Journalists say “the restrictions won’t stop the work, with some even saying they plan to take a more aggressive tack,” reports Jeremy Barr. Good. The policy is highly unconstitutional, but it’s an opportunity to omit Pentagon lies and spin from reporting.
Is the “death of transparency” upon us? We summoned public records expert David Cuillier to tell us about his new research on news deserts, the decline of freedom of information laws, and how to bring government transparency back from the grave.
🔔 Join us for a conversation about making public records-based reporting free, featuring Joseph Cox, Katie Drummond, and FPF's Caitlin Vogus and Lauren Harper. 🗓️ Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 2 p.m. EDT/11 a.m. PDT RSVP: image
From the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Four Alaska journalists resigned after their newspapers’ owner changed an article about Charlie Kirk following pressure from a Republican state lawmaker in September.
So much for Facebook's renewed commitment to free speech. And so much for this administration's condemnation of social media censorship. How long will it be before the DOJ demands platforms remove news reporting on ICE?
Soliciting information from officials is a journalist's job. The Pentagon's new press policy would make reporters "stenographers parroting press releases, not watchdogs holding government officials accountable," explains NPR's Tom Bowman. https://www.npr.org/2025/10/14/g-s1-93297/pentagon-reporter-opinion-press-policy
A federal court just blocked a ridiculous law that banned almost all speech on public college campuses in Texas after 10 p.m., including student journalism. Huge win by FIRE defending the First Amendment. Free speech doesn’t have a curfew.
John Oliver sounded the alarm this week on how secret donations to presidential libraries provide cover for bribery. We couldn’t agree more. It’s time to close the library loophole — and you can help. Read this story and much more in our secrecy newsletter, The Classifieds.
🚨 PSA: Do you have information to share with news outlets that have lost access to report from the Pentagon? You can share it while protecting your anonymity using @npub15w9q...wyqu: image
Great to see news outlets almost uniformly reject Hegseth’s ridiculous Pentagon prior restraint policy. Hopefully they’ll show the same unity next time the administration targets one of them as they’re showing now that it’s targeting all of them. https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/13/media/pentagon-hegseth-press-restrictions-newsmax-atlantic