Press freedoms at stake
The First Amendment guarantees press freedom in America, giving media outlets the right to publish the news, information, and opinions they want to hold the government accountable. However, media pundits are concerned that news organizations will be hamstrung by White House actions that encroach on this fundamental principle.
“The First Amendment protects the right of the press to decide for itself what it will or will not report or how it will report it,” said Joel Simon of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism in New York City. He was part of a Feb.14 Ethnic Media Services panel discussing the challenges to press freedoms under the current administration. “The press is the only organized entity, private institution expressly named in the Constitution, and that’s for a reason.” But those guaranteed rights are now under siege.
Just a week later on Feb. 25 the White House announced that its press team ‘“will decide” which news outlets can regularly cover President Donald Trump up close. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called this break in a century-old tradition a more inclusive, modernization of the press pool that restored “access back to the American people” that elected Trump. Instead of independently chosen news organizations reporting on the chief executive, the White House will now determine who can join the White House press pool that follows and reports on the president. “A select group of D.C.-based journalists should no longer have a monopoly of press access at the White House,” Leavitt stated.
The announcement follows a White House ban on AP reporters to punish the news organization for using the term Gulf of Mexico instead of Gulf of America, as decreed by a Trump executive order to rename the international body of water. In addition, several major media houses have faced lawsuits from Trump, which began even before he took office.
Global threats to press freedom
The White House measures reflect the overall decline in press freedom globally, as reported by the annual World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Attacks on press freedom around the world intensified in the past year, noted RSF as journalists and independent media outlets face increasing political repression.
Simon, who travels globally on behalf of the Committee to Protect Journalists, remarked on the pervasive fear and constraints on media in India, which has had a long reputation of being very feisty and independent in certain circles. “It was obvious to an outside observer the constraints and the limitations in which the media work.. and the expectation on behalf of the Modi government that the media support its policies.” He referred to an emerging global trend in the erosion of norms and weakening legal safeguards and protections, also impacting the United States.
Editorial independence at risk
Simon reiterated the importance of defending press freedom globally. “We’re kind of all in this together,” he said, warning that “once the rights deteriorate and once they’re eroded, and once norms are violated, it’s very difficult to reclaim them.”
Many newsrooms are concerned about maintaining their editorial independence. Panelists at the EMS briefing emphasized the need for journalists to focus on defending their rights and for media to stand firm against intimidation, utilize legal resources, and maintain rigorous reporting standards. “It’s not the government’s business to dictate editorial standards,” said David Loy, Legal Director at the First Amendment Coalition. “There is a reason that the First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press.”
The panel expressed concerns about self-censorship, a scenario that played out later in February when the Washington Post’s opinion editor David Shipley resigned after the paper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, issued a memo curtailing the range of opinions that the paper could publish.
Regulatory and Legal Threats to Media
Joel Simon warned that media houses face two main threats – regulatory and legal. For example, Bay Area radio station KCBS became the target of a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigation for its January 26 reporting of ICE raids in San Jose, California. The station is now in danger of losing its license. Brendon Carr at the FCC was also leading investigations into NPR, PBS, and Comcast, said Simon.
Based on Newmark research on emerging legal threats, Simon warned newsrooms to be informed about their rights and stay prepared with robust legal support for unexpected legal harassment tactics. “A lot of legal harassment targeting media was not related to the production of media content,” he added,” but related to other things. Tax issues lead to allegations of fraud, workplace practices – those are all risk areas.”
FCC Investigations
David Loy at the First Amendment Coalition said he expected the FCC to continue abusing its power given its current investigation of KCBS for reporting on ICE raids. “It appears to be a claim that reporting the news is not in the public interest if the government doesn’t like what news is being reported. That, as far as I know, is a clear abuse of the FCC power.”
The Public Interest doctrine, explained Loy, gives the press rights to report what public officials do; how law enforcement operations are conducted is a matter of public interest and public concern. “You know, ..if an apartment complex conducts an enforcement operation, be it a criminal raid or ice operation or executing a search warrant, that is news of public concern, and the press has a right to report it.”
The First Amendment protects the right generally, to report the news by lawful means, said Loy, but cautioned that “not all news gathering methods are automatically immune from legal scrutiny. If one breaks into a building or hacks into a computer, or bribes someone to release information, … those could potentially, you know, be crimes.”
He clarified that FCC only has jurisdiction over broadcast media and does not apply to print, digital, online publications, but warned there were no guarantees that the FCC or any other arm of government would not attempt to control press freedoms through acquiescence. “You know, autocracy depends on acquiescence,” he added but urged media to exercise independence. “I do not believe the press or anyone should self-censor because of the fear that government will abuse its power to censor newsworthy reporting or impose consequences for newsworthy reporting.”
Importance of Local Media and Practical Protections
The conversation also touched on what the business of news should be doing to protect itself at this moment, given “the potentially heightened risks coming,” said Zach Press, Senior Staff attorney at Lawyers for reporters at the CYRUS R Vance Center for International Justice
Press discussed practical steps newsrooms can take to protect themselves.
“You’re going to want to implement policies and practices that are uniform,” he said, referring to digital security policies, obtaining affordable media law insurance or media liability insurance if news organizations are served with a third-party subpoena requesting information like reporters’ notes that would ordinarily be protected from disclosure. He urged newsrooms to implement consistent and well-documented editorial processes.
Simon added that reporters should be aware of their immigration status and the potential risks involved in covering ICE raids, urging that “newsrooms educate themselves, and that journalists be very informed about their own rights.”
Loy emphasized the importance of newsrooms being well-prepared from a business perspective, “Get your house in order completely as ship shape and bulletproof as possible from a tax business, employment, labor, record keeping perspective,” to withstand such investigations.
Press also suggested availing of resources about how journalists deal with doxxing. “Think of it like a health check. Do you have everything in place that you think you will need to weather the storm?”
Resisting intimidation
Loy emphasized the need for media to resist intimidation, sharing an example of local officials threatening reporters.
“Local officials have been threatening reporters for years,” he said describing an incident where the San Francisco Police Department got search warrants to break down a reporter’s door and seize his work though it was unlawful. A former LA County sheriff had insinuated at a press conference that a Los Angeles Times reporter should be investigated for reporting on a leaked video of deputies using force on someone in custody. Loy urged newsrooms and their reporters to stand up for the right to report the news, “Do not be bullied. Do not let the bullies win through intimidation,” he said, adding, “Ignore your rights and they will go away.”
A Call to Action
“I would hate to see the press step back from its historic role of speaking truth to power,” said Loy as the panel emphasized the importance of standing up for the right to report the news and in maintaining press freedom.
“Local, independent, mission driven journalism. That’s why we exist,” concluded Press.