Dear Friend of Press Freedom:
Good news first: Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been cleared of all charges by a Kuwaiti court and is expected to be released soon, after nearly two months in detention. Now, news you can use: Congress is still weighing Section 702 of FISA. Use our action center to urge lawmakers to include real privacy protections for journalists and all Americans in any renewal of the law. Then read on for what else you need to know about press freedom this week.
Lessons from a Texas prison about the Paramount-Warner merger
Incarcerated journalist Jeremy Busby has seen firsthand the harms that result when the government chooses the media the people consume.
People’s politics change, but so does their sense of self-worth. When a Texas prison shoved “tough on crime” commentary down the throats of those in its care, they started believing their pasts made them unworthy of common decency and basic necessities.
Busby worries that if people like President Donald Trump and Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison seize even more control of what Americans see and read, it’ll have a similar impact on how the rest of us see ourselves. Busby’s peers in prison stopped believing they deserved soap and toilet paper — those on the outside might stop believing they deserve democracy.
WHCA … WTF?
The White House Correspondents’ Association probably shouldn’t have an annual dinner where journalists hobnob with government officials they cover. And if they really need to have one, they definitely shouldn’t let anti-press authoritarians like Trump, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — all of whom are reportedly attending — anywhere near the entrance.
And yet here we are. Trump is scheduled to address the WHCA dinner on Saturday. He’s reportedly hired joke-writers for a “roast” of journalists. We put together a bingo card to make the evening a little less unbearable for people forced to endure what will surely be one of history’s lamest stand-up routines. And we joined a letter with hundreds of current and former journalists urging the WHCA to forcefully protest Trump’s antics. Our suggestion? Shout “BINGO” when you win (everyone will win), walk out, and do something better with your evening.
Kash Patel’s probe of journalist is ‘off the rails’
FBI Director Kash Patel started his week by filing a ridiculous strategic lawsuit against public participation against The Atlantic. Days after filing the SLAPP suit, The New York Times reported that Patel’s FBI investigated its reporter, Elizabeth Williamson, after she wrote about his use of government resources to pay for transportation and security for his girlfriend. The bureau says it does not plan to charge Williamson.
We said in a statement, “If Kash Patel was looking to disprove Williamson’s reporting about him using government resources for personal matters, siccing his agency on a reporter for retribution is a very strange way of doing it. … It’s outrageous that a sober-minded FBI would even consider a theory that reporting methods like phone calls and emails might constitute stalking.”
To live and lie in LA
It doesn’t take a detective to recognize the Los Angeles Police Department has a problem with mistreating journalists. Last year, a federal judge said there’s “a mountain of evidence.” Victims range from freelancers to Pulitzer Prize winners. Many were simply denied access, but others suffered life-altering injuries from violent officers at protests.
So imagine our surprise when the police chief told the police commission (his bosses) that “working media” have no problems. He even suggested the department’s relationship with the press might be the best in the country. Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Deputy Director of Advocacy Adam Rose went to confront these falsehoods at the next commission meeting — and he brought receipts.
SEC gag rule is unconstitutional censorship
We’ve written before about the Securities and Exchange Commission’s plainly illegal “gag rule” prohibiting those who settle with the SEC from talking about their cases, including to journalists. It’s a blatant prior restraint that the government justifies by citing its desire to shield itself from embarrassment — the absolute worst justification for censorship imaginable.
This week we joined a legal brief with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, the Institute for Free Speech, and the Rutherford Institute, explaining, “When the government permanently silences those it has pursued—as the target’s price of ending that pursuit … [it] has secured for itself exactly what the First Amendment forbids.”
What we're reading
Pentagon fires ombudsman overseeing military newspaper after calling it ‘woke’
The Washington Post
The Pentagon fired an ombudsman whose role is to preserve Stars and Stripes independence because she spoke out about efforts to undermine that independence. These people behave as if someone else pays their legal fees when they get sued. Oh, right …
Trump’s plans for ‘mic-drop’ media confrontation are leaked
The Daily Beast
Trump’s plan is to berate the press at the WHCA dinner and then leave before they can respond. What a coward. We hope the bone spurs don’t slow down his escape.
Judge rules Trump administration violated the First Amendment in fight against ICE-tracking
The Verge
If a local Facebook group operator can stand up for her First Amendment rights, so can all the media outlets that Trump jawbones constantly.
The blacklist is back, baby: Paramount’s retributions should worry the industry
AV Club
Paramount’s retaliation against a journalist that opposed its merger shows that the Trump-aligned conglomerate is already big enough to punish not only its own journalists who step out of line, but also smaller outlets where it advertises.
An open letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr
Checks & Balances
Officials who have tried to muzzle the press for political gain “have not been treated well by history,” writes Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s Robert Corn-Revere in a letter to Carr.
stLouIST