In recent weeks, the Trump administration has dangerously escalated its targeting of the free press, undermining the hallowed First Amendment to the Constitution. Federal government officials arrested independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort after they reported from the scene of a demonstration against the administration’s brutal crackdown in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. These arrests came days after FBI agents executed a search warrant and seized multiple electronic devices from the home of a Washington Post reporter, which her attorneys argue was unconstitutional.
The administration’s extraordinary actions—which occurred after a year of threats to journalists and curbs on media outlets’ access to the White House and Pentagon—appear to open a new dark chapter designed to silence fact-based reporting. Without a robust and effective press that operates free from government intimidation, Americans lose their power to make decisions about major issues and hold officials accountable. And when governmental leaders entrench political power by stifling dissent and chilling opposition, democracies crumble.
Please join the Center for American Progress for an online event to hear from distinguished journalists and experts about the administration’s attacks on press freedoms and how to stand up to these unconstitutional abuses of power.