Dear Friend of Press Freedom,
It’s Sunshine Week. The forecast for press freedom, unfortunately, isn’t great, but we’re working rain or shine to fight threats new and old. And this week we helped drive significant progress in making public interest journalism more accessible. Read on for the latest.
Public records are for the public
The news business isn’t just any business — it serves a vital role in our democracy. But media outlets can’t serve that role if they’re bankrupt. As a result, news readers often find themselves blocked by paywalls from reading important stories about government business.
Fortunately, Wired magazine has a solution — in partnership with Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), it’s going to stop paywalling articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. We commend Wired for tipping the balance between public interest and business toward the former. We hope others will follow its lead (and shoutout to outlets like 404 Media that also make their FOIA-based reporting available for free). And we hope readers will reward these outlets’ sacrifice. Subscribe to Wired here and 404 here.
Catch us on NPR while you still can
NPR, itself very much in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, included FPF Executive Director Trevor Timm in a conversation about the future of freedom of the press. “Trump is the most acute and urgent example of a president restricting press freedom,” he said. “It’s imperative that it becomes a front-and-center issue.”
Listen to the conversation, also featuring Brian Stelter from CNN’s “Reliable Sources” and April Ryan, Washington Bureau Chief for Black Press USA.
Tech companies must safeguard journalists’ communications
Last week, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced on social platform X that the government is “aggressively pursuing recent leakers from within the Intelligence Community and will hold them accountable.” Gabbard’s post cited leaks to several news outlets as examples.
The first Trump administration taught us that tech companies often must be the first to oppose government attempts to access journalists’ communications with sources. Some did during Trump 1.0 but, with tech executives cozying up to Trump, we fear things may be different this time. Read more here from FPF Senior Advocacy Adviser Caitlin Vogus.
The harsh realities of prison journalism
Many point to places like Hungary and Russia for examples of where America might be headed when it comes to free speech. But we shouldn’t forget we already have two million people living under a censorship regime right at home.
Stern and prison reform activist Theodore Amey wrote for Columbia Journalism Review about the many challenges — like violent retaliation, arbitrary transfers, and seizures of equipment — facing journalists behind bars. “When the public entrusts and pays for correctional agencies to care for those who are incarcerated, it deserves to know what’s going on,” they explain.
You can’t ask DOGE anything, but you can ask us
After months of speculation about how the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency would be subject to transparency rules, a judge recently found, over DOGE’s objections, that the agency is “likely covered” by the Freedom of Information Act.
This would mean that DOGE cannot hide its records through the Presidential Records Act as it had previously hoped. To break down this recent development, our Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy, Lauren Harper, engaged with Reddit’s r/IAmA community members in a Q&A session. You can read an edited version on our website or view the full thread here.
You can read more from Harper about the decision — and DOGE’s outrageous position that it’ll need years to comply with records requests — here. She also joined The Dissenter podcast to talk about the Trump administration’s intensifying abuses of secrecy and wrote an op-ed for Sunshine Week about the importance of FOIA and the need to improve it.
What we’re reading
Conservative groups urge FCC to end probe into ‘60 Minutes’ Harris interview (Reuters). Right-leaning organizations are telling the Federal Communications Commission that Chair Brendan Carr’s “regulatory overreach” would “advance precedent that can be weaponized by future FCCs.” They’re right, but Carr already knows that and abuses his power anyway.
We asked every Mass. lawmaker whether they should be subject to public records law. Only a handful responded (Boston Globe). “Transparency is just not a priority — and it needs to be and the public should demand nothing less," said New England First Amendment Coalition Executive Director Justin Silverman.
The last days at Voice of America (Columbia Journalism Review). Former VOA press freedom reporter Liam Scott wrote about the last days before Trump’s executive order to gut the broadcaster and put its employees on administrative leave.
A statement from Columbia Journalism School faculty defending press freedom (Columbia Journalism School). An important statement from the Columbia Journalism School faculty on how critical it is to defend press freedom on campus.
Media shield law bill passes Idaho Legislature with unanimous support (KIFI-TV). Red and blue states alike recognize the need for journalist-source confidentiality. Every state and the federal government needs a shield bill. Those that already have them should strengthen and modernize them.
