How to limit Trump’s power to destroy the press
Donald Trump, an anti-press extremist obsessed with punishing journalists and news outlets that criticize him, will be the next president. Before Inauguration Day, President Joe Biden and Congress must limit as much as possible Trump’s power to destroy freedom of the press.
Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Director of Advocacy Seth Stern wrote this week about the risks Trump’s second term poses to journalists and sources. Among them: increased surveillance, jailing journalists, and siccing federal agencies on reporters and news outlets.
Immediately after Trump’s reelection, FPF Executive Director Trevor Timm highlighted three priorities for protecting press freedom:
- Pass the PRESS Act (contact your senator today)
- Fix Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
- Oppose Israel’s use of U.S. weapons to kill journalists, and the abuse of anti-terrorism laws to target dissent
Read Timm’s full statement here.
FPF fought back against Trump’s attacks on press freedom in his first term, and we’re ready to do it again in his second. Join us by donating to our work today.
Journalists: Beef up your digital security
Now more than ever, journalists need to have strong digital security practices.
Starting this week until Inauguration Day, FPF’s Digital Security Training team joins forces with the Knight Election Hub and other press freedom organizations to provide safety support for U.S.-based journalists and news outlets covering the U.S. election and its aftermath. To learn more or to apply for support if you’re from an eligible newsroom, check out Knight Election Hub’s Urgent Care.
Encrypted services, in particular, should be a part of every reporter’s toolkit. We recently hosted a conversation with journalists Julia Angwin and Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, along with
FPF’s Harlo Holmes, to talk about how and why they use encryption. Read their tips for how you can use encryption, too, or listen to the whole conversation.
If you are looking to learn more about encryption and how to implement it into your workflow, FPF also offers a toolkit for media-makers.
Time to check government secrecy
Trump’s election not only threatens press freedom. It also puts us in uncharted territory when it comes to corrosive government secrecy. FPF’s Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy, Lauren Harper, wrote about what can be done to help preserve transparency before Trump takes office.
We must assume that federal agencies will delete vast swaths of public data and information, as they did during Trump’s first term. Journalists and others should immediately download and save records from websites of agencies that will likely be targets for the second Trump administration.
For Biden’s part, he must amend the executive order on classified national security information to specifically state that violations of law may not be classified at all. And members of Congress must begin preparing for Trump-controlled agencies to ignore their requests for information and obstruct legitimate oversight.
Harper also is heeding what needs to be done to ensure the Freedom of Information Act meets the public’s needs in 2024 and beyond. In honor of the 50th anniversary of the 1974 amendments to FOIA, she led an Oct. 31 discussion on social platform X with experts Thomas Susman, one of the key authors of the amendments, and Ryan Mulvey, staff at FOIA Advisor. FOIA is even more important with an anti-transparency administration coming in.
Journalism isn’t consumer fraud or electioneering
Trump’s election may also embolden other public officials and politicians to attack the press, including by using the legal system.
We wrote this week (prior to the election) that Trump’s lawsuit against CBS for its “60 Minutes” interview of Kamala Harris furthers a trend of conservatives using consumer protection law to weaponize meritless libel lawsuits to SLAPP the press.
The greatest risk of Trump’s lawsuit isn’t to CBS. It’s to the future news outlets that will face an onslaught of frivolous consumer fraud investigations, whether initiated by Trump, state attorneys general, or future copycats. Strong anti-SLAPP laws at the state and federal level, and their vigorous enforcement by courts, can help deter these legal attacks on the free press.
We also wrote about Trump and his allies’ dangerous new theory that reporting they see as biased against them is illegal election interference. Examples include his efforts to weaponize the Federal Communications Commission — supported by FCC appointees from his first term — and his absurd complaint to the Federal Elections Commission that The Washington Post’s coverage constitutes an in-kind contribution to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.
What we’re reading
Trump wins, the press loses (Columbia Journalism Review). U.S. Press Freedom Tracker Managing Editor Kirstin McCudden gave context to the threats journalists face in Trump’s second term by looking back at his first. 2020, in particular, was “a year of unprecedented attacks,” the vast majority of which occurred at protests over the murder of George Floyd by police.
Top Kari Lake campaign adviser jokes about sending journalists to ‘the gulag’ — then doubles down (Independent). The Senate race in Arizona hasn’t been called yet, so it’s too soon to tell whether voters rejected Republican candidate Kari Lake, whose senior adviser made these disgusting comments and later “referred to the media as the ‘enemy of the people.’”
Why the next president should pay heed to the Republic of Z (Politico). How do you know secrecy in the U.S. has jumped the shark? The State Department doesn't even want to release records on a fake country it made up to help train diplomats.
US says Iranian-American held in Iran as tensions high following Israeli attack on country (The Associated Press). After weeks of rumors, government sources confirmed that Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh has been detained in Iran for months. It’s anyone’s guess whether Trump will care about detained journalists overseas, even when the authoritarians detaining them aren’t the ones he likes. The Biden administration needs to get to the bottom of this situation before it’s too late.
Come see us in London
We’re co-hosting Source! the London Logan Symposium with The Centre for Investigative Journalism Nov. 14-15. Hear from journalists from all over the world about press freedom issues and the challenges they face in protecting themselves and their sources. Register to attend here.
