From legal threats to FBI raids, journalism is under siege
A most dangerous year for American journalists
If Donald Trump were writing this column, he might say something like: “The current administration’s assaults on the free press are unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Maybe ever. In history. That’s what they tell me.”
And for once, I’d agree with his trademark exaggeration.
I can’t speak for all of recorded history, but I can say this with confidence: the past 12 months have brought the most sustained and dangerous attacks on American journalism that I’ve seen since I walked out of journalism school 50 years ago.
Just in the past few days alone, the administration has gone after the free press on multiple fronts, each one outrageous on its own, and chilling in the aggregate.
We learned this weekend that the White House press secretary threatened CBS News with a lawsuit unless the Evening News ran Tony Doukopil’s interview with President Trump in full with no edits.
The New York Times reports that after the pre-recorded interview ended, Karoline Leavitt walked up to Dokoupil and the CBS News crew and said, “He said, ‘Make sure you guys don’t cut the tape, make sure the interview is out in full,’” Ms. Leavitt said in an even tone, according to a recording of the exchange obtained by The New York Times.
“Yeah, we’re doing it, yeah,” Mr. Dokoupil responded.
Ms. Leavitt replied: “He said, ‘If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off.’”
You can listen to audio of the exchange at the Times link above (accessible to all). When I listen to it, I hear a bit of jocularity in her voice, but given Trump’s long, hostile history with CBS News, there’s nothing remotely funny about it. If it was meant as a joke, it landed like a threat. Because that’s what it was.
You’ll recall that during the 2024 campaign, Trump sued 60 Minutes over an interview with Kamala Harris because he didn’t like how it was edited. The lawsuit was baseless and absurd. But CBS’s corporate parent, eager to secure regulatory approval for a merger, folded, paying Trump $15 million and stabbing its journalists squarely in the back.
Journalists do not - and must not - surrender their right to edit interviews. Especially not interviews with a man who lies as effortlessly as Trump does. Airing an interview in full hands him a megaphone for disinformation. Yet CBS News caved again last Tuesday, devoting 13 of its 19 minutes of airtime to Trump’s unchecked remarks.
Trump has sued so many news organizations that the mere threat of litigation from his press secretary is enough to intimidate even the largest newsroom. That’s not a bug of this administration. It’s a feature.
The FBI comes knocking
Then came news that the FBI executed a search warrant at the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, seizing her phone, two laptops, and even her Garmin watch.
Post Executive Editor Matt Murray rightly called it an “extraordinary, aggressive action” that raises “profound questions and concerns around the constitutional protections for our work.”
Natanson was told the FBI is investigating a government employee with top-secret clearance accused of taking classified intelligence reports home.
Let’s pause and absorb the hypocrisy here.
Donald Trump—indicted by a federal grand jury for storing classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago bathroom, and who howled that the FBI had “invaded” his home—now presides over a government that raids the home of a journalist and seizes her professional tools.
Isn’t that rich? More to the point, isn’t that a blatant violation of the First Amendment?
If there’s any sliver of good news, it’s that the government does not appear to be accusing Natanson of wrongdoing for doing her job by communicating with a source.
What’s at stake
Journalists need editorial independence to hold power accountable. When a White House can sue networks into submission, raid reporters’ homes, and bar news organizations from covering the president, democracy itself is at risk.
Trump maintains a long list of news organizations he’s sued. When his press secretary threatens another lawsuit, that’s not banter. It’s leverage. It’s designed to make journalists think twice before doing their jobs.
The question isn’t whether journalists can endure it. The question is whether American democracy can function without a free and independent press to document what’s happening.
So far, the answer seems to be: we’re about to find out.
Only three more years to go.
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Thanks Dave. Journalism is under siege, As is every aspect of life in America. You are a target if you are a journalist, an educator, a Mayor, a Governor, a federal employee, a college president, an entertainer, a grandmother protesting, a doctor, a scientist....and the list goes on. Anyone who disagrees with the Administration is at risk. This is America in 2026. We can't take three more years of this. Change begins in November of this year when we express our frustration, fear and anger in the voting booth.
Another outstanding column, Dave. Thanks!