Notices by Freedom of the Press (freedomofpress@social.freedom.press)

Presidential libraries can be fronts for massive, unregulated “donations” to private presidential foundations.

Yes, even jumbo jets from foreign Qatari royals.

Watch Lauren Harper unpack what Jon Stewart teed up on The Daily Show.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9XDKzX2WbLI

The free press is under pressure—and now Donald Trump’s targeting the lawyers who defend it.

Listen to The Intercept’s David Bralow explain why legal support is essential to journalism.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eCWVco9AEKI

It's easy to view Trump's attacks on the press as products of his thin-skinned vindictiveness. And they are.

But he's also long dreamed of building a media empire and may be abusing his power to weaken the competition.

https://freedom.press/issues/trump-attacks-the-press-not-just-as-an-authoritarian-but-as-a-business-rival/

National security is the boogeyman invoked by the Trump administration to do whatever it wants.

Today, it’s putting a tariff on movies.

Tomorrow, it could be throwing journalists or sources in jail for leaks.

https://freedom.press/issues/lights-camera-national-security-crisis/

Good news: Montana's governor signed its anti-SLAPP bill into law.

Legislatures in red and blue states understand there's nothing partisan about protecting journalists, activists, and everyone else from anti-speech lawfare.

https://www.ifs.org/blog/montana-governor-signs-landmark-bill-as-state-becomes-the-37th-to-enact-anti-slapp-protections/

The revocation of Biden-era policies protecting journalists in leak investigations is "likely a precursor to the issuance of subpoenas in the relatively near future and likely aggressive pursuit of those sources," Seth Stern tells Liam Scott.

https://pressfreedomreport.substack.com/p/body-ukrainian-journalist-returned-russia-press-freedom-united-states

The US used to be the gold standard for press freedom. Not any more

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/28/press-freedom-us-trump

If the government can arrest students for writing op-eds and hide records about it, we don't have a free press.

We're demanding transparency on the abduction of Rümeysa Öztürk and why the administration ignored warnings of its unconstitutionality.

https://freedom.press/issues/administration-must-release-memos-about-abduction-of-op-ed-writer/

We filed an amicus brief alongside The Intercept and 59 other media organizations and press freedom advocates to challenge Trump’s executive order threatening legal representation and press freedom.

Read it here:

https://theintercept.com/2025/04/09/trump-press-freedom-defense-fund/

PSA from John Cusack: Democracy is under attack — and paywalls shouldn’t stand in the way of accessing vital public records.

News outlets, it’s time to drop the paywalls for FOIA-based reporting.
@Wired did it. @404mediaco did it.

Now, it’s your turn.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WZf1L5hH8JA

Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more journalists than the U.S. Civil War, World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Yugoslavia Wars, and Afghanistan War, combined, according to Brown University’s Watson Institute.

https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/2025/Journalists?mc_cid=901821fa50&mc_eid=d54a865283

Anyone with any regard whatsoever for the Constitution should recognize how fundamentally at odds this is with our values and should be deeply repulsed regardless of political leanings.

The arrest of Rumeysa Ozturk may serve as the canary in the coal mine for the First Amendment.

Read our full statement:

https://freedom.press/issues/fpf-statement-on-arrest-of-tufts-student/

We commend Wired for dropping its paywall for FOIA-based reporting and hope other news outlets will follow its lead.

https://freedom.press/issues/wired-is-dropping-paywalls-for-foia-based-reporting-others-should-follow/

From the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker:

Update: A group of journalists settled a federal suit for nearly $1 million with Portland, Oregon, on March 5, after they were assaulted and had their equipment seized by police while reporting on BLM protests in 2020:

https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/portland-photojournalist-struck-pepper-balls-while-covering-portland-protest/

Good news: Idaho's anti-SLAPP bill has been signed into law.

Every state and the federal government needs a strong anti-SLAPP law.

https://idahocapitalsun.com/briefs/idaho-joins-states-with-anti-slapp-laws-aimed-at-combatting-frivolous-lawsuits/

Think about it: DOGE has existed for less than two months and says it's created enough records that it would take three years to release them in response to Citizens for Ethics' FOIA lawsuit.

This is a staggering level of stalling from a group of tech geniuses.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/us/politics/musk-doge-foia-lawsuit.html

Authorities in Lake County, IN are inadvertently furthering both Trump’s anti-press and anti-immigration agendas by prosecuting a journalist arrested at an ICE protest.

Seth Stern explained in the Post-Tribune.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/03/08/guest-column-lake-county-prosecutors-must-drop-charges-against-photojournalist/

Maybe it’s been so long since “Fox & Friends” have practiced journalism that they’ve forgotten what it looks like.

To be clear: Finding out information about official activity and publishing it is textbook journalism and protected by the First Amendment.

https://freedom.press/issues/fox-friends-no-friends-to-free-press/

This White House doesn’t care about free speech or informing the American people.

It cares about controlling the narrative by shutting out the press and punishing anyone who challenges it in even the smallest of ways.

All Americans should object to this unconstitutional ban on The Associated Press.

“The term ‘doxxing’ has become unmoored from its origins,” FIRE's Will Creeley tells @newyorktimes.

“If living in the U.S. in 2025 means you can expect a criminal investigation for criticizing the government, we’re all in a whole lot of trouble.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/business/media/elon-musk-doxxing-marko-elez.html