U.S. Press Freedom Tracker

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U.S. Press Freedom Tracker The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a comprehensive database of press freedom incidents in the United States. border and physical attacks.

Press Freedom Tracker is a comprehensive database of press freedom incidents in the United States — everything from arrests of journalists and the seizure of their equipment to interrogations at the U.S. The Press Freedom Tracker documents incidents across the country, involving national, state and local authorities.

17/01/2025

Trump has consistently attacked the press during his first term and on the campaign trail. He has threatened to jail whistleblowers and journalists, and go after any network over critical reporting.

But as he takes office for his second term, Trump’s war on the free press is expected to ramp up.

In fact, Trump is already delivering on his promise to go after the press. After ABC News agreed to settle a closely watched defamation case Trump brought against the network, to the tune of $15 million, he is expanding his threats of legal action against other media outlets.

But every time Trump attacks the media, we here at the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker are here to document it. Follow the link in our bio for the most comprehensive database of Trump’s attacks on press freedom, and consider donating today to support our mission by following the link in our bio or visiting freedom.press/donate

Changing longstanding practice, the Kansas House has joined the state’s Senate and other Republican-controlled state leg...
16/01/2025

Changing longstanding practice, the Kansas House has joined the state’s Senate and other Republican-controlled state legislatures in barring journalists from reporting from the chamber floor while in session:

Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins banned reporting from the chamber’s floor at the Statehouse in Topeka on Jan. 10, 2025, …

👋 Join the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker on r/IAmA at 2 pm ET/11 am PT for an AMA with our Senior Reporter Stephanie Sugars...
15/01/2025

👋 Join the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker on r/IAmA at 2 pm ET/11 am PT for an AMA with our Senior Reporter Stephanie Sugars.

Ask us anything about documenting Donald Trump’s anti-press rhetoric online.

Explore this post and more from the IAmA community

15/01/2025

Chicago prosecutors dropped a disorderly conduct charge against photojournalist Sinna Nasseri on Jan. 7.

He was arrested along with at least two other photojournalists documenting a pro-Palestinian protest tied to the DNC in August.

As Donald Trump returns to the White House, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has resumed its tracking of his anti-press rh...
14/01/2025

As Donald Trump returns to the White House, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has resumed its tracking of his anti-press rhetoric online, focusing on his new platform of choice: Truth Social.

Learn more about our documentation of his anti-press posts:

As a candidate and a president, Donald Trump has spent the last decade broadcasting his disdain for journalists in interviews, …

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, Trump’s pick to run the agency, accused NewsGuard of being part of a “censorship cartel” ...
08/01/2025

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, Trump’s pick to run the agency, accused NewsGuard of being part of a “censorship cartel” in a Nov. 13 letter and called on four tech companies to turn over information about ways they relied on it.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr accused private company NewsGuard, which uses journalistic methods to generate reliability ratings of media outlets, of …

As president-elect, Donald Trump has already shown that he will use legal avenues to attack and punish journalists whose...
07/01/2025

As president-elect, Donald Trump has already shown that he will use legal avenues to attack and punish journalists whose coverage he feels is unfair.

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker has launched a tracking project to catalog such lawsuits.

Follow it here:

As Donald Trump moves back into the White House, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker will document the lawsuits he files …

Four years on from the insurrection at the Capitol, and we've never stopped tracking justice for the 18 journalists assa...
06/01/2025

Four years on from the insurrection at the Capitol, and we've never stopped tracking justice for the 18 journalists assaulted in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.

It's all kept here in our database ⬇️

While documenting the large mob in front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, photographer John Minchillo was grabbed …

Update: Asheville Blade reporters Veronica Coit and Matilda Bliss filed a federal suit Dec. 23 against the City of Ashev...
03/01/2025

Update: Asheville Blade reporters Veronica Coit and Matilda Bliss filed a federal suit Dec. 23 against the City of Asheville, North Carolina, and the police officers who arrested them four years ago.

Asheville Blade reporter Matilda Bliss was arrested alongside a colleague while covering a police eviction of a homeless encampment in …

In 2024, journalists were arrested or detained at least 48 times — more than previous two years combined and third-highe...
19/12/2024

In 2024, journalists were arrested or detained at least 48 times — more than previous two years combined and third-highest total since 2017.

Nearly 90% of arrests occurred at Israel-Gaza war protests, with nearly half by NYC police.

Read our analysis:

While revelers and protesters alike gathered near New York City’s Times Square on Dec. 31, 2023, a freelance reporter rang …

Reporters Aaron Leathley and Hannah Workman of CA’s Stockton Record are being investigated by the San Joaquin County She...
19/12/2024

Reporters Aaron Leathley and Hannah Workman of CA’s Stockton Record are being investigated by the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office as “co-conspirators” in the alleged leak of a search warrant, the sheriff said Dec. 4:

Aaron Leathley, a reporter for the central California daily newspaper The Stockton Record, was visited at her Stockton home on …

12/12/2024

In 2024, journalists were arrested or detained by police at least 48 times, more than during the previous two years combined. It’s also the third-highest number of arrests since the Tracker began cataloging press freedom violations in 2017.

More striking statistics: Nearly 90% of those arrests took place around Israel-Gaza war protests. And nearly half were at the hands of New York City police.

Even the five election-related arrests, in a year characterized by a contentious presidential election, were at protests at least partially if not entirely focused on the Israel-Gaza war. That includes the three journalists arrested by Chicago police at protests around the Democratic National Convention in August.

But covering protests was far from the only routine newsgathering for which journalists were arrested or charged in 2024. This year, a pattern continued of criminally charging journalists for standard journalistic practices.

Watch our Senior Reporter Stephanie Sugars break down our annual report and learn more about press freedom violations in 2024.

Join the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker on Reddit today at 12:30 p.m. ET for an AMA with Senior Reporter Stephanie Sugars an...
12/12/2024

Join the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker on Reddit today at 12:30 p.m. ET for an AMA with Senior Reporter Stephanie Sugars and Managing Editor Kirstin McCudden.

Ask us anything about our annual arrest report and threats to press freedom journalists faced this year.

Explore this post and more from the IAmA community

Update: Alameda County DA dropped case against multimedia journalist Yesica Prado on Dec. 4, three months after she was ...
11/12/2024

Update: Alameda County DA dropped case against multimedia journalist Yesica Prado on Dec. 4, three months after she was arrested while reporting on homeless encampment sweep in Oakland, CA.

Multimedia journalist Yesica Prado was arrested while reporting on a homeless encampment cleanup operation in Oakland, California, on Sept. 17, …

Digital news outlet 404 Media was subpoenaed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in October in connection with a lawsui...
11/12/2024

Digital news outlet 404 Media was subpoenaed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in October in connection with a lawsuit against Google.

It filed objections on Dec. 6, stating it wouldn’t willingly become “an arm of law enforcement.”

Digital news outlet 404 Media was subpoenaed by the state of Texas on Oct. 22, 2024, in connection with an …

Final accounting of election-related aggressions, charges dropped against journalists covering a protest during the DNC,...
03/12/2024

Final accounting of election-related aggressions, charges dropped against journalists covering a protest during the DNC, and more in this month’s newsletter by managing editor Kirstin McCudden:

Above, a snapshot of all incidents documented in the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker so far this year. Friends of the …

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Trump's campaign against the free press is set to ramp up
Trump's campaign against the free press is set to ramp up

Trump has consistently attacked the press during his first term and on the campaign trail. He has threatened to jail whistleblowers and journalists, and go after any network over critical reporting. But as he takes office for his second term, Trump’s war on the free press is expected to ramp up. In fact, Trump is already delivering on his promise to go after the press. After ABC News agreed to settle a closely watched defamation case Trump brought against the network, to the tune of $15 million, he is expanding his threats of legal action against other media outlets. But every time Trump attacks the media, we here at the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker are here to document it. Follow the link in our bio for the most comprehensive database of Trump’s attacks on press freedom, and consider donating today to support our mission by following the link in our bio or visiting freedom.press/donate

In 2024, journalists were arrested or detained by police at least 48 times, more than during the previous two years combined. It’s also the third-highest number of arrests since the Tracker began cataloging press freedom violations in 2017. More striking statistics: Nearly 90% of those arrests took place around Israel-Gaza war protests. And nearly half were at the hands of New York City police. Even the five election-related arrests, in a year characterized by a contentious presidential election, were at protests at least partially if not entirely focused on the Israel-Gaza war. That includes the three journalists arrested by Chicago police at protests around the Democratic National Convention in August. But covering protests was far from the only routine newsgathering for which journalists were arrested or charged in 2024. This year, a pattern continued of criminally charging journalists for standard journalistic practices. Watch our Senior Reporter Stephanie Sugars break down our annual report and learn more about press freedom violations in 2024.

Six years ago today, a man armed with a shotgun entered the Capital Gazette newsroom in Annapolis, MD, and shot multiple journalists, media workers. Five people were killed in the attack, and two others were injured. It was the deadliest single attack on journalists in U.S. history. These are the names of the journalists, media worker murdered in the Capital Gazette shooting in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 28, 2018: Gerald Fischman Rob Hiaasen John McNamara Wendi Winters Rebecca Smith https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/man-upset-newspaper-coverage-shoots-and-kills-multiple-journalists-capital-gazette-newsroom/

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Journalists in the United States face hostility from local and federal governments, along with a number of legal threats to themselves and their sources. This nonpartisan website launched in 2017 and aims to be the first to provide reliable, easy-to-access information on the number of press freedom violations in the United States—from journalists facing charges to reporters stopped at the U.S. border or asked to hand over their electronics.

When journalists are obstructed, so is the public’s right to be informed and hold power to account. The United States has some of the strongest legal free speech protections in the world, and serves as a beacon for press freedom in a world where journalists are routinely censored, attacked, or imprisoned for their work. But the U.S. record is imperfect, and journalists and advocates must tirelessly defend the First Amendment in courts, in legislatures, and in the media. Constant vigilance and an honest accounting of the country’s track record on press freedom are essential.

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker brings together more than two dozen press freedom groups to create a centralized repository for research. The data we gather will help inform advocacy, journalism, and legal action.

The tracker is based on a coalition that shares knowledge about threats to press freedom across the country. Freedom of the Press Foundation, a press freedom advocacy organization, manages the day-to-day operations of the site. The Committee to Protect Journalists heads a steering committee that includes the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Reporters Without Borders, and Index on Censorship.