Analysis

Original analyses on press freedom trends and monthly incident roundups written by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker staff with features on First Amendment issues published by our partner organizations.

Featured

‘They see the media as the enemy.’ A lesson from a deported journalist

Published

October 30, 2025

Written by

Kirstin McCudden
California press protections undermined as violations surged at LA protests

Batons, pepper balls, searches, detainment: How police defied the state’s media rights law

Published

September 30, 2025

Written by

Briana Erickson
Media in the courthouse

Published

October 16, 2025

Written by

Stephanie Sugars

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On social media, Trump targets the press on average once a day — for 10 years and counting

Behind a decade of attacks on the media lies Trump’s strategy of control.

Published

June 12, 2025

Written by

Stephanie Sugars
Protecting journalism, without federal police reforms

People take part in a candlelight vigil on the fifth anniversary of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Earlier that week, the Department of Justice announced it was dropping federal oversight programs for police reform in the state.

Published

May 30, 2025

Written by

Kirstin McCudden
Columbia keeps ‘investigating’ student journalists covering pro-Palestine protests

Reporters on campus tell CJR it’s a threat to press freedom.

Published

May 19, 2025

Written by

Meghnad Bose, Anna Oakes
In 100 days, a laundry list of attacks on the media

From limiting media access to investigating journalists, the Trump administration’s first 100 days have targeted the media on multiple fronts

Published

April 30, 2025

Written by

Kirstin McCudden
‘I live with that we didn’t struggle enough.’ A lesson from a Russian journalist-in-exile

Normalizing control of media access was one small step the Kremlin took to undermine press freedom.

Published

March 31, 2025

Written by

Kirstin McCudden
The press corps, and profound losses ahead

The perils of a press corps controlled by the president

Published

February 28, 2025

Written by

Kirstin McCudden
Election-related free press violations, 2017-present

February 18, 2025

Press freedom violations in connection with U.S. elections, 2017-forward
Entering Trump 2.0 after uptick in attacks on press last year

Published

January 31, 2025

Written by

Kirstin McCudden