USA / Americas

For data on press freedom violations in the U.S., visit the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a partnership between CPJ and Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Read CPJ’s report On Edge: What the US election could mean for journalists and global press freedom.

  
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt takes a question during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C on February 25, 2025. (Photo: Reuters/Brian Snyder)

CPJ, SPJ, journalist groups call on Trump administration to restore AP access to White House  

We, the undersigned coalition of journalism and press freedom organizations, express our deep concern regarding the White House’s decision to bar Associated Press (AP) reporters from access to the Oval Office, Air Force One and other White House pool events. AP provides essential reporting that is published by thousands of outlets across the United States…

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FILE - Hinds County Chancery Judge Crystal Wise Martin listens to lawyer Rob McDuff, an attorney for Parents For Public Schools, during a hearing in Jackson, Miss., Aug. 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

CPJ: Mississippi judge’s order to remove editorial raises First Amendment concerns

Washington, D.C., February 20, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a Mississippi judge’s order that the Clarksdale Press Register, a weekly newspaper, remove an editorial from its website criticizing city officials.  “A Mississippi judge’s decision to compel The Clarksdale Press Register to remove an editorial raises serious concerns about a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment,”…

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CPJ denounces Trump administration’s actions against AP, other retaliation against media

Washington, D.C., February 14, 2025–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the White House decision to block The Associated Press (AP) from covering official events after AP’s decision to refer to the Gulf of Mexico by its internationally known name, calling the action the latest in an alarming pattern of retaliation against a free press in…

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VPNs, training, and mental health workshops: How CPJ helped journalist safety in 2024

Haitian journalist Jean Marc Jean was covering an anti-government protest in Port-au-Prince in February 2024 when he was struck in the face by a gas canister fired by police into the crowd. One of at least five journalists injured while covering civil unrest in the country that month, Jean arrived at the hospital with a…

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks to House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, D.C. on November 13, 2024. Trump has filed several legal actions against journalists and news outlets, the latest against the Des Moines Register for publishing an election poll that showed him trailing Vice President Kamala Harris. (Photo: AFP-Pool/Allison Robbert)

Trump steps up actions against press with Des Moines Register lawsuit

Washington, D.C., December 18, 2024–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns President-elect Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and Gannett, which was filed on Monday, for publishing a poll that showed him trailing Vice President Kamala Harris in the run-up to the November presidential election.  The lawsuit, which also includes pollster J. Ann Selzer…

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Former President Donald Trump speaks at an election night watch party at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Photo: AP/Evan Vucci)

CPJ Board: The free press must be protected

New York, November 6, 2024 – The United States was founded with press freedom as a cornerstone of its democracy. As the country prepares for a transition of power, following the election of Donald J. Trump as the 47th president of the United States, the board of directors at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)…

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Ahead of the US election, we delivered safety training to over 700 journalists. Here’s what the press must know to keep safe.

The November 2024 U.S. presidential election will take place after years of an increasingly polarized political climate in the country. This election comes after two previous contentious presidential election cycles, amid high levels of distrust in the media and a recent history of journalists being arrested, assaulted, and attacked in-person and online, including at protests….

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In this file image, Robert Telles (right), a former Clark County public administrator charged in the murder of investigative journalist Jeff German, listens to closing arguments during his murder trial in Las Vegas, on August 26, 2024.

CPJ welcomes sentencing of killer of Las Vegas journalist Jeff German

Washington, D.C., October 16, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the 28-year sentence given to former politician Robert Telles on Wednesday for stabbing to death Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German. “The sentencing of Robert Telles marks a significant milestone in the quest for justice. Although the jailing of Telles cannot undo Jeff German’s murder,…

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SenseTime

CPJ, partners comment on U.S. Commerce Department’s proposed rules on surveillance technology export controls

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) joined eight human rights and digital rights organizations on October 15 to provide comments to the U.S. Commerce Department in response to its proposed rules to strengthen surveillance technology export regulations. The joint comments assess and offer recommendations for the Commerce Department to help curb the proliferation of such surveillance…

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In this March 18, 1982 photo, television cameramen photograph blood-soaked, bullet-ridden clothes believed to belong to four Dutch journalists killed in a wooded area near this village in the province of Chalatenango, in El Salvador. Jan Kuiper, Koos Koster, Hans ter Laag and Joop Willemsen were killed in 1982 while on assignment for IKON, a Dutch public TV broadcaster. (AP Photo/P.W. Hamilton)

U.S. complaint filed against Salvadoran officer in 1982 killing of Dutch journalists

São Paulo, October 10, 2024—CPJ welcomes the civil complaint filed in a U.S. court against Mario Adalberto Reyes Mena, one of several Salvadoran military officers alleged to be connected to the March 17, 1982 ambush and killing of Dutch TV journalists Jan Kuiper, Koos Koster, Joop Willemsen, and Hans ter Laag in Chalatenango, El Salvador, during their coverage of…

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