,” the complaint said. “Although he is afraid of again being targeted and injured by federal officials, Mr. Alcorn will continue to cover what is happening in Los Angeles.”</p><p data-block-key=\"20bdi\">In an emailed statement to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, wrote: “We remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots. We have seen rioters throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, setting fires, and other violent acts. President Trump and Secretary (Kristi) Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles."</p><p data-block-key=\"eefv8\">When contacted by the Tracker, Alcorn declined to comment about his experience. But in a comment posted to the social platform Facebook, he confirmed he was struck in the arm while fleeing federal agents firing off crowd-control munitions.</p><p data-block-key=\"ego6s\">“I’m a little sore but fine otherwise. Numerous other journalists have been struck as well,” he wrote. “Be safe my fellow journalists and everybody else out on the streets. Times have changed out in the field for journalists in the states.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/504284613_10231491800612739_90637.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"6cuqu\">Law enforcement personnel fire crowd-control munitions during an immigration protest on June 7, 2025, in Paramount, California. Photojournalist Jonathan Alcorn was struck and injured by a tear gas canister while covering the demonstration.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"unnecessary_use_of_force": false,
"case_number": null,
"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": "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": [
"Jonathan Alcorn (Zuma Press)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Flash bang strikes TV crew at LA immigration protest",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/flash-bang-strikes-tv-crew-at-la-immigration-protest/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-16T20:16:14.959328Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-16T20:16:14.959328Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-16T20:16:14.866059Z",
"date": "2025-06-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"0miss\">KTLA photographer Ken Koller was struck with a flash-bang grenade while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"cj631\">It was the start of numerous protests in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.</p><p data-block-key=\"218nu\">In a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ken.koller.3/posts/pfbid0mC5iDDg81t4eyLSBN2VurjDY3vCirGVPr7N6R17K4r4ASFJ3XuZwedW3AWPuSJ57l\">Facebook post</a>, Koller shared that he was in urgent care, watching footage on TV of the moment he was struck by a flash bang. In comments under the post, he wrote that following the federal raids, a convoy of officers was surrounded by protesters, prompting them to throw flash bangs into the crowd. He also posted a video showing officers tossing the devices out of a vehicle and into the street.</p><p data-block-key=\"2c7dc\">“No damage to my eardrum. Still hurts, basically the shockwave from the explosion basically hit me like a punch, so the area around my ear is inflamed,” he wrote. “Dr says a couple days and it should be OK.”</p><p data-block-key=\"631tp\">Neither Koller nor KTLA could immediately be reached for comment.</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP25158058663145.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"4iqjc\">Department of Homeland Security police after a federal immigration operation on June 6, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. KTLA photographer Ken Koller said he got hit by a flash bang that day while covering a protest over the operation.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"release_date": null,
"detention_date": null,
"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": [
"immigration",
"protest"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Assault"
],
"targeted_journalists": [
"Ken Koller (KTLA)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Journalist shot in the face with pepper balls by federal officers",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/journalist-shot-in-the-face-with-pepper-balls-by-federal-officers/",
"first_published_at": "2025-06-24T19:54:53.053788Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-24T19:54:53.053788Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-24T19:50:52.883218Z",
"date": "2025-06-06",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Los Angeles",
"longitude": -118.24368,
"latitude": 34.05223,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6zusf\">Independent journalist Anthony Cabassa was shot twice in the face with pepper balls by federal law enforcement agents while documenting anti-deportation protests in Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"bac8t\">The protests <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/us/la-protests-national-guard-trump.html\">began</a> that day in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. Demonstrators clashed with both local law enforcement officers and federal agents.</p><p data-block-key=\"9vjab\">Cabassa <a href=\"https://x.com/AnthonyCabassa_/status/1931159815947985222\">posted</a> at around 6:30 p.m. on the social platform X that he had been struck near his left eye with a crowd-control munition containing a chemical irritant. “I’m also bleeding,” he added. “Things got violent.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I just got a police tear gas pellet straight into my left eye . I’m also bleeding. Things got violent. Video to come <a href=\"https://t.co/qIWKhIoOpi\">pic.twitter.com/qIWKhIoOpi</a></p>— Anthony (@AnthonyCabassa_) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/AnthonyCabassa_/status/1931159815947985222?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 7, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"6zusf\">The following morning, Cabassa <a href=\"https://x.com/AnthonyCabassa_/status/1931354604429771209\">posted the footage</a> he captured before he was shot by Department of Homeland Security officers. He wrote that he was caught in the crossfire after something was thrown at the agents, noting that two pepper balls struck him in the face.</p><p data-block-key=\"346er\">Cabassa, who did not respond to requests for comment, emphasized in a <a href=\"https://x.com/AnthonyCabassa_/status/1931398124687552660\">later post</a> that he was only present to cover the protests.</p><p data-block-key=\"ml1\">“I am a journalist, I have been documenting protests in LA since 2017. I had a tripod with one camera in my left hand, and another camera recording on my right,” he wrote. “All I was doing was filming. Journalism is not a crime.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1rus9\">In an emailed statement to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker on June 11, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, wrote: “We remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots. We have seen rioters throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, setting fires, and other violent acts. President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles.”</p></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP25158095400959.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"uazpx\">Protesters gather at the Federal Building in LA on June 6, 2025, after immigration raids at workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gather. Federal officers shot journalist Anthony Cabassa in the face with pepper balls amid the demonstrations.</p>",
"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": [
"Anthony Cabassa (Independent)"
],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Trump, his administration move to punish outlets during second term",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-administration-allies-move-to-punish-outlets-during-first-weeks-in-office/",
"first_published_at": "2025-01-30T20:43:36.335430Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-05T16:31:05.585375Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-05T16:27:39.818468Z",
