Charges dropped against Oregon journalist

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.
Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered on October 16, 2017. Her death has divided Malta and shaken governmental and journalistic institutions to their core. The year since has functioned as a national reckoning, a questioning, and a movement.
Over 300 news organizations join together and publish editorials denouncing Trump's attacks on the press. And while his rhetoric gets an outsized amount of attention, his administration’s actions are more dangerous to the press than anything Trump has said.
It’s not illegal to be disrespectful to police officers. But police officers are abusing their positions of power and co-opting hate crime laws to censor criticism and offensive language.
Newly revealed ICE emails suggest that journalist Emilio Gutiérrez-Soto was targeted for deportation after criticizing U.S. immigration authorities
The government’s ongoing and aggressive prosecution of people arrested merely for their presence at a protest where crimes allegedly occurred is dangerous, and will have chilling effects on the future of dissent in the United States.
Memphis journalist Manuel Duran was arrested while covering a protest. Although he faces no charges, he remains in ICE custody and could still be deported for doing his job. His detention is unconscionable, and an affront to press freedom.
An ICE attorney twice objected to the presence of a reporter at a deportation hearing earlier this month. This isn’t the first time ICE has interfered with journalists doing their jobs.
“Ag-gag” laws are intended to protect the animal agriculture industry from public scrutiny by attempting to criminalize journalists and whistleblowers who expose its operating conditions.
Counting 2017 press freedom violations in the United States.
Instead of rushing to fix the problem that has exposed the private information of over a billion Indians, it is criminally investigating the journalists who brought it to the public’s attention.