Dear Friend of Press Freedom,
We’re taking action against alarming attempts to stifle the press from state and federal adversaries. And don’t forget: we have tools and advice for how to safely share leaks with the press. Read the latest here.
Prosecutor puts DOGE ahead of First Amendment
Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) and a coalition of rights groups sent a letter to interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Edward R. Martin Jr. demanding he clarify statements suggesting he would prosecute critics of Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.
“There’s nothing more central to the First Amendment than the press and public’s right to criticize those carrying out controversial government work, harshly and by name,” we said in a statement. “A sitting U.S. attorney threatening to prosecute this constitutionally protected conduct is highly alarming — even un-American.” Read the statement and letter here.
Judges: Stop facilitating Trump’s extortionate settlements
Companies like ABC and Meta aren’t the only ones to blame for capitulating to President Donald Trump by settling his SLAPP suits. So are the judges who bless these extortionate agreements. Judges don’t have to rubber-stamp settlements when there are glaring indicators of impropriety.
“It violates public policy — embodied by the First Amendment — for the courts to facilitate bribes paid by media publishers to presidents,” writes FPF Advocacy Director Seth Stern. “All of this is out in the open, and judges should not bury their heads in the sand when asked to sign off on it.” Read more here.
Freelance journalists are journalists
The Utah Legislature recently changed its press credential rules to exclude “blogs, independent, or other freelance journalists,” and one journalist alleges in a new lawsuit that the change was made to retaliate against him specifically.
The timing seems to support that claim, but even if he’s wrong about the legislature’s motives, the new rules show a troubling disregard for press freedom. “The Legislature should be celebrating the enhanced coverage that independent journalists bring to the statehouse and finding ways to accommodate them,” writes FPF Senior Advocacy Adviser Caitlin Vogus in The Salt Lake Tribune.
USAID’s records must survive — even if the agency doesn’t
In a dubious legal move, the Trump administration is trying to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development. But the widespread coverage of USAID’s future misses something important: the status of its records and the processing of its Freedom of Information Act requests.
These should not be secondary concerns. Our Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy Lauren Harper has the full story. And for more secrecy news, subscribe to Harper’s newsletter, The Classifieds.
What we’re reading
This is not a moment to settle with Trump (The New York Times). “Courage is contagious, but cowardice and cravenness can be, too. Soon it may be unusual and even more perilous for a news organization to protest when it is accused by the president of reportorial recklessness, however outlandish the charge might be,” Jameel Jaffer writes.
FCC launches investigation into KCBS after host reveals details of ICE agents in area (Barrett Media). The Federal Communications Commission cannot deem constitutionally protected journalism outside the "public interest" whenever it wants to censor the press. It’s an even more slippery slope with an unprincipled partisan hack like Brendan Carr in charge.
Judge tosses SF lawsuit that spurred Streisand Effect for tech exec’s arrest (Gazetteer San Francisco). While news giants with armies of expensive lawyers capitulate to the powerful, independent journalists represented by rights organizations and law professors fight back and win. Congratulations to Jack Poulson.
Protecting free speech in Texas: We need to stop SB 336 (Electronic Frontier Foundation). Texas needs a strong anti-SLAPP law. If you live there, call or email your state representatives or the senators on the Senate Committee on State Affairs today and urge them to vote “no” on SB 336. It would weaken protections against anti-speech lawsuits by billionaires and politicians.
Justice Dept. says it will not bring charges in investigation of Project Veritas (The New York Times). The theory that publishers could be prosecuted for possessing or transporting documents their sources stole was constitutionally problematic. It's good this case won't set a bad First Amendment precedent, although we very much doubt that's why the Trump DOJ dropped it.
CIA analyst’s plea deal adds further intrigue to Espionage Act prosecution (The Dissenter). Plea deals requiring defendants to let the intelligence community supervise their communications with the press seem rather problematic under the First Amendment, no matter who the defendant is.
Fox sues LinkedIn co-founder Hoffman for litigation funding info (Bloomberg Law). We’re for full transparency when it comes to billionaires funding defamation cases against media outlets, no matter who the billionaire is or who the media outlet is.
How to share sensitive leaks with the press
We’re just going to leave this one here for the foreseeable future.
