Pass the PRESS Act
The PRESS Act is the most important press freedom bill in modern history.
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Stop Arresting Journalists
Too often, police arrest journalists for doing their jobs. These arrests and prosecutions chill important reporting.
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Reform Government Secrecy
The U.S. classifies far too many secrets, obstructing democracy.
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Gag rules stifle financial journalism
The Securities and Exchange Commission requires defendants who settle cases it brings to contract away their right to deny the SEC’s allegations. So does the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. That means potential sources can’t speak to financial journalists.
Pressure Netanyahu to protect journalists
With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visiting the U.S. this week, officials who claim to care about press freedom need to make clear to him that the U.S. will not tolerate killings, imprisonments, or censorship of journalists by its ally.
Don’t let prosecutors define journalism
Federal prosecutors are claiming a startling new power: the ability to decide what is or isn’t “legitimate” journalism.
Police must protect press covering RNC
As journalists arrive at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum to cover the 2024 Republican National Convention (RNC), we can expect the public to take to the streets to protest everything from Donald Trump’s nomination to the ongoing war in Gaza and the killing of Dvontaye Mitchell.
Platform cases uphold press precedent
With all eyes on the Supreme Court’s disturbing opinion on presidential immunity, you may have missed that the court also issued an important First Amendment decision this week about social media content moderation.
Assange freed, press freedom imperiled
Julian Assange has finally been freed after reaching a surprising deal with U.S. authorities to plead guilty to violating the Espionage Act. The plea deal avoids the worst outcome of a court precedent that could be used against journalists, but it still threatens press freedom.
States keep public in dark
A full-fledged assault on transparency is underway in the states. Recent changes to public records laws in New Jersey, Louisiana, and Utah are making it harder for journalists and the public to find out what government officials are up to.
Federal anti-SLAPP law needed ASAP
Recent baseless lawsuits against liberal and conservative outlets show the need for a federal law counteracting strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs.
Sen. Durbin, advance the PRESS Act
Sen. Dick Durbin has a rare chance to strengthen freedom of the press right now by advancing the bipartisan PRESS Act, a bill to protect journalist-source confidentiality at the federal level. But he needs to act quickly. This week, Freedom of the Press Foundation led a coalition of 123 civil liberties and journalism organizations and individual law professors and media lawyers in a letter to Durbin, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, and ranking member Sen. Lindsey Graham, urging them to schedule a markup of the PRESS Act right away.
Assange decision: A wake-up call for US
On Monday, the High Court in London granted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leave to appeal his extradition to the United States. The court’s decision is a welcome one. But as Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) wrote in The Guardian, it's "painfully ironic" that a U.K. court is defending the First Amendment against U.S. overreach. The ruling should be a “wake-up call” for President Joe Biden
