Dear Friend of Press Freedom,
Here are some of the most important stories we’re following from the U.S. and around the world. If you enjoy reading this newsletter, please forward it to friends and family. If someone has forwarded you this newsletter, please subscribe here.
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. Local police must be aware of and protect journalists’ constitutional rights to report on protests.
In a letter to the Milwaukee Police Department, Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) explained journalists’ constitutional and legal rights and informed police of the steps they must take to protect press freedom and the public’s right to know.
We told Police Chief Jeffrey Norman:
Officers must foster a safe environment for journalists outside the RNC and any other protests. … The decisions of your department are more important now than ever. Not only can you ensure a well-informed public and a stronger democracy, you can avoid the reputational and legal and economic pitfalls suffered by so many other police departments that have mishandled their protest responses in recent years.
Revisiting the undercover Alito recording
Journalistic ethicists were quick to condemn filmmaker Lauren Windsor's secret taping of comments by Justice Samuel Alito at a private event.
But last week’s alarming Supreme Court decision immunizing Trump from prosecution shows that it's actually a prime example of when surreptitious reporting is justified. The recording shed light on Alito’s worldview — that coexistence between the right and left is a pipe dream, and “one side or the other is going to win.” That may explain why he and his right wing colleagues abandoned their “originalist” principles to hand their side a win.
We wrote on our website about why the self-appointed journalism police got it wrong in Windsor’s case and why aggressive reporting on the court — including, when necessary, undercover reporting — is more important than ever, especially after its ruling in Trump v. United States.
Supreme Court ruling bodes well for unjustly convicted NC journalists
In a recent decision, the U.S. Supreme Court made it easier for individuals to sue if they can prove they were retaliated against for exercising First Amendment rights.
FPF Advocacy Intern Jimena Pinzon and Advocacy Director Seth Stern wrote for the Asheville Citizen Times about why the decision is good news for Asheville journalists Veronica Coit and Matilda Bliss, who were arrested and convicted for covering a police sweep of a homeless encampment at a public park.
You can read the full op-ed here.
States must step up on journalist-source confidentiality
Mississippi journalist Anna Wolfe and her editor Adam Ganucheau are facing possible jail time for refusing to reveal confidential sources for their reporting about a massive welfare fraud scandal that won the Pulitzer Prize.
Mississippi is one of the small number of states that lacks a reporter's privilege statute. Even though judges in all of these states (except Wyoming) have recognized some protection for journalists’ sources and newsgathering materials, without a law on the books, journalists and their sources are still at risk.
As we explain on our website, we need every state in the country, and Congress, to pass strong reporter-source shield laws that comprehensively protect journalists from being forced to turn over their notes and reporting materials or otherwise burn their sources.
What we’re reading
Assange deal undermines claims that leaks cause harm (Washington Post). The government has “tried to stifle, delay or reshape certain sensitive stories by telling editors and reporters that their publication will compromise national security.” In light of findings that WikiLeaks’ disclosures didn’t lead to known physical harm, “we must apply steroidal skepticism to any such claims.”
Assange’s case shows why reforming the Espionage Act is imperative for press freedom (The Nation). The Julian Assange deal also underscores the urgent need to reform the Espionage Act to distinguish between spies and those acting in the public interest, like journalists and whistleblowers.
Admiral Grace Hopper’s landmark lecture is found, but the NSA won’t release it (MuckRock). Another day, another ridiculous reason to deny the public access to records. The National Security Agency shouldn't be able to duck their FOIA obligations by throwing out old equipment needed to view material that's clearly in the public interest.
OpenAI asks The New York Times to prove its articles are original (NewsNation). If Open AI wants to claim it’s not a threat to journalism, it can’t go around demanding journalists’ confidential records. There’s no good reason for it to demand reporters’ notes and interviews, other than trying to discourage the Times and other news outlets from suing it.
Journalist sues cops who handcuffed him for photographing 'Cop City' arrests (Reason). This is one of several attacks on the press in connection with the Atlanta police training center known as Cop City. Maybe authorities should drop their ridiculous RICO case and use the money they save to settle the lawsuits they walked right into.
