Ronald Reagan's first FCC chair—in a sworn declaration submitted in the ABC case—on the FCC under Trump and Brendan Carr: “Never in its history has the agency ever acted so corruptly and unlawfully to intrude on broadcasters’ First Amendment rights.” techfreedom.org/wp-content/u...

Disney is suing the FCC for violating its First Amendment rights and other license holders Brendan Carr has bullied should do the same. That's because the censorship is about to get worse: Trump nominated Carr's own lawyer to fill the FCC's fourth commission seat. @trevortimm.bsky.social explains:

"Official statements belong to every American equally. A president cannot strip us of timely access to executive decisions simply because he found a way to turn the podium into a private revenue stream," FPF's @laurenleharper.bsky.social writes in @ms.now.

Opinion | All the president’s records are either secret — or for sale

A president cannot strip us of timely access to executive decisions simply because he found a way to turn the podium into a private revenue stream.

ms.now

Carlitos Ricardo Parias is approaching 300 days behind bars, the longest known time a journalist has spent in U.S. custody. Authorities say he's undocumented, but their account doesn't explain a growing mountain of evidence, FPF's @adamrose.bsky.social writes in @theintercept.com:

ICE Shot a Journalist and Threw Him in Detention. He’s Approaching 300 Days Behind Bars With a Festering Wound.

With the case of Carlitos Ricardo Parias, the U.S. has broken its own record for holding a journalist in custody.

theintercept.com

Freedom of the Press Foundation's Seth Stern says that "countless others whose First Amendment rights have been chilled by Carr’s antics should follow Disney’s lead," stating that "it's about time for someone to take Carr and his FCC to court over their endless campaign of intimidation."

"Perhaps no journalist has endured such a sustained sequence of violence, prosecution, and imprisonment at the hands of the U.S. government." Read more from FPF's @adamrose.bsky.social about the alarming abuse endured by Carlitos Ricardo Parias.

ICE Shot a Journalist and Threw Him in Detention. He’s Approaching 300 Days Behind Bars With a Festering Wound.

With the case of Carlitos Ricardo Parias, the U.S. has broken its own record for holding a journalist in custody.

theintercept.com

"At the same time the president is selling advance access to his official communications to those with the deepest pockets, the Justice Department is engaged in an all-out effort to keep the rest of the president’s records completely hidden from the public," writes FPF's @laurenleharper.bsky.social.

Opinion | All the president’s records are either secret — or for sale

A president cannot strip us of timely access to executive decisions simply because he found a way to turn the podium into a private revenue stream.

ms.now

The world's leading media outlets must demand “that Israel allow them to send reporters into Gaza, so that evidence for war crimes is documented. Leaving Palestinian journalists alone to cover Israel's atrocities is a dereliction of duty,” Taghreed El-Khodary writes in @haaretzcom.bsky.social.

Opinion | International media is failing Palestinian journalists in Gaza

The world's leading media outlets must demand every day that Israel allow them to send reporters into Gaza, so that evidence for war crimes is documented. Leaving Palestinian journalists alone to cove...

haaretz.com

$100k a month for early access to essential government info ? Nope, that's unconstitutional.

Freedom of the Press Foundation@freedom.press · 6d ago

“The president has a public duty, and he's turning that into a personal profit machine for a company that he owns. That comes at the cost of equal access.” Watch @kamccudden.bsky.social explain on @msnownews.bsky.social why FPF and @theintercept.com are taking Trump to court.

Truth Social's new service offering faster access to Trump's posts for a $100K price tag is brazen grift. That’s why Freedom of the Press Foundation, along with @theintercept.com, filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday to shut down this unconstitutional scheme. Watch @kamccudden.bsky.social explain.

ICE collected DNA from nearly 1 million people in just the last year. Yet when it comes to wearing body cameras for accountability, the agency suddenly runs out of money. When agencies operate in the dark, surveillance abuse isn’t a glitch, it’s a guarantee. @laurenleharper.bsky.social explains:

“Universities that train future journalists — whether public or private, Columbia or elsewhere — should not be places where practicing journalism is itself a risk to completing that education,” student journalist Sawyer Huckabee writes for FPF.

After the encampments, threats to student journalism at Columbia persist

Bureaucratic hurdles, federal pressure, and anti-doxxing policies are putting student journalists’ right to report at risk

freedom.press

BREAKING: FPF, @theintercept.com sue Trump for selling early access to his Truth Social posts. This scheme is extraordinary, corrupt, and unconstitutional, and we are bringing this case to stop it.

Lawsuit: Early access fee for Trump Truth Social posts unconstitutional

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:New York, Aug. 12, 2026 — President Donald Trump’s scheme to charge $100,000 per month for advance access to official government announcements on Truth Social violates the First ...

freedom.press

HELP ME FIND EVIDENCE! Looking for photo/video of federal agents pepper spraying press or protesters AT HEAD OR FACE from close range. Especially MK9 (big 18oz cans below) from under 6 feet away, or smaller canisters (~3oz) from under 3 feet. Ideally in LA post-June 2025, but anywhere/time helps.

If distributing flyers about university governance can trigger a disciplinary investigation by Columbia University, “student journalists are left to wonder where the ‘exchange of ideas’ ends and information that ‘otherwise causes harm’ begins,” student journalist Sawyer Huckabee writes.

After the encampments, threats to student journalism at Columbia persist

Bureaucratic hurdles, federal pressure, and anti-doxxing policies are putting student journalists’ right to report at risk

freedom.press

This FOIA “is old enough to buy beer.” 😅

Freedom of the Press Foundation@freedom.press · 2w ago

Public records requests are piling up. But instead of hiring more FOIA staff to clear the backlog, the White House chose to hire more ICE officers. The Trump administration is quietly gutting the public's right to know. Watch @laurenleharper.bsky.social explain.

Your phone won’t run an app that’s been tampered with, but your browser will run anything a server sends it. WEBCAT is a tamper-evident seal for web applications, developed by @freedom.press Find out more:

WEBCAT: A tamper-evident seal for the open web

Security and privacy online are critical to protect users from eavesdroppers and attackers. The biggest success story of the last decade is HTTPS, the protocol that ensures the connection between a re...

freedom.press

Israeli strike that killed journalist in Lebanon was war crime, say rights groups An investigation by @hrw.org, @amnesty.org and Legal Agenda shows Israel deliberately attacked Amal Khalil and colleague Zeinab Faraj knowing they were civilians. Read more in @theguardian.com:

Israeli strike that killed journalist in Lebanon was war crime, say rights groups

Investigation by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and Legal Agenda shows Israel deliberately attacked Amal Khalil and colleague Zeinab Faraj knowing they were civilians

theguardian.com

MSG’s lawsuit against @wired.com targets a core part of journalism: confidential sources. If MSG’s theory were the law, investigative reporting as we know it couldn’t exist. Watch @trevortimm.bsky.social explain.

At a Florida university with prominent activist groups, a student journalist told @floridafaf.bsky.social that organizations now “refuse to be covered or quoted for fear of attracting state scrutiny,” because of a censorial state law purporting to combat domestic “terror.“

The ‘Free State of Florida’ is watching — and withholding

Domestic ‘terror’ legislation compounds Florida’s free speech backslide

freedom.press

What a great platform to publicly deny promising Trump a CNN overhaul or $20 million in free advertising in exchange for merger approvals. Or to speak out against his bullying of journalists you employ or want to employ. Weird that you didn’t do any of that.

Opinion | David Ellison: In Defense of the Paramount-Warner Deal

The issue is whether I can be trusted as a steward of CNN

nytimes.com

David, if you want this charm offensive to work, your dad should sit for an interview. Maybe with an unemployed ex-60 Minutes reporter. He can make the case for giving CBS, CNN and TikTok to a guy building an AI surveillance dystopia. What could go wrong?

Opinion | What to know about David Ellison’s embattled bid to acquire Warner Bros.

David Ellison’s embattled bid to acquire Warner Bros. doesn’t make much financial sense. It might still be a win for the Ellison empire and its bigger global plans.

ms.now

Freedom of the Press Foundation@freedom.press · 2w ago

What a great platform to publicly deny promising Trump a CNN overhaul or $20 million in free advertising in exchange for merger approvals. Or to speak out against his bullying of journalists you employ or want to employ. Weird that you didn’t do any of that.

“In acknowledging that not all languages can or should be rescued, we do not love the dying languages less. In a world where resources are scarce and values conflict, it may be the only way to love them wisely.”

Sometimes It’s O.K. to Let a Language Die

When cultural preservation comes at the expense of speakers’ decisions, sometimes it's O.K. to let a language die.

newyorker.com

We've been pushing for a federal reporter's privilege law for years, but the Trump administration is making the case better than we ever could. The next Congress needs to pass the PRESS Act so FBI agents stop showing up at freelance journalists' doors with subpoenas.

Justice Dept. Subpoenas Times Freelancer in Effort to Identify Sources (Gift Article)

A previously undisclosed subpoena, involving reporting on a failed SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea, reflects the government’s expanding campaign to investigate leaks of secrets.

nytimes.com

Like documentaries? Then you probably don’t want the two largest privately held news archives — the lifeblood of documentary film — under the same ownership. Especially when that ownership kisses up to politicians by censoring their critics.

Film producers warn Paramount-Warner merger could restrict access to news archives

By Dawn Chmielewski and Paul Sandle LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, July 30 (Reuters) - A group of film producers has urged the British culture minister to intervene in the proposed merger of Paramount Skyda...

whbl.com

The Trump administration isn't just investigating alleged crimes. It’s aggressively pursuing the sources behind the stories, using the legal system as a blunt instrument to stop the flow of information. Find the full story in our monthly newsletter: pressfreedomtracker.us/newsletter

This admin will not stop at anything in its relentless targeting of anyone it disagrees with using every tool in the shed. DOJ charges U.S. activist for using ‘duress’ passcode to wipe phone during border stop

Protester targeted by DOJ over phone-wiping ‘duress’ passcode

A security-focused mobile operating system, GrapheneOS, allows users to wipe their device with a “duress” passcode

freedom.press

📥 New prize rewards making public records truly public

New prize rewards making public records truly public

Dear Friend of Press Freedom:One of the most important press freedom cases in the country deserves far more attention: Journalist Catherine Herridge has paid at least $4,000 in fines for refusing to r...

freedom.press

Trump allies in Congress subpoena The People’s Forum. Help this important New York institution fight back!

Trump Allies in Congress Subpoena The People’s Forum. Help us fight back!

The Trump Administration and its allies in Congress are on the march against left-wing, socialist and progressive forces. Our basic First Amendment rights are under attack. The stakes of this battle c

peoplesforum.org

This outlet deserves your support. If you're based in NYC or around it, go subscribe now!

Max Rivlin-Nadler@maxrn.bsky.social · 4w ago

Four years ago, we launched Hell Gate. Today, if we sell just a few more subscriptions, we'll pass a REALLY important and totally crazy milestone. Great news if you want us to hit that milestone—subscriptions are just 99 cents...and you get a shirt. Sign up! hellgatenyc.com/99-cent-t-sh...