"date": "2025-06-03",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"63pix\">From the first weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term, he and his administration have taken steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered them unfavorably. We’re documenting Trump’s direct actions in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"coqi2\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"cv9ql\"><i>This article was first published on March 14, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"aq2uo\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#June 3\">June 3, 2025 | White House asks Congress to repeal $1.1 billion in funding to public media</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 1\">May 1, 2025 | Trump signs executive order eliminating funding to NPR, PBS</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#April 14\">April 14, 2025 | White House plans to formally ask Congress to cut PBS, NPR funding</a> \r\n<p><a href=\"#March 14-2\">March 14, 2025 | Trump signs executive order gutting government-funded news outlets</a> \r\n<p><a href=\"#March 14-1\">March 14, 2025 | Trump says negative press coverage ‘illegal’ during speech at DOJ</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"3ocum\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"a5gu5\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"June 3\" name=\"June 3\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"mev26\">June 3, 2025 | White House asks Congress to repeal $1.1 billion in funding to public media</h4><p data-block-key=\"1a7qc\">The Trump White House budget office asked Congress on June 3, 2025, to cancel $1.1 billion in funding already approved for public broadcasting, multiple media outlets reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"cmc15\">The request, <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-administration-allies-move-to-punish-outlets-during-first-weeks-in-office/#April%2014\">drafted in April</a>, calls for the elimination of two years’ worth of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which in turn partially funds NPR and PBS. Only a simple majority vote is needed to approve the request.</p><p data-block-key=\"7tu6a\">The Washington Post <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/06/03/trump-asks-congress-repeal-9-billion-npr-pbs-global-aid/\">reported</a> that Russell Vought, head of the Office of Management and Budget, proposed the cuts in a letter to Trump, writing, “federal spending on CPB subsidizes a public media system that is politically biased and is an unnecessary expense to the taxpayer.”</p><p data-block-key=\"fvecm\">Trump, individuals in his administration and allies in Congress have repeatedly targeted public broadcasters since his return to office in January.</p><p data-block-key=\"3j4la\">Trump <a href=\"https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1904610620659687944\">said</a> during a March 25 meeting with U.S. ambassadors that he would “love” to eliminate funding for the public broadcasters. In April, he <a href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114264549657133828\">called on Republicans in Congress</a> to defund and disassociate themselves from “THE RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY,” and the White House <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/04/the-npr-pbs-grift-has-ripped-us-off-for-too-long/\">asserted in an official statement</a> that NPR and PBS are publishing “trash” and have engaged in a “grift.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e3e7g\">In May, Trump attempted to illegally fire three CPB board members and just days later signed an executive order instructing the private nonprofit corporation to cease federal funding for the outlets.</p><p data-block-key=\"dve0t\">NPR <a href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2025/05/27/npr-lawsuit-trump-executive-order-funding-cuts/\">sued</a> to halt the order, calling it “textbook retaliation.” NPR CEO Katherine Maher <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/05/27/g-s1-69017/npr-and-katherine-maher-ceo-of-npr-statement\">wrote</a>, “The intent could not be more clear — the Executive Order aims to punish NPR for the content of news and other programming the President dislikes.”</p><p data-block-key=\"43olm\">Within Congress, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-targets-press-as-doge-subcommittee-chair/\">has led a campaign</a> against the broadcasters and Rep. Ronny Jackson <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-ronny-jackson-targets-press-as-member-of-congress/#March%2027\">introduced a bill</a> to eliminate all direct and indirect government funding for NPR and PBS.</p><p data-block-key=\"6dfi1\">In a <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5352827/npr-pbs-public-media-trump-rescission-funding\">statement</a> published when the draft recision request became public, NPR said eliminating funding for CPB would have a devastating impact on communities that rely on public broadcasting each day.</p><p data-block-key=\"7hho\">“We serve the public interest,” the outlet wrote. “It’s not just in our name — it’s our mission.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"May 1\" name=\"May 1\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"8udpj\">May 1, 2025 | Trump signs executive order eliminating funding to NPR, PBS</h4><p data-block-key=\"4s8m1\">President Donald Trump signed an <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/ending-taxpayer-subsidization-of-biased-media/\">executive order</a> on May 1, 2025, instructing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to cease federal funding for NPR and PBS, citing their alleged “biased and partisan news coverage.”</p><p data-block-key=\"3limi\">In a <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/05/president-trump-finally-ends-the-madness-of-npr-pbs/\">news release</a> the following day, the White House accused the news outlets of using “millions of dollars in taxpayer funds each year to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news.’”</p><p data-block-key=\"a70ca\">Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB, issued a <a href=\"https://cpb.org/pressroom/Corporation-Public-Broadcasting-Statement-Regarding-Executive-Order-Public-Media\">statement</a> pushing back against the executive order, citing provisions expressly forbidding government actors from attempting to direct the corporation’s work.</p><p data-block-key=\"d2077\">“CPB is not a federal executive agency subject to the President’s authority,” Harrison wrote. “Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government.”</p><p data-block-key=\"eoev4\">Trump’s executive order came just days after he directed a staff member to email three of CPB’s five board members to alert them that they had been removed from their positions. The board as a whole and the targeted members — Diane Kaplan, Laura Ross and Thomas Rothman — <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.279991/gov.uscourts.dcd.279991.1.0.pdf\">sued</a> Trump on April 29, seeking a judicial declaration that the order is unenforceable, as the president has no power to remove them.</p><p data-block-key=\"edl4d\">“Put simply, Congress conceived CPB as a vehicle for infusing federal money into public broadcasting without the introduction of government direction or control,” the suit states. “Moreover, Congress protected the CPB from the executive branch by withholding from CPB any form, pure or quasi, of legislative, judicial, or regulatory power.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9mfat\">White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers dismissed CPB’s assertions in a <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/04/29/nx-s1-5381045/cpb-board-members-trump-lawsuit-npr-pbs\">statement to NPR</a>. “As numerous courts have repeatedly affirmed, the Constitution gives President Trump the power to remove personnel who exercise his executive authority,” Rogers said. “The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”</p><p data-block-key=\"73dcs\">District Judge Randolph Moss has <a href=\"https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69966304/corporation-for-public-broadcasting-v-trump/\">ordered</a> both sides to file arguments on CPB’s motion, which seeks a temporary restraining order to prevent Trump’s order from taking effect.</p><p data-block-key=\"aqc9u\">Trump’s executive order and attempt to remove CPB board members were the latest attacks on public broadcasting by his administration or allies in Congress. Earlier, the White House <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-administration-allies-move-to-punish-outlets-during-first-weeks-in-office/#April%2014\">drafted a recision request</a> to revoke $1.1 billion in approved funding for the corporation, FCC Chair Brendan Carr <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/brendan-carr-targets-news-outlets-as-chair-of-the-fcc/#Jan%2029\">launched investigations</a> into PBS and NPR over their advertising and sponsorship practices, and Reps. <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-ronny-jackson-targets-press-as-member-of-congress/#March%2027\">Ronny Jackson</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-targets-press-as-doge-subcommittee-chair/\">Marjorie Taylor Greene</a> have demeaned the outlets and threatened their funding.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"April 14\" name=\"April 14\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"qezxr\">April 14, 2025 | White House plans to formally ask Congress to cut PBS, NPR funding</h4><p data-block-key=\"bfp4o\">The Trump White House plans to formally ask Congress to cancel $1.1 billion in funding already approved for public broadcasting, multiple news outlets reported on April 14, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"94l7i\"><a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5352827/npr-pbs-public-media-trump-rescission-funding\">According to NPR</a>, the White House has drafted a rescission request that calls for the elimination of two years’ worth of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which in turn partially funds NPR and PBS.</p><p data-block-key=\"fnilc\">The administration intends to send it to Congress when lawmakers return from a two-week recess on April 28. Only a simple majority vote is needed to approve the request.</p><p data-block-key=\"2oum8\">In a <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/04/the-npr-pbs-grift-has-ripped-us-off-for-too-long/\">statement</a> published April 14, which did not mention the draft request, the White House asserted that NPR and PBS are publishing “trash” and have engaged in a “grift.”</p><p data-block-key=\"79mab\">“For years, American taxpayers have been on the hook for subsidizing National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), which spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as ‘news,’” the statement said. “As President Trump has stated, taxpayer funding of NPR’s and PBS’s biased content is a waste.”</p><p data-block-key=\"di1s6\">Trump <a href=\"https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1904610620659687944\">said</a> during a March 25 meeting with U.S. ambassadors that he would “love” to eliminate funding for the public broadcasters, and in an April 1 <a href=\"https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114264549657133828\">social media post</a> called on Republicans in Congress to “DEFUND AND TOTALLY DISASSOCIATE THEMSELVES FROM NPR & PBS, THE RADICAL LEFT ‘MONSTERS’ THAT SO BADLY HURT OUR COUNTRY.”</p><p data-block-key=\"a2fle\">In a statement published by NPR, the outlet said, “Eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting would have a devastating impact on American communities across the nation that rely on public radio for trusted local and national news, culture, lifesaving emergency alerts, and public safety information.</p><p data-block-key=\"2ri6t\">“We serve the public interest. It’s not just in our name — it’s our mission.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 14-2\" name=\"March 14-2\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"3ocum\">March 14, 2025 | Trump signs executive order gutting government-funded news outlets</h4><p data-block-key=\"8bsve\">In a late-night executive order, President Donald Trump eliminated all functions not required by law for the United States Agency for Global Media, along with a half-dozen other federal agencies, referring to them as “unnecessary governmental entities.”</p><p data-block-key=\"1cbav\">The USAGM oversees Voice of America and the office that manages Radio and TV Martí, as well as provides funding for private international broadcasters Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks.</p><p data-block-key=\"2frfm\">Michael Abramowitz, director of Voice of America, confirmed in a March 15 <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/abramowitzmj/posts/pfbid02ocNQehfifbHeAAv5qDWW55BSkwEhB9L91UyxfsJBApKw38j2fzY4DdLkc7SorUJUl\">statement</a> on his personal Facebook page that he and nearly the entire staff of the news organization — more than 1,300 journalists, producers and support staff — had been suspended.</p><p data-block-key=\"fn0a6\">“I am deeply saddened that for the first time in 83 years, the storied Voice of America is being silenced,” Abramowitz wrote. “VOA needs thoughtful reform, and we have made progress in that regard. But today’s action will leave Voice of America unable to carry out its vital mission.”</p><p data-block-key=\"9ji7j\">No articles have been published on the VOA website since around 2 p.m. on March 15. The Independent <a href=\"https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-media-voice-america-bloody-saturday-b2716583.html\">reported</a> that by the following night, many of the employees placed on leave had been fired, including <a href=\"https://x.com/liamjscott/status/1901416015352811693\">press freedom reporter Liam Scott</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"e5i1s\">NPR <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/03/15/nx-s1-5329244/bloody-saturday-voiceofamerica-radio-free-asia-europe-trump-kari-lake\">reported</a> that USAGM also severed its contracts with the private international broadcasters it funds.</p><p data-block-key=\"8n9hf\">In a March 15 <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/03/the-voice-of-radical-america/\">news release</a>, the White House railed against “The Voice of Radical America,” and said Trump’s executive order “will ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4pou4\">Elon Musk, head of the new Department of Government Efficiency, had <a href=\"https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1888574212316582230?lang=en\">called</a> for the USAGM news outlets to be shut down in early February, writing, “It’s just radical left crazy people talking to themselves while torching $1B/year of US taxpayer money.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5f0g7\">Grant Turner, a former senior executive at USAGM, called the cuts “Bloody Saturday” and told NPR, “It took decades to build this goodwill and an audience of hundreds of millions every week. Seeing arsonists just set fire to it all is awful.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cmu5k\">Steve Capus, the president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said in a statement shared with NPR, “The cancellation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s grant agreement would be a massive gift to America’s enemies.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 14-1\" name=\"March 14-1\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"3ocum\">March 14, 2025 | Trump says negative press coverage ‘illegal’ during speech at DOJ</h4><p data-block-key=\"5mqt4\">President Donald Trump called the critical news coverage of his administration “illegal” and “corrupt” during a speech at the Department of Justice on March 14, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"5d8fd\">Amid his <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i41Av4eYO8\">nearly hourlong remarks</a>, Trump said that many judges, including those on the Supreme Court, “take tremendous abuse” from news outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and broadcast networks, likening the coverage to judicial interference. “It’s truly interference in my opinion and it should be illegal and it probably is illegal in some form,” Trump said.