In 100 days, a laundry list of attacks on the media

Friends of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker:

Welcome back to your newsletter around press freedom violations in the United States. Find archived editions here, and get this newsletter directly in your inbox by signing up here.

“Just 100 days into Trump’s second term, he and his allies have launched a multipronged campaign against journalists, media organizations and their sources, pushing a narrative that questions the legitimacy of critical reporting and seeks to suppress dissenting voices.”

That’s Tracker Senior Reporter Stephanie Sugars in her roundup for this week’s 100-day milestone outlining how this administration has steadily targeted the press. The targeted assault on journalists and the First Amendment, she wrote, came in four major ways — limiting media access, cutting federal funding, pursuing investigations of the media and journalists and targeting leakers.

Plus, I walk you through the first 100 days of the Trump administration and what it’s meant for press freedom — so far. Click below to watch the video.

What else we’re reading around Trump’s 100 days

From thousands of deleted datasets on federal agency websites to attempts to illegally destroy agency records, Lauren Harper, FPF’s Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy, is looking at the administration’s first 100 days through a lens of government transparency. Or lack thereof. “The administration is eroding the information environment in ways this country has never seen,” Harper wrote.

And take a run through the accompanying database, “The Classified Catalog,” logging news reports of government secrecy since January. You know how much we appreciate a good spreadsheet around here.

‘Alarmed by rising tide of threats’

In its report on the first 100 days of the administration, the Committee to Protect Journalists also recognizes the multipronged threats and challenges journalists are facing.

“We are alarmed by the rising tide of threats facing journalists and newsrooms that we have documented during the first 100 days of the second Trump administration,” said Katherine Jacobsen, CPJ’s U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator and author of the report. “The second Trump administration has taken multiple steps that curtail the media's ability to bear witness to government proceedings, and with it an avenue for covering matters of public interest.”

Press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders also released a report, Trump’s war on the press: 10 numbers from the US President’s first 100 days.

Other notable updates and incidents

• On April 4, a circuit court granted Mississippi Today’s request to dismiss a defamation lawsuit from the state’s former governor, Phil Bryant, who sued in 2023 following the publication of a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into the allocation of federal funds while he was in office. Press freedom advocates and journalists everywhere have been keeping a close eye on the multi-year ordeal; Bryant’s suit sought confidential reporting notes and source information in a state with no reporter’s shield law.
• More in yearslong legal updates reported by the Tracker:
  • On April 9, an appeals court rejected a police union’s attempt to overturn a 2023 settlement agreement between five photojournalists and the New York City Police Department, which laid extensive rules for the NYPD’s interactions with journalists. The photojournalists had sued in federal court in August 2021, alleging violations of their First Amendment rights while covering social justice protests in 2020.
  • A federal jury in New York City found on April 22 that The New York Times did not defame former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the second time a jury reached this verdict. Palin sued the outlet over an editorial in June 2017.
    
• Two California journalists — Fresno Bee reporter Thaddeus Miller and Fresnoland reporter Pablo Orihuela — were subpoenaed this month as part of a criminal trial. While the case was dismissed April 10, making the subpoenas moot, confusion followed. Fresno City Attorney Andrew Janz told a Bee editor that he had not reviewed or authorized the subpoenas and that they had not been issued according to protocol. Also frustrating for the reporters — the drain on resources. Orihuela told the Tracker that hours and hours of work had gone into preparation. “(So) much of our bandwidth had to get dedicated to this thing that, with all due respect, we believe never should have happened,” Orihuela said.