No press allowed in the press office! No food allowed in the cafeteria! No weights allowed in the gym! No multimillion dollar investments in arms companies before starting an illegal war! Wait, not that last one...

Journalists continue standing up for editorial independence. Today's signers include former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather and legendary Pentagon Papers lawyer James Goodale.

"60 Minutes" reporter Sharyn Alfonsi, fired for standing up for editorial independence, doesn't want a CBS repeat at CNN. She's joined nearly 250 journalists in signing our letter speaking out against the Ellisons giving the gov. a seat at the news desk.

I thought Bari Weiss’s whole origin story was that NYT censored journalists with dissenting views so she had to leave and start a lame blog about how to blame everything on woke Gen Zers. Could it be that she was full of shit this whole time?

Please join my campaign to increase transparency and accountability in the U.S. Virgin Islands and ensure equal access to public records and meetings. Just click on the @freedom.press link below and send the enclosed petition to the VI Legislature. #USVIFOIAInitiative freedom.press/action/moder...

I'd been wondering how they got a grand jury to indict Georgia Fort and Don Lemon for covering a protest. I still don't know, but I have a much better guess than I did yesterday.

Before Todd Blanche helped Trump use a settlement to launder a $1.8 billion slush fund, Brendan Carr helped him use a BS lawsuit to extract a $16 million bribe from Paramount. The D.C. Bar could have put a stop to it back then by disbarring Carr. It failed.

The American story belongs to all of us, and so do the records that tell it. Our collective history cannot be privatized, nor can it be locked away or destroyed by any single individual or office. Read about our victory with @citizensforethics.org: www.citizensforethics.org/news/press-r...

Thanks to those who tuned in to our webinar about the current transparency landscape and how to get documents from the government, and a special thanks to our panelists: @kevinhbell.bsky.social, Michael Sarich, and Ginger Quintero-McCall. Did you miss it? Watch it here:

Secrecy from attorney discipline offices isn’t about attorneys’ reputations — it’s about their own. When they frequently dismiss meritorious complaints or let people off with slaps on the wrists, they function more like protection rackets than regulators.

🔔 TODAY: Join us for a conversation with a group of former federal FOIA officials to learn about the current transparency landscape, featuring @kevinhbell.bsky.social, Michael Sarich, and Ginger Quintero-McCall. 🕑 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT RSVP: freedom.press/workin-foias

The U.S. Virgin Islands is the site of news of both local and national importance, from military facilities to “Epstein Island.” But its public records and open meetings laws are badly outdated. Use our action center to tell local lawmakers to modernize its transparency laws.

The @pressfreedomtracker.us has recorded nearly 200 LAPD press freedom violations involving journalists. On May Day, reporters were handcuffed and struck with batons. With the World Cup coming to LA, FPF's @adamrose.bsky.social challenged LAPD to prevent an international incident. Watch ⬇️

Dodging FOIA could now mean arrest and strip search, depending on who’s asking: The DOJ is now treating evading a records request as a crime, a stunning act of hypocrisy from the Trump administration. Read @laurenleharper.bsky.social’s latest article in @theintercept.com:

🔔 Join us for a conversation with a group of former federal FOIA officials to learn about the current transparency landscape, featuring @kevinhbell.bsky.social, Michael Sarich, and Bobak Talebian, and Ginger Quintero-McCall. 🗓️ Friday, May 15, 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT RSVP: freedom.press/workin-foias

Given the Trump admin’s "open hostility to journalism and its novel legal tactics to attack the press, it’s entirely possible that the next target of financial censorship could be a news outlet," @reitman.bsky.social, FPF board president, wrote in @theintercept.com.

UPDATE: Legendary First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams, who filed an amicus brief on the gag rule's unconstitutionality, will also be joining us.

The SEC "gag rule" is blatantly unconstitutional. As financial regulators confront new tech — crypto, prediction markets, etc. — they’re sure to make mistakes. You deserve to be informed. Hear from experts on why SCOTUS must act. 🗓️ May 5, 2 pm ET

The FCC's use of DEI as a pretext to go after ABC's licenses "shows that it's known all along that its threats to revoke broadcast licenses for content-based reasons were a nonstarter under the constitution," FPF's Seth Stern told @businessinsider.com.

Photographer @john-abernathy.bsky.social was violently arrested by federal officers in MN in January for covering a protest, despite repeatedly identifying himself as press. It’s an egregious affront to the First Amendment. Watch @trevortimm.bsky.social explain and follow @pressfreedomtracker.us.

Strong stmt from @freedom.press colleague @seth-stern.bsky.social on the latest shameless weaponization of the FCC by Trump's lap dog Brendan Carr: "The FCC is neither the journalism police nor the humor police. This is nothing but illegal jawboning intended to intimidate ABC into kissing the ring"

White House records guidance is “fundamentally wrong” and furthers the blatantly false argument the president can “decide what becomes part of the American story,” FPF’s Lauren Harper told @nytimes.com. More on our lawsuit with @citizensforethics.org:

Remember when the Trump administration pressured app stores to remove the ICEBlock app? It was a classic example of Trump’s favorite censorship move — jawboning. But a recent court case shows how media organizations can fight back. Watch FPF’s @trevortimm.bsky.social to find out more.

The Pentagon fired an ombudsman whose role is to preserve a military newspaper's editorial independence because she spoke out about efforts to undermine that independence. These people behave as if someone else pays their legal fees when they get sued. Oh, right...

Trump's jokes at the WHCA dinner Saturday are sure to be terrible (and unfunny). If, for some reason, you have to watch his anti-press stand-up routine, here's a way to make it a little less boring. 🖨️ Print and play our bingo card (and donate to @freedom.press): media.freedom.press/media/docume...

You know the FBI is off the rails if even lawyers in Trump's DOJ had to warn them that their retaliatory investigation lacked legal merit. Patel’s job is to fight actual crime, not to chug beers in locker rooms, file SLAPP suits against the press or baselessly investigate journalists. Full stmt ⬇️

It is disgusting that the DOJ feels the need to continue insulting Öztürk on her way out, even after their claims about her have been definitively proven false. These are awful people.

The ant colony cordially invites you to a celebration of insects' rights in honor of Raid.

The case of two fired judges – and one who kept his job – offers a lesson in Trump administration’s view of free speech. FPF’s @seth-stern.bsky.social writes in @us.theguardian.com.

"While we can’t claim the mantle of leadership right now, the U.S. can try to reclaim some dignity if the State Department fights for the immediate release of Ahmed Shihab-Eldin from detention in Kuwait," FPF's @adamrose.bsky.social told MS NOW. #FreeAhmed

The DOJ is making immigration judges choose between the First Amendment and their jobs. FPF’s @seth-stern.bsky.social explains in @us.theguardian.com.

Is Paramount trying to make the case against its own merger? If the Ellisons are already punishing news outlets, imagine if they own CNN and their buddy Trump calls in a favor. This doesn't sound like a company that deserves even more power over the press.

Sign this petition to help free well-respected journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin. A contributor to numerous outlets, including The New York Times, PBS, and Al Jazeera English, he is jailed in Kuwait on vague charges for sharing news on social media. #FreeAhmed

We appreciate Judge Friedman seeing the Pentagon's revised policy for the nonsense it is and granting the Times' motion But any court order that responds to the admin's lawlessness with anything less than sanctions, contempt of court findings and attorney disciplinary referrals is a disappointment.

The notion that an administration that casually posts genocide threats during its illegal wars is worried about national security risks from whistleblowers who expose sexual harassment is absurd. Read our full statement on the Espionage Act charge against whistleblower Courtney Williams:

The Pentagon's unconstitutional policy demands the press limit itself to "authorized" sources. This is why. Does anyone think Pete Hegseth or his PR flacks would have voluntarily disclosed the abuses this whistleblower allegedly revealed to Harp to their briefing room of stenographers?

Ask anybody who has read The Fort Bragg Cartel which they think is the national security threat: Seth Harp’s sources, or the rampant criminality they enabled him to document? The administration knows the answer and that’s why it wants to punish whistleblowers and chill investigative reporting.

Trump lapel pin-wearing bootlicker Brendan Carr went from writing "A newsroom’s decision about what stories to cover and how to frame them should be beyond the reach of any government official" in 2021 to threatening outlets he doesn't even regulate over completely accurate reporting in 2026.

A tell that Trump's latest anti-press rant is extra bonkers is that he "ordered" a news outlet to unpublish news, and that's not even the headline. Not long ago it was a national scandal when a random judge in Mississippi briefly ordered news unpublished. Now it's the president's Tuesday evening.

Trump's weird rant is factual and legal nonsense. That said, is he implying that CNN is under criminal investigation for its (accurate) reporting? Should Paramount shareholders be worried about acquiring a company that, according to the president, is under investigation?

Teen who went to photograph L.A. 'No Kings' rally shot, blinded by Homeland Security agent, attorney says Tucker Collins, an 18-year-old freshman at USC, was shot in the eye with a less-lethal projectile by a DHS agent on March 28. More from @summerrlin.bsky.social:

A federal court recently upheld journalists' First Amendment rights by ruling that DHS used unlawful force against reporters at LA immigration protests last year. Watch @adamrose.bsky.social explain, and if you're a journalist facing a press freedom violation, contact @pressfreedomtracker.us.

🔔 Join us for a webinar on the dangerous precedent set by the Prairieland “antifa” convictions in TX and Trump’s war on the First Amendment. W/ @rightsdissent.bsky.social, @chipgibbons.bsky.social and @dfwsupportcommitt.bsky.social 🗓️ Wednesday, 4 pm ET/1 pm PT 🔗 www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqL0...

LAPD obstructed, threatened, and arrested journalists covering the No Kings 3 protests — violating a federal injunction. Watch @adamrose.bsky.social — who was on the ground in LA that day — explain, and if you're a journalist facing a press freedom violation, contact @pressfreedomtracker.us

So ... how's LAPD doing with that federal injunction requiring them to let press cover protests? I went to No Kings 3 in Los Angeles to find out. Here's my report for @freedom.press about some of the disturbing things I witnessed.

Trump’s FCC Chief Says His Censorship Protects the Little Guy. It Really Serves One Powerful Man. theintercept.com/2026/03/31/b...

Hey media conglomerates that said you weren’t bribing Trump because your settlement payments were going to a library: It sure looks like you might’ve bribed Trump after all. Oops. www.al.com/politics/202...

The court is right — the government can't condition benefits on censorship it can't achieve directly. That goes for PBS, but it also goes for Brendan Carr shaking down broadcast licensees, Hegseth denying access to reporters that don't follow his unconstitutional rules, and more.

The Trump administration is working to create a database of intimate details about every U.S. resident, which is "a giant honeypot for bad actors," @freedom.press's Lauren Harper said on @wamu.org's 1A. If breached, it could cause an "identity theft nightmare." Listen:

FCC Chair Brendan Carr claims he protects local news, but the fights he picks with broadcasters over the “public interest” requirement aren’t local stories. They’re national stories that upset President Trump. FPF's Seth Stern writes in @theintercept.com: