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A Fatal Attack on U.S. Soil
In the United States, hostile rhetoric and attacks on the press turned fatal in 2018 when a gunman stormed an Annapolis, Md., newsroom, killing for Capital Gazette journalists and a sales assistant. Despite the protections of the First Amendment, press freedom in the United States is in crisis, says the Committee to Protect Journalists. President Donald J. Trump regularly criticizes the press in speeches and tweets, calling journalists the "enemy of the people" and news that is critical of him "fake news."
Capital Gazette staffer Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, John McNamara, Rebecca Smith and Wendi Winters were shot to death in their Annapolis, Md., offices in June 2018. The accused gunman had attacked the newspaper on social media in response to a 2011 article published about him.
Tracking Threats to a Free Press
As reporters face increasing hostility, the Committee to Protect Journalists is monitoring physical and legal threats to journalists in the United States. In 2018, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker reported five journalists were killed, 10 journalists were arrested, 42 were physically attacked and at least 15 were denied access to government briefings or public events. CPJ's Joel Simon worries that growing attacks on the U.S. press will legitimize anti-press attitudes around the world.
President Donald J. Trump often targets the press in speeches and in his Twitter feed, which has nearly 60 million followers.
At a 2018 White House press conference, an intern tried to take CNN reporter Jim Acosta's microphone after he questioned the president about the Russia investigation. The White House temporarily revoked his press pass and falsely accused him of striking the intern, presented doctored footage of the incident to make it look like he had hit her.
An NBC affiliate found this document, pictured at right, in 2019 showing that the US government compiled secret files on reporters who covered the Central American migrant caravan. Al Jazeera freelancer Manuel Rapalo was one of the US journalists that border agents detained and searched. |