Press Freedom

Bad News Photos Not Allowed?

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 3/12/26

Headline:  “Opinion | You won’t believe why the Pentagon barred photographers from its briefings”

Subhead:  “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s aides objected to ‘unflattering’ photos of him — in the middle of a war”

“Boy, oh boy. These guys in the Trump administration. Just when you think they can’t get any more petty and thin-skinned and, to paraphrase one of their favorite words, snowflaky, they find another way to bellyache about something.

“The latest?

“The Washington Post’s Scott Nover writes, ‘The Defense Department has barred press photographers from briefings on the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military conflict with Iran after they published photos of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that his staff deemed ‘unflattering,’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/pete-hegseth-unflattering-photos/

Journalist Arrest Update

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Article in Free Press by Staff, 2/10/26

Headline:  “Coalition of 41 Press-Freedom Groups Calls for Immediate Release of Nashville-Based Journalist Arrested by ICE”

Subhead:  “Rodriguez’s attorneys have filed an emergency petition, seeking an immediate review of whether her detention is legal “

“. . .On Tuesday, a coalition of 41 press-freed     om groups demanded that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immediately release journalist Estefany Rodriguez.

“ICE failed to produce a warrant when Rodriguez, a Colombian-born reporter, was arrested on March 4, 2026. She has been in ICE custody since, moving between detention facilities with her current whereabouts likely in Alabama but unclear. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.freepress.net/news/coalition-41-press-freedom-groups-calls-immediate-release-nashville-based-journalist-arrested

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Carolina Abbott Galvão , 3/10/26

Headline: “Estefany Rodríguez in Limbo”

Subhead:  “Last week, a reporter in Nashville was detained by ICE. Officials claimed to have paperwork for her arrest, but her lawyers say it was warrantless—and retaliation for her reporting.”

“. . . On Friday afternoon, the Department of Homeland Security submitted to the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division, a photo of a warrant—what’s known as an administrative, or immigration, warrant, signed by an immigration officer, rather than an arrest warrant signed by a judge. That document, dated March 2, appeared crumpled and contained no A-number (a unique seven- to nine-digit code assigned to noncitizens), and its certificate of service section—which outlines when and where the warrant was served—was left blank. , ,”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/estefany-rodriguez-ice-immigration-detention-limbo-nashville-warrant-status.php

Indigenous Media in Trouble

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Liam Scott, 3/10/26

Headline:  “On Standing Rock, Local News Is Teetering”

Subhead:  “ ‘We are like living ghosts,’ the editor of the Teton Times said.”

“In January, the Lakota Times, a newspaper based in southwestern South Dakota, on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, abruptly announced its closure, citing ‘unforeseen circumstances and health issues.’ Avis Red Bear, an Indigenous journalist based in McLaughlin, a small town in the center of the Standing Rock reservation, took the closure of the Lakota Times especially hard. . .”

“To other Indigenous journalists, Red Bear helped pioneer the importance of independent Indigenous media. ‘She stands as a beacon of tenacity and commitment to producing local news,’ said Jodi Rave Spotted Bear, founder of the Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance, which publishes the independent news site Buffalo’s Fire. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/standing-rock-local-news-teetering-teton-lakota-times-sioux-native-indigenous-media-avis-red-bear.php

US International Media Coming Back?

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Article in The Washington Post by SDcott Nover, 3/9/26

Headline:  “Judge rules Kari Lake unlawfully ran U.S. media agency, voiding layoffs”

Subhead:  “Kari Lake, the Trump appointee in charge of Voice of America and other international broadcasters, has used dubious authority in her effort to dismantle the agency.”

“A federal judge in Washington ruled Saturday that Kari Lake has unlawfully served as chief executive of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees Voice of America, and nullified many actions she has taken in the role, including mass layoffs of staff. . .”

“The decision is the latest in a string of legal defeats to the Trump administration’s year-long effort to dismantle USAGM, the federal agency that in addition to Voice of America oversees other U.S.-funded international broadcasters including Radio Free Asia. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/03/07/kari-lake-unlawful-voice-of-america-ruling/

Crackdown on Media

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Article in Common Dreams by Julia Conley, 3/6/26

Headline:  “Retaliation? Nashville Journalist Detained by ICE After Reporting on Trump Crackdown

Subhead:  “ICE abductions of noncitizen journalists take the reporters best equipped to cover immigration Subhead: enforcement”

“Press freedom groups on Friday were calling for the immediate release of Estefany Rodríguez, a journalist with Nashville Noticias and Univision 42 Nashville, after she was detained by federal immigration agents while traveling in her marked press vehicle. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/nashville-ice-arrests

Ice & Media Databases

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Article in Poynter by Angela Fu, 3/5/26

Headline:  “Journalists push back against parent companies’ contracts with ICE”

Subhead:  “Some reporters at Law360 and Reuters are raising concerns about ICE’s use of their companies’ databases in immigration raids”

“More than 200 journalists at Law360, a legal news outlet, and its sister publications have signed a letter demanding that their parent company RELX drop its contract with the Department of Homeland Security.

“The letter, which was signed by more than 80% of the union representing editorial staff at Law360 and regulation news site MLex, states that the $22.1 million contract “raises imminent human rights concerns” given recent actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an agency within DHS. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/business-work/2026/law360-reuters-newsrooms-letter-against-ice-dhs/

Media Control Under the Rock

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Article in by Saurav Sarkar, 3/5/26

Headline:  “Three Massive Funds Control a Chunk of Most Media:”
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Subhead:  “Maybe that’s why you might not have heard of them”

“Recently, FAIR (2/3/26) took a look at the owners of the biggest online media outlets. It focused on the controlling owners of those outlets, which are mostly publicly traded corporations. But a lot of the money—about $2 trillion dollars—invested in the top 50 online media outlets in the US is not the controlling owners’. Rather, it is possessed by minority institutional investors that manage assets for others.

“Take BlackRock, Inc., for instance. Innovation & Tech Today (7/8/22) called it ‘the biggest company you’ve probably never heard of.’ The multinational’s influence comes from the $13.5 trillion it manages on behalf of retirement funds, governments, other corporations and individual investors. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/three-massive-funds-control-a-chunk-of-most-media/

Newspaper Gets it Right

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 3/4/26

Headline:  “Opinion | Inside The Star Tribune’s coverage of the Minneapolis immigration raids”

Subhead:  “Publisher and CEO Steve Grove shares how the paper balanced aggressive reporting with care for journalists covering a deeply personal story”

“One of the biggest news stories of 2026 has been the immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis, and the protests that have gone along with those operations. Some 4,000 federal agents descended on the Twin Cities back in January, sparking a story that gathered massive national attention.

“The story tragically gained even more attention on Jan. 7 when Renee Good, a poet and mother of three, was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. Two weeks later, an ICU nurse named Alex Pretti was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent.

“As I said, this was a huge national story. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/minnesota-star-tribune-coverage-ice-raids/

Sketchy War? – Attack Media!

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Article in Mediaite by Isaac Schorr, 3/2/26

Headline: ” ‘I Don’t Understand the Confusion’: Marco Rubio Slams Media for Questioning Reason for Iran Operation”

“Secretary of State Marco Rubio tsk-tsked the media while articulating the reason for the Trump administration’s ongoing military operation in Iran on Monday.

“Amid continued debate over the purpose and efficacy of that operation, Rubio tried to the set record straight during a gaggle with reporters on Capitol Hill.

“So look, the US conducted this operation with a clear goal in mind. I haven’t got a chance to see a lot of reporting. I don’t understand what the confusion is. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/i-dont-understand-the-confusion-marco-rubio-slams-media-for-questioning-reason-for-iran-operation/

Will New Owner Melt CNN?

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 3/2/26

Headline:  “Opinion | CNN’s coverage of Iran is a reminder of its power — and what could be lost in the wrong hands”

Subhead:  “The network’s all-hands coverage of the strikes shows exactly what’s at stake as a potential sale to Paramount raises fears inside the newsroom”

“At some point overnight Friday into Saturday, while battling insomnia, I was catching up on some programs I had recently recorded. When I was done and about to head to bed, I went back to cable and came across a startling overnight breaking news alert: The United States and Israel had launched coordinated attacks on Iran. . .”

“As someone who writes about the media and has a special interest in it, I couldn’t help but wonder what CNN will look and sound like when, eventually, it will come under the control of Paramount, with CEO David Ellison, and, perhaps, CBS News, with editor-in-chief Bari Weiss?. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/what-will-happen-cnn-sale-paramount/