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.
Laws limiting public records access make it harder for journalists to hold executive branch officials accountable
Recent baseless lawsuits against liberal and conservative outlets show the need for a federal law counteracting strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs.
We spoke with two experts about the alarming spike in arrests and detentions of journalists covering protests over the Israel-Gaza war
Police need to stop arresting journalists covering protests. When they do, prosecutors need to drop the cases immediately
New ‘spy draft law’ and ongoing retaliation against those who expose government secrets show there’s a long way to go in combating overreach
With no federal anti-SLAPP law, journalists and others remain vulnerable to frivolous lawsuits that chill First Amendment rights
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.
Floyd Abrams, Marion County Record, 121 others endorse federal shield bill
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
Join our email list to stay up to date on the issues and learn how you can help protect journalists and sources everywhere.