</p><p data-block-key=\"ecl8u\">He went on to claim that CNN and MSNBC are “political arms of the Democrat Party.”</p><p data-block-key=\"vpnv\">“These networks and these newspapers are really no different than a highly paid political operative and it has to stop, it has to be illegal,” Trump said.</p><p data-block-key=\"d5tm7\">As Trump decried his perceived enemies in the media, justice system and nonprofit sector, he advanced the DOJ as a tool to exact his personal vengeance. He asserted that he is the chief law enforcement officer — which The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/trump-bondi-patel-justice-fbi-retribution-ec275e730c6e75f2d6ee29eeec30fa07\">reported</a> is technically Attorney General Pam Bondi — and as such will demand “full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-03-15T003457Z_176944555_RC29.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7bspe\">President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One as he departs from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on March 14, 2025.</p>",
"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",
"Middle East Broadcasting Networks",
"National Public Radio",
"PBS News",
"Radio Free Asia",
"Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty",
"Radio y Televisión Martí",
"Voice of America"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Pete Hegseth targets news outlets, leakers as defense secretary",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers-as-defense-secretary/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-03T16:34:25.156292Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-06-09T19:43:46.106389Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-09T19:43:46.009663Z",
"date": "2025-05-26",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yzj9y\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joined Trump in taking steps to intimidate leakers and news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting Hegseth’s efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"1ommm\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9v0ko\"><i>This article was first published on March 21, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"9vs77\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 26\">May 26, 2025 | Defense Department attempts to bar CNN reporter from foreign trip</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#March 21\">March 21, 2025 | Defense Department announces investigation into media leaks</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"yzj9y\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"d7qmh\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"May 26\" name=\"May 26\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"2y7xj\">May 26, 2025 | Defense Department attempts to bar CNN reporter from foreign trip</h4><p data-block-key=\"3ccj7\">The Pentagon attempted to bar CNN national security reporter Haley Britzky from traveling as the designated television pool journalist during Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s trip to Singapore, Status <a href=\"https://www.status.news/p/pete-hegseth-pentagon-press-access?utm_source=www.status.news&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=hegseth-s-safe-space&_bhlid=8583a82fd7bcd379f720c4d09a22a59a6348c18a\">reported</a> on May 26, 2025.</p><p data-block-key=\"91gov\">“Pentagon officials—apparently irked by some of her tweets, despite their innocuous nature—relayed to CNN brass that she was not welcome,” Oliver Darcy wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"fh3o\">On May 24, Britzky highlighted her Signal username in a post on the social platform X amid the Department of Defense’s efforts to crack down on leaks, including by <a href=\"/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-restricts-journalists-access-inside-pentagon/\">limiting press access</a> to areas of the Pentagon.</p><p data-block-key=\"6vnlm\">Arthur Schwartz, one of Hegseth’s closest advisers, <a href=\"https://x.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1926304038817013807\">reposted</a> Britzky, adding, “Any reporters that are encouraging DoD employees to bypass DoD Public Affairs and violate the terms of their employment with the government should be permanently banned from the Pentagon. Start with this one.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-tweet\"><div class=\"tweet-embed\">\n <div>\n <blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Any reporters that are encouraging DoD employees to bypass DoD Public Affairs and violate their terms of their employment with the government should be permanently banned from the Pentagon. Start with this one. <a href=\"https://t.co/aFvzPcufyw\">https://t.co/aFvzPcufyw</a></p>— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/ArthurSchwartz/status/1926304038817013807?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 24, 2025</a></blockquote>\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\n\n\n</div>\n\n</div>\n</div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"2y7xj\">Status reported that the move to exclude Britzky from Hegseth’s Singapore trip triggered an immediate backlash: Multiple other outlets indicated that if she was excluded they would boycott the trip.</p><p data-block-key=\"6qect\">“They don’t get to decide who covers them,” one correspondent told Status.</p><p data-block-key=\"7839n\">The Pentagon relented, and Britzky <a href=\"https://x.com/halbritz/status/1928406436192620655\">traveled</a> with Hegseth as originally planned.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 21\" name=\"March 21\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"yzj9y\">March 21, 2025 | Defense Department announces investigation into media leaks</h4><p data-block-key=\"bnd2m\">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office sent a <a href=\"https://media.defense.gov/2025/Mar/21/2003674265/-1/-1/0/EFFORTS-TO-COMBAT-UNAUTHORIZED-DISCLOSURES-OSD002809-25-RES-FINAL.PDF\">memo</a> on March 21, 2025, initiating an investigation into “recent unauthorized disclosures of national security information.”</p><p data-block-key=\"6s70m\">“This investigation will commence immediately and culminate in a report to the Secretary of Defense,” wrote Joe Kasper, Hegseth’s chief of staff. “I expect to be informed immediately if this effort results in information identifying a party responsible for an unauthorized disclosure, and that such information will be referred to the appropriate criminal law enforcement entity for criminal prosecution.”</p><p data-block-key=\"76lla\">The memo also noted that department employees will be subject to polygraph exams “in accordance with applicable law and policy.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ebe2s\">The memo came hours after Elon Musk, head of the new Department of Government Efficiency, <a href=\"https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1902977556329931052\">posted on social media</a> calling The New York Times’ reporting on the planned content of his briefing at the Pentagon “pure propaganda.”</p><p data-block-key=\"cjh0\">“I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT,” Musk wrote. “They will be found.”</p><p data-block-key=\"e5n7v\">Musk’s meeting with members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ultimately did not take place, Reuters <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/elon-musk-calls-prosecutions-pentagon-staff-who-leaked-new-york-times-2025-03-21/\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"ceird\">A Times spokesperson told Reuters that leak investigations are “meant to chill communications between journalists and their sources and undermine the ability of a free press to bring out vital information that may otherwise be hidden.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-03-21T163635Z_985503578_RC2S.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"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": "Andrew Ferguson targets news media as FTC chair",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/andrew-ferguson-targets-news-media-as-ftc-chair/",
"first_published_at": "2025-05-23T16:48:42.006809Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-23T16:48:42.006809Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-23T16:46:03.259173Z",
"date": "2025-05-21",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hxo03\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson joined Trump in taking steps to intimidate news media that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting Ferguson’s efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"cucrp\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"be50\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"c6jfn\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 21\">May 21, 2025 | FTC chair announces investigation into Media Matters for America</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"hxo03\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"64jt0\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"May 21\" name=\"May 21\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"hxo03\">May 21, 2025 | FTC chair announces investigation into Media Matters for America</h4><p data-block-key=\"e184p\">Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson opened an investigation on May 21, 2025, into Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Media Matters for America concerning its alleged illegal collusion with advertisers, The New York Times <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/technology/ftc-investigates-media-matters.html\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"arjhq\">In November 2023, the media watchdog published a <a href=\"https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/musk-endorses-antisemitic-conspiracy-theory-x-has-been-placing-ads-apple-bravo-ibm-oracle\">report</a> written by its investigative reporter Eric Hananoki that found advertisements for major brands appeared next to pro-Nazi posts on the social platform X. <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/technology/elon-musk-twitter-x-advertisers.html\">Several</a> major companies subsequently <a href=\"https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/17/23965928/apple-x-ads-elon-musk-antisemitic-posts\">paused</a> their advertising on the platform.</p><p data-block-key=\"7icj1\">Elon Musk, the owner of X, promptly <a href=\"https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.383454/gov.uscourts.txnd.383454.1.0_1.pdf\">sued</a> Media Matters and Hananoki in federal court, alleging they had manipulated the platform’s algorithms to harm X’s relationship with advertisers. The suit is ongoing, and in 2025, Musk became a senior adviser to Trump and the de facto head of the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency.</p><p data-block-key=\"53g6j\">In late 2023 and early 2024, Republican attorneys general in <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/texas-attorney-general-subpoenas-media-matters-after-report-on-x/\">Texas</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/missouri-attorney-general-subpoenas-media-matters-after-report-on-x/\">Missouri</a> issued civil investigative demands — a form of subpoena — to the nonprofit for documents related to its reporting. Media Matters ultimately won preliminary injunctions blocking the requests.</p><p data-block-key=\"7hk06\"><a href=\"https://www.status.news/p/ftc-investigates-media-matters-elon-musk\">According to Status</a>, Musk’s targeting of the outlet has contributed to budgetary strain that forced Media Matters to lay off employees and scale back its work in 2024.</p><p data-block-key=\"5l3pc\">The FTC investigation marks an escalation in the targeting of the nonprofit, and the agency has ordered Media Matters to turn over scores of internal records, including communications, budget documents and any evidence of coordination with other advocacy groups, Status reported.</p><p data-block-key=\"ehi5f\">Ferguson has previously detailed his concern over “colluding” in advertising, the Times reported, in which coordinated advertising boycotts could threaten the “free exchange of ideas.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7osul\">In a statement to Status, a spokesperson for Media Matters described the FTC probe as a political hit job.</p><p data-block-key=\"ad2nu\">“The Trump administration has been defined by naming right-wing media figures to key posts and abusing the power of the federal government to bully political opponents and silence critics,” the representative said. “It’s clear that’s exactly what’s happening here, given Media Matters’ history of holding those same media figures to account. These threats won’t work; we remain steadfast to our mission.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-02-08T195338Z_960488062_RC2I.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"1cd2d\">Andrew Ferguson, commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, speaks at a conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Feb. 8, 2025.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"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 Matters for America"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"subpoena_statuses": null,
"type_of_denial": []
},
{
"title": "Kristi Noem targets press, leakers as homeland security secretary",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/kristi-noem-targets-press-leakers-as-homeland-security-secretary/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-03T16:42:15.375266Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-23T15:52:07.235774Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-23T15:52:07.126580Z",
"date": "2025-05-20",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7xkxf\">Shortly after President Donald Trump’s second term began, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem joined Trump in taking steps to intimidate leakers and news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting her efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"46hnn\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"9spoe\"><i>This article was first published on March 14, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"3aacq\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#May 20\">May 20, 2025 | DHS secretary oversees ‘unprecedented’ use of polygraphs to identify leakers</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#March 9\">March 9, 2025 | DHS secretary pledges to use lie detectors to identify leakers</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#March 7\">March 7, 2025 | DHS secretary threatens to sue South Dakota newspaper over coverage</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"7xkxf\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"87b1q\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"May 20\" name=\"May 20\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"vkbuz\">May 20, 2025 | DHS secretary oversees ‘unprecedented’ use of polygraphs to identify leakers</h4><p data-block-key=\"8o3a\">Under the leadership of Secretary Kristi Noem, Department of Homeland Security employees are being subjected to polygraph exams, The Wall Street Journal <a href=\"https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/dhs-kristi-noem-employee-polygraph-tests-7249fc38\">reported</a> on May 20, 2025. Noem had announced her intention to use such tests as part of her efforts to clamp down on leaks.</p><p data-block-key=\"anunu\">According to the Journal, employees — ranging from agency leadership to designated media liaisons — are being specifically questioned about whether they’ve been sharing unapproved information with the media, even if it isn’t classified.</p><p data-block-key=\"9qlo\">DHS employees told the newspaper that the scale of polygraphing is unprecedented, and that the seeming randomness of who is selected for an exam and why has had a chilling effect.</p><p data-block-key=\"f7cpb\">“Under Secretary Noem’s leadership, DHS is unapologetic about its efforts to root out leakers that undermine national security,” said Tricia McLaughlin, spokeswoman for DHS. “We are agnostic about your standing, tenure, political appointment, or status as a career civil servant—we will track down leakers and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”</p><p data-block-key=\"ddcl3\">Both Noem and Madison Sheahan, deputy director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have reportedly threatened employees with polygraphs and Noem has personally requested that certain employees be examined.</p><p data-block-key=\"3hb7f\">National Intelligence Director <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/tulsi-gabbard-targets-press-leakers-as-national-intelligence-director/#March%2014\">Tulsi Gabbard</a>, Defense Secretary <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/pete-hegseth-targets-news-outlets-leakers-as-defense-secretary/\">Pete Hegseth</a> and FBI Director <a href=\"/all-incidents/kash-patel-targets-press-leakers-as-fbi-director/\">Kash Patel</a> have also announced the use of polygraphs to identify leakers in their agencies.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 9\" name=\"March 9\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"7xkxf\">March 9, 2025 | DHS secretary pledges to use lie detectors to identify leakers</h4><p data-block-key=\"819t1\">Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem vowed during an <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kristi-noem-homeland-security-secretary-face-the-nation-transcript-03-09-2025/\">appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation”</a> on March 9, 2025, that the department would subject employees to polygraph exams as part of its investigation into the source of leaks to the media.</p><p data-block-key=\"155vd\">Noem <a href=\"https://x.com/KristiNoem/status/1898099666245333409\">announced on March 7</a> that two individuals who allegedly leaked details about immigration enforcement operations have been identified and will face felony prosecution. She told CBS two days later that the leak investigations are ongoing and that she plans on using the full power of her office to ensure “that we’re following the law, that we are following the procedures in place to keep people safe.”</p><p data-block-key=\"4fdfm\">“Anyone who is leaking information outside of how something is planned for the safety of those law enforcement officers needs to be held accountable for that,” Noem added.</p><p data-block-key=\"frng9\">The Associated Press <a href=\"https://apnews.com/article/ice-deportation-immigration-dhs-kristi-noem-leak-cf09189abaa6147a0c990225c2d27bad\">reported</a> that while polygraphs are not typically admissible in court, they are often used by federal law enforcement, including for national security clearances.</p><p data-block-key=\"6ti0m\">“The Department of Homeland Security is a national security agency,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to the news agency. “We can, should, and will polygraph personnel.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 7\" name=\"March 7\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"7xkxf\">March 7, 2025 | DHS secretary threatens to sue South Dakota newspaper over coverage</h4><p data-block-key=\"2mvq\">A personal attorney for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem threatened on March 7, 2025, to sue The Dakota Scout, an independent newspaper based in Sioux City, South Dakota, after the outlet <a href=\"https://www.thedakotascout.com/p/sec-kristi-noems-use-of-taxpayer\">reported</a> on Noem’s use of two taxpayer-backed credit cards.</p><p data-block-key=\"alrhi\">The Scout and KSFL-TV reviewed thousands of pages of credit card receipts totaling approximately $650,000 from Noem’s tenure as the state’s governor. The bulk of the expenses were on airfare, rental cars and hotel accommodations for Noem’s security detail, in connection with her appearances at campaign rallies and as a speaker at conservative events, according to the Scout.</p><p data-block-key=\"qsrs\">In a cease and desist letter emailed to the Scout in the early hours of March 7, Noem’s personal lawyer Trevor Stanley alleged that the outlet had published “false, misleading, and inaccurate statements” concerning the spending, KSFL-TV <a href=\"https://www.siouxfallslive.com/news/sioux-falls/kristi-noem-threatens-to-sue-the-dakota-scout-over-credit-card-records\">reported</a>. Stanley specifically asserted that Noem had only personally charged $2,000, and demanded that the outlet stop reporting differently.</p><p data-block-key=\"4ig77\">“Otherwise, we will consider all legal remedies, including a lawsuit seeking maximum compensatory and punitive damages, that we estimate at millions of dollars,” Stanley wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"57k52\">According to a <a href=\"https://www.thedakotascout.com/p/prisons-pipelines-and-pragmatism\">podcast</a> with Scout co-founders and reporters Joe Sneve and Jonathan Ellis, they only obtained the receipts after filing a lawsuit to obtain the public records. They were also threatened with a restraining order to claw back the files after they were released.</p><p data-block-key=\"4qful\">Sneve said that Noem’s cease and desist letter is a blatant attempt to chill their reporting, and that he wouldn’t stand idle when individuals attempt to “saber rattle” in order to “intimidate good, honest reporters who are just trying to provide a service that shouldn’t even be hard to provide.”</p><p data-block-key=\"7d8ec\">The newsroom, he added, remains undaunted. “I would highly doubt they even file a lawsuit,” Sneve said. “And if they did, I’m not losing any sleep over that.”</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/2025-01-28T213415Z_1536812639_RC2.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"7ydzv\">Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks to employees at department headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 28, 2025.</p>",
"arresting_authority": null,
"arrest_status": null,
"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 Dakota Scout"
],
"tags": [
"Donald Trump"
],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"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": "2025-06-04T19:58:38.140365Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-06-04T19:51:19.761182Z",
"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": [],
"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": "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": "Brendan Carr targets news outlets as chair of the FCC",
"url": "https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/brendan-carr-targets-news-outlets-as-chair-of-the-fcc/",
"first_published_at": "2025-04-03T15:59:35.542582Z",
"last_published_at": "2025-05-02T16:20:00.519568Z",
"latest_revision_created_at": "2025-05-02T16:20:00.400916Z",
"date": "2025-04-16",
"exact_date_unknown": false,
"city": "Washington",
"longitude": -77.03637,
"latitude": 38.89511,
"body": "<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"96x0e\">From the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, Brendan Carr, chair and senior Republican member of the Federal Communications Commission, has joined Trump in taking steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered him and his administration unfavorably. We’re documenting Carr’s efforts in this regularly updated report.</p><p data-block-key=\"1fmn2\">Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more <a href=\"/blog/trump-allies-pursue-multipronged-campaign-against-the-press/\">here</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"6sksi\"><i>This article was first published on Jan. 22, 2025.</i></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"f2d5p\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><p><a id=\"top\" name=\"top\"></a></p>\r\n<div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#April 16\">April 16, 2025 | FCC chair threatens Comcast licenses for alleged ‘news distortion’</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#March 27\">March 27, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into ABC, Disney over DEI policy</a> \r\n<p><a href=\"#Feb 11\">Feb. 11, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into NBC parent over DEI program</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#Feb 5\">Feb. 5, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into California radio station</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#Jan 29\">Jan. 29, 2025 | FCC opens investigations into NPR, PBS; calls on CBS to turn over interview transcript</a>\r\n<p><a href=\"#Jan 22\">Jan. 22, 2025 | FCC chair reinstates complaints against three news outlets</a></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><p data-block-key=\"96x0e\"></p><hr/><p data-block-key=\"9mg5b\"></p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><a id=\"April 16\" name=\"April 16\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"w1k1x\">April 16, 2025 | FCC chair threatens Comcast licenses for alleged ‘news distortion’</h4><p data-block-key=\"a2hc7\">Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr accused Comcast — the parent company of MSNBC and NBC News — of violating its broadcast licenses in a <a href=\"https://x.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/1912641900558893377\">post</a> on the social platform X on April 16, 2025, citing the outlets’ reporting on the wrongful deportation of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia.</p><p data-block-key=\"dhm7c\">“Comcast outlets spent days misleading the American public—implying that Abrego Garcia was merely a law abiding U.S. citizen, just a regular ‘Maryland man.’ When the truth comes out, they ignore it,” Carr wrote. “Comcast knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest. News distortion doesn’t cut it.”</p><p data-block-key=\"5pgs9\">According to the <a href=\"https://www.fcc.gov/broadcast-news-distortion\">FCC</a>, while broadcast stations like NBC News are subject to the agency’s jurisdiction, cable networks like MSNBC are not.</p><p data-block-key=\"e3d2h\">On April 21, the Center for American Rights filed a <a href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/14eP0vSwkhKjGetg9yw-PybuL7_aNL005/view\">complaint</a> with the FCC against NBC, ABC and CBS alleging the outlets provided “false or misleading information” during their coverage about Abrego Garcia. The outlets were already the subjects of investigations <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/brendan-carr-targets-news-outlets-as-chair-of-the-fcc/#Jan%2022\">reopened</a> by Carr in February following complaints filed by the conservative group.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"March 27\" name=\"March 27\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"96x0e\">March 27, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into ABC, Disney over DEI policy</h4><p data-block-key=\"2phhf\">Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, in a March 27, 2025, <a href=\"https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/Carr-Letter-to-Disney-DEI-03252027.pdf\">letter</a> to ABC and its parent Disney, said the agency had launched an investigation into the company’s promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.</p><p data-block-key=\"1r95j\">“Numerous reports indicate that Disney’s leadership went all in on invidious forms of DEI discrimination a few years ago and apparently did so in a manner that infected many aspects of your company’s decisions,” Carr wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"5u0v6\">While Disney <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/02/07/nx-s1-5288947/trump-dei-disney-pepsi-diversity\">scaled back its diversity efforts</a> in November 2024, Carr indicated that the changes may not have gone far enough. “I want to ensure that Disney ends any and all discriminatory initiatives in substance, not just name,” he added.</p><p data-block-key=\"4l21q\">Carr specified that the probe will apply to both past and current policies.</p><p data-block-key=\"a78he\">President Donald Trump has made eliminating DEI programs a pillar of his second term, signing a Jan. 22 <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-protects-civil-rights-and-merit-based-opportunity-by-ending-illegal-dei/\">executive order</a> eliminating them in the federal government and pressuring private companies to follow suit.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ne57\">A Disney spokesperson told Reuters, “We are reviewing the Federal Communications Commission’s letter, and we look forward to engaging with the commission to answer its questions.”</p><p data-block-key=\"17erv\">In an interview with Fox News on March 31, Carr suggested that the broadcaster’s license could be at risk, <a href=\"https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5224716-fcc-chair-abc-broadcast-license-disney-dei/\">The Hill reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"1nbq6\">“If the evidence does in fact play out and shows that they were engaged in race- and gender-based discrimination, that’s a very serious issue at the FCC, that could fundamentally go to their character qualifications to even hold a license,” Carr said.</p><p data-block-key=\"e6hgg\">ABC News is also facing an FCC investigation into how the broadcaster moderated the debate between Trump and former President Joe Biden, which Carr <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/brendan-carr-targets-news-outlets-as-chair-of-the-fcc/#Jan%2022\">reopened in January</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"Feb 11\" name=\"Feb 11\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"96x0e\">Feb. 11, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into NBC parent over DEI program</h4><p data-block-key=\"45d71\">Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, in a Feb. 11, 2025, <a href=\"https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/Chairman-Carr-Letter%20to-Comcast-02112025.pdf\">letter</a> to NBC News parent Comcast, said the agency would launch an investigation into the company’s promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.</p><p data-block-key=\"eeugk\">“The FCC will be taking fresh action to ensure that every entity the FCC regulates complies with the civil rights protections enshrined in the Communications Act,” Carr’s letter read, “including by shutting down any programs that promote invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”</p><p data-block-key=\"2vs7s\">President Donald Trump has made eliminating DEI programs a pillar of his second term, signing an <a href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/01/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-protects-civil-rights-and-merit-based-opportunity-by-ending-illegal-dei/\">executive order</a> eliminating such programs in the federal government on Jan. 22 and pressuring private companies to follow suit. PBS News <a href=\"https://bsky.app/profile/benmullin.bsky.social/post/3lhu6bpgyb22s\">told employees</a> on Feb. 11 that it was eliminating its DEI office to be in compliance with the administration’s policy.</p><p data-block-key=\"9id98\">Tom Wheeler, a former chair of the FCC, <a href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/business/media/fcc-comcast-nbc-dei-discrimination.html\">told The New York Times</a> that this latest investigation fits a pattern of Carr using the commission’s authority to advance Trump’s political aims.</p><p data-block-key=\"7l42\">“It’s clear that what is going on here is — whether it be Comcast and DEI or NPR and PBS, or CBS and the ‘60 Minutes’ interview — is how can you use the coercive authority of regulation to accomplish the goals of your master and mentor, Donald Trump?” Wheeler said.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"Feb 5\" name=\"Feb 5\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"96x0e\">Feb. 5, 2025 | FCC opens investigation into California radio station</h4><p data-block-key=\"fp4mb\">Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr launched an investigation into San Francisco, California, radio station KCBS on Feb. 5, 2025, after the station broadcast the locations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during operations in the San Jose area, Fox News <a href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/media/fcc-launches-probe-soros-backed-radio-station-revealed-live-locations-undercover-ice-agents\">reported</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"cvks\">Carr told Fox that he believes KCBS may have violated licensing rules requiring broadcasters to operate in the “public interest.”</p><p data-block-key=\"aq9a2\">Carr had <a href=\"https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/company-news/2024/09/30/soros-backed-group-wins-fcc-approval-for-us-radio-stations/\">previously opposed</a> the transfer of the station’s license, following Republican scrutiny of the ownership role of billionaire investor George Soros, a Democratic megadonor whose nonprofit now controls the broadcasting outlet.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"Jan 29\" name=\"Jan 29\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"96x0e\">Jan. 29, 2025 | FCC opens investigations into NPR, PBS; calls on CBS to turn over interview transcript</h4><p data-block-key=\"8fo81\">Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr informed public broadcasters NPR and PBS on Jan. 29, 2025, that he had initiated an investigation into the news outlets, <a href=\"https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/340343f285781674/6da3eb69-full.pdf\">suggesting</a> that they may have violated federal law by airing commercial advertisements. A copy of the letter was also shared with members of Congress, Carr wrote, because of its potential relevance to ongoing debates.</p><p data-block-key=\"4h3fp\">“In particular, Congress is actively considering whether to stop requiring taxpayers to subsidize NPR and PBS programming,” the letter read. “For my own part, I do not see a reason why Congress should continue sending taxpayer dollars to NPR and PBS given the changes in the media marketplace since the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.”</p><p data-block-key=\"433k7\">That same day, the FCC sent a letter of inquiry to CBS News demanding that the outlet turn over the “full, unedited transcript and camera feeds” from a Kamala Harris interview on “60 Minutes” in October 2024, according to a <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-fcc-60-minutes/?intcid=CNR-02-0623\">statement</a> published by the broadcaster.</p><p data-block-key=\"ff5g4\">CBS said that it was working to comply with the inquiry, “as we are legally compelled to do.” The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker was unable to obtain a copy of the inquiry as of press time.</p><p data-block-key=\"749v8\">A spokesperson for CBS <a href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/cbs-turns-over-documents-fcc-probe-into-then-vp-harris-60-minutes-interview-2025-02-04/\">told Reuters</a> that the news organization submitted the documents to the FCC on Feb. 3. In an <a href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/video/6368206882112\">interview with Fox News</a>, Carr said he was “open minded as to potential consequences” and that he would consider releasing the transcript in the interest of transparency.</p><p data-block-key=\"avh2v\">CBS <a href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-publishes-transcripts-video-requested-by-fcc/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7d&linkId=738794635\">published</a> the transcripts and video that it turned over to Carr on Feb. 5. “They show — consistent with 60 Minutes’ repeated assurances to the public — that the 60 Minutes broadcast was not doctored or deceitful,” the outlet wrote.</p><p data-block-key=\"2kjf3\">The Harris interview was the <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/trump-filed-or-threatened-multiple-lawsuits-against-outlets-ahead-of-election/\">focus of a federal lawsuit</a> filed against CBS on behalf of President Donald Trump, which alleged the network had “doctored” the broadcast in an attempt to influence the presidential election. Trump had demanded the network release unedited tapes and transcripts. CBS has maintained the claims are false and the suit without merit.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div>\r\n<a id=\"Jan 22\" name=\"Jan 22\"></a></div>\n<div class=\"block-rich_text\"><h4 data-block-key=\"96x0e\">Jan. 22, 2025 | FCC chair reinstates complaints against three news outlets</h4><p data-block-key=\"61dl2\">Brendan Carr, a Donald Trump appointee and the new chair of the Federal Communications Commission, reinstated complaints against multiple outlets that Trump targeted <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/all-the-presidents-invective/\">leading up to</a> and <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/blog/media-in-the-courthouse/\">in the wake of</a> the election, alleging their reporting was biased and aimed at swaying favor toward his opponent.</p><p data-block-key=\"7c0di\">NPR <a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2025/01/16/nx-s1-5262424/fcc-trump-tv-licenses-rosenworcel\">reported</a> that, shortly before leaving office, then-FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel dismissed complaints about appearances by Kamala Harris on CBS’ “60 Minutes” and NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” and about how ABC News moderated the debate between Trump and former President Joe Biden.</p><p data-block-key=\"9ae69\">“We don’t have the luxury of doing anything other than making very, very clear that this agency and its licensing authority should not be weaponized in a way that is fundamentally at odds with the First Amendment,” Rosenworcel said. “This agency should not be the president’s speech police and this agency shouldn’t be journalism’s censor-in-chief.”</p><p data-block-key=\"efm03\">Rosenworcel also <a href=\"https://www.phillyvoice.com/fcc-dismisses-petition-fox-29-license-renewal-complaint-6abc/\">dismissed</a> a complaint against a Philadelphia Fox station for allegedly promoting lies about election fraud in the 2020 election.</p><p data-block-key=\"f55g8\">Carr took over as FCC chair on Jan. 20, and reinstated the complaints against ABC, CBS and NBC two days later. In a statement, the agency said that the complaints had been dismissed “prematurely based on an insufficient investigatory record,” <a href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/22/fcc-reinstates-complaints-abc-cbs-nbc\">according to The Guardian</a>.</p><p data-block-key=\"7sdj0\">Carr had <a href=\"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/fcc-commissioner-accuses-media-ratings-provider-of-censorship/\">previously demonstrated</a> his willingness to target news outlets based on alleged bias, and he has supported Trump’s calls for NBC, CBS and ABC to lose their broadcast licenses over their alleged mistreatment of him, NPR<a href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/11/17/nx-s1-5193064/fcc-chair-brendan-carr-trump\"> reported</a>.</p></div>\n<div class=\"block-raw_html\"><div class=\"article-content__block rich-text\"><p data-block-key=\"258po\">\r\n<p><a href=\"#top\"><i>Back to Top</i></a></p></div></div>",
"introduction": "",
"teaser": "",
"teaser_image": "https://media.pressfreedomtracker.us/media/images/AP23172686742019.2e16d0ba.fill-1330x880.jpg",
"primary_video": null,
"image_caption": "<p data-block-key=\"5mjqq\">The Federal Communications Commission’s Brendan Carr testifies during an oversight hearing at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., in June 2023.</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": [
"ABC News",
"CBS News",
"KCBS",
"MSNBC",
"National Public Radio",
"NBC News",
"PBS News"
],
"tags": [],
"politicians_or_public_figures_involved": [],
"authors": [],
"categories": [
"Chilling Statement"
],
"targeted_journalists": [],
"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": []
}
]
