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Stop Arresting Journalists

Cops on horseback in a crowd

Courtesy Joseph Rushmore

Too often, police arrest journalists for doing their jobs. These arrests and prosecutions chill important reporting.

Arrests and prosecutions of journalists often violate the First Amendment, and they undermine the public’s right to learn about newsworthy events.

Data from the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker shows that journalists are at heightened risk of arrest while covering protests. But police have also arrested reporters just for gathering news or asking questions. Journalists should never be arrested for doing their jobs.

Featured Items

  1. erin-song-5cx7nB8hpso-unsplash (1).jpg

    Draconian ‘national security’ law already muzzling Hong Kong’s journalists

    Global affairs•Article

    Hong Kong police have arrested Jimmy Lai, publisher of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, and his two sons under collusion charges associated with the country’s controversial new national security law. Under the notoriously vague law, China has claimed the jurisdiction to silence essentially anyone that criticizes the Chinese Communist Party or publicly supports the pro-democracy movement.

    Audrey Kim | Summer Research Fellow
  3. Protestors at a George Floyd action in Brooklyn raise their hands

    Press freedom violations at George Floyd protests by the numbers: a shocking and unprecedented level of attacks on journalists

    Protests•Article

    In the days since the nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd began in Minneapolis, attacks on journalists and press freedom have been recorded at an unprecedented level. The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is investigating or has confirmed 242 such incidents—including physical assaults, arrests, damaged equipment, and more.

    Parker Higgins
  9. PFT_Final_Export-LowRes.jpg

    For student journalists, the beats are the same but the protections are different

    Arrests/Prosecutions•Article

    Student journalists, plagued by questions of editorial independence and with varying degrees of First Amendment protections, nonetheless face the same press freedom challenges as their professional counterparts.The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, which documents First Amendment aggressions in the United States, has collected student journalism-based incidents at both the university …

    Stephanie Sugars

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Photo Credit: Rainmaker Photo/MediaPunch/IPX via AP