Press Freedom

White House Needs Plumbers Again?

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Article in The Washington Post by Michael Birnbaum, 7/24/26

Headline:  “To track down government leakers, Trump supports pursuing journalists”

Subhead:  “Hours before addressing the White House press corps, the president endorsed using subpoenas against reporters in national security leak investigations.”

“President Donald Trump took an aggressive stance toward Justice Department investigations of journalists Friday, saying that the way to pursue ‘treasonous’ leaks was to seek information from the journalists who received the leaked material.

“The comments — which came hours ahead of a rerun of the White House correspondents’ dinner, where the president was to address the reporters who cover him at a gala that honors the freedom of the press — amounted to a presidential endorsement of his administration’s legal battles against journalists. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/07/24/identify-government-leakers-trump-supports-pursuing-journalists/

Will Press Event Be Like Scotland “Black Dinner”?

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Article in Media Matters by Matt Gertz, 7/22/26

Headline:  “The White House Correspondents’ Association takes another futile crack at celebrating the First Amendment with Donald Trump”

“What would it take for the White House Correspondents’ Association to withdraw its invitation to President Donald Trump to attend and speak at its annual dinner on Friday?

“The event theoretically functions as ‘a celebration of a free press and the vital role of journalism in our democracy’ — two things it is comical to propose the president values. Trump’s treatment of the media in his second term has been characterized not only by vitriolic attacks on journalists and lawsuits aimed at a slew of news outlets but also by the use of the law enforcement and regulatory apparatus to punish reporters and steer news outlets into the hands of his cronies. . . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.mediamatters.org/donald-trump/white-house-correspondents-association-takes-another-futile-crack-celebrating-first

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 7/23/26

Headline: “Opinion | Is the White House Correspondents’ dinner headed for another mess?”

Subhead:  “The association says the dinner celebrates a free press. Trump will likely use it to attack the press.”

“Friday’s rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association dinner has all the makings of a complete clown show.

“I was going to say it has all the makings of a complete disaster, but that is how you would describe the first attempt back in April. That dinner, you recall, had to be shut down after a gunman trying to enter the event shot a Secret Service agent. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/white-house-correspondents-dinner-rescheduled-trump/

Dig Into Reporter Families Now?

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Article in Freedom of the Press Foundation by Staff, 7/20/26

Headline:  “Trump admin escalates attacks on journalists, probing family communications”

“The New York Times reported today that the Trump administration issued third-party subpoenas seeking communications not only of journalists’ phone and text records but those of their relatives, including spouses and parents.

“The subpoenas were part of the government’s investigation into the source of reporting that President Donald Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One replacement was deemed unsafe to fly him back from the NATO summit. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://freedom.press/issues/trump-admin-escalates-attacks-on-journalists-probing-family-communications/

Don’t Like Writing? – Call it Treason

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Jem Bartholomew, 7/20/26

Headline:   “The Uses of ‘Treason”

Subhead:  “By repeatedly blasting the press as traitors, Trump is trying to solidify his splintering MAGA base.”

“. . .David E. Sanger—the New York Times’ White House and national security correspondent . . .asked about the war with Iran. ‘What would the use be of repeating the bombing? You did it for thirty-eight days, and you did not get the political changes in Iran—’ Trump jumped in: ‘No, I got, I had a total military victory,’ he said, . . . . Then he leaped into a tirade against the press. ‘I actually think it’s sort of treasonous what you write,’ Trump concluded. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/the-uses-of-treason-donald-trump-press-traitors-air-force-one-qatar-sanger-subpoenas-maga-base-splinter.php

Broadcast Me – Or Else!

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Article in Deadline by Ted Johnson, 7/16/26

Headline:  “Donald Trump Says ABC And NBC Should Lose Broadcast Licenses Because They Didn’t Carry His Primetime Address On Election Claims”

“Donald Trump lashed out at ABC and NBC, the two networks that chose not to carry his speech live on their broadcast platforms, as he delivered a 25-minute long speech full of claims that included China obtaining voter registration data and the “deep state” withholding that intelligence from him.

Without evidence, Trump claimed that ABC and NBC and others in the media were part of a ‘plot’ and ‘want to continue this fraud for whatever reason. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://deadline.com/2026/07/trump-threatens-abc-nbc-licenses-election-speech-1236988065/

Coercing Reporter to Reveal Sources

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Article in Columbia Journalism Review by Riddhi Setty, 7/15/26

Headline:  “Private Matters”

Subhead:  “Catherine Herridge, a former Fox News reporter, is being compelled to pay $800 a day until she reveals confidential sources.”

In 2003, Toni Locy, a former reporter for USA Today, published a series of articles about the FBI’s investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks . . . Along the way, she reported on Steven Hatfill, a former Army scientist who was the initial focus of the FBI’s probe. In 2003, Hatfill filed a civil lawsuit under the Privacy Act. . . As part of his legal efforts, in 2004 he pressed Locy and other journalists to testify and reveal their sources.

In February of 2008, a federal judge held Locy in contempt of court for refusing to do so.

Read the full article at:

https://www.cjr.org/analysis/private-matters-catherine-herridge-fox-news-confidential-sources-reveal-privacy-act-lawsuit.php

Stomping Out Reporting?

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Article in The Guardian by Margaret Sullivan, 7/14/26

Headline: “With New York Times subpoenas, Trump is brazenly escalating his attacks on the press”

Subhead:  “Federal agents showed up at reporters’ homes, targeting journalists for doing exactly what the first amendment protects”

“To non-journalists, receiving a government subpoena is a serious thing but probably not a violation of basic rights. . .”

” ‘“When the public’s right to know is crushed, as the Trump administration is trying to do … all of us suffer irreparable harm,’ responded Stephen Adler, chairperson of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/14/new-york-times-subpoenas-trump-media

Making TV Propaganda Arm?

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Article in NPR’s ‘On The Media’ by Staff, 7/10/26

Headline: “The FCC’s Pressure Campaign to Reshape Broadcast TV”

“ABC has enlisted the help of its audience to defend The View and Jimmy Kimmel against attacks from the Federal Communications Commission. On this week’s On the Media, hear about the MAGA movement trying to shift television to the right. Plus, the legal theory that the FCC is using to put pressure on the networks. . . Host Brooke Gladstone speaks with  Jim Rutenberg, writer-at-large for the New York Times. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.npr.org/podcasts/452538775/on-the-media

 

Next Step – Subpoena Reporters

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Article by Jeremy Barr in The Guardian, 7/13/26

Headline:  “Is Donald Trump winning his war against the media?”

Subhead:  “President and allies have sued, cut access and issued subpoenas, but experts say media still producing strong work”

“Donald Trump has ramped up his attacks on the media to a level without precedent in American history in the first 17 months of his second presidency.

“But have Trump and his allies won their war against the media – or at least put the industry on a weaker footing than in the past? The answer isn’t so straightforward.

“The list of assaults is dizzying. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jul/13/trump-war-on-media

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Article in Daily Kos by Staff, 7/13/26

Headline:  “Trump’s ugly war on journalists goes airborne”

“News broke over the weekend that the administration had subpoenaed multiple New York Times journalists over the crime of reporting unfavorably on the antics of Dear Leader.

“The administration is very unhappy that the Times reported on the big switcheroo where President Donald Trump, after soaking the taxpayers for untold millions for his fancy new bribe plane, was forced to use his old, sad, shabby existing Air Force One when flying out of Turkey. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/7/13/800069346/media/trumps-ugly-war-on-journalists-goes-airborne/

Radioactive Magazine for 7/14/26

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Lenny Bruce

Interview by Spencer Graves 7/14/26 on KKFI-FM

Headline:  George Carlin’s and Lenny Bruce’s Legacy on Censorship

“Tuesday’s episode of Radioactive Magazine features an interview with Robert Corn-Revere, a leading First Amendment attorney and Chief Counsel for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). . .”

“. . .a discussion of the US Supreme Court decision in FCC v. Pacifica (1978), which saw WBAI in NYC fined for airing George Carlin’s famous ‘Seven Dirty Words’ in 1973. Roughly 9 years earlier, comedian Lenny Bruce was found guilty of obscenity in New York for a comedy routine in an adults-only night club. Corn-Revere helped secure a posthumous pardon for Bruce from New York Governor Pataki, and more recently Corn-Revere named his two dogs ‘Lenny’ and ‘Bruce’.

Listen to the episode at:

Radioactive Magazine airs Tuesdays at 6:PM CST on KKFI 90.1 FM, streaming live at http://kkfi.org