USA / Americas

For data on press freedom violations in the U.S., visit the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a partnership between CPJ and Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Read CPJ’s report on the Biden administration and the press.

  

How US Espionage Act can be used against journalists covering leaks

Earlier this week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly joked about Trump using a saber on the press and U.S. Senator Jim Risch told CNN the press should be questioning the Washington Post about its sources. Then, on May 16, The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump allegedly asked former FBI director…

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In an image created from video from the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia's Facebook page, Dan Heyman, left, addresses the press after his release in Charleston, West Virginia, May 9, 2017.

Journalist arrested in West Virginia while questioning cabinet official

New York, May 10, 2017–The arrest of a journalist in the U.S. state of West Virginia while asking a question of Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price yesterday is an affront to press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together after their meetings at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on April 7, 2017. (AP/Alex Brandon)

With press freedom under attack worldwide, US is setting wrong example

For decades if not longer, repressive leaders around the world have defended restrictions on freedom of the press by citing examples of Western governments failing to live by their own professed standards.

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Noose left at U.S. newspaper’s office door

On April 21, 2017, someone left a noose on the doorstep of The Sacramento Valley Mirror, a semiweekly newspaper in Willows, California, newspaper staff told the Committee to Protect Journalists.

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Fighting for the Truth

Journalists have a huge amount of work to do By Christiane Amanpour Never in a million years did I expect to find myself appealing for the freedom and safety of American journalists at home. Despite the hostile rhetoric of the U.S. presidential campaign, I hoped that after becoming president-elect, Donald Trump would change his approach…

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Case in Point

A journalist details one fight over records requests in the United States By Michael Pell In December 2010, Robin Gordon faced an ultimatum. She had found that a debt collection company had purchased a $291 tax lien on an apartment she owned in Atlanta, Georgia, after her mortgage company failed to pay a small portion…

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Thwarting Freedom of Information

Agencies exploit every loophole to evade disclosure requirements By Jason Leopold On December 13, 2016, I filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the FBI seeking a wide range of documents about a series of highly controversial decisions the bureau made in the weeks leading up to the U.S. presidential election that Democratic lawmakers…

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What Is the Worst-Case Scenario?

American journalists grapple with the Trump presidency By Alan Huffman The word “unprecedented” is often used to describe Donald Trump’s antipathy toward the American media, as it is of many of his other approaches to governance.

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(Access Now)

CPJ joins Fly Don’t Spy campaign to protect journalists and their sources

Over the past several months, the Committee to Protect Journalists has raised concerns over U.S. border agents’ use of secondary searches of journalists and their devices at U.S. borders, and government proposals to require travelers to hand over social media account passwords as a condition of entry to the U.S. That is why today CPJ…

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White House press secretary Sean Spicer talks to the media during the daily briefing. President Trump and his administration have accused critical outlets of being fake news. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Deciding who decides which news is fake

Authorities decry the proliferation of misinformation and propaganda on the internet, and technology companies are wrestling with various measures to combat fake news. But addressing the problem without infringing on the right to free expression and the free flow of information is extremely thorny.

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