Tag
Violations of freedom of the press, including restrictions on media access, retaliation against journalists, suppression of reporting, and government interference with editorial independence.
9 incidents
Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power
Trump revoked the White House press passes of three news organisations over their coverage. A federal judge ordered the passes restored, doubting the government's after-the-fact national-security rationale. The White House at first kept the reporters out despite the order, then complied the same day.
Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power
The Justice Department tried to force New York Times reporters to testify to a grand jury about their sources for stories on security problems with Air Force One. It also subpoenaed phone records of the reporters' spouses and one reporter's mother. A federal judge rebuked the department, which withdrew the subpoenas and admitted errors. It was the latest attempt under rules rewritten in April 2025 that allow subpoenas to journalists, after earlier subpoenas to Wall Street Journal and Washington Post reporters were also dropped.
Grade 1 of 5: Significant Democratic Concern
Trump's threat to jail journalists for reporting on a military rescue mission during the Iran war extends the administration's documented pattern of using national security claims to suppress press freedom and criminalize journalism.
Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation
The US secretly deported 17 people from 9 African countries to Cameroon under a covert agreement, including people with US court protections against return to their home countries. Cameroon detained them without legal basis, and journalists attempting to document conditions were arrested. HRW says the transfers to a country with a record of torture in detention breach the prohibition on refoulement.
Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power
A federal court permanently struck down the Pentagon's 2025 press-access policy as vague and viewpoint-discriminatory, then found the department had not complied and had instead cut reporters' access further. An appeals court let the escort rule stand pending appeal because the first judgment had not addressed it; the district court then preliminarily enjoined it as likely retaliation.
Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern
During the Chicago-area immigration surge, ICE made warrantless arrests that federal courts found breached a binding consent decree DHS had said it would stop following. A federal judge also restricted agents' use of chemical weapons against protesters and journalists. Appeals courts affirmed the consent-decree findings in part but vacated the use-of-force injunction on procedural grounds after the case was dropped.
Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power
A campaign of government coercion against media through broadcast license threats from the president and FCC chair, forced cancellation of a television show, pressure to remove apps, and demands that platforms suppress immigration-related content.
Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation
A systematic pattern of press freedom violations including the arrest of journalists covering immigration enforcement, and the deportation of a journalist to the country he fled due to death threats. Abroad, journalists covering US deportation operations have been detained by foreign authorities.
Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power
A coordinated attack on US government-funded international broadcasting placed 1,300 journalists on leave, terminated Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's grant, and attempted to gut Voice of America — until a federal judge ruled the actions illegal and ordered staff reinstated.