[{"title":"Todd Blanche targets press, leakers as acting attorney general","url":"https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/todd-blanche-targets-press-leakers-as-acting-attorney-general/","first_published_at":"2026-05-15T17:53:11.227807Z","last_published_at":"2026-05-15T17:53:11.227807Z","latest_revision_created_at":"2026-05-15T17:51:44.383357Z","date":"2026-05-12","exact_date_unknown":false,"city":"Washington","longitude":-77.03637,"latitude":38.89511,"body":"
As President Donald Trump’s second term continued in 2026, he removed Pam Bondi as attorney general. Her deputy, now acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, joined Trump in efforts to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered Trump and his administration critically. We’re documenting Blanche’s efforts in this regularly updated report.
Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more here.
May 12, 2026 | Acting attorney general defends DOJ subpoenas to WSJ, others
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the issuing of federal subpoenas to The Wall Street Journal as part of a leak investigation, after the legal orders were made public on May 11, 2026.
In a May 12 social media post, Blanche wrote, “Prosecuting leakers who share our nation’s secrets with reporters, in turn risking our national security and the lives of our soldiers, is a priority for this administration.
“Any witness, whether a reporter or otherwise, who has information about these criminals should not be surprised if they receive a subpoena about the illegal leaking of classified material,” he continued.
A Justice Department official emphasized to CBS News the same day that the subpoenas were issued as part of an investigation into the source behind the leaks, not the journalists themselves.
Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project, condemned the subpoenas and the use of “national security” as justification.
“These subpoenas are a direct threat to the public’s right to know, and the Journal is correct to fight them,” FPF Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern said. “Since the Department of Justice has abandoned the First Amendment, it’s up to the courts to restrain the government’s attempts to crush investigative journalism.”
The subpoenas to the Journal are just the latest instance of the news media being caught up in or deliberately targeted in federal investigations since then-Attorney General Pam Bondi rescinded Biden-era protections for journalists in April 2025.
Earlier this year, the DOJ subpoenaed The Washington Post, and the FBI executed a search warrant at the home of its reporter, Hannah Natanson, seizing her equipment. Independent photojournalist Robert Scherle was questioned by two FBI agents at his home seeking information about protesters. And FBI Director Kash Patel has reportedly ordered investigations into tworeporters following unfavorable coverage.
April 7, 2026 | Acting attorney general willing to subpoena journalists in leak investigations
During his first press briefing as acting attorney general on April 7, 2026, Todd Blanche said he would not hesitate to subpoena members of the press to uncover sources behind leaks of classified information.
The previous day, President Donald Trump vowed to investigate the source behind a leak concerning the downing of a U.S. fighter jet by Iran.
“We’re going to go to the media company that released it,” Trump said, “and we’re going to say, ‘National security — give it up or go to jail.’”
When asked about Trump’s comments, Blanche said that classified information leaks will always be investigated.
“If that means sending a subpoena to the reporter, that’s exactly what we should do, and that’s exactly what we will be doing,” Blanche said. “If it means doing regular investigations to identify who within the government feels like it’s OK to leak classified information, to put lives at risk, then we’ll try to root him or her out as well.”
Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche at a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., on April 29, 2026.
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As President Donald Trump’s second term continued in 2026, his FBI director, Kash Patel, took steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered Trump and his administration critically. We’re documenting Patel’s efforts in 2026 in this regularly updated report.
May 7, 2026 | Patel orders polygraphs for his security detail, other staff (updated May 2026)
FBI Director Kash Patel has ordered polygraphs for more than two dozen members of his security detail and other staff as part of his quest to unmask those who’ve spoken with the press, MS NOW reported on May 7, 2026.
Following an April 17 article by Atlantic reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick on Patel’s alleged excessive drinking, erratic behavior and absences from the agency’s headquarters, the FBI director has sued the magazine and Fitzpatrick, and opened an investigation into her.
According to MS NOW, Patel has also isolated himself from some senior bureau leaders. FBI spokesman Ben Williamson disputed those claims, telling MS NOW Patel has been regularly meeting with operational leaders. Williamson declined to comment, however, on whether Patel ordered polygraphs.
During a hearing before the U.S. Senate on May 12, Patel vehemently denied allegations about his conduct and that he had subordinates sit for polygraph examinations over the recent reports. “I don’t order any polygraph tests,” he insisted.
The New York Times reported that multiple people familiar with recent polygraphs and internal investigations said that they were ordered by the director.
May 6, 2026 | FBI investigates reporter who wrote about Patel’s alleged excess drinking (updated May 2026)
The FBI is conducting a criminal leak investigation focused on Atlantic journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick, MS NOW reported on May 6, 2026, following her exclusive reporting on Director Kash Patel’s alleged excessive drinking, erratic behavior and absences from the agency’s headquarters.
Fitzpatrick’s article, published April 17, reported that Patel’s conduct on the job has included “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences,” and that more than two dozen sources, including current and former FBI officials, “described Patel’s tenure as a management failure and his personal behavior as a national-security vulnerability.”
Patel sued The Atlantic and Fitzpatrick for defamation April 20, claiming that the article’s allegations were “designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office,” and demanding $250 million in damages.
MS NOW reported that two sources close to the matter confirmed that an investigation focusing on Fitzpatrick was underway, but during a hearing before the U.S. Senate on May 12, Patel vehemently denied its existence.
“I can tell you unequivocally, this FBI is targeting and investigating no journalists,” Patel said.
Such an investigation could enable federal agents to obtain her phone records, examine her social media networks and run her name through the bureau’s databases.
In an email to subscribers, Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg wrote that such an investigation, if true, would be disturbing. But, he added, the magazine will defend itself and its staff vigorously.
“We will not be intimidated by illegitimate investigations or other acts of politically motivated retaliation; we will continue to cover the FBI professionally, fairly, and thoroughly; and we will continue to practice journalism in the public interest,” Goldberg continued.
“This isn’t our first rodeo. We’ve faced extraordinary government pressure, and Trump-administration calumny, before. We live in a period in which some media organizations buckle under government pressure. I promise you that we will never give in. If a story is true, we will publish it.”
April 20, 2026 | Patel sues The Atlantic for defamation
Attorneys for FBI Director Kash Patel sued The Atlantic and its reporter, Sarah Fitzpatrick, on April 20, 2026, accusing them of defaming him in an article about Patel’s alleged erratic behavior and poor job performance.
Fitzpatrick’s article, published April 17, reported that Patel’s conduct on the job has included “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences,” and that more than two dozen sources, including current and former FBI officials, “described Patel’s tenure as a management failure and his personal behavior as a national-security vulnerability.”
Patel’s lack of availability has exacerbated bureaucratic delays at the FBI, Fitzpatrick reported, and his alleged excessive drinking may have led to his sharing inaccurate information about active law enforcement investigations.
Fitzpatrick quoted a statement from the FBI, attributed to Patel, responding to her list of questions: “Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court—bring your checkbook.”
The day the article was published, Patel’s attorney Jesse Binnall posted a letter on social platform X that he said he had sent to The Atlantic and Fitzpatrick, alleging that Fitzpatrick’s questions had contained false claims and threatening legal action if those claims were published.
Three days later, Patel’s attorneys filed their complaint in federal court for defamation, claiming that the article’s allegations were “designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office,” and that the article’s publication was done with “actual malice,” and demanded $250 million in damages.
“The statements,” the complaint argued, “falsely assert that the Director of the FBI—the nation’s chief federal law-enforcement officer—is a habitual drunk, unable to perform the duties of his office, is a threat to public safety, is vulnerable to foreign coercion, has violated DOJ ethics rules, is unreachable in emergencies, has required the deployment of ‘breaching equipment’ to extract him from locked rooms, allows alcohol to influence his public statements about criminal investigations, and behaves erratically in a manner that compromises national security.”
The Atlantic responded to the suit on X, writing: “We stand by our reporting on Kash Patel, and we will vigorously defend The Atlantic and our journalists against this meritless lawsuit.”
Feb. 28, 2026 | FBI investigates reporter who wrote about Patel’s girlfriend
The FBI investigated New York Times reporter Elizabeth Williamson after she published a report on Feb. 28, 2026, that the agency’s director, Kash Patel, had provided unprecedented transportation and security resources for his girlfriend.
FBI agents searched databases for information on Williamson and recommended further investigation to determine whether she had broken federal stalking laws while reporting the story, the Times reported April 22.
Justice Department officials, however, “determined there was no legal basis to proceed with the investigation,” and the FBI dropped the case.
Williamson had reported that Patel’s girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, has been assigned an escort of SWAT personnel and that “Mr. Patel’s demand that rotating SWAT teams provide his girlfriend with security for singing appearances, personal engagements and errands is unprecedented in the F.B.I.”
The day the article was published, Wilkins received a threatening, anonymous email, which she forwarded to the FBI, the Times wrote. The email’s alleged sender was later criminally prosecuted and said they had sent the email after reading Williamson’s article, according to an affidavit in the case.
The FBI then interviewed Wilkins, who said she felt “harassed” by Williamson’s reporting, which had involved reaching out to numerous people who knew her. Agents then launched the investigation into Williamson, citing laws against stalking and threats as justification.
Times Executive Editor Joseph Kahn called the investigation “alarming,” telling the paper, “The F.B.I.’s attempt to criminalize routine reporting is a blatant violation of Elizabeth’s First Amendment rights and another attempt by this administration to prevent journalists from scrutinizing its actions.”
FBI Director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee in Washington, D.C., on March 18, 2026.
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State Sen. Jerry Stevenson smacked KTVX/KUCW reporter Bayan Wang’s phone out of his hand as Wang was working on a story related to a data center project in Layton, Utah, on May 6, 2026.
The artificial intelligence data center development was approved by Utah’s Box Elder County Commission on May 4. Stevenson, a Republican, sits on the board of Utah’s Military Installation Development Authority, which was created by the legislature to develop land to support defense-related infrastructure and which backed the data center project, KTVX reported.
Opponents of the project expressed concern about the potential environmental impact and apparent lack of consultation with the local community. A social media post called for a boycott of J&J Nursery and Garden Center in Layton, a business co-founded by Stevenson, and some employees told KTVX that they had been harassed.
Wang, who said he was informed by a Utah Senate staff member that Stevenson was not available for comment on the story, went to J&J Nursery on May 6 seeking to speak to employees about the alleged harassment, according to a report published by the station.
“While Wang was in his vehicle in the nursery’s parking lot, he noticed a man screaming at his photographer, who was outside his news vehicle without a camera in hand,” KTVX reported.
The reporter then approached the two individuals to find out what was happening, and tried to tell the senator that he had been in touch with staff at the nursery. Wang said Stevenson, who was wearing a Utah Senate jacket, refused to identify himself as a Utah state senator when asked.
The reporter said he told Stevenson about the story they were working on, then took out his cellphone and started recording.
In a video of the encounter posted by the station, Stevenson is shown asking Wang to leave, saying, “Just get your butt out of here.”
“Why are you being hostile to us?” Wang asked.
“Because I am tired of you,” Stevenson replied as he walked toward the reporter. He then swung his hand toward Wang, hitting the reporter’s hand and phone. Wang said his phone was knocked out of his hand onto the cement parking lot.
After the incident, Layton police arrived, saying they had been called by a witness reporting possible disorderly conduct by three individuals, according to KTVX. Wang showed the officer the video of the encounter.
Wang also confirmed to the officer that his phone had been damaged when it fell to the ground.
Shortly after, according to Wang, officers told him that Stevenson apologized for the incident, but still did not wish to speak with them.
The police also issued the KTVX crew a trespassing notice for J&J Nursery, which is private property. The Salt Lake Tribune, citing an interview with a Layton police officer, reported that Stevenson had asked law enforcement to issue the notice, which is not a charge or a citation, “but a warning that if they return, they could face criminal charges.”
Nancy Bauer, news director for KTVX/KUCW, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the news crew did not go to J&J Nursery with the intention of interviewing Stevenson, adding, “What you see on video was an unplanned encounter after Stevenson approached our team in the parking lot.”
She said the station “accepts the senator’s apology and intends to respect the trespassing warning issued at that time.”
She added, “Bayan Wang is declining to press charges against the senator at this time.”
Stevenson did not respond to a request for comment.
Utah state Sen. Jerry Stevenson confronts KTVX/KUCW reporter Bayan Wang on May 6, 2026, outside a business Stevenson owns in Layton, Utah. Moments later, the lawmaker knocked to the ground the phone Wang was using to film the interaction.
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As President Donald Trump’s second term continued in 2026, his Equal Employment Opportunity Commission chair, Andrea Lucas, used her office to further Trump’s efforts to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered him and his administration critically. We’re documenting her efforts in this regularly updated report.
Read about how Trump’s appointees and allies in Congress are striving to chill reporting, revoke funding, censor critical coverage and more here.
May 5, 2026 | EEOC files lawsuit alleging discriminatory hiring practices at NYT
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued The New York Times on May 5, 2026, following a monthslong investigation led by Chair Andrea Lucas over the newspaper’s alleged discrimination against a white male employee.
The complaint asserts that the Times’ diversity goals and production of annual diversity and inclusion reports demonstrate an institutional practice of discrimination against white men.
In a social media post announcing the suit, the EEOC highlighted that a “qualified white male employee was excluded from final interviews” while only non-white males were selected, and that the role went to another candidate “with less relevant experience.”
“No one is above the law — including ‘elite’ institutions,” Lucas said in a statement. “No matter the size or power of the employer, the EEOC under my leadership will not pull punches in ensuring evenhanded, colorblind enforcement of Title VII to protect America’s workers, including white males.”
Times spokesperson Danielle Rhoades Ha called the allegations “politically motivated,” asserting that they represent just the latest effort to leverage the tools of the federal government to pursue President Donald Trump’s personal aims.
“Throughout this process, the E.E.O.C. deviated from standard practices in highly unusual ways, blatantly weaponizing a traditionally independent government body to serve a predetermined narrative,” Rhoades Ha told the Times. “We will defend ourselves and our values vigorously as there is not a single piece of evidence to support any claim of discrimination.”
Kalpana Kotagal, the sole Democrat on the commission, voted against authorizing the lawsuit. In a post on social media, she argued that a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility alone is not evidence of discrimination.
“These programs are critical to building and maintaining successful workplaces as well as attracting and retaining top talent,” Kotagal wrote. “I fear this litigation is driven not by the merits, but by a desire to advance the administration’s political agenda, which weakens civil rights protections for workers and undermines employer efforts to advance equal employment opportunity.
“Notably, this litigation is filed on the heels of New York Times reporting on the weaponization of the agency, and the diversion of limited resources toward cases that align with the administration’s priorities,” she added.
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Andrea Lucas in her office in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 18, 2025.
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Multimedia journalist A.B. Youssef was held in a police kettle while covering a protest in New York, New York, on May 5, 2026.
The protest was taking place near a synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that was holding an event to promote real estate sales in Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the latter of which are widely believed to violate international law.
The New York City Police Department formed a buffer zone around the synagogue, prohibiting access to the block it was located on and directing pro-Palestinian and a smaller group of pro-Israel protesters, as well as press, onto surrounding avenues, according to news reports and journalists who spoke to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Youssef told the Tracker that he and other journalists were documenting NYPD officers blocking off a sidewalk with metal barricades and pushing protesters back. The officers then formed a circle around the group of press with the barricades and told them they couldn’t leave.
“I was telling them, ‘You can’t lock us in here,’” he said. “And they just didn’t care.” He said he was wearing his New York City press credential and holding his camera gear, adding that many of the officers saw him often and knew who he was.
Video posted on social media by two other journalists who were in the kettle, Talia Ben-Ora and Neil Constantine, shows uniformed police and plainclothes public information officers placing metal barricades around a group of press, separating them from the area where the NYPD was pushing protesters back.
Youssef said the NYPD didn’t explain why they were penning them in, and gave conflicting instructions.
“They were saying, ‘Go out that way.’ And I said, ‘Where? That way is blocked too.’”
He said he was kept in that area for at least 10 minutes.
The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.
Officers set up metal barricades around a group of press covering a pro-Palestinian protest in New York City on May 5, 2026. Journalists A.B. Youssef and Talia Ben-Ora were among those stuck in the kettle, and Ben-Ora captured video of the incident.
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Independent journalist Talia Ben-Ora was penned in a police kettle while covering a protest in New York, New York, on May 5, 2026.
The protest was taking place near a synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that was holding an event to promote real estate sales in Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the latter of which are widely believed to violate international law.
The New York City Police Department formed a buffer zone around the synagogue, prohibiting access to the block it was located on and directing pro-Palestinian and a smaller group of pro-Israel protesters, as well as press, onto surrounding avenues, according to news reports and journalists who spoke to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Ben-Ora told the Tracker that at one point, NYPD officers suddenly barricaded a sidewalk on nearby Third Avenue, pushing metal barricades into protesters and using chemical irritants to prevent them from accessing an area that had previously been open.
Members of the press were standing behind the officers, documenting the police actions. Then, “NYPD flooded that space and closed us in, not allowing press to move away, resulting in a strange press-only kettle,” Ben-Ora said.
In a video Ben-Ora posted on Bluesky, uniformed police and plainclothes public information officers can be seen telling press to back up from the protest, then surrounding them with metal barricades, penning them in.
\n
\n
\n
Situation deteriorated as protest marched from Lex/68 back to their original protest location. Press kettled as NYPD pushed in on protestors, other press. We are now stuck beside the SRG line. Unclear if any arrests.
“They prevented us from leaving by not moving from in front of where the barricades were up against the wall, ignoring us, as other cops were pushing into the crowd,” Ben-Ora said, adding, “I didn’t get the sense that we would be arrested, just that they were freezing our movement in any direction, including away from where they were fighting protesters.”
Ben-Ora said that members of the press were allowed to leave the kettle after a few minutes, but were “still separated by a police line and barricades from the protest.”
The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.
Officers push back pro-Palestinian protesters in New York City on May 5, 2026. The footage was taken by independent journalist Talia Ben-Ora moments before police penned a group of press inside metal barricades.
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Photojournalist Neil Constantine was held in a police kettle while covering a protest in New York, New York, on May 5, 2026.
The protest was taking place near a synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that was holding an event to promote real estate sales in Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, the latter of which are widely believed to violate international law.
The New York City Police Department formed a buffer zone around the synagogue, prohibiting access to the block it was located on and directing pro-Palestinian and a smaller group of pro-Israel protesters, as well as press, onto surrounding avenues, according to news reports and journalists who spoke to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker.
Constantine, who was freelancing for NurPhoto Agency and whose New York City press credential was clearly visible, told the Tracker that at one point, NYPD officers suddenly barricaded a sidewalk on nearby Third Avenue. The officers pushed metal barricades into protesters to prevent them from accessing an area that had previously been open.
Members of the press were standing behind the officers, documenting the police actions. In a video Constantine posted on Instagram, uniformed police and plainclothes public information officers can be seen placing metal barricades around a group of press, separating them from the area where the NYPD was pushing protesters back.
In the video, Constantine can be heard saying, “This is kettling,” and “We are being blocked in here right now.”
Constantine told the Tracker that when journalists asked to leave the area, they were either told that they couldn’t, or were given conflicting instructions about where to go by officers who were within a few feet of one another. In addition, the officers wouldn’t answer their questions about why they were keeping them there.
He said they were kept in the kettle for around 15 minutes.
The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.
Officers use metal barricades to surround a group of press covering a pro-Palestinian protest in New York City on May 5, 2026. Photojournalist Neil Constantine was among those stuck in the kettle, and captured video of the incident.
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Independent photojournalist Nick Stern was arrested and jabbed with police batons while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
Thousands rallied in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since June 2025. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.
Stern told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the LA Police Department moved in to clear the area outside the adjacent City Hall, pushing the crowd back with batons before issuing a dispersal order that they said applied to everyone in the area, including the press.
Some journalists left, but not Stern. “I felt it was important to stay and document what was going on,” he said, citing the California law that exempts journalists from dispersal orders and protects them from arrest or interference by police, including use of force. A federal preliminary injunction against the city is in place to uphold those protections.
Stern, who was wearing credentials and a shirt identifying himself as press, said that, without warning, officers kettled a group that included mostly journalists, sealing them inside a tightened perimeter.
Stern, fearing he would be arrested, asked multiple times to leave but was blocked. At least two officers pushed him in the chest with batons, and one tried to swing at him. After Stern blocked the blow with his hand, a senior officer ordered Stern to turn around and put his hands behind his back.
In a video posted to Bluesky, Stern backed away from officers, spoke to them briefly, then began to leave.
“Turn around,” an officer said.
“Why are you telling me to turn around now?” Stern responded.
“You’re under arrest,” another officer replies before grabbing him, twisting his arms behind his back and placing his wrists in zip ties.
“It seemed like a selected arrest,” Stern told the Tracker, adding that all other journalists were eventually allowed to leave the kettle. Officers first told Stern he was being arrested for assault on a police officer, then later said it was for failure to disperse.
Stern’s right zip tie was tightened to the point of throbbing pain and numbness. He said officers loosened it after about 10 minutes, only after he shouted for them to. Red marks were still visible on his wrist two days later.
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Photographer Nick Stern’s wrist about two hours after he was handcuffed by police while covering a protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
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Stern was taken to jail, where he was held for two hours. He was the last of about a dozen people to be processed before being released without charges.
“It was just a process of intimidation,” Stern said.
Stern, whose work has appeared in The Guardian, CNN and The New York Times, among others, is working on a documentary about protests in LA and has been involved in seven cases documented by the Tracker in the city. In one, the city paid him a $150,000 settlement over his treatment by law enforcement while covering a 2020 protest.
In April, he addressed the LAPD’s board of commissioners, asking: “What do I have to do … so I don’t get brutalized by LAPD?”
The LAPD did not immediately return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a statement posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”
In an earlier statement following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in nearly two dozen press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.
“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” that statement said.
Photojournalist Nick Stern, at center, is arrested while documenting a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
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Ethan Cohen, a student photojournalist for California State University’s Long Beach Current, was shoved by police and flung backward by a federal officer while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
Thousands rallied in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since June 2025. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.
Outside the adjacent City Hall, officers with the LA Police Department formed a skirmish line and pushed Cohen, along with other journalists and protesters, down the street.
“I told him, ‘Hey, I can’t move back,’” Cohen said of the officer pushing him. “He seemed to be understanding at that point.”
As the crowd thinned outside the detention center, federal officers made targeted arrests. During one arrest, Cohen told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, he crouched down to photograph the scene. Nearby, Customs and Border Protection agents grabbed photojournalist Blake Fagan and threw him backward.
“Then they picked me up and threw me back,” said Cohen, adding that he stumbled several steps before regaining his balance. “I was yelling at the officer, ‘What are you doing?’”
Cohen, who wore media credentials, and a vest and helmet labeling him as press, said he doesn’t know if the agent targeted him because he was a journalist or because the agent wanted to get through and create a perimeter for the arrest.
“There were other press that were told verbally to get back, rather than physically picked up and thrown,” Cohen said. “Had they asked me to move back, I would have complied, but I wasn’t given any option.”
The encounter interrupted Cohen’s ability to photograph the arrest; he said he removed himself from the situation and began documenting the protest in another area.
DHS did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the LAPD. In a statement posted on May 1, the department wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”
In an earlier statement following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in nearly two dozen press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.
“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” that statement said.
Photojournalist Ethan Cohen, in press helmet at center right, is thrust backward by a Customs and Border Protection officer while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
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Student photojournalist Blake Fagan was pushed and thrown backward by federal agents while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
Thousands rallied in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since June 2025. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.
Fagan was documenting the protest for California State University, Northridge’s multimedia outlet, the Daily Sundial, when he followed the demonstrators to the detention center.
At one point, a person attending the protest shoved him and tried to pull off his press badge, Fagan told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. He was also pushed by a Department of Homeland Security officer.
Later, federal agents began making targeted arrests. As officers moved to arrest a demonstrator, Fagan approached the perimeter of the scene and crouched to take a photo. Suddenly, he felt a tug on the back of his vest from behind.
“This guy just yanked me and threw me back,” said Fagan, who wasn’t able to capture the shot. “They didn’t give any verbal warning. They just did it.”
Fagan landed on his back, scraping his elbow. He said the officer who threw him was a Customs and Border Protection agent holding a shield. Seconds later, another student photojournalist, Ethan Cohen, was also flung backward.
Fagan, who was wearing press credentials, and a vest and helmet labeling him as press, said he considered the encounter targeted.
“This happens especially in LA on a pretty frequent basis, whether it’s targeted or not,” he said. “The use of force is alarming to see.”
A Department of Homeland Security officer is seen pushing photojournalist Blake Fagan as he covers a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
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L.A. Taco reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray was detained by police while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
Thousands rallied in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since June 2025. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.
Ray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that LA Police Department officers had already formed a skirmish line by the time he arrived at the detention center, where officers on motorcycles started ordering people onto the sidewalk.
One of the officers grabbed and arrested Ray, ultimately issuing the journalist a citation for being in the roadway before releasing him.
Later, LAPD officers kettled a group of mostly press, sealing them inside a tightened perimeter.
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Yesterday, LAPD officer Cisneros Escoto jabbed me in my chest w/ her baton when I calmly asked for her serial number. I was asking for her serial number because a few moments earlier she shoved me with her baton while I filmed an arrest. This happened while LAPD kettled mostly press.
“We basically had nowhere to go, and we were surrounded by cops,” Ray said. “It was mostly just press at the end of the protest, very few protesters, so we should have never been kettled in the first place.”
Ray remained inside the kettle for about 15 minutes before being released and moved to a media staging area on the sidewalk.
“After I left, a journalist was arrested. I was able to document them taking him to a van or something to process them,” Ray said, referring to photojournalist Nick Stern. “But I wasn’t there when he was actually being arrested, and I would have liked to be, and it wasn’t the most ideal spot to be.”
Ray has been involved in 16 incidents in LA documented by the Tracker, half of which took place in the past year. He said what happened May 1 was “one of the most egregious examples” of how police have treated the press at demonstrations.
California law exempts journalists from dispersal orders and protects them from arrest or interference by police, including use of force. A federal preliminary injunction against the city is in place to uphold those protections.
Weston Rowland, an attorney representing the Los Angeles Press Club who was arrested alongside Stern, told the Tracker that the police response that day showed a blatant disregard for these legal protections.
“I don’t know what it’s going to take for them to understand that the freedom of the press is well protected under our constitution,” Rowland said. “In 2025 and 2026, it seems like they’re doing things that are specifically targeting the press. That’s stepping back, not forward.”
The LAPD did not immediately return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a statement posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”
In an earlier statement following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in more than two dozen press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.
“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” that statement said.
An officer stands with baton at the ready as police formed a kettle around press and protesters in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026. L.A. Taco reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray was detained for about 15 minutes before being released without charges.
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Status Coup reporter Tina-Desiree Berg was detained by police while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
Thousands rallied in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since June 2025.
Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the Los Angeles Police Department responded aggressively to demonstrations that day from the beginning.
“The thing hadn’t really even gotten started yet, and 20 LAPD cars with their sirens blaring come down the street, they jump out of their vehicles with their batons and start forming a skirmish line,” Berg said. “They hadn’t even done their speeches yet. They never even marched.”
When some protesters made their way to the Metropolitan Detention Center, where detained immigrants are being held, Berg said she followed, hoping to film as another march came in from the city’s Boyle Heights neighborhood.
Dozens of motorcycle officers arrived at the scene about an hour later and began ordering everyone back on the sidewalk. Suddenly, an officer walked directly to L.A. Taco reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray and arrested him, Berg told the Tracker.
Berg said she confronted the officers, telling one that Ray had not been blocking traffic and explaining the protections afforded journalists as they cover demonstrations and other breaking news.
“You know what he said to me? He’s like, ‘You are not a member of the LA Press Club. You’re a professional agitator.’ And then he turned around and walked away,” Berg told the Tracker, noting that she was visibly wearing her LA Press Club credentials at the time.
Ray was ultimately released after being issued a citation for being in the roadway.
As the evening progressed, Berg and Ray found themselves among other members of the press, legal observers and protesters in a kettle, surrounded by police.
“They told me, ‘You’re under arrest. Sit on the curb and put your hands in the air.’ And I’m like, ‘The fuck? Yeah, that’s not happening,’” she recounted. “I said, ‘Where’s your PIO? Here are my press credentials. I’m a member of the press, you can’t arrest me.’
“And he’s like, ‘Yes I can. Get on the curb and put your hands in the air.’”
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From inside the arrest kettle. None of these officers have been trained properly on 409.7.
Berg told the Tracker that she was released after more than 30 minutes without charges, but that the experience was enraging.
“I just feel like I’ve been pushed to the end of my rope. The police consistently are doing this stuff and it’s unnecessary,” she said. “I’m really tired of them saying that we’re interfering in their operations when we are clearly not. We’re just filming, and we’re allowed to do that.”
Weston Rowland, an attorney representing the Los Angeles Press Club who was arrested alongside reporter Nick Stern at the protest, told the Tracker that the police response that day showed a blatant disregard for the legal protections afforded journalists covering demonstrations.
“I don’t know what it’s going to take for them to understand that the freedom of the press is well protected under our constitution,” Rowland said. “In 2025 and 2026, it seems like they’re doing things that are specifically targeting the press. That’s stepping back, not forward.”
The LAPD did not immediately return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a statement posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”
In an earlier statement following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in more than two dozen press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.
“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” that statement said.
Status Coup reporter Tina-Desiree Berg, center right, confronts a police officer over the arrest of fellow journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray amid workers’ rights and immigration protests in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
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Photojournalist Chris Torres was pushed against a car by police with batons while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
Thousands rallied in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since June 2025.
Torres, LA bureau chief for photo agency EPA Images, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was covering the protest outside City Hall when the LA Police Department formed a barricade line at an intersection. They said the line was to let buses into the nearby buildings and tow away cars blocking the street.
As the officers pushed protesters and members of the press back, Torres said he became “trapped between the officers and one of the cars, and they continued to back me into the car and push me with their batons until I was able to find an opening and escape.”
The photographer said that while he was clearly identified as a journalist — wearing badges from the LA County Sheriff’s Department and the Press Photographers Association of Greater LA — he did not believe he was targeted as a member of the media.
“I think it was more just wrong place, wrong time,” he said.
The LAPD did not immediately return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a statement posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”
In an earlier statement following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in nearly two dozen press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.
“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” that statement said.
Police line up as people rally in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026. Officers pushed EPA Images photographer Chris Torres against a car with their batons while he was covering the protest.
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Livestreamer Gonzalo Gonzalez was arrested and charged with failure to disperse while documenting workers’ rights and immigration protests in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
Thousands rallied in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since June 2025.
Gonzalez, who broadcasts live and publishes videos through his YouTube channel EastLos Audits, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he arrived shortly before noon to document a planned rally in front of City Hall. After around 30-45 minutes, LA Police Department officers arrived, establishing a skirmish line.
“I went live from that point, and they started pushing the crowd on Spring Street toward the front of City Hall,” he said. “I stayed live for about an hour or so, and I got behind the police line, the scrimmage line, because I already know: If I’m in front of it, I’m going to get shoved and pushed, and I don’t want to do that.”
Gonzalez, who doesn’t carry press credentials, told the Tracker that he identified himself as media to the officers, who recognized and treated him as such.
Officers ultimately pushed the crowd of protesters back to clear an employee entrance for a nearby courthouse, and the demonstrators then marched out of the area, Gonzalez said. He ended his live reporting and left once the police dispersed their skirmish line.
Several hours later, the livestreamer was in his vehicle and ready to end his reporting day when he heard over his police scanner that officers were planning to corral demonstrators near the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrant detainees are being held and which has been a focal point for protests over the past year.
“When I got there, they already had the crowd pushed out on Alameda,” Gonzalez said, referring to the street in front of the detention center. “So again, I get behind the skirmish line, and there’s a lot of media there. But in front of the skirmish line, there’s media too.”
Gonzalez said he continued to identify himself as press, complying when an officer directed him to cross the street and then back again, as she looked for a way to have him join other journalists covering the protest.
He continued to broadcast live as officers began to corral the crowd.
“I started documenting all that, and I want to get as close as I can so I can document, because I don’t just want to catch video, I also want to catch audio, to hear what they’re saying,” Gonzalez told the Tracker. “I get on the street because I can get a better view and audio from the street, which is only, I would say, about three or four feet off the sidewalk.”
Despite other members of the press being permitted to walk in the street — which officers had shut down — a lieutenant approached Gonzalez and ordered him to get back onto the sidewalk. Gonzalez told the Tracker he tried to explain to the officer that he was just documenting, but was told that he was too close to the officers’ emergency scene. He compiled, asking the officer his name while stepping backward and onto the sidewalk.
“I understand that we have the right to be there,” Gonzalez told the Tracker. “And again, I can see media, mainstream media, on the street. So it irritated me that he wanted us on the sidewalk.
“So I was being a little bit of a jerk back, I’m not going to lie,” he said.
As his interaction with the lieutenant became more heated, the officer directed another to arrest Gonzalez and take him in.
He told the Tracker that he was initially informed that he was going to be charged with obstruction, but his citation lists his violation as a failure to disperse.
A subclause of that part of the California penal code specifically exempts journalists from unlawful assembly dispersal, protects them from interference or obstruction by law enforcement, and bars them from being charged with failure to disperse, curfew violations or resisting arrest.
At least four other journalists were detained in the kettle Gonzalez was documenting, one of whom — independent photojournalist Nick Stern — was arrested but later released without charges.
Gonzalez said he was held in police custody for a little over two hours before he was released, and a hearing in his case is scheduled for May 27.
The LAPD did not immediately return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a statement posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”
In an earlier statement following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in more than two dozen press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.
“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” that statement said.
Officers prevent press from approaching a kettled crowd of protesters and journalists in downtown Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026. Livestreamer Gonzalo Gonzalez was arrested while filming the police action and charged with failure to disperse.
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Independent journalist Mel Buer was detained by police while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
Thousands rallied in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since June 2025. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.
Buer told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that as the evening went on, LAPD officers kettled a group of mostly press, sealing them inside a tightened perimeter.
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Kettled, half of us are press. NLG lawyer, press freedom lawyer. This is insane.
“There was a real moment where I genuinely thought I’d end up in a police car,” Buer wrote.
She added that the kettle was tighter than the one she was detained in amid protests in March, and the officers were unfamiliar. “They had already cited Lex, and didn’t seem interested in even having a dialogue, even with the ACLU lawyer attached to the press freedom case in the kettle with us,” she continued, referencing journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray and LA Press Club attorney Weston Rowland.
Journalists Tina-Desiree Berg and Nick Stern were also among those detained; both Stern and Rowland were arrested.
“When Nick was arrested, and then the ACLU lawyer, I was the only press left in the kettle, and they hadn’t asked me to leave yet,” Buer told the Tracker. “Couldn’t confidently say I was safe until they walked me out of the kettle.”
Buer estimates that she was detained for 30-45 minutes.
Rowland told the Tracker that the police response that day showed a blatant disregard for the legal protections afforded journalists covering demonstrations.
“I don’t know what it’s going to take for them to understand that the freedom of the press is well protected under our constitution,” Rowland said. “In 2025 and 2026, it seems like they’re doing things that are specifically targeting the press. That’s stepping back, not forward.”
The LAPD did not immediately return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a statement posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”
In an earlier statement following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in more than two dozen press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.
“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” that statement said.
An officer stands in a skirmish line after clearing press and protesters from outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026. Journalist Mel Buer was later detained in an LAPD kettle and released without charges.
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Student photojournalist Blake Fagan was shoved by an individual who also tried to yank off his press credentials while he was covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
Thousands rallied in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since June 2025. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.
Fagan was documenting the protest for the Daily Sundial, the multimedia outlet for California State University, Northridge, when he followed the demonstration to the detention center.
There, an individual — who had previously sent Fagan a series of threatening messages on social media and accused him of taking a picture of his girlfriend — grabbed Fagan’s media credentials, looked at his name and tried pulling them from his neck. The man also yelled at other press in the area.
“He didn’t hit me, but he kept pushing me, saying I needed to be respectful,” Fagan said. “I didn’t know what he was talking about; I didn’t even have my camera raised, I was just standing there.”
Also that day, Fagan was pushed by a Department of Homeland Security officer and flung backward by a federal agent, landing on his back.
Photojournalist Blake Fagan, at left, is confronted by an individual who later pushed him and attempted to remove his press credential during a protest in Los Angeles on May 1, 2026.
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L.A. Taco reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray was cited by police, kettled and shoved with a police baton while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
Thousands rallied in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since June 2025. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.
Ray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that LA Police Department officers had already formed a skirmish line by the time he arrived at the detention center, where officers on motorcycles started ordering people onto the sidewalk.
In a video posted to the social platform Bluesky, an officer can be seen grabbing him and taking his ID. The officer then issued him a citation for being in the roadway, warning him that he would be taken to jail if he refused to sign it.
Ray said that he showed the officer his press badge, but the officer insisted that he had asked him multiple times to get off the street.
“He definitely singled me out,” Ray said. “I was the only person who was cited that I know of, out of a dozen or so people who were all in the street.”
Later, while Ray was documenting an arrest, an officer jabbed him in the stomach and chest. When he approached her to ask for her serial number, she pushed him again with her baton.
“Back up,” she tells him in another Bluesky video, as other officers seem to document the scene with cameras. She then gives him her information.
Later, LAPD officers kettled a group of mostly press, sealing them inside a tightened perimeter.
“We basically had nowhere to go, and we were surrounded by cops,” Ray said. “It was mostly just press at the end of the protest, very few protesters, so we should have never been kettled in the first place.”
Ray remained inside the kettle for about 15 minutes before being released and moved to a media staging area on the sidewalk.
“After I left, a journalist was arrested. I was able to document them taking him to a van or something to process them,” Ray said. “But I wasn’t there when he was actually being arrested, and I would have liked to be, and it wasn’t the most ideal spot to be.”
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Reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray holds up the traffic ticket he received while reporting on a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
Ray has been involved in 14 incidents in LA documented by the Tracker, most recently on March 28, when he was kettled, pushed and threatened with arrest. He said what happened May 1 was “one of the most egregious examples” of how police have treated the press at demonstrations.
California law exempts journalists from dispersal orders and protects them from arrest or interference by police, including use of force. A federal preliminary injunction against the city is in place to uphold those protections.
LAPD did not immediately return a request for comment, but in a statement posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”
In an earlier statement following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in nearly two dozen press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.
“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.
Reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray, at left, is detained and cited by police for stepping into the street while documenting a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.
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As President Donald Trump’s second term continued in 2026, his Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, took steps to punish and intimidate news outlets that have covered Trump and his administration critically. We’re documenting Carr’s efforts in 2026 in this regularly updated report.
April 28, 2026 | FCC orders early license renewal applications from ABC-owned stations
The Federal Communications Commission ordered The Walt Disney Company on April 28, 2026, to apply for license renewals for all of its ABC TV stations, two years or more before licenses for any of the eight stations were scheduled to expire. The order mandated that the stations comply by May 28.
The FCC’s order cited its investigations of the stations “for possible violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and the FCC’s rules, including the agency’s prohibition on unlawful discrimination,” indicating the order was connected to FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s probe into the company’s promotion of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
But observers have speculated that the move was a response to President Donald Trump’s call for ABC to fire comedian Jimmy Kimmel, host of the late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Kimmel had joked on his April 23 telecast that first lady Melania Trump had “the glow of an expectant widow,” a remark he later explained was a reference to the age difference with the president, who turns 80 in June (she is 56).
Two days after the remark, at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner attended by the president and first lady, a man armed with guns and knives ran past security and was apprehended. He was charged with attempting to assassinate the president.
Then, on April 27, Trump, who has criticized Kimmel extensively, called for the comedian’s termination on social media, saying the widow joke was “beyond the pale.” The next day, the FCC issued its order to Disney.
Carr has also criticized Kimmel, suggesting in September 2025 the FCC might take action against ABC in response to comments by Kimmel about the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. ABC then suspended Kimmel’s show for six days.
In response to the April 2026 order, Disney told CBS News, “We are confident that the record demonstrates our continued qualifications as licensees under the Communications Act and the First Amendment and are prepared to show that through the appropriate legal channels.”
The Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project, condemned the FCC’s order.
“The First Amendment and the FCC’s mandate do not permit the agency to use broadcast licenses as weapons to punish broadcasters for constitutionally protected content they air,” FPF’s Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern said. “This is nothing but illegal jawboning intended to intimidate ABC into kissing the ring.”
March 14, 2026 | FCC chair threatens licenses of broadcasters for Iran war coverage
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr on March 14, 2026, threatened broadcasters with the loss of their licenses for what he characterized as “running hoaxes and news distortions” in their accounts of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
In a social media post, Carr quoted a screenshot of a Truth Social post from President Donald Trump, in which the president alleged that The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and “other Lowlife ‘Papers’ and Media” want the U.S. to lose the war with Iran.
Although Trump did not mention any TV news outlets by name, Carr noted, “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.” The FCC chair then added that those broadcasters “have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up.”
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Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions - also known as the fake news - have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up.
The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they… https://t.co/7bBgnsbalw
“The American people have subsidized broadcasters to the tune of billions of dollars by providing free access to the nation’s airwaves,” he continued. “It is very important to bring trust back into media, which has earned itself the label of fake news.”
According to the FCC, while over-the-air local broadcast television stations are subject to the agency’s jurisdiction with respect to “news distortion,” newspapers are not.
In a Truth Social post the next day, Trump said he was “thrilled” to see that Carr was looking into the licenses of “some of these Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic ‘News’ Organizations.”
Trump added: “They get Billions of Dollars of FREE American Airwaves, and use it to perpetuate LIES, both in News and almost all of their Shows, including the Late Night Morons, who get gigantic Salaries for horrible Ratings, and never get, as I used to say in The Apprentice, ‘FIRED.’”
In a March 16 statement, Anna Gomez, the FCC’s lone Democratic commissioner, noted that the agency “licenses local broadcast stations, not networks, and no licenses are up for renewal until 2028.” She added that Carr’s threats “are grounded in neither reality nor law and would not survive judicial scrutiny, just as other recent attempts by this Administration to push beyond constitutional limits have repeatedly failed in court.”
“The concern over the chilling effect of these actions, however, is very real,” she said.
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr testifies at a House hearing in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 14, 2026.
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Mickey Barker, an independent journalist, was arrested by police in Virginia Beach, Virginia, as he documented the city’s curfew on April 18, 2026.
Barker was recording on his iPhone in the oceanfront area, where an all-ages curfew had been imposed after two earlier shootings in March and April. He told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was looking for local business owners and residents to interview about the effects of the curfew when officers stopped him.
Though the City Council exempted members of the media from the curfew, Barker said he was treated differently because he is an independent journalist.
In a video Barker posted of the interaction, an officer asks, “Sir, do you have credentials?”
“The First Amendment, yes, of the Constitution,” Barker replies.
“That’s not how that works,” says the officer, who was joined by other police asking Barker to leave the oceanfront area.
Although credentials are not a requirement under the city ordinance, the officers demanded them after Barker asserted that he was an independent journalist gathering content for a story.
“You’re not press,” an officer was heard telling the journalist, before Barker insisted that he hadn’t broken any law and refused to provide his identification. The officer then took Barker’s phone and detained him in an overheated police van for about 45 minutes before taking him to jail.
“I’m an Iraq veteran, and I’ve never sweat so hard,” Barker told the Tracker, adding, “They handcuffed me so tight that I had numbness and tingling in my fingers for about three days afterward.”
Barker was released from jail early the next morning, and his case was dismissed April 24, according to Barker and his attorney, Tim Anderson, who say they’re preparing a civil suit.
“The First Amendment issue is as simple as this — CNN could have been there, but this guy couldn’t,” Anderson told The Virginian-Pilot. “That’s the shocking part of this. If the guy had a CNN jacket on, he would have been allowed to be down there, but this independent, amateur journalist gets put in handcuffs.”
Barker documents happenings in his community to a small following on his Facebook page, titled Billy the Billy of Rights Billy Goat, which contains occasional political commentary and documents Barker participating in protests.
“Anybody who documents and tries to make some of it publicly accessible is a journalist,” he told the Tracker. “Journalism is an activity, not an occupation. It’s the activity that is protected in our constitutional rights.”
A police officer is seen in this video still asking for independent journalist Mickey Barker’s press credentials, before arresting him for violating curfew in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on April 18, 2026.
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WPLG investigative reporter Jeff Weinsier was shoved and threatened with jail by a plainclothes Miami-Dade County sheriff’s deputy while approaching the county’s mayor for an interview in Miami Beach, Florida, on April 11, 2026.
The TV station reported that the incident took place while the mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, was appearing at an event at a public park.
Weinsier tried to ask her why electric city buses that cost taxpayers more than $60 million were taken out of service. The reporter sought out the mayor at the public event because, for weeks, her communications staff had told him that she would not do an interview on the issue, according to WPLG.
After Levine Cava finished an interview with the county’s own television channel, Weinsier walked up to her and asked a question. WPLG’s video report on the incident shows a woman standing next to the mayor saying, “We can speak after the program.”
Then, a man wearing a black jacket and sunglasses but no visible badge or credentials steps forward and pushes Weinsier back. The man — later identified as a Miami-Dade sheriff’s deputy, Lester Aguilar, part of the mayor’s security detail — tells everyone to move back, and shoves Weinsier several times.
The reporter repeatedly says, “Don’t push me,” to which Aguilar replies, “Do you want to go to jail?
“For what? Standing and trying to interview the mayor?” Weinsier asks.
At no point does Aguilar identify himself as law enforcement or as a member of the mayor’s security team.
Aguilar alleged that the reporter made contact with him. “The next time you put your hands on me, you will go to jail. I was just trying to do my job,” he says later.
“And I as well,” Weinsier replies.
Later that day, the mayor agreed to answer Weinsier’s questions about the buses.
WPLG reported that the Sheriff’s Office had opened an internal affairs investigation into the incident.
Weinsier told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that WPLG submitted a public records request to the Sheriff’s Office, seeking its policies and procedures about plainclothes officers identifying themselves when interacting with the public, “particularly before or while giving orders.”
He said the incident hasn’t deterred their reporting. “Our focus remains on getting answers regarding the taxpayer-funded electric bus program and continuing to ask questions of public officials.”
“That said, I do think there are broader questions that come out of this. If there are specific protocols, boundaries or a defined perimeter around the mayor when she is in a public setting, that is something journalists and the public should clearly understand,” Weinsier added.
The Miami-Dade Mayor’s Office and Sheriff’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
“Ultimately, I think the key issue here is clarity. If plainclothes officers are going to engage with members of the media or the public in that way, there should be clear identification and clear rules governing those interactions,” Weinsier said.
WPLG television reporter Jeff Weinsier, at left holding microphone, was pushed by a plainclothes sheriff’s deputy while trying to ask Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava a question on April 11, 2026, in Miami Beach, Florida.
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Savanah Hernandez, a reporter for Frontlines TPUSA, suffered a concussion after she was attacked by a group of people attending an immigration protest in the Minneapolis suburb of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on April 11, 2026.
The demonstration was one of many nationwide protests that day against increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, including in Minneapolis, where federal agents fatally shot Minneapolis residents Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and shot and wounded another man. Both the city of Minneapolis and the state have since sued the Trump administration, arguing the unprecedented deployment of federal agents violates constitutional rights.
Hernandez told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was reporting for Frontlines TPUSA, the online news arm of the conservative activist organization Turning Point USA.
While Hernandez filmed the demonstration outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, several people attending the protest surrounded her after learning she was affiliated with TPUSA. Hernandez told the group she was only there to observe and record, but the situation began to escalate.
“The crowd became increasingly more volatile,” Hernandez told the Tracker. “They just heard the name, ‘Turning Point USA,’ and that’s what got them very aggressive with me.”
Hernandez filmed as people blew whistles and blowhorns at her. One woman blew a whistle inches from her ear, and someone on a megaphone yelled, “Get the fuck out of here.”
“Stop. Leave me alone,” Hernandez said in the video. “People are being extremely aggressive here.”
Moments later, Hernandez was shoved to the ground, her camera jostling.
\n
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This is now the second time I have been mobbed and assaulted for filming a protest on U.S. streets.
Today these Minneapolis protesters were chanting that they were “ANTIFA” and proved it, by mobbing and beating me for reporting on a public protest: pic.twitter.com/EOhyg9AFME
Hernandez pushed away another woman who aggressively approached her. “Get off of me,” Hernandez said. “Stop touching me.” Hernandez is then tackled to the ground.
Hernandez is seen being shoved by a man in one video. Another shows a woman pushing her into a fence. Hernandez throws a punch at the woman in a third clip.
\n
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I'm waking up with a headache and stiff neck this morning due to how violently anti-ICE activist, Chris Ostroushko, shoved me down yesterday.
A second angle shows that he had to be held back by 5 men as he continued to charge at me.
“I realized these people were not going to let me leave,” Hernandez said. “I was basically like, ‘I feel like I’m just going to have to fight my way out of this.’”
Eventually, police intervened and escorted Hernandez away. Hernandez’s glasses were broken after the encounter. A doctor diagnosed her with a concussion. She also suffered sprains, bruising and a stiff neck. Her legs were scraped, and her neck and back were sore.
A Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office report shows that Paige Ostroushko and her father, Christopher, were arrested in connection with the assault. The sheriff submitted charges to the county attorney, which are now under review for potential charging. The report lists a third offender, Deyanna Ostroushko, who has not been arrested.
Chris Ostroushko told the New York Post that he was defending his wife and daughter, who claimed they were acting in self-defense after Hernandez attacked them. “We are absolutely not violent people,” he said. “In fact, we tend to shy away from it.”
\n
\n
\n
I was scheduled for multiple media interviews today, but I canceled all of them.
Yesterday, after my interviews I felt drained and realize I need time to recover.
I’ve been dealing with headaches, dizziness and lightheadedness and was informed by a doctor that I do have a…
Hernandez said she felt targeted by the group, who she believes attacked her to make sure she couldn’t do her job.
“I would like to see the First Amendment protected more in the United States of America,” Hernandez told the Tracker. “I would like to see the law applied equally, so that journalists and reporters are protected no matter which city they’re in, because this type of violence against people has been happening for far too long.”
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon confirmed that the FBI was also investigating the assault. Vice President JD Vance acknowledged the federal investigation as well.
Frontlines TPUSA reporter Savanah Hernandez, at left, with two individuals arrested in connection with an assault against her, seen in a video screengrab from an immigration protest in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, on April 11, 2026.
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Independent photographer Enrique Dominguez was shoved by officers and poked with a police baton while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026.
The protest, which included a few dozen participants, gathered at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held and where numerous demonstrations have taken place since the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the city in June 2025.
Dominguez, who was not wearing a press badge but has since received one from the National Press Photographers Association, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was taking pictures of the protest and is working on a documentary film.
While on the scene, the LA Police Department started forcing members of the press backward, away from the detention center. Dominguez said he tried to take a picture of a woman being arrested at a certain angle, but he was diverted after an officer pushed him, followed by several others.
“They pushed us more aggressively when we started taking pictures of them arresting everybody,” Dominguez said. “The police started jabbing me with their batons and started pushing me.”
At one point, an officer pointed at him and told him that he would be detained next. Dominguez said he just walked away.
California law allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police, including use of force. A federal preliminary injunction against the city is in place to uphold those protections.
In an emailed statement, an LAPD public information officer told the Tracker that an unlawful assembly was declared in response to “vandalism and in the interest of public safety.” The officer added, “Following the lawful dispersal order, officers moved to regain control of the area and successfully dispersed those engaged in unlawful activity.”
The officer said the department is “aware of the complaints that have been raised,” adding that “each allegation will be subject to a comprehensive and thorough investigation in accordance with established Department policies and procedures.”
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement after a March 28 “No Kings” rally weeks earlier — which resulted in at least a dozen press freedom violations — that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.
“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.
Police push press back at an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026. Independent photographer Enrique Dominguez was shoved by officers and poked with a police baton while documenting the demonstration.
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Independent photographer Jonny Morales was shoved by police and jabbed in the ribs with a police baton while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026.
The protest, which included a few dozen participants, gathered at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held and where numerous demonstrations have taken place since the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the city in June 2025.
Morales told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was photographing the protest outside the detention center when police forced protesters to leave and began making targeted arrests.
Officers then gave conflicting directions to members of the press. One directed the reporters to the sidewalk, while another threatened the media with arrest for staying. While standing on the sidewalk with other reporters, Morales was pushed by an officer, who also struck him with his baton.
“Because of that interaction, I didn’t feel safe,” Morales told the Tracker. “That was just really scary and intimidating.”
Morales, who was carrying gear and wearing a vest that identified him as press, said one officer told him that he would be considered a protester because he did not have a press credential.
“I’m an independent, I’m considered press, I’m protected under state law,” Morales told police, who he said ignored his assertions.
California law allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police during demonstrations, and does not require journalists to wear credentials to be considered press. A federal preliminary injunction against the city is in place to uphold those protections.
After leaving the protest, Morales said his ribs were sore and red. Other journalists were also shoved and hit during the scrum, impeding their ability to report.
“I was forced to stop documenting because I was concerned about my well-being and my friends’ well-being,” Morales said.
In an emailed statement, an LAPD public information officer told the Tracker that an unlawful assembly was declared in response to “vandalism and in the interest of public safety.” The officer added, “Following the lawful dispersal order, officers moved to regain control of the area and successfully dispersed those engaged in unlawful activity.”
The officer said the department is “aware of the complaints that have been raised,” adding that “each allegation will be subject to a comprehensive and thorough investigation in accordance with established Department policies and procedures.”
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement after a March 28 “No Kings” rally two weeks earlier — which resulted in at least 17 press freedom violations — that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.
“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.
Officers push members of the press back during an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026. Photographer Jonny Morales was struck with a police baton while covering the demonstration.
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Independent photographer Steven Berumen was pushed by both federal officers and local police while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026.
The protest, which included a few dozen participants, gathered at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held and where numerous demonstrations have taken place since the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the city in June 2025.
Berumen told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that an LA Police Department officer shoved him with his baton as police pushed members of the media away from documenting arrests.
“They didn’t want me photographing,” Berumen said. “They always yell at me, ‘Just get your photo and go.’”
Berumen, who was wearing a vest marking him as press, said when he documents protests, he tries to maintain a respectful distance between himself and officers, but finds that officers still try to push him or block his shot.
“They were targeting press; they complain when you’re taking photos, and they push you.”
Later that day, Berumen documented federal officers and LAPD making arrests outside the detention center when Department of Homeland Security agents also shoved him.
“I was getting photos of them and, from my right side, they came in and pushed me,” he said. “I was pushed, and then I was pushed again, but it didn’t really register with me because I was just focused on taking the photos.”
California law allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police during demonstrations, and does not require journalists to wear credentials to be considered press. A federal preliminary injunction against the city and DHS is in place to uphold those protections.
In an emailed statement, an LAPD public information officer told the Tracker that an unlawful assembly was declared in response to “vandalism and in the interest of public safety.” The officer added, “Following the lawful dispersal order, officers moved to regain control of the area and successfully dispersed those engaged in unlawful activity.”
The officer said the department is “aware of the complaints that have been raised,” adding that “each allegation will be subject to a comprehensive and thorough investigation in accordance with established Department policies and procedures.”
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement after a March 28 “No Kings” rally two weeks earlier — which resulted in at least 18 press freedom violations — that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.
“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.
Law enforcement at an immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026. Photographer Steven Berumen was shoved by police and federal officers while documenting the demonstration.
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Independent journalist Mel Buer was pushed by police and warned she would be detained while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026.
The protest, which included a few dozen participants, gathered at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held and where numerous demonstrations have taken place since the start of intensified immigration enforcement in the city in June 2025.
Buer told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was filming outside the detention center when the LA Police Department started making arrests. Officers pushed about a half-dozen reporters down the street, away from the police action.
“I was shoved pretty hard by an officer,” said Buer, who recalled her ribs hurting for about two hours after. “My colleagues say I took a baton to the ribs, but I don’t remember feeling it.”
In a video Buer posted on Bluesky, police moved in to arrest a protester. Other officers then positioned themselves in front of members of the media and aggressively advanced on them, using their batons and yelling for them to back up. One journalist was kicked.
“You have been advised to leave, all the members of press. You are subject to arrest — all of you. Now,” an officer told them, adding, “You cannot get in the way of arrests.”
“We’re not,” one journalist said.
“You’re coming over here when we’re making arrests,” the officer replied.
California law allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police while doing so. A federal preliminary injunction against the city is in place to uphold those protections.
While the statute states press may access closed areas during emergencies, it does not extend that access to designated crime scenes or secured perimeters established by law enforcement. In one video, an officer using a megaphone told the media they were subject to arrest, and the area had been declared an emergency operation.
Police make the designated area broad — across a block or more — to prevent press from crossing the line during a dispersal, Buer said.
Buer, who two weeks earlier had been caught in a police kettle and threatened with arrest, told the Tracker that her main frustration is the confusing and often contradictory directives provided to the press at protests.
“There’s no main point of contact telling us where to go. Everyone’s giving different directions, and when we don’t move out of the way fast enough, they use their batons and shove us,” Buer said. “I should not be shoved by an officer in such a way when I’m attempting to film what is happening.”
In an emailed statement, an LAPD public information officer told the Tracker that an unlawful assembly was declared in response to “vandalism and in the interest of public safety.” The officer added, “Following the lawful dispersal order, officers moved to regain control of the area and successfully dispersed those engaged in unlawful activity.”
The officer said the department is “aware of the complaints that have been raised,” adding that “each allegation will be subject to a comprehensive and thorough investigation in accordance with established Department policies and procedures.”
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement after a March 28 “No Kings” rally weeks earlier — which resulted in at least 11 press freedom violations — that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.
“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” the statement said.
Update: This story was revised to include comment from an LAPD spokesperson.
Police respond to a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on April 11, 2026. Journalist Mel Buer was pushed by an officer while documenting the demonstration.
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