What happens when a journalist is arrested? How do we account for the stories that don’t get told, or the issues that don’t get covered because the press was restricted or behind bars? How do we measure the intimidation journalists feel, and the chill that police intervention places on freedom of the press? One gauge might be the U.S.’s recent drop in global press freedom rankings, down to number 47 worldwide.
Another measurement might be the words of journalists themselves. Kristin Hanes, a journalist who was arrested last month in Oakland, recentlytweeted: “Whenever journalists are arrested/detained for reporting the news, everyone’s freedom is at risk. That is what frightens me most.” Susie Cagle, who has been arrested twice, put it this way on Twitter: “When journos arrested, access is gone & the story often dies. That to me is a reason to be upset, apart from unjust arrests.” Another journalist, a freelancer without the benefit of institutional backing and legal support, is worried about being able to cover future protests because her arrest charges are still pending.
An array of local and national press freedom organizations has stepped up, sending letters to local police departments and providing legal and financial assistance to arrested journalists. However, they can’t win this fight alone. That’s why we at Free Press and SaveTheNews.org called on our members this week to stand with the arrested journalists and with press freedom groups like the Newspaper Guild, the Society for Professional Journalists and the National Press Photographers Association.
In the last 48 hours, more than 16,000 people have signed on to support the arrested journalists and defend the First Amendment in their communities. The number keeps growing. Our members support the efforts of journalism organizations in Oakland and New York to improve relationships between police and press, but we also recognize that this is a national issue touching at least 10 other cities. With more political events — and likely, more protests — in the year to come, we all need to be part of solutions that strengthen the First Amendment.
At their best, journalists tell our stories and cover our communities with depth, care and a critical eye. When it comes to the future of journalism, we are all in this together. Journalists with laptops, freelancers with cameras, ordinary people with cellphones — we all need to be able to speak freely. The First Amendment does not apply only to journalists. It applies to all Americans, and we all have to take responsibility when it is threatened or eroded. Our members thank the journalists and citizen reporters who risk their safety to get the story, and the organizations that support this important work.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy