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.

  

Transition to Trump: When a president-elect tweets, the trolls take aim

As a new presidential administration prepares to take over the U.S., CPJ examines the status of press freedom, including the challenges journalists face from surveillance, harassment, limited transparency, the questioning of libel laws, and other factors.

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Transition to Trump: Reporters must be allowed to protect their sources

As a new presidential administration prepares to take over the U.S., CPJ examines the status of press freedom, including the challenges journalists face from surveillance, harassment, limited transparency, the questioning of libel laws, and other factors.

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Senator Jeff Sessions at his attorney general confirmation hearing on January 10. Sessions was asked if he would commit to not jailing journalists. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty/AFP)

CPJ urges Sessions to commit to journalist protection if confirmed as attorney general

New York, January 11, 2016–In remarks before the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for attorney general yesterday, U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions said he was unsure whether he would commit to following guidelines adopted by Attorney General Eric Holder in 2015 that make it harder, though not impossible, for the Department of Justice to subpoena journalists’…

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Transition to Trump: Why U.S. needs to be global leader in protecting strong encryption

As a new presidential administration prepares to take over the U.S., CPJ examines the status of press freedom, including the challenges journalists face from surveillance, harassment, limited transparency, the questioning of libel laws, and other factors.

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Transition to Trump: What Obama’s Freedom of Information legacy means for press

As a new presidential administration prepares to take over the U.S., CPJ examines the status of press freedom, including the challenges journalists face from surveillance, harassment, limited transparency, the questioning of libel laws, and other factors.

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Transition to Trump: First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams on Trump’s power over libel laws

As a new presidential administration prepares to take over the U.S., CPJ examines the status of press freedom, including the challenges journalists face from surveillance, harassment, limited transparency, the questioning of libel laws, and other factors.

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Travelers wait for a security check at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in November. Journalists traveling to the U.S. can face searches that can risk the confidentiality of their sources. (Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP)

Security risk for sources as US border agents stop and search journalists

French-American photojournalist Kim Badawi did not go home to Texas for Thanksgiving this year. He didn’t want to risk a repeat of November last year, when he says U.S. border security detained him at Miami airport and interrogated him in minute detail about his private life, political views, and journalistic sources.

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CPJ writes to Pence, seeks meeting with Trump Administration

CPJ writes to Vice-President-elect Mike Pence to seek a meeting to discuss our concerns and recommendations for guaranteeing First Amendment values under the Trump Administration.

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CPJ Highlights: November edition

Note to our readers: CPJ plans to intensify our documentation of press freedom violations in the United States, following the election on November 8, 2016, of Donald Trump as president. During his campaign, Trump verbally attacked journalists, restricted access, threatened lawsuits, and promised to make legal action against the media easier under his administration. We…

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A March 14, 2014, file photo shows a warning sign outside facility of the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline in Steele City, Nebraska. (Reuters/Lane Hickenbottom)

U.S. documentary filmmakers face prison for filming protest

New York, October 20, 2016–Prosecutors in the U.S. states of North Dakota and Washington should drop all charges against three independent documentary filmmakers arrested while filming environmental activists interfering with oil pipelines, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